40 BULLETIN 1493, U. 8. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
RECLAIMING DENUDED LANDS BY PLANTING 
The above discussion has to do with planting as a supplementary 
means of getting reproduction after logging. There is another field 
for planting, namely, putting mto productive condition the larger 
areas which have been denuded by fire or logging, or both. There 
are half a million acres of such land in this region, three-quarters of 
vi in private hands. This land, if left to itself, will become reforested 
only by the very slow process of seeding-in from the sides or from the 
few trees, many not yet of seed-producing age, which occur here and 
there. 
In addition to this denuded land is the still larger acreage that is 
now partially tree covered or wiil become forested if only given pro- 
tection from fire, but which is a long way from producmeg full crops. 
It is either irregularly or inadequately stocked. 
Intensive management would strive to restore these denuded lands 
ov poorly stocked lands to full productivity as rapidly as possible, 
supplementing by direct planting of nursery-grown trees what pro- 
tection from fire alone can not do. Owners who are putting their 
forest property into full productive condition may well give atten- 
tion to this class of land. Detailed examination on the gound is 
very important to determine what the status actually is-and what 
nature is likely to do unaided in restoring the land to forest. 
CONTROL OF THE MIXTURE CF SPECIES IN THE NEW CROP 
A part of the art of forestry is to get a desirable mixture of species 
in the new crop. That is one way of realizing the maximum-value 
production from the property. Where planting methods are used on 
completely denuded land, the desired mixture can be obtained very 
readily. With natural reproduction it is not so simple, but further 
study will undoubtedly show possibilities for regulating the mixture 
to some degree by methods of brush disposal. This is a particularly 
important problem in the fog belt, where spruce is the preferred 
species, and where there is a tendency for the new crop to be too 
largely of the less desired hemlock or, temporarily, of alder. The 
problem is mentioned merely to imdicate one phase of intensive 
management that the forester must consider in some localities, and 
one that demands research. 
THINNING THE GROWING CROP 
In the discussion of minimum measures it was shown that after 
the new crop is started little need be done except to protect it from 
fire. However, as forestry becomes more intensive with changing 
economic conditions, closer utilization of the forest is going to be 
possible. One such phase of closer utilization is the thinning of imma- 
ture stands. This is a practice which is highly recommended where 
there can be found a use or a sale for the material so cut. 
It is well recognized that many more trees start than have any 
chance of reaching maturity. It is common to find 10,000 seedlings 
per acre, while a normal second-growth fir stand at 20 years has 
about 900 trees per acre, at 50 years about 300 trees (of all sizes), 
and at 100 years 125. 
