1004 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXX, No. 11 
Table II presents the general man¬ 
ner of occurrence of Engelmann spruce 
seedlings in the closed natural stands. 
These observations do not represent 
the average condition of restocking for 
the stand, however, for alpine fir occurs 
on the forest floor more generally than 
Engelmann spruce, and in a count of 
advance growth above one foot in 
height the alpine fir exceeds in numbers. 
While the advance growth resulting 
from this manner of renewal has an im¬ 
portant part in the restocking following 
cutting, it is generally insufficient and 
must be supplemented by a crop of 
seedlings, which should be predomi¬ 
nantly Engelmann spruce. Few seed¬ 
lings of any species were discovered on 
the duff layer underneath a heavy 
cover of vegetation. 
In the opening out of a stand as on 
these cut-over tracts, where fire has not 
destroyed the surface material, no seed¬ 
lings such as are described in Table II 
were found coming in. The full ex¬ 
posure to sun and wind of decayed logs 
and upturned root mounds renders 
these locations unfavorable to the sur¬ 
vival of either spruce or alpine fir seed¬ 
lings. A shortage of soil moisture is 
the very likely explanation, for on an 
old tree trunk lying half emersed in a 
mountain lake were found a large num¬ 
ber of seedlings of spruce growing in 
the decaying and broken-down wood, 
although in full exposure. While the 
role of surface soil moisture will be 
more fully treated later, it may be said 
here that restocking in cut-over stands 
will not occur as it does in uncut 
natural stands, and that renewal of 
the forest will therefore depend on 
favoring natural reproduction in other 
ways. 
SEEDLING SURVIVAL IN CUT-OVER 
STANDS 
In order to obtain data upon seed¬ 
lings in cut-over stands two drainage 
areas were studied, Nyack Creek, in 
the Blackfeet National Forest, and 
Ruby Creek in the Pend Oreille 
National Forest. 
THE NYACK TRACTS 
The Nyack Creek area includes 
several kinds of treatment. Of these 
the homestead cuttings, which in this 
section are 20 years old or older, did 
not yield representative data because 
of the influence of grazing. Some 
portions of more recent cuttings, how¬ 
ever, furnished significant evidence. 
The first of these tracts is a cutting 
made in 1911 on which the slash has 
been left. The tract is flat; the soil 
is compact of alluvium over a moraine 
subsoil. A strip 8 chains long was run 
across the tract to the edge of a broad¬ 
cast burn. Over a width of 1 chain on 
this strip a tally of living trees was 
made, the area totaling 0.8 acre. On 
a parallel strip 0.1 chain wide, or 0.08 
acre, the advance growth was tallied. 
Table III .—Composition of reproduc¬ 
tion strip on Nyack area a 
Species 
Standing living trees 
(0.8 acre) 
Restocking 
advance 
growth 
(0.08 acre) 
Num¬ 
ber 
Diam¬ 
eters b 
Rate 
per 
acre 
Num¬ 
ber 
Rate 
per 
acre 
Engelmann 
i 
Indies 
spruce_ 
6 
8 to 12 
7.5 
24 
300 
Alpine fir_ 
2 
8 to 10 
2.5 
20 
250 
Others-- 
1 
8 
1 
3 
38 
° The original stand consisted of a mixture of 
Engelmann spruce, Douglas fir, and western larch. 
The tract is covered with undisposed-of logging 
slash which is heavy in places. 
b Diameter at breast height. 
Figures for both tallies are given in 
Table III. The significant fact that 
came out in the course of these obser¬ 
vations is that none of the seedlings 
found had become established since 
logging. Those present were on the 
ground when the stand was cut. This 
is corroborated by conditions on a 
sample plot taken in a different area 
and summarized in Table IV. 
Table IV.— Composition of reproduc¬ 
tion plot on the Nyack area 
Species 
Living trees 
(0.25 acre) 
Advance 
growth 
(0.0625 acre) 
Num- Diam¬ 
ber eters a 
Rate 
per 
acre 
Num¬ 
ber 
Rate 
per 
acre 
Enge Imann 
Inches 
spruce.. 
7 8 to 14 
28 
16 
256 
Alpine fir_- 
0 _ 
0 
36 
576 
Western larch._ 
2 10 to 14 
8 
1 
16 
Others ..- 
6 8 to 14 
24 
2 
I 32 
i 
a Diameter at breast height. 
The stand represented by Table IV 
is more dense than that represented by 
Table III, and there is more advance 
growth on the ground; but the two 
sample areas agree in respect to the 
lack of seedlings since cutting. It was 
