There may be exceptions to this rule. Good young cedar in forests which are to be handled under the selection system should be carefully protected. It can always be utilized and may bring revenue before anything else can be cut. For the same reason it has been suggested for planting with fir and white pine, either simultaneously as a small proportion or later in blank spaces where the others fail. Under such conditions the main stand will not be modified and the cedar will afford a valuable adjunct.

SITKA SPRUCE (Picea sitchensis)

Although found in the moister mountain regions, this exceedingly valuable tree seldom occurs to a commercially important extent except along the coast, where it is common on swales and fertile benches and in river bottoms often forms pure stands of great density. Yields of 100,000 feet an acre are not unusual and the trees are very large. It is also common, although of small size, in swamps.

This spruce reproduces readily in openings, whether made by fire or cutting. Unthrifty specimens may be found under shade, but considerable light is necessary for successful development. Even then, height growth in youth averages slower than that of fir or hemlock. The leader shoot is likely to die, so that hardly more than 25 per cent of the young trees establish a regular form of growth before a height of 20 or 30 feet is reached. After this stage spruce grows uniformly and rapidly, still somewhat slower than fir in height but exceeding it in diameter. The branches are slow to die, however, so that the tree remains bushy for most of its length until it reaches 60 or 80 feet in height, and even afterward a dense stand is required to clear it. In many pure spruce forests the larger trees have been able to withstand the pruning influences and remain limby, while the smaller ones, being pushed in height growth to reach sufficient light for survival, have cleared themselves with remarkable rapidity.

The natural occurrence of Sitka spruce, except in Alaska, is probably limited chiefly to situations where it escapes competition, in youth at least, with the more hardy and rapid-growing species. It has the greatest advantage over these on river bottoms and flats where there is a dense growth of deciduous brush and where the soil is very wet in spring. In considering it as a possible second crop, the same competition must be remembered. Whether seeding is natural or artificial, the extent to which it will hold its own with any considerable quantity of other species is doubtful. If such are present and the situation is adapted to them, any expensive effort to get spruce merely by modifying methods of logging or handling the slash is certainly likely to be disappointing. Under the conditions mentioned as peculiarly favorable for spruce, gradual natural restocking may be expected if some seed supply is preserved, but since the growth is rather slow and a thin stand will remain limby, it may pay to hasten returns by supplementary artificial planting. Some authorities question the financial practicability of this on the ground that since spruce is of slower growth it will pay better to use the ground for fir, but the latter is unlikely to be true of bottom land.

After summing all its advantages, the peculiar merits of spruce for certain purposes should be weighed, for sufficiently higher stumpage value will compensate for delay in harvesting the crop. Moreover, Sitka spruce has not been as thoroughly studied by foresters as the more prominent Western trees, and while the foregoing notes represent general present opinion, further figures on rate of height growth may be more encouraging. There is no doubt that diameter increase is rapid from the start. Most of the disadvantages mentioned also decrease toward the southern limit of the spruce range, the growth on the Oregon Coast being rapid.

WESTERN YELLOW PINE (Pinus ponderosa)

In this species we have the important western conifer which most often permits the selection system of management. With certain exceptions in which the entire stand is mature, the object of conservative logging should be to remove trees past the age of rapid growth and foster those that remain for a later cut. When comprising the entire stand, or at least clearly dominating it, with all ages fairly evenly represented, successful in reproduction, and not so dense as to present mechanical difficulties, it is ideally adapted to this form of management. The important underlying principle is that, since for a period of its life the normal individual tree increases in wood production and then declines, it is bad economy to cut it while it is still growing rapidly or to allow it, after slowing down, to occupy ground which might be used by a tree still in the vigor of production. For example, if at 100 years old it contains 500 board feet, it has averaged an addition of 5 feet, a year throughout its life. If at 125 years old it contains but 560 feet, the average increment will be but 4-1/2 feet a year. It will not give equal return for the soil, moisture and light it monopolizes during these 25 years. At the same time, probably there are young trees nearby which hitherto have averaged below the maximum, but if released from its competition will forge ahead for a period at the end of which they will give a greater annual return than if cut at present. It would be as bad economy to cut these today as to spare the over-mature tree. In short, the production of the forest is not only sustained, but actually increased, by removing the oldest trees at just the proper time; and is decreased by taking out young trees either not yet at the natural age of greatest mean annual increment or capable of artificial stimulation by thinning.

By studying the relation of age to production in the particular locality, the proportion of different age classes, and also finding the approximate average diameter which corresponds to the age at which he desires to cut, the professional forester can make a very accurate selection of the trees which can be removed to best advantage at present and also fix the time and yield of the next cutting. Fortunately, however, commercial and silvicultural considerations accidentally coincide so nearly under average yellow pine conditions as to make certain rough rules which can be laid down entirely consistent with logging methods now in practice. Diameter is far from exact indication of age, for the location of the forest and the situation of the individual tree, especially as it affects the relation between height and diameter growth, are potent factors, but as a rule merchantability for saw-material is not far from maturity.

In a great majority of cases the approximate minimum diameter for cutting which would be fixed by it forester would be somewhere between 16 and 30 inches, but say it were 18 inches, for example, it would not arbitrarily apply throughout the stand. Most trees with yellow, smooth bark and small heavy-limbed tops, perhaps partially dead, are mature regardless of their size. If small, they have been crowded or stunted and may as well be cut. Trees with large, healthy crowns composed of many comparatively small branches, and with rough dark bark showing no flat scaling, are sure to be growing rapidly, even if quite large. They are also less desired by the lumberman, who often calls them black pine or black jack, so may often be spared, without much sacrifice, for seed trees or in order to continue their rapid wood production.

The seed tree problem in such a pine forest and under such a system as has been described is comparatively simple, for there are likely to be enough young trees of fruiting age left to fill up the blanks between existing seedlings. The density of the latter determines to a large extent the number and location of seed trees necessary, but there should always be two to four to the acre, even if this requires leaving some that would otherwise be logged.

Under this system recurring cuts may be made at periods of perhaps 30 or 40 years, taking out each time the trees which have passed the minimum diameter since the last previous cut. It is obvious, however, that if the process is to continue indefinitely, protection must be absolute. Destruction of young growth will stop the rotation at the time the surviving older material is harvested. At each cut the brush should be disposed of with this end in view. If the stand is very thin it may not add much to the danger of fire and, especially if reproduction is difficult and requires shelter, may best be left spread on the ground at some distance from remaining trees. Otherwise, and this is the rule, it should be piled and usually burned. In this process and in logging every effort should be made to protect existing young growth from injury. Ground fires should be prevented now and always hereafter.

So far, however, we have been considering how to make the most of a stand of many ages, due to constant reproduction permitted by the light supply in a fairly open forest. On the other hand, yellow pine sometimes produces a mature stand so heavy that there is little young growth beneath it, or even a thin old stand with either little reproduction or an invasion of lodge-pole pine. Such conditions are usually due to fire at some period. In the first of these cases, usually the dense stand has resulted from a fire which destroyed its predecessor not so completely as to remove the seed supply, but sufficiently to afford light for a more uniformly dense crop of seedlings than would occur in the normal forest. These have been thinned out as the stand grew old, but never to a degree which allowed much reproduction beneath them. The natural cycle will be begun again in time, for toward the end of the life of this unusually heavy stand, seedlings will begin to appear gradually as individual old trees die and admit more and more light. The other exceptions described are due to more recent ground fires which have destroyed only the less hardy young growth and perhaps also encouraged the lodge pole which, within its range, is always quick to take burned ground.

The same result is almost sure to follow the "Indian" method of forest protection sometimes advocated, which consists of purposely running ground fires frequently in order to prevent accumulation of sufficient debris to make an accidental fire fatal to timber of commercial size. While such immunity may be secured, and perhaps without sacrifice in stands so heavy as to have no reproduction or when the latter has already been destroyed, it is obviously at the expense of young growth if any exists. The counter argument that a small proportion escaping will be sufficient for the second crop is fallacious, because good timber will not be produced from these scattering seedlings subjected to strong light by later logging. Other means are necessary if the forest is to be reproduced.

