18 
BULLETIN 1402, r 
DEPAETMEXT OF AGEICULTURE 
desirable. Leaving most of the slash, j^lns intensire patrol, meets 
these conditions. 
If the slash is piled and burned on strips along the railroads and 
roads, and on additional strips to break the area into blocks of ttO 
to 80 acres. iisiiallT not over 20 per cent of the total cnt-over area 
need be treated. Such a system of partial disposal of slash goes far 
in reducing the danger of slash fires, and the cost is Iotv. 
THE NEED FOR 5YSTEiL4TIC PROTECTIOX OF CUT-OVER LANDS 
Although the best methods of protecting cut-over lands are not 
yet fully worked out. it is easy to show that special measures must 
be taken. As an examj^le of what happens tmder a laissez-faire 
policy, the ctimulative results on one large operation over a period 
of 20 years (i) show that on 16.7 per cent of the total area the 
stocking, or the degree to which the young growth approaches the 
full amoimt of wood that the land can grow, was 60 per cent or 
better, averaging 72 ]3er cent. On 52.4 per cent of the area the 
stocking was 10 to 60 per cent complete, averaging 2S.5 per cent : 
and on 30.9 per cent the stocking was per cent. 
If these generalized figures be plotted and a curve drawn, the 
percentages appear as in Table 1. 
Table 1. — Relation of area to stocJcing on a percentage hasii 
cut-over land 
on unprotected 
Area 
Stockmg I 
1 
Area i Stockins 
1 
Irea StockiTig 
1 
! Per cent 
31.0 
1 19.5 
1 12.5 
9.0 
Per cent 
10 or less i 
11 to 20 
21 to 30 
31 to 40 
Per cent 
7.0 
5.0 
5.0 
Per cent 
41 to 50 
51 to 60 
61 to 70 
1 Per cent 
1 40 
40 
3.0 
Per cent 
71 to 80 
81 to 90 
Over 90 
Although only 31 per cent is completely stripped of young 
growth, half the area is less than one-fifth stocked and about two- 
thirds is less than one-third stocked. This deficiency is largely 
owing to slash fires. The result of neglect of cut-over lands is 
quite as likely to be a forest partly stocked, patchy, and damaged 
by fire and disease as it is to be absolute and complete denudation. 
Xot only does the area of ctit-over lands that are denuded reach 
an impressive total, but the fact that hundreds of thotisands of acres 
are producing wood at only a fraction of their potential rate is of 
at least equal concern. 
The condition of this typical area demonstrates the imperative 
need of a specific j^rogram for fire control on cut-over lands. 
QUESTIOXS INVOLVED 
Protection from fire is the most important single requirement to 
maintain ctit-over lands in a productive condition. Neither high 
lead logging nor clear ciuting. destructive as these practices will 
be shown to be. results in completely wiping out timber growth on 
large areas. Uncontrolled fires do just that, and in addition make 
it impossible for the forest to return for decades or in some cases 
centuries. 
