NORWAY PINE IN THE LAKE STATES. 29 
NATURAL REPRODUCTION. 
The aim should always bo to secure a second crop by natural 
seeding of the ground by the trees in the original stand. This can 
be insured in most cases by proper methods of cutting. Artificial 
sowing or planting, because of the initial cost 1 and because of 
low stumpage prices, should be resorted to only when natural repro- 
duction fails. Even after reasonably successful reproduction takes 
place there will be fail places or blanks. Where the stand is open 
and overmature, forestation may be the only certain means of secur- 
ing a new crop of Norway pine. Where sowing or planting is imprac- 
ticable, the forest soil of the Lake States will, if protected from fire, 
still restock naturally, though with some such species as aspen or 
birch. These, while not as valuable as Norway pine, bring — in 
Maine, for example — from $3 to $10 an acre. They also have the 
advantage of rapid growth and ease of reproduction. 
There are several methods of cutting Norway pine to secure 
natural reproduction, although no one has been tried out long enough 
to establish it as superior to any other. These methods are (1) 
shelterwood system, (2) group selection system, (3) clear cutting 
and (4) leaving seed trees. No matter which of these systems is 
followed, it must, in virgin stands, assume the character of a heavy 
improvement cutting. 
Shelterwood system. — The shelterwood system of cutting — i. e., the 
removal of the stand in two successive cuttings — has been suggested 
as the ideal method of securing reproduction of Norway pine. 2 This 
system, however, would probably be better adapted to white pine 
than to Norway, because the former reproduces better under a par- 
tial shade. If applied to Norway pine, the parent stand should be 
removed before the seedlings suffer from suppression. If reproduc- 
tion came in within a year after the first cutting, the parent stand 
could safely be removed from 4 to 7 years later. Until tire protec- 
tion is more certain it would, perhaps, be better to leave scattered 
seed trees even after the second or final cutting, until the new crop 
reaches the sapling or pole stage. This would have its disadvan- 
tages, of course, on account of the additional cost of logging and 
the unavoidable damage to the young growth in cutting. Another 
alternative would be not to cut these " safety seed trees," but to 
leave them for increased growth during the entire rotation. With 
the shelterwood system it is important to keep close check on the 
progress of reproduction after the first cutting. The owner should 
not only guard against the suppression of the seedlings, but he should 
also prevent the soil from becoming so covered with brush and weeds 
1 Mr. William T. Cox, State forester of Minnesota, states that planting has been carried on successfully 
in parts of Minnesota for from S3.50 to S6 per acre. 
2 "Results of cuttings on the Minnesota National Forest under the Morris Act of 1902," Proceedings of 
the Society of American Foresters, p. 104, Raphael Zon. 