This brings us to the possible management of yellow pine as an even-aged forest. Thoughtful foresters are beginning to suspect that while the "Indian" system of fire protection will usually be fatal if ordinary logging practice is followed, it may serve as an adjunct to a system which, if carefully applied, will be better than selection cutting for some of our pine areas. This plan is suggested where there is little young growth worth protecting and consists of depending upon seed trees almost entirely for reproduction, protecting carefully until the resultant even-aged second growth is large enough to stand Blight fire, and then burning periodically at such a season and with such safeguards as will prevent the fire from being injuriously severe.

Not only are there many existing forests where absence of small trees will permit clean cutting without sacrifice, but the same condition is likely to occur eventually in stands following selective logging if the second cut is long delayed. Although a good representation of all ages under the diameter limit remains, the density of this may become too great to allow further reproduction, and in time the dominant trees will shade out all smaller growth. To allow this purposely, choosing heavy cuts at intervals long enough to mature the crop from seed rather than frequent light cuts of a constantly replenishing stand, thus reducing the necessity of fire prevention, is the aim of those who favor clean cutting as the most practicable system. They assume that additional investment in seed trees, or planting to insure prompt starting of a new crop after cutting, will be unnecessary or at least offset by the smaller fire charge and greater economy of logging.

Theoretically, such practice with a species adapted to the selective method is uneconomical, for the ground is not fully utilized. Accidental open places in the stand are not occupied by young trees which would otherwise fill them. Time is lost by not starting the second crop until after logging, for were there no fire previously there would be considerable seedling growth which, although perhaps dormant because of shade, would begin to amount to something much quicker than that supplied by seed trees afterward. Nor is the system feasible where there is much fir or other species less fire-resisting than pine. It is dangerous in practice except where there is very little combustible matter on the ground and fire is generally easy of control, and exceedingly dangerous to advocate because serves as a pretext and example for indiscriminate carelessness with fire under all conditions. Finally, the alleged immunity of pine from injury by ground fires is exaggerated. As a matter of fact, while the whole stand is seldom perceptibly hurt, the immediate or gradual death of a good tree here and there thins the stand very considerably in a few years and it is such a thinning process in the past which makes many pine tracts bear but 5,000 feet to the acre where otherwise they would yield two or three times as much. Scorching also retards the growth of trees not actually injured otherwise.

The technical objections given above may sometimes be offset by practical advantages and the system is likely to receive expert approval for certain conditions provided it is not used as a cloak without taking sincere steps to replace the destroyed second growth by adequate seed trees or artificial seeding. The latter danger may easily warrant public alarm manifested by restrictive laws. Universal ground burning of green timber will distinctly reduce the prospect of unassisted natural reforestation on the great area of potential timber land in which, as a resource, regardless of ownership, the public is vitally interested. Under present conditions at least, a large proportion of this is likely to be logged without any view to a future crop. It is questionable whether any state should, or will, legally approve ground burning except under stipulation of proper management thereafter.

Unfortunately, it is necessary, in concluding this discussion of yellow pine, to admit that while an attempt has been made to outline the methods which will insure a second crop, the promise of satisfactory financial return is more doubtful than that offered by some other species. Compared with the typical coast trees, such as Douglas fir, spruce and hemlock, the growth is slow and the yield small. The chief circumstances in its favor are low land values, lesser fire risk, cheapness and certainty of reproduction and excellent market prospects. Less investment compensates somewhat for longer rotation and smaller yield. Low taxation, however, is an absolute essential.

WESTERN WHITE PINE (P. Monlicola)

Although as a distinct forest type this valuable tree is limited chiefly to Idaho, it occurs occasionally in mixture or small tracts over a wide range, and no reason appears why its commercial importance should not be extended by planting on cut-over lands. Its high value, rapid growth and heavy yield make it a particularly promising species for growing under forestry principles. Its chief requirements for success are fairly good moist land, access by the seed to mineral soil and ample light for the young seedlings.

Except that it is more fastidious as to soil, white pine usually demands about the same treatment as that prescribed for Douglas fir, including clean cutting, slash burning and establishing a new even-aged stand by seed trees or artificial restocking. Under favorable conditions the stand is nearly even-aged, with little undergrowth except of undesirable species. What small pine may exist is seldom thrifty enough to be worth saving, so the best thing is to clean off the ground for the double purpose of removing weed trees and favoring valuable reproduction. Like that of fir, the natural rotation of white pine forests seems to have been accomplished often by the aid of fire, and where not given this aid it suffers from lack of suitable seed-bed and from the competition of other species already established.

Individual seed trees left in logging are not successful because of shallow root system and almost certain windfall. Replacement must be by seeding or planting, or by leaving small tracts of pine surrounded by cleared fire lines to protect them when the slashing is burned. The size and distance apart of these must be determined by their situation and exposure to wind, considering both the danger of windfall and the carrying of seed. Especially in younger growths, the quantity of merchantable material tied up in this way is not so great as is sometimes necessary in the case of red fir, where single seed trees may contain several thousand board feet. On the other hand, stumpage value may be high. For this reason artificial replacement may often be more profitable, especially where there is reasonable safety against recurring fire.

A thing to be borne in mind is that white pine seems to reach a healthier and better development when mixed with a small proportion of other species, such as cedar, tamarack, spruce, lodgepole pine and Douglas fir, so there is no object in trying to produce an absolutely pure stand. Some authorities think that 60 per cent of pine, with the rest helping to prune it, is an ideal mixture.

LODGEPOLE PINE (P. Murrayana)

Present interest in private reproduction of this species hardly warrants treating it at length in this publication, although unquestionably it will eventually occupy a higher place in the market than at present and its readiness to seize burned land in many regions will make it a factor whether desired or not. Where yellow pine will grow, the problem is most likely to be to discourage lodgepole competition.

In strictly lodgepole territory, however, it may be the only promise of a new forest. Generally speaking, an even-aged growth should be induced by clean cutting if the entire crop can be utilized. Slash burning in such cases is desirable. The chief difficulty is in providing seed supply, for either individual seed trees or small groups are almost certain to be blown down. Experiments so far indicate that heavy strips must be spared, chosen to afford the least present loss and safeguarded by fire lines.

In some lodgepole stands, especially where only certain sizes are marketable, the cutting practically amounts to thinning. Here obviously the effort should be to prevent over-thinning and to remove debris with the least damage to the remaining stand. Piling and burning is essential.

SUGAR PINE (P. Lambertiana)

This extremely valuable pine, commercially limited to the Oregon and California mountains, is fastidious in its choice of conditions. Not a frequent or prolific seed bearer, it still insists on a moist loose seed-bed and prefers the natural forest floor to burned-over land. It cannot stand drought when young and except on cool northern slopes seedlings may be killed or stunted by exposure to full sunlight. On the contrary it demands more and more light as it grows older and will be suppressed or killed if unable to secure it. Under natural conditions it perpetuates itself best by filling open places in the forest.

For the above reasons, sugar pine is naturally a component of mixed forests and it is doubtful whether it will be successfully grown as a pure stand. Unfortunately, also, logging methods which are both the simplest and most favorable to the reproduction of its associates may be discouraging to sugar pine reproduction. Nevertheless, its value warrants strong efforts to favor it and is an argument, where considerable young sugar pine exists, against either clean cutting or the use of fire.

The Forest Service, for which authority much of the above discussion of this species was taken, offers the following general outline for management in California:

"Since the forests in which sugar and yellow pine occur vary greatly in composition, the method of treatment must also vary. For this the forest types already distinguished may form a basis.

"On the lower portion of the sugar pine-yellow pine type, where sugar pine forms but a small proportion of the stand, only the yellow pine should be considered for the future forest. All merchantable sugar pine may therefore be removed. It will be necessary to leave only a few seed trees of yellow pine to restock the ground, although usually it will be a wiser policy to leave a fair stand, since this can be removed as a second cutting when reproduction is established. This procedure would also hold for areas on which yellow pine occurs in nearly pure stands. In these localities dense stands of second-growth yellow pine occur. It will often be profitable, where there is a market at hand, to thin these stands when they are about 30 years old, removing the suppressed trees for mine props. Trees 6, 8 and 10 inches and up are used for this purpose, and sell for from 5 to 6 cents a running foot.

