'Che Conservative ,
YOUNG PINES.
Mr. Nathaniel Morton Favors Trimming
the Lower
[ A paper rend before the Massachusetts For
estry Association. ]
Mr. President , Indies nnd gentlemen :
I hardly know whether or not to ac
cept the invitation to address you , for
the reason that I have had only eight
years' experience in the cultivation of
pines , and I am sure that I know very
much less than there is to bo known on
the subject , and probably many of you
can tell mo a great deal more than I
can tell you that is of interest in this
matter. The only ground that I can
stand on is to assume that you know
nothing more about the subject than I
did eight years ago.
It is very generally known that the
age of a tree may be found , after it is
cut down , by coxanting the rings of
growth , one of which is formed every
year. Another way to find the age of
n white pine is to count the rows or
whorls of limbs on the trunk of the
tree , which mark each year's growth.
If the rows of the trunk cannot be
easily seen the rows can bo counted on
any prominent limb , from the end of
the limb to the trunk and down the
trunk to the ground. The age of a
young tree can be accurately deter
mined in this way. On a tree where
many of the limbs have fallen off or
been removed , as it may be difficult to
determine the time it took to grow the
first four or five feet , it is approxi
mately correct to call it ten years.
In January , 1891 , having in view the
cultivation of white pine , a tract of 50
acres of woodland was purchased for
§ 400 , situated two and one-half miles
from the central postoffice in Plym
outh , Mass. The tract is a succession
of hills and hollows holding its own
rainfall , with the exception of a few
acres which drain beyond the bounds
of the lot. The soil is light , the sub
soil , so far as known , sandy and gravelly.
It is bounded on one side for half a mile
by a highway. Two woods roads cross
the laud diagonally and other roads
have been made for convenience and to
give better protection against any fires
that may occur.
This lot has been cut over many times ,
the previous owner cutting almost
yearly for many years , wherever it
would yield the best fire wood. Wo
found the lot largely covered with a
mixed growth of white pine and sprout
oak of all ages up to CO years , the oaks
usually