The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-07-12

most valuable and the most interest | ing in the State. From them, all but
 a small portion of Connecticut's do-
 mesticswood supply is obtained. :. The l tree above all others which has con ] tributed to this production is chest
 nut. Fully one-haf of the standing timber in Connecticut is of this spe- cies. Chestnut is practically the only
 tree in the State used for telegraph and telephone poles; it furnishes the
 greater part of the supply of railroad | ties; and is the principal source of l firewood Next to it in importance
 are the oaks, principally the black | in less abundance, enter into these. types are hickory, red maple. white l asn, and, of less importance, aspen, l cherry. butternut and basswood!
 l The value and, in fact, the very ex-
 istence of second growth } hardwood
 stands~ depends largely upon the pro- l life sprouting capacity of the species which compose them. Much the great
 CT part of the present Connecticut for
 ests originated from sprouts. This Is particularly true of chestnut. Indeed, there is reason to believe that the
 amount of chestnut in. Connecticut has 1 increased since cutting began, chiefly l through it's prodigious sprouting ca
 pacity combined with it's rapid growth.
 Oneaof the most striking features Of these types is their eveness of age.
 This is; the result of the common prac- tice of clean cutting, together with
 abundant fsprouting capacity. Where
 there is a cordwood market, lumber, l tie, or pole operations are usually fol- i lowed by cOrdwood choppers, who util ize the. lCgging waste and the small CT trees left by the loggers, and thus l complete the total removal of the stand. During the ensuing spring, provided no fire occurs, practically
 every chestnut stump and most of the: l sfls Her stumps of. oak and other spe- | cies send up quantities of rapid grow 1 ing sprouts, which, in the course of 1 five ors six .years,I clos etogether and lscanopy. l'I . Since oak and ia
 not stand shade wei IL the shorter ttsees which are shaded by theiT neighborsl soon begin to- die out. As the suryiv-, ors increase in size they decrease in.
 number, and it is always the larger ty of light, which continue to develop. 1 Sprout stands fpf chestnut and oak dc. not case a heavy shade, and us9Ially admit to the forest floor enough light to maintain an understory of such shade enduring trees as red maple,
 black birch, hicko8g and beech, and
 numerous shrubs As a rule, however.
 slender and too poorly developed to succeed if the main stand of chestnut
 and oak were removed. Chestnut and black or red oak reproduction is im- possible under the normal shade of the older stand. and although seed lings and sprouts may appear, they are unable to attain merchantable size, except in chance openings in the crown canopy This, and the rapid produc- ton of even-aged sprout stands, make
 clear cutting the rule among owners
 of Connections woodland.
 The ordinary logging operation in
 Connecticut however, involves much waste which might easily be avoided.
 This occurs not only in the failure to utilize all the unstable portion of the stand after it is felled, though this is only too often the case, but in the loss through natural death and decay of the trees killed out in the competition for light and growing space. By sys-
 tematic trimmings at intervals of five or ten years, after the stand, has be-
 come of mer erchantabIeA size for cord
 wood, this loss not only can be almost entirely prevented, but the growth of
 the remaining trees can be greatly ac- tolerated both in quantity and in quality There is also danger of waste through ignorance of the proaucing capacity of a, woodland. and failure to
 decide upon the most remunera tive
 The average wood1ot owner of Con- necticut has only, a vague idea of the actual value of his timber. His sales are usually made by the lot, {" and he receives lump sum for all the timher on given area with little re- gard to the exact amount and value of the different products obtainable Not only are both owner and pur- chaser in many cases ignorant of even the approximate yield per acre, but of logging and nanufacture. A strik- ing example, of loss to the owner which may be entailed by such hap hazard methods is that of a sale six or eight years ago of a elot'' of virgin hardwoods, for $2,2O0. The purchaser cut from it white, oak which brought him s2,O00, held the land four or, five years, and finally sold it for over $lO,- GOO. Doubtless this is an extreme case, but there are many which, while not involving as large an amount of prof it and loss. have yet failed to net the
 owner anything like the true value of his timber The sale value of timber, as of any other raw material, is the market value of the, finished product
 less the cost of production and a rea~ sonable profit.
 E Native chestnut lumber ia used largely for bridge and car construc- ton and in building. Because it is so extensively used for poles, ties blanks, and heavy short tin1bers cabs
 inet manufacturers and others using finishing lumber find it we'll nigh inn possible to obtain seasoned and we'll
 graded stock. and are compelled to inn port their chestnut. This is due largely to the owners of wood lots, who prefer to supply the constant de
 mand for cord wood, ties and switch timbers, rather than to grow higher class material for less certain mar ket Lumber is usually a secondary consideration That cut is usually in
 short lengths and likely to be narrow or knotty. It is sometimes hard to dispose of such material for $14 per thousand feet. The ordinary wholesale values for native chestnut lumber and blanks range from sf to $25 per thousand board feet.
 Extra wide and longer lumber brings a much higher price, and by
 grading and seasoning it is more than
 likely that $40 could be obtained for chestnut lumber in New York. if not 1 in Connecticut. From the develop ] ment of such market another for the