"On the upper portion of the sugar pine-yellow pine type, where both species have about an equal representation in the stand, seed trees of each should be left, wherever practicable, in the proportion of two sugar pines to one yellow pine."

In the fir belt, where sugar pine and fir are the principal species, the fir should be cut clean wherever possible and sugar pine should be relied upon for the future forest.

"On all lands, the Douglas spruce, white fir and incense cedar should be cut whenever possible, and chutes, skidways and bridges should be constructed from the two last named species."

The following specific instructions are issued for marking timber on National Forest sales in the sugar pine-yellow pine type:

"Owing to the large size of the trees, marking in this type of forest should be done with special care, since a slight mistake involves a comparatively large amount of timber.

"On nearly all of the lands included in this type the ground is now but partly and insufficiently stocked with young timber, the areas of forest are constantly becoming more accessible to markets, and there is every indication of a strong future demand at greatly increased prices. On nearly every tract, a second cut can be made within thirty years. All marking under present sales should be done strictly with reference to two points:

"1. Stocking the cut-over land as fully as possible with sugar and yellow pine.

"2. Securing a second cut within thirty years.

"All cutting should be done under the 'selection system,' which requires a careful choice of the individual trees to be removed. Fixed diameter limits and the leaving of any specified number of seed trees per acre can be very largely disregarded.

"The condition of every sugar and yellow pine on the sale area should be studied closely to determine whether that tree will be merchantable thirty years hence, by which time a second cut is probable. As a rule the trees which will remain merchantable for another thirty years should be left. Suppressed and crowded trees which cannot develop should be removed. Under this system of marking, ordinarily about one-half of the present stand of merchantable pine would be left uncut. Will it pay?

"On areas where practically all of the pine is over-matured and would be cut under the rule given above, a sufficient stand must be left to reseed thoroughly the cut-over land. This requires not less than four full seed-bearing trees, at least 25 inches in diameter, per acre. The strongest and thriftiest trees available should be selected for this purpose, but not less than the number specified must be left even if every tree will be a total loss before a second cut is possible.

"Extensive areas of pine timber which are not yet fully mature should be excluded from the sale. On patches or small areas of immature pine, which it is not practicable to exclude from the sale, cutting should be very light, limited to one-third or less of the largest trees, or omitted altogether.

"No attempt to discriminate sharply between sugar and yellow pine should be made, as both trees are almost equally desirable. Where a choice is necessary, sugar pine should be favored on moist situations, as in canyons, moist pockets, or benches and on northerly exposures. Yellow pine should be favored on dry situations, including exposed ridges and southern exposures.

"Fir and incense cedar should be marked, as a rule, to as low a diameter as these trees are merchantable in order to reduce the proportion of these species in coming reproduction. It is essential, however, that no large openings be made in the present stand since the exposed ground is in danger of reverting to chaparral or of becoming so dry from evaporation that no reproduction will follow cutting. Where the stand of pine is insufficient to reseed thoroughly and protect the cut-over area, enough sound, thrifty fir and cedar should be left to form a fairly even cover with openings less than a quarter of an acre in size.'"

The under current of all opinion upon sugar pine up to date is that reproduction will not be very successful unless enough growth to shelter the seedlings remains after logging. Where the fire risk permits, the same end may be furthered by leaving the tops scattered on the ground.

Little experimenting has been done in planting sugar pine, but there are many indications that except where conditions strongly favor natural reproduction it will be resorted to eventually if any particular attempt is made to get this species. Leaving large seed trees is not only expensive, but rather uncertain, because heavy seed years are several years apart and squirrels consume a large portion of an ordinary crop. Transplants which have received nursery shelter until past the greatest danger of drying out should prove most successful on heavily-cut south slopes.

REDWOOD (Sequoia sempervirens)

Although probably the most rapid-growing of all American commercial trees and also of high market standing, redwood has been little studied by foresters. The layman is still more confused by its many peculiarities. Growing to a size of 20 feet in diameter and 350 feet high, reaching an age of well over 1,000 years and seldom reproducing by means of seed, it is not surprising that it was long regarded as ill-adapted to second crop management. Although observing that suckers sprout from the stumps with great rapidity, the lumberman generally regarded these mushroom growths as abnormal and temporary, and believed his virgin timber to be the finally-vanishing remnant of a prehistoric species unsuited to present-day conditions.

It was next discovered that the suckering habit is no new one, indeed that the majority of the present stand, however old, began as sprouts from roots or stumps of its predecessors. This is evident from the circular arrangement of several trees around the spot where their parent stood. These old sprouts were of very slow growth, for they were shaded by a forest of extreme density. As seedlings they could have neither germinated nor grown, but as suckers they were kept alive by the parent until light supply became available through their increasing height or through thinning of the forest. Under such conditions centuries were required to produce large trees.

The owner of today, by cutting down the old stand, gives the suckers conditions hitherto unknown to the redwood. The vigor and susceptibility to the aid of light, which originally was necessary in the sprout growth to perpetuate the species at all, now respond to entire freedom and light in an astonishing manner. Even after severe slashing fires char the stumps, the latter throw out clusters of sprouts which grow several feet a year. Logging works 30 or 40 years old have come up to trees nearly 100 feet high. Naturally such timber has a heavy percentage of sapwood and is soft and brittle, but it is already suitable for piling, box lumber and like purposes and improves constantly.

Since reproduction by seed does not enter into the problem, financial possibilities depend almost wholly on the nature of the original stand. There are many types of redwood forest, pure and mixed, flat and slope. If the old trees are few to the acre, the sprout clusters will be so far apart that excess of side light will produce clumps of swell-butted, short limby trees, of little use for lumber; that is, unless there is also a seedling growth of fir or other species to fill the blanks and bring up the density. Where such a nurse growth is to be counted on, or where the redwood trees are small and close together, ideal conditions for a certain, rapid and well formed second crop exist.

The thinner the original redwood stand, the greater the effort necessary at the time of logging to obtain the required density. The leaving of seed trees of other species, with as many as possible small trees of both redwood and other species and the maximum protection of all from fire, should then be the means employed. On some tracts the proportion of redwood will not warrant this effort; on some it is not even required. The question of whether it pays to hold redwood land is therefore almost wholly local, but when conditions are favorable it can be answered affirmatively, because of the extremely rapid growth, with less doubt than of almost any other species.

There is some tendency to over-production of sprouts by redwood stumps. Removal of the excess with an ax, saving those closest to the ground and not over-thinning to the extent of reducing the density conducive to height growth and shedding of low branches, improves the chances of those remaining.

SEEDING AND PLANTING

SEED SUPPLY

It has been shown in a previous chapter that the owner of deforested land who desires to secure a second crop may find it necessary or cheaper to adopt artificial measures wholly or in part instead of depending upon natural reproduction. These measures may be of two kinds—direct seeding, in which the seed is sown where the trees are to stand permanently, and the planting of trees grown in nurseries.

Whether artificial reforestation is accomplished by means of sowing seed or planting trees, the first requisite is a supply of tree seed of the desired species and of good quality. Unfortunately for the timber owner who wishes to enter upon extensive seeding operations, the business of collecting and preparing forest tree seed for market has received but little attention from old-established seed firms, and it is not always possible to purchase the species and quantity desired. Moreover, the prices charged are often excessive.

In the Pacific Northwest, however, the demand for seed of Douglas fir and Sitka spruce has led to the establishment of a considerable trade in these species, and at reasonable prices, so that where these species are to be used, or only small quantities of other species, the timber owner will probably find it to his advantage to purchase the seed rather than to attempt collecting it himself. Douglas fir seed is quoted at $1.40 to $2.00 per pound and Sitka spruce seed at $2.25 to $3.00.

