FOREST PLANTING IN THE LAKE STATES 
29 
be planted. Such heavy losses are exceptional, however, and if they 
occur, they may be remedied by replanting the openings where trees 
have died. Keplanting is not necessary if more than 600 trees to the 
acre are living, and even when the number is reduced to 300 or 400 
a reasonably good crop of timber may be obtained without replant- 
ing, provided the trees remaining after the early losses are not so 
unevenly distributed as to leave large openings. 
If considerable numbers of seedlings or trees of desirable kinds 
are already established on the planting area, the number to be 
planted may be reduced correspondingly. Similarly, in underplant- 
ing, the trees should be planted in the openings or where there are 
spaces of over 15 feet between the natural stems, with little regard for 
the number of trees planted on each acre or for any geometrical 
scheme of spacing or arrangement in rows. The operation should 
be planned, however, so that a full stand will be obtained, even if not 
more than 200 or 300 trees to the acre are set out. 
There are several other considerations in deciding upon the spacing 
to be used. The presence and size of knots and limbs, already noted 
as an effect of spacing, make it needful that the spacing should be 
closer if the aim is to produce high-quality saw timber over a long 
period of years. If there is a local market for small trees for pulp- 
wood or fuel the planting should be closer, since higher yields will 
be obtained from the greater numbers of trees which will be cut 
when small, and there may also be a profit in the product from early 
thinnings. Spruce may often be planted advantageously as close as 
4 by 4 feet, or 2,722 trees to the acre, because a part of the trees can 
usually be cut and sold at a good profit for Christmas trees when they 
are between 5 and 10 years old (16). It is generally stated that 
trees such as jack pine, Norway pine, and eastern cottonwood, which 
develop best with ample overhead light, may be planted farther 
apart than the more shade-enduring kinds such as spruce and north- 
ern white pine. Eastern cottonwood, for example, has done well 
when planted as widely as 8 by 8 or 10 by 10 feet. If there is much 
brush or other vegetation on the area, closer planting will crowd 
it out sooner, and this is desirable for the best growth of the trees. 
Finally, planting on poor soils should be closer than on better soils, 
to offset the heavier losses which are likely to occur on severe sites. 
An interesting series of plantations at Ottawa, Ontario, set out 
in 1887 (-4#), in which the same kinds of trees were planted in adja- 
cent plots with 5 by 5 and 10 by 10 foot spacing, illustrates the 
greater diameter growth in inches of the widely spaced as compared 
with the closely spaced trees. Measurements made in 1925 are as 
follows : 
Species planted 
Diame- 
ters, 5 by 
5 foot 
spacing 
Diame- 
ters, 10 by 
10 foot 
spacing 
Species planted 
Diame- 
ters, 5 by 
5 foot 
spacing 
Diame- 
ters, 10 by 
10 foot 
spacing 
Norway spruce 
Inches 
5.5 
6 
5 
5 
Inches 
9.5 
9 
8 
6.5 
Paper birch _ 
Inches 
5.5 
4 
4 
3.5 
Inches 
7 
5 
European larch 
7 
White spruce - . . 
G 
