BALSAM FIR. 
65 
light than does spruce. This is especially true in the case of alter- 
nate or successive strips. With partially cleared and thinned strips, 
however, which are cut practically at the same time, the reproduc- 
tion of balsam fir can be reduced in favor of spruce if thinning is 
confined largely or exclusively to balsam fir, thus decreasing its par- 
ticipation in reseeding the ground. 
CLEAR CUTTING, WITH ARTIFICIAL REPRODUCTION. 
Still another silvicultural method to which both spruce and bal- 
sam fir are adapted, particularly for pulp, is clear cutting, with sub- 
sequent planting. Such a system, however, presupposes intensive 
management and a considerable initial outlay of money. The 
planting of red spruce and balsam fir would be hardly advisable for 
both silvicultural and financial reasons, because of the former's 
extremely slow growth and the latter's comparatively inferior quali- 
ties. If planting is to be done, it would be better to use more val- 
uable and promising species, such as Norway or possibly white spruce. 
The cost of »establishing a stand artificially is the same whether 
valuable or inferior species are used. For these reasons clear cutting, 
with artificial reproduction, would hardly be a profitable undertaking, 
at least for the balsam fir. The justification for retaining balsam fir in 
the future stands must be in the ease with which it can be reproduced 
naturally and cheaply. 
GRADUAL CUTTING. 
Selection in groups. — Spruce stands are best managed by gradual 
cuttings. This is essentially the method used in the old-time logging 
operations, when only the largest trees could be used, and is in vogue 
now on a number of large spruce tracts owned by pulp and paper 
companies. Only the larger mature trees or trees of a certain char- 
acter are taken, and the rest left on the ground for future logging. 
Natural reproduction of spruce and balsam is readily secured 
under this method of cutting if the following rules are observed: 
1 . In logging, the trees should be removed not singly but in small 
groups. The removal of such groups of trees will ma,ke small open- 
ings, or " holes, " in the forest, which are more readily stocked than 
openings made by the removal of single trees. When single trees 
are cut, the openings are soon closed by the growth of side branches 
of the neighboring trees, and the young growth that appears is soon 
oither shaded out or stunted. Openings, or " holes, " in the forest 
formed by the removal of groups of trees a quarter of an acre or less 
in extent receive abundant seed from the surrounding trees, yet have 
enough fight for a vigorous and normal development of the repro- 
duction that springs up. 