In purchasing seed it is common practice to specify that it shall be of the new crop, because tree seed kept in ordinary storage loses its vitality materially. When properly stored in air-tight receptacles, however, as is now done by some seed dealers, it will retain its germinative power for several years with only slight depreciation. Moreover, fresh seed, if improperly treated, may be of very poor quality, so that the age of the seed is of little value in the determination of its worth and the only sure method of ascertaining this is by means of germination or cutting tests. The latter method is the quickest and most simple and consists of cutting open a number of the seeds and ascertaining the per cent whose kernel is sound, plump and moist. Seed of good average quality should contain not more than 25-30 per cent of infertile seed.

When seed cannot be purchased, it is necessary to collect. Since no species of coniferous trees bear abundant crops of seed each year and often several seasons will elapse between good crops, it is necessary to gather sufficient seed when the supply is abundant to provide for succeeding years when the crop is apt to be a failure.

The seed ripens in the fall, usually during August or September, and the cones should be collected at that time. Pines require two years in which to mature the seed; that is, the cones are not fully formed and the seed ripe until the second fall after the fertilization of the flowers in the spring. Most of the other important conifers ripen their seed in the fall of the same season. Shortly after the seed is ripe, the cones open and allow it to disseminate, consequently they must be gathered before this occurs.

The cones are gathered either by climbing the trees and cutting them off from the branches, by picking from the tops of felled trees, or by robbing squirrels' hoards. Where squirrels are abundant in the forest, the last method is the cheapest. Climbing trees is practiced only where the trees are small. When this method is employed, the workmen should be equipped with linemen's belts and climbers. Picking from felled trees is readily carried on except where dense underbrush interferes, as is the case in the ordinary Douglas fir forest.

Trees growing in the open, with large crowns extending down the greater part of the bole, bear cones more abundantly than trees in dense forests, and for this reason collecting from scattered open growths can be done more cheaply than on logging areas. Often large quantities of cones can be purchased from settlers who will collect and deliver them at central points at a stipulated price. When this method is employed, however, frequent examination of the cones should be made to ascertain that they contain the full number of seed, for often opened cones from which a part or all of the seed has been disseminated will be offered for sale. Insect larvae also often destroy a large proportion of the seed, particularly when the crop is light and care should be taken that the cones purchased are not infested. The prices paid for cones vary from 25 cents to 50 cents per sack for the larger cones, like yellow and white pine, and 50 cents to $1.00 for Douglas fir and spruce, depending upon the abundance of the crop.

After the cones are gathered the seed must be extracted and cleaned. Where climatic conditions in the fall of the year will permit air-drying, the cones may be spread out on sheets or blankets where they will be exposed to the sun and wind. Under this treatment they will open in from 3 to 6 days, depending upon the weather and the species. Where bad weather will interfere with air-drying, the cones must be dried undercover by artificial heat. This is the method usually employed by professional seed collectors, and where large quantities of cones are to be treated each year special dry houses are constructed and fitted with elaborate drying apparatus. The work can be done most cheaply with such an establishment, but for the ordinary timber owner who expects to collect seed only occasionally, a makeshift dry-house which will answer the purpose can be fitted up inexpensively in any unused building. The essential features are shelves or trays 4 feet wide arranged around the walls of the room, one above the other and separated about 8 inches apart, and a heating stove placed in the center of the room. The shelves may be made of burlap stretched tight, or, better still, of wire screening of 1-1/2 inch or 3/4-inch mesh.

After being subjected to a temperature not exceeding 110 deg. Fahr. for from 24 to 48 hours, the cones will open, allowing the seed to fall out when shaken or pounded. The seed when separated from the cones is then mixed with a coarse gravel in about the proportion of 4 to 1 and churned to remove the wings. Finally, all foreign matter is removed by screening and hollow seed blown out by passing it through an ordinary fanning mill.

SEEDING VERSUS PLANTING

The selection of the method of reforestation to employ, whether direct seeding or planting, depends primarily upon the character of the area to be restocked. Direct seeding is usually considerably cheaper when the results are satisfactory, but only on the more favorable sites where moisture and soil conditions are right is there any assurance of success. Even in such cases partial or total destruction of the seed often results from birds and rodents. In exposed situations where the soil is shallow, or where because of climatic conditions soil dries out several inches deep during the growing season, the seed may not germinate at all, or the young seedlings may be killed before they have time to send their roots down to the permanent moisture level. In such situations, planting is the only reliable method. If the plant material is of the proper kind and the work well done, satisfactory results are almost certain to follow. Direct seeding is a much more rapid method than planting, and where extensive areas are to be restocked within a short period and seed is abundant, the work can be completed quickly. On the other hand, this method is wasteful of seed because a large proportion fails to germinate and the young seedlings often succumb to adverse conditions, so that where seed is scarce or its cost high, planting is the more practical method.

Because planting is the most reliable method it has been the one most largely employed in extensive operations, both here and in most European counties, but thorough tests are now being made of direct seeding and under proper conditions it promises to be fairly satisfactory. The Douglas fir region west of the Cascade Mountains offers the most favorable conditions for direct seeding and except on badly exposed south slopes, or where the growth of brush is exceedingly dense, it is believed this method will prove a satisfactory one for the timber owner to employ.

In the yellow pine regions conditions are not so satisfactory for direct seeding, since this tree occurs largely in a region of deficient rainfall. However, natural reproduction is abundant throughout many portions of this type, and it is probable that direct seeding will prove fairly successful if the proper methods are employed and if forest conditions have not been too greatly disturbed. That some method of successfully employing direct seeding with yellow pine be found is greatly to be desired, since yellow pine seedlings do not withstand transplanting well, but there is need for careful experimentation before extensive seeding operations in this type by private timber owners would be justifiable.

Western white pine, it is believed, will be easy to reproduce in most of its native situations by direct seeding, though the greater scarcity of its seed and the fact that it will be more subject to destruction by birds and rodents because of its larger size may make planting the more practical method.

Trees for planting can either be purchased from commercial nurserymen or grown in nurseries established for that purpose near the planting site. When only a few thousand trees are needed it is cheaper to purchase them, but when extensive operations are contemplated, covering hundreds of acres in which millions of trees will be needed, it is far preferable for the owner to grow the trees in his own nursery. Some initial outlay for the establishment of the nursery will be necessary and a practical nurseryman should be employed, but the saving in the cost of the trees will fully compensate for these.

One, two and three year old trees, the latter once transplanted, are usually employed in planting, the older trees being used for the less favorable sites. In planting they are placed in rows equidistant apart, the spacing varying from 4 to 12 feet, with a general average of about 6 feet. The work may be done either in the fall after growth has ceased or in the spring before growth commences.

The cost of planting, of course, will vary greatly with the age of the trees, the number planted per acre and the accessibility and character of the planting site. With young trees and wide spacing, the cost may be as low as $6.00 per acre, while in more unfavorable situations where older plants are used and planting is more laborious it may be as high as $16.00. A fair average, however, for those areas which a timber owner would be most likely to plant up is about $8.00 to $10.00 per acre.

In direct seeding, several different methods may be employed, such as broadcasting over the entire area with or without previous preparation of the soil, sowing in strips, or sowing in seed spots; but observation and experiment have shown that it is necessary for seed such as Douglas fir, yellow pine and western white pine to come in close contact with the mineral soil in order that it may germinate and the seedlings live; consequently only those methods should be used which will accomplish this. Where the area has been burned over previous to sowing and the mineral soil laid bare, broadcast seeding may be employed. Where the ground will permit the use of a harrow good results are obtainable by scarifying the soil in strips about 10 feet apart and sowing the seed in these strips. On unburned areas covered with a dense growth of fern, salal, moss, grass, or other plants, this covering must be removed by the seed spot method. This consists in removing the ground cover with a grub hoe or mattock in spots of varying diameter (6 inches to 3 feet) and of various distances apart (6 to 15 feet), and sowing the seed in these spots. The advantages of this method are that a minimum amount of seed is used; the ground can be prepared and the seed covered to whatever extent is desirable, and the soil pressed down. This method is believed to be the one best suited to the greatest variety of sites.

The amount of seed used per acre will, of course, vary with the species and the method used, and the quality of the seed. The following table indicates the approximate quantity of seed of good average quality required per acre for three different methods, the average cost when collected in fairly large quantities, and the number of seed per pound:

No. pounds required per acre. No. seed Cost per Broadcast, Seedspots Species. per lb. pound. entire area. Strips. 6' apart. Douglas fir 42,000 $1.50 2 - 3 1/2 - 1 1/2 - 3/4 Yellow pine 8,000 .50 10 - 12 2 - 2-1/2 1-1/2 - 2 Western white pine 14,000 .75 6 - 8 1-1/2 - 1-3/4 1 - 1-1/2

The total cost, too, will vary widely, not only because of the different quantities of seed used but also because of the great extent to which the methods are varied to suit the conditions occurring upon the area. Simple broadcasting without any preparation or treatment of the soil will not exceed 20 cents to 25 cents per acre for labor; harrowing and sowing in strips, 85 cents to $1.10 per acre, and sowing in seedspots, $2.00 to $5.00 per acre. Upon this basis the total cost per acre will approximate the figures given in the table below:

Broadcast over Seedspots, Species. entire area. Strips. 6' apart. Douglas fir $3.20-4.75 $1.00-2.60 $2.75-6.00 Yellow pine 5.20-6.25 1.85-2.35 2.75-6.00 Western white pine 4.70-6.25 2.00-2.40 2.75-6.00

RATE OF GROWTH AND PROBABLE RETURNS

Of all factors in calculating the financial possibilities of second forest crops, the growth to be expected is the easiest to determine with fair accuracy. Future stumpage value, tax burden and fire risk are all subject to uncertain influences, but the approximate yield of a given species under given natural conditions will be the same in the future that it is now. To predict it requires only study of existing stands without being misled by the influence of conditions which will not be repeated.

On the other hand, an immense amount of misinformation is circulated because of superficial observation. Enthusiasts discovering individual trees which have made prodigious growth, or even fairly extensive stands on fertile soil with heavy rainfall, will compute sawlog yields at 40 or 50 years which are much too optimistic for general application. Others, remembering some stand they have seen in unfavorable localities, or noting shade-suppressed trees which will not be paralleled after the virgin forest is removed, are unduly discouraged. It is most essential that yield tables be made by trained observers who know how to reach the true average, and that the figures either actually come from the region to which they are to be applied or are accompanied by a systematic analysis of climatic and other conditions which permits intelligent comparison.

In calculating another yield on cut-over land, the system for an even-aged new growth, such as will follow clean cutting of Douglas fir, for example, is quite different from that necessary if the cutting amounts only to selection of the merchantable trees and leaves a fair stand of smaller ones. In the latter case, yield tables based on average acreage production are of little use because so much depends upon the character of the stand which remains on the tract in question. Here the basis must be the rate of growth of the average individual tree. An estimate by the number in each present diameter class may be made of the trees which will escape logging, showing, let us say for example, about five trees of each diameter from 6 to 12 inches, or thirty-five in all which are over 6 inches. If the growth study indicates that in 20 years there will have been added 6 inches in diameter we can estimate a crop of five trees each of classes extending from 12 to 18 inches. Actually the process will not be so simple, for the different aged trees will not grow with equal rapidity, and several other factors must be reckoned with, but the general principle is to apply rate of growth knowledge to the material on hand, and study of this material is essential.

For predicting even-aged crops resulting from entire restocking, the acquisition of necessary basic information is as difficult, or more so, but its application is far simpler. That the ground will be fully stocked by natural or artificial means must be assumed, but we can also assume that the result will be influenced only by normal locality conditions and not by accidental condition of the present forest. Therefore we use a yield table and not a growth table. This can be made by actual measurement of existing second growth stands of different ages, which proves not only the growth rate but also the number of trees which the natural shade-thinning process results in at different periods of the forest life. The chief danger of inaccuracy in such information lies in basing it on insufficient measurements or in applying it where soil or moisture conditions are greatly different. The latter error can be guarded against, however, by use of growth figures taken in conjunction with it. For example, if a yield table showing 25,000 feet to the acre at 50 years from seed is accompanied by one showing that the average stand it represents is 125 high at 50 years and its average 50-year-tree is 14 inches in diameter, little investigation is necessary to determine whether in any given locality the growth falls far above or below that.

An attempt to reproduce here any considerable number of growth and yield tables would be of doubtful use without more space than is allowed to explain how they are made and used. There are many technicalities, both mathematical and silvicultural, and unfortunately most of the available figures for the Northwest, obtained by the Forest Service, have not been generalized enough for wide popular value. This is particularly true of yield tables which necessarily require assuming standards of merchantability. While the best western white pine table assumes that by the time a new crop is cut 7-inch white pine will be salable, the best fir table was worked upon a 12-inch diameter basis. Obviously this would show an unfairly greater yield of a pine forest containing trees between 7 and 12 inches and be very misleading in calculating financial results at the same age and stumpage rates; yet without the original data there is no way of reducing both tables to the same basis. As an example, however, to indicate how the financial possibilities of second growth can be arrived at if a systematic study is made, let us take the Douglas fir figures referred to.

DOUGLAS FIR

These are exceedingly reliable. Measurements were taken by the Forest Service of practically pure fir on about 400 areas in thirty-five different age stands from 10 to 140 years old, ranging along the western Cascade foothills from the Canadian line to central Oregon. Since reforestation investment is likely to be confined mainly to the more promising opportunities, only such growth was measured as gave an average representation of the better class of the two should all the general territory covered be graded in two quality classes of all around ability to produce forests. On the other hand, care was taken not to represent the maximum of the better class, data being taken only from permanent forest land and not from rich potential agricultural land which might show unfairly rapid forest growth. The average areas were actually measured and the number, age, form, diameter growth, height growth, board foot contents, etc., of all the trees on them were accurately determined. Trees 12 inches in diameter 4-1/2 feet from the ground were considered merchantable, and it was assumed they could be used to 8 inches in the top. From this data were prepared tables and diagrams showing the average development of trees and stands under fairly favorable conditions in the region west of the Cascades.

This gave the following yield per acre:

Age of Stand. Feet, B. M. Age of Stand. Feet, B. M. 40 12,400 90 70,200 50 28,000 100 79,800 60 41,000 110 90,300 70 51,700 120 101,500 80 61,100 130 113,000

Let us see how these figures can be used in answering the primary question of the prospective timber-grower: "Will it pay to hold my cut-over land for a second crop?"

Obviously no certain answer can be printed here, not only because no uniform stumpage prices or carrying charges can be predicted but also because individuals may differ as to what profit is necessary to make the investment "pay," so it will be necessary to analyze the situation so each may select the premises which suit his own case and judgment. The investment made by the holder of cut-over land is of two kinds; that represented by the land which otherwise he might sell, putting the proceeds at work in some other business, and the annual carrying charges which otherwise he might also invest differently. The sum obtainable by investing the money available by sale after logging, adding to it yearly the sum required for fire prevention and taxes, and compounding both at a satisfactory interest for the entire period, is practically the cost of holding the tract for any given number of years. By calculating this cost upon a basis of one acre, and dividing it by the yield board measure which the same period will produce, the cost per thousand feet of growing a second crop is arrived at.

Against this may be set the gross return from the same expected yield at any given stumpage rate. The yield at the end of a 50-year investment will not be that of a 50-year forest, however, for although the carrying cost begins at once, the new forest requires a few years to become established. No exact figure can be set for this, for some seed will sprout the first year and some blank spaces may persist several years, but in the tables to follow five years has been allowed for an average. Consequently, instead of calculating on a 28 M yield as the return at the end of 50 years, as indicated in the yield table on the preceding page, the 45-year yield of 20-1/2 M is used, and similarly for the other periods of 60, 70 and 80 years. These four rotations only will be considered here, for in less than 50 years second growth will probably be too small to be cut at the highest profit, while after 80 years the investment compounds so heavily as to make it improbable that increasing stumpage values will compensate.

