The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1948-03-11
Free State Forestry

Maybe this column should be called
"Swivel Chair Forestry" today mas
much as the topic for discussion is a
question which was brought out dur
ing a conservation with a couple Of
fellows in a gas station in the county.
While talking about the plantations
which are scattered about the county,
the question arose as to whether these
trees had not been planted too thick.
The majority of these paintings
were made with a six by six spacing
being used that is trees were planted
six feet apart each way Using this
spacing, it requires 1,210 trees to
plant an acre of ground. To be sure
older timber does not contain nearly
this many trees per acre; however if
a farmer were going to plant corn
would he plant only one tenth of the
field? The idea behind this close
spacing when making the planting IS
the utilization of the planting site.
Also even though part of the trees
were damaged at some future time.
there may be sufficient number I'M
damaged to provide the basis for a
well stocked stand in the future. True
enough some times an epidemic az
tack of insect or disease will wipe out
an entire planting regardless of the
number of trees but other times only
a portion of the total number will be
injured.
Referring to the utilization Of the
site, even this many trees per acre
will not fully utilize the site during
the first years Of the plantation;
however present paintings in this
county indicate that trees planted on
this spacing will if sufficient num-
Der Of trees survive. more or less
fully utilize the site within ten to
fifteen years This is also dependent
upon the species in question. That is,
pine will cover a site more quickly
than Northern white Cedar when
using the same spacing. Some plan
tations may close even sooner than
this.
As the trees become larger and the
branches close together some of the
trees can be removed for Christmas
trees or other similar products. This
will give the remaining trees adj
ditional growing room which is neces-
,,,oi,,toi,, he
growth rate and at the same time
some return is coming off of the area.
As the trees close together, the
lower limbs will begin to die for lack
Of light. This is a natural process and
is called natural pruning. By this
means tree will eventually begin to
put on clear wood after these dead
limbs are removed or fall off. If a
stand Of conifers has not been thinned
previously, it is recommended that it
should be thinned when the height of
the dead branches equals about one
third of the total height of the tree.
1t is a good idea to pick out a NUMBER
Of the best trees in the plantation and
consider these as crop trees" or the
final trees to be removed. Thinning
should then be done in such a manner
to give these trees the required
amount Of room for best development
By this means, some unnecessary
work may be eliminated BY the time
the trees have reached this size, the
ones which are removed should be
large enough for some use, such as
pulpwood fuel, etc.
In some places thinning which is
made at this time is combined with a
pruning operation on the selected
crop trees. Pruning consists in re-
moving the side branches in order to
encourage the production of clear or
knot free wood. Pruning is some
times restricted to the first log Of the
tree as this is often the most valuable.
In this case, the pruning is or can
be carried out in two operations, the
first taking off the limbs as high as
man can reach from the ground and
the second, made some years later,
removing the remaining limbs to the