OCR Text |
Show THINNING OF FOREST TREES Tiny Must Have Abundance nf Sunlight Sun-light and Air to Produce Best Results How to Cut. If we want strong, healihy trees in the woodlot it is just as important that we thin out the trees as It is to thin out the young fruit. The pictures I show what may be accomplished by Strong and Straight. thinning. They are from photographs taken by A. F. Hawes, state forester of Connecticut, In Fig. 1 the trees In the center of tsje group are strong and straight, but the smaller ones form a mass of foliage, foli-age, the removal of which helped the others. This is shown by the trees In Fig. 2. The trees left standing are now exposed to the light and free from the sapping by the mass of foliage and small trees which have been removed and will grow Into strong, tall trees. In cutting mature timber the chief concern Is to secure satisfactory reproduction repro-duction bb soon as possible. The "group method" Is generally the best adopted for farm woodlots. Select a spot, or several spots, If one will not supply what is wanted, where the forest for-est crop Is ripest possibly overripe and clear, with due care for young growth, a hole in the forest, taking care that the diameter of this hole Is not more than two or three times the height of the surrounding trees. Gradually widen these holes fcy cutting cut-ting In concentric rings about them until the whole area has been cut over. it should be borne in mind, however, that If In any one year more wood is A Mass of Foliage. cut than grows on the whole woodlot in that year the necessary wood capital capi-tal Is diminished. Where the whole area is cut over before the part cut first had time to grow to maturity a period will have to follow during which the woodlot will stop paying dividends. |