Three interest rates have been used in the first table to follow: 4, 5 and 6 per cent, compound. Forest calculations at lower rates are often seen, but it is not believed that less than 5 per cent will be satisfactory to private owners and many will insist on 6 per cent. The fair standard is what the owner can make in other business today, and since he can reinvest his income in the same business, it is reasonable to figure at a compound rate. A few examples are given to show how similar calculations may be made with any set of investment and stumpage factors which appeal to individual judgment. The second table, prepared from the first, shows at a glance the price that must be received for Douglas fir to make it pay either 5 or 6 per cent compound interest under a range of sixty different conditions of original investment and annual cost.

It should be borne in mind that, although present land value is made a charge, the value of the land at the time of harvest is not considered. This value is certain to increase greatly in the long periods involved. Taxation charges will be against it as well as against the timber. Indeed much land is now held without any regard to possible second growth. It should be assumed therefore that any profit in forest investment shown will be increased by the sum obtainable for the land at the end of the same period.

Cost per M of growing Cost per M of growing Douglas fir resulting Douglas fir resulting from every $1 per acre from every 1 cent per acre originally invested. of annual carrying charge. ————At the end of————- ————At the end of————- 50 60 70 80 50 60 70 80 Years. Years. Years. Years. Years. Years. Years. Years. At 4% $ .35 $ .30 $ .33 $ .41 $ .074 $ .068 $ .078 $ .098 At 5% .56 .53 .65 .88 .102 .101 .126 .172 At 6% .90 .94 1.27 1.87 .142 .152 .208 .309

Example 1: With land worth $2.50 an acre at present, and an estimated carrying charge of 3 cents a year for protection and 20 cents per taxes, what stumpage price for a 50-year crop will pay 5 per cent compound interest? 6 per cent?

5% 6% 2-1/2 X .56 = $1.40 2-1/2 X .90 = $2.25 23 X .102 = 2.35 23 X .142 = 3.27 ——- ——- $3.75 $5.52

Example 2: With land worth $5 an acre at present, and stumpage estimated to reach $7.00 in 60 years, what is the maximum annual carrying charge per acre which can be paid during this period and permit a 5 per cent return? A 6 per cent return?

5% 6% Gross return = $7.00 Gross return = $7.00 5 X .53 = 2.65 5 X .94 = 4.70 ——- ——- $4.35/.101 = 43c $2.30/.152 = 15c

Example 3: Assuming that stumpage will be worth $6.00 in 50 years, and that public enlightenment will keep the annual fire and tax charge from exceeding 20 cents, what price obtainable for cut-over land today, made to earn 5 per cent compound interest in some other business, is as profitable as keeping the land for a second crop? If other business would earn 6 per cent?

5% 6% Gross return = $6.00 Gross return = $6.00 20 X .102 = 2.04 20 X .142 = 2.84 ——- ——- $3.06/.56 = $7.07 $3.16/.90 = $3.51

FUTURE STUMPAGE PRICES NECESSARY TO MAKE DOUGLAS FIR SECOND CROP PAY EITHER 5 OR 6% COMPOUND INTEREST ON INVESTMENT.

Maximum Original Investment $7.50 an Acre. Maximum Annual Carrying Charge 30c an Acre.

Cost per M Feet - Taxes and 50 year 60 year 70 year 80 year Original protection rotation rotation rotation rotation investment paid yearly (20.5 M (35 M. (46.6 M (56.5 M per acre. per acre. per A.) per A.) per A.) per A.) (cents) - - 10 $2.40 $2.35 $2.90 $3.90 15 2.95 2.85 3.50 4.80 $2.50 < 20 3.45 3.35 4.15 5.65 25 3.95 3.85 4.75 6.50 - 30 4.45 4.35 5.40 7.35 - 10 3.80 3.65 4.50 6.10 5% 15 4.35 4.20 5.15 6.95 Compound < 5.00 < 20 4.85 4.70 5.75 7.80 Interest 25 5.35 5.20 6.40 8.70 - 30 5.85 5.70 7.05 9.55 - 10 5.20 5.00 6.15 8.30 15 5.75 5.50 6.75 9.20 7.50 < 20 6.25 6.00 7.40 10.05 25 6.75 6.50 8.00 10.00 - - 30 7.25 7.00 8.65 11.75

- - 10 3.65 3.85 5.25 7.75 15 4.40 4.65 6.30 9.30 2.50 < 20 5.10 5.40 7.35 10.85 25 5.80 6.15 8.35 12.35 - 30 6.50 6.90 9.40 13.90 - 10 5.90 6.20 8.45 12.45 6% 15 6.65 7.80 9.45 14.00 Compound < 5.00 < 20 7.35 7.75 10.50 15.50 Interest 25 8.05 8.50 11.55 17.05 - 30 8.75 9.25 12.60 18.60 - 10 8.15 8.55 11.60 17.10 15 8.90 9.35 12.65 18.65 7.50 < 20 9.60 10.10 13.70 20.20 25 10.30 10.85 14.70 21.75 - - 30 11.00 11.60 15.75 23.30

These tables bring out a number of very interesting primary facts:

1. The rate of interest demanded of the investment is one of the most important factors. This is because such long terms are involved. The charges compound with prodigious rapidity toward the last. In any other business paying 6 per cent, compound, the maximum investment per acre given in the preceding table, that of a land value of $7.50 and a 30-cent annual charge for 80 years, would earn $1,317. A 75-year forest then harvestable should have 56-1/2 M to the acre, but this would have to bring over $25 per M to pay as well. On the other hand, the same deposits earning 4 per cent would only amount to $338 in the same period which would be equaled by timber at $6 per M.

2. For similar reasons, the length of time before cutting has much to do with profit or loss. The compounding of carrying charges eventually outstrips the production of material to a degree which can be offset only by the most rapid rise of stumpage values.

3. The greater the investment, the more marked the above effect and consequently the tendency to market an inferior product. A 60-year rotation is indicated by a majority of the conditions shown.

4. A comparatively slight increase in annual tax or fire charges may make the difference between profit and loss. Roughly, stumpage must bring $1 per M more to compensate for each 10 cents an acre for taxes at 5 per cent or for 7 cents at 6 per cent.

5. If the land is salable for $5 an acre or more it cannot be made to pay 6 per cent compound interest under the most favorable conditions, unless the stumpage received exceeds $6. At $5 stumpage and with reasonable taxation it will pay 5 per cent if it escapes fire.

6. Thirty cents an acre is apparently about the maximum annual carrying charge which will permit a 6 per cent profit, even with very high stumpage prices. Consequently, while present taxes on cut-over land are seldom prohibitive, there must be reasonable certainty that excessive increase will not occur.

The carrying charges shown in the second table cover both fire protection and taxes, as by reading the 15-cent line to include a 10-cent tax and a 5-cent fire patrol. The investment charge may be used to represent sale value only, or sale value plus any expense incurred at time of logging in order to secure reproduction, such as leaving salable material in seed trees, or planting. If desired, any owner may make a similar calculation on any other valuation better fitting his own situation. The table is not intended for universal use but merely as an illustration of how forest calculations may be made.

WHITE PINE

Too much space would be required to give a similar table for all western species, even were as good yield figures available. Roughly speaking, however, western white pine, under conditions thoroughly favorable to it, may be expected to make as good a yield as Douglas fir, and the above fir table will not be far off for it. A probably higher stumpage value should offset any lesser production.

HEMLOCK

Western hemlock is of somewhat, but not much, slower growth when coming in on open land as an even-aged stand. No yield table based on the same merchantable standards as the fir table quoted has been prepared, but the following is fairly safe to include all trees 14 inches in diameter used to 12 inches in the top: At 50 years, 2 M per acre; at 60 years, 22 M; at 70 years, 33 M; at 80 years, 40 M. The absence of a 40-year figure, and the sudden jump between 50 and 60 years, is because very few hemlock trees reach 14 inches at 50 years, but a large number of 12 and 13-inch trees pass into that class during the ten years following. Any yield figures for an even-aged forest show a similar jump at the point where the stand as a whole reaches the determined minimum merchantable size. For the same reason these hemlock figures are not very far less promising than those given for fir, for at corresponding ages the latter include 12 and 13-inch trees and all trees are considered merchantable to a top diameter of 8 inches.

SPRUCE

Since no systematic study of Sitka spruce second growth has been made, it can only be predicted from knowledge of its habits that while in favorable situation it will yield as heavily as Douglas fir, in other localities its growth in early life is slower and less regular, making it less likely to produce a good crop before the carrying charges become burdensome. If this proves true, taxation rates and land values will be extremely important factors, offset to some degree by a smaller fire hazard and the probability of high stumpage.

REDWOOD

For redwood we also lack good figures for any considerable range of conditions and ages, for redwood growth which followed burns does not exist and there are no very old cuttings. Government studies on the northern California coast prove conclusively, however, that this is our most rapid growing native commercial tree. In thirty years, in fair soil, it will produce a tree of 16 inches diameter, 80 feet high, and some existing 45-year stands run 20 to 30 inches on the stump and about 100 feet high. Reckoning 14-inch trees as merchantable, to be used to 10 inches in the tops, a 25 to 30-year second growth after logging near Crescent City was found to have 2-1/2 M feet to the acre and the future increase should be very rapid. There is little question of the profit of growing redwood, provided the difficulties described elsewhere of getting a dense crop started are overcome.

PROFITABLE THINNINGS

In addition to the yield of saw timber to be expected when the second crop reaches manufacturing size, there will be a market in many cases for material obtained by thinning. It is perfectly fair to compound for the remainder of the rotation any net profit so obtained and to set it against the carrying charges. In many cases it will go far to turn an apparently losing investment into a very profitable one. Moreover, the proper thinning of growing stands not only utilizes material which would otherwise die and be lost before the main harvest, but actually improves the quality of the first yield.

In obtaining the figures previously quoted the Forest Service found that the average Douglas fir stand at 40 years contains 410 living trees, most of them between 6 and 15 inches in diameter. At 60 years there are but 265 trees, 145 having died and decayed in the 20-year interval which were suitable for ties or other small timber products. The remaining trees would have been improved by thinning to prevent this loss, for the greatest diameter growth is made when the stand is open, and the ideal is to have just the density which will get the greatest wood production and still result in proper pruning and clearing of the trees.

Commenting along this line Mr. T. T. Munger, who conducted the investigation, says:

"That thinnings are silviculturally practicable and financially profitable in the Pacific Northwest has been demonstrated. In the vicinity of Cottage Grove, Oregon, many fully stocked even-aged Douglas fir stands now about 50 years old, most of them forming a part of ranches. Many of these stands have been cut over in the last 10 years and all the material then large enough for piling or mine timber cut out. This removed about 20 per cent of the stand. At the present time many of these same stands now contain much material valuable for small piles, ties and mine timber, yet the crown canopy is as dense and the trees as close and fine quality as though no cutting had ever been done in the stand. In fact, some of the 50-year old stands have already been cut over a second time, and each time with decided profit to the owner and no damage to the forest. From one 10-acre block of second growth now 50 years old, situated 7 miles from the railroad, already 32,000 feet of mining timber and about 100 50-foot piles have been taken out, yet the stand is now in good condition, and in a few years more of the smaller trees can be removed without infringing on the yield of the final crop. The material from these thinnings was worth at the railroad about $80 per acre."

CONCLUSIONS

Throughout the preceding pages on the financial promise of timber-growing in the West, the attempt has been not to give conclusions but to state certain known facts regarding tree growth and indicate how these may be used in arriving at conclusions based largely upon the conditions and judgment of the individual owner. In many cases they will do little more than suggest further investigation necessary. The Western Forestry & Conservation Association and, doubtless, the District Foresters for the Forest Service, will be glad to discuss such work and assist if possible.

There are, however, several conservative deductions to be made:

1. The Pacific coast states contain large areas having species and climatic conditions peculiarly favorable for forest-growing as a business. The rapidity and quantity of yield insure profit under conditions which would be prohibitive elsewhere.

2. In many cases, perhaps in most, a second crop can be started with little initial expense.

3. There is much land of no value for any other purpose.

4. Even if the owner does not care to hold his land long enough for another crop, or if he is prevented from doing so at some future time by excessive taxation or other prohibition, its disposal value will be greater if it bears young forest growth than if it does not.

5. Stumpage values are certain to advance greatly and their advance will be governed largely by these factors:

a. Speculative influence necessarily accompanying the lessening of the nation's and the world's timber supply.

b. The carrying charges of fire prevention and taxation imposed by the community upon virgin timber, which, since they represent an investment which must be recouped, will either be added in the long run to the price of stumpage exactly in the measure of their severity and so transferred to the consumer, or result in rapid cutting and consequently raise the speculative value of that which escapes cutting. (This the consumer will pay also.)

c. The quantity of new timber grown.

6. It is probable that future demand for timber will reimburse the cost of growing it, be this cost high or low within reasonable limits.

7. This does not mean, however, that the timberland owner will or can generally engage in the business when the cost is excessive. While he could probably make a good profit eventually, such an investment is too heavy and prolonged to be inviting; besides there is the possibility of entire loss by fire. He will naturally compare it with other investments having less disadvantages. For example, since conditions which discourage the growing of new competing forests tend for this very reason to enhance the value of existing forests, he might invest further in the latter instead, with equal ultimate profit and with easier access to his money at any time.

8. Consequently the growing of timber is promising to the private owner only when the investment can be borne easily. Since it has three forms—land value, fire protection, and taxation—all must be moderate or, if one or more is high, the rest must be low.

9. With the fire hazard great at present, and taxation so uncertain as to require allowing for its being excessive, the initial investment must be insignificant.

10. This confines it to land of low sale value and precludes much expense to insure the second crop.

11. To secure the perpetuation of forests on the scale essential to public welfare, the public must provide the private owner better fire protection and an equitable taxation system. Or else it must purchase sufficient cut-over land and engage in forestry itself, bearing the cost and taking the risk.

12. Nevertheless there are several practical exceptions to the somewhat unfavorable situation theoretically outlined above:

(a) Many owners are warranted in holding cut-over land for some time, if not indefinitely, because of the upward trend of land values generally. Unless clearly most useful for agriculture, such land will be made more valuable by a growth of young timber. However indefinite the profit of encouraging this growth and protecting it from fire may be if the present sale value and taxes are computed against such outlay, the two latter charges are being carried anyway and are the most important ones. Merely that it cannot be proved that they can be more than offset is no reason for not trying to compensate as far as possible at slight further expense. While this may not often permit any great effort to reforest, it will usually warrant protection of the natural new growth that will follow if given a chance.

(b) Many owners would prefer to have their milling business continue indefinitely. If such have or can purchase virgin timber to carry them 50 years or more they may do well to grow a log supply to come into use at that time, even if they would not do so merely as a stumpage investment.

(c) It is highly probable that history will repeat itself in the United States, especially in the Pacific coast states where every other condition is so favorable to making forestry a great benefit to the community, and that fire and tax discouragements will be removed as soon as the public realizes the situation. The owner who anticipates this and gets his crop started first will be the first to profit from it, and since it is the compounding toward the latter end of the rotation which now appears serious, the chances are that he will not have a heavy burden before relief of this kind arrives.

(d) Every owner of virgin timber which he expects to hold uncut for 10 years or more should consider reforestation of adjacent cut-over land in the light of fire protection also. It is the inflammable, sun-dried, brake-covered openings, yearly increasing in extent, which constitute his greatest fire menace. The conversion of these into green young growth, too dense for fern and salal and destructible only by the hottest crown fires, is the best protection he can give mature timber surrounded by them. Some additional expense for a few years to accomplish this will usually be cheaper and safer than the patrol otherwise required for an indefinite period.

