The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1914-12-10
THE FORESTS OF GARRETT COUNTY
Garrett County as Seen in the Report
Of the naryland State Board of
Forestry


OF the rlaryland State Board of
Forestry.
! In many forest areas that were cut
over years ago there has come up a
mixture of hardwoods which has reach
ed the point where merchantable ma
terial may be secured, although many
years may be required to bring the
stand to state of maturity. The trees
are.often too close together to make a
rapid growth so that thinning is needed.
In applying the thinning, more than the
simple removal of tree here and there
is to be considered because some of the
trees will never amount to anything of
value because of worthless species or
/ because of undesirable form. 1t IS Just
such trees that should be removed in
the thinning, which is called an i'm
provement cutting, because it improves
the character of the permanent stand.
In this way it is often possible to elimi-
nate the red NAPLES, black gum and
many other inferior species. giving
needed room for the best development
of Il e more promising species. Ordi-
narily a cutting of this kind should not
be made until the trees have attained
their principal height growth and have
clear trunks-the result of close shad-
ing. A thinning at this time would
greatly stimulate diameter growth and
materially hasten the maturity of the
stand. Since the trees that are to be
thinned out have value for some par
ticular purpose such as pit ties, mine
props. or cordwood, net revenue may
be secured.
There are large tracts of woodland
scattered over the county which were
cut over many years ago for the best of
the timber, but many large worthless
trees were left. and since then there
has sprung up a young growth. In
many cases considerable number of
the trees of the original stand were
left because of their inferior quality,
often they were too short and limby to
make saw timber, or Of unmerchant-
able species. These trees, with wide,
spreading crowns monopolize consider
able portion of ground space. thereby
preventing the young growth from COM
ing on. but the trees themselves are
worthless for any purpose. If such
trees were cut they could not generally
be utilized, and the cutting would be
somewhat expensive. AS they stand,
however, they are doing an incalculable
amount of damage to future growth.
Therefore, if there is anything in the
trees that would pay tor cutting them,
they should be cut; but in cases where
they would not pay for the cutting they
can be deadened at small expense, which
will prevent them from doing any
further injury to the young growth that
is striving for light and growing space
around these trees. Experiments in
deadening have been conducted on the
State Forest Reserves under these con-
ditions ard at cost of 81 90 per acre
the work has been done satisfactorily
with very gratifying results. 1t is be-
lieved that this plan is entirely practi-
cable for large areas in the mountain
section and that in carrying 1t out it
will very materially improve the growth
of timber in such tracts.
To the land owner who desires to
hold his woodland for future timber
production and has a merchantable
stand ready to cut, the introduction of
forest management is extremely i'm
portant. There is at the present time
a market for practically everything hat
the forest will produce, from the large
sized trees down to the very small ones.
1t is found however, in many cases that
the owner can realize from the small
trees scarcely more than the cost of
cutting. In such cases he Should care
fully consider the question of cutting
only the larger trees and saving the small
ones for future crop. 1t is true that
considerable damage would be done to
the young growth In getting out the
larger timber and also that there is
danger of fire getting in the slashings
and destroying everything that has
been saved. Since, however, the young
growth represents so small an invest
ment and the value of timber is in
creasing so rapidly, and also that the
conditions for better fire protection are
improving, it is geneally best to save
the small trees wherever possible. At
ter the larger trees are cut the younger
ones will grow at much increased rate
and in surprisingly short time there
is good chance to cut a second crop,
thus placing the woodlands upon basis
of continued production instead of
making clear cutting and then wait
ing for long time before another crop
can be secured. Under this arrange