(e) Advance in value of the land itself, realizable when the second crop is cut, will in many cases be great enough to make an otherwise unpromising reforestation investment profitable.

HARDWOOD EXPERIMENTS

In the foregoing pages consideration has been given to the growing of native coniferous species only. There is a field, however, yet to be entered into by the timber grower in the Pacific Northwest, which gives promise of good returns. This is the growing of eastern hardwoods. As is well known, the supply of native hardwoods in this region is deficient and those occurring are of poor quality. The demand for staple hardwoods is constant, and at present can be filled only through importation from the East. Moreover, the manufacturing industry in the Pacific Northwest is as yet only in its infancy, and as this industry becomes of greater importance in the future, the demand for hardwood lumber is bound to increase. This increase in demand, coupled with the rapidly diminishing supply in the East, seems certain to create a condition under which it will be profitable to grow hardwoods commercially.

That eastern species will thrive under forest conditions in this region has not, of course, been demonstrated, but the great variety of species planted successfully as shade trees in towns and cities, and in many instances by settlers in the mountains and farming districts, together with the marked success of various fruits introduced here, would tend to indicate their adaptability to the climate. In many respects the climate along the coast of Oregon and Washington is similar to that found throughout the great hardwood region of the Southern Appalachian mountains.

Of the many species occurring in the East, several appear preeminently suited to experimentation because of their particular value in the trade and rapid growth. Hickory is one of the most valuable of eastern woods, and the supply remaining is probably least of all the important species. It is largely used in the vehicle industry, and because of the fact that the trade can use trees of small size, and even prefers "second growth" hickory to the more mature form, a crop can be grown within a comparatively short time. Shagbark or pignut are probably the best species to plant. Red oak is another species for which there is a large demand, and while it does not equal the white oak in value, its more rapid growth makes it a more desirable species to grow. The increasing scarcity of white oak has brought about the substitution of red oak for many purposes for which the more superior variety was formerly used exclusively. Black walnut is a wood highly prized in furniture manufacture, and this, coupled with its rapid growth, places it among the first rank of hardwood trees. Chestnut, white ash, tulip, poplar and black cherry are other species whose value for various purposes suggests the possible advisability of their introduction.

Much that has been said in the chapter concerning the methods of establishing coniferous woods applies equally well to hardwoods. Those species, however, whose seeds are in the form of nuts, such as hickories, black walnut, chestnuts, and oaks, are particularly adapted to propagation by direct seeding. Other species, such as ash, tulip, poplar, and black cherry, whose seeds are small, are better grown for one year in nurseries before transplanting into the field. Where plantations are started by planting the nuts directly in the field, the cost will be moderate. The nuts can be obtained in any quantity from eastern seed dealers, and their cost, together with the labor of planting them, should not exceed $4 per acre. Where the area planted is level and free from underbrush, preliminary plowing and harrowing, while adding $1.50 to $2 to the cost per acre, will add much to the success of the plantation. Cultivation during the early years of the life of the trees will also result in increased growth.



CHAPTER IV

FORESTRY AND THE FIRE HAZARD

THE SLASHING MENACE

The function of fire as an aid to reproduction of the forest in some instances has been discussed in a preceding chapter. The protection question is of even greater importance, for whether we consider mature timber or reforestation, no forest management is worth while if the investment is to burn up. It can be divided broadly under two heads, reduction of risk due to operative methods and general protection. Whichever we consider, the interest of every lumberman is at stake. The fire question affects him in many ways beside the danger of direct loss. The sale value of timber in any region is increased by knowledge that progressive protective methods prevail among those operating there. Nothing more effectively removes public carelessness with fire, or lack of helpful sympathy with the lumber industry in general, than evidence that the lumberman himself is devoting every effort to safeguarding instead of wasting this great public resource.

Of operative methods reducing fire risk, one of the most important is disposal of logging debris. The deliberate accumulation of immensely inflammable material, almost always where extremely likely to be ignited, is a form of actually inviting disaster practiced by no property holders except lumbermen. Nowhere is it carried to such an extreme as in the West, where the refuse left on the ground is of so great volume as to preclude human control if it is once fired at a dry time, and where accidental fire is often more of a certainty than a liability. Of late, however, the more progressive lumbermen of the fir region have adopted the practice of firing their slashings annually at a time when the surrounding woods will not burn, and the pine men of Idaho and Montana have quite widely endorsed brush piling. Idaho has a piling law. Oregon already has a slash burning law which is partially observed. The greatest objection to such a law is that neither reforestation nor economical protection indicates the same practice in different types of forest and it is extremely difficult to make the law both flexible and effective. More will be accomplished by voluntary adoption of the method best suited to each condition.

BRUSH PILING

In the more open pine stands of the interior, where both logging debris and original combustible ground cover are small, slashings threaten the adjacent timber less than in denser forests, but are of peculiar danger to the valuable young growth usually left on the area itself. As we have seen in a previous chapter on western yellow pine, reproduction in dry localities may require scattering the brush over the ground and keeping fire out, and there may be abnormally dense stands suggesting clean slash burning, but as a rule brush piling is the best course. In view of the importance of this subject the following extracts are taken from a circular issued by the Forest Service:

"Advantages of Brush Burning

"The greatest advantage of brush burning is the protection it gives against fire. In many cases brush burning is the only practicable safeguard against fire. After the average lumbering operation the ground is covered with slash, scattered about or piled, just as the swampers have left it. This, in the dry season, is a veritable fire trap. Probably 90 per cent of all uncontrolled cuttings are burnt over, which retards the second crop at least from fifty to one hundred years and perhaps permanently changes the composition of the forest. Fires may be set by loggers while still at work on the area or several years after by lightning, campers, or locomotives. By piling the brush and burning it in wet weather, or in snow, when there is no danger of the fire spreading, all inflammable material is removed, and the second growth can come up without serious risk of being destroyed. Even where only part of the brush is burned and the rest is piled, as when the piles in open places, along ridges, streams, or laid off lines are burned, very much is gained in case of fire, since these cleared lanes form bases from which a fire may be fought.

"Besides lessening the danger from fire, brush burning has certain minor advantages. When the brush on the ground is removed it is much easier for rangers and others to ride or walk through the forest. This may be very important in case of a fire or in rounding up cattle. It is also much easier to cut and handle ties, cordwood, or other timber which may later be taken from the cut-over areas if the slash is out of the way. By piling and burning the green brush as it is cut from the trees by the swampers, as is now being done in Minnesota and parts of Montana, the ground is cleared and skidding is made easier and cheaper. Again, careful piling and burning of brush improves the appearance of the forest. There is nothing much more unsightly than a recently cutover area where no attempt has been made to dispose of tops and lops. Near towns or resorts and along roads or streams frequented by tourists this point should be carefully considered, but as a general rule the utility of the forest should not be sacrificed for beauty.

"Disadvantages of Burning

"The disadvantages of burning brush are many and, with the one exception of protection from fire, far outweigh the advantages. If protection can be had in some other way, as with more efficient patrol service or more stringent laws, the practice should in many cases be abandoned. In many places, especially in the yellow pine type, the best, and often the only, reproduction comes up under a fallen treetop or other brush. Where there is little of the old stand left, the straggling open top protects the seedlings from the direct heat of the sun. Yet brush not only protects the seedlings from the sun but, what is more important, the leaves and broken twigs form a cover which retards evaporation of moisture from the soil. Over the greater part of the West the soil dries out very rapidly during the dry season, and this serious retards or even prevents the growth of seedlings. Even in the moister regions, such as that of the Engelmann spruce type, it is very necessary to conserve the moisture in the soil after logging to prevent the remaining trees from being killed through lack of soil moisture. A third reason why seedlings so often come up only under the down treetops is that they are protected from stock. Next to drought, sheep are perhaps the most serious menace to reproduction, and though it would be best to keep all stock off the area for several years after logging, in many cases this is not practicable, and on many areas the leaving of the tops on the ground is the only way to protect reproduction from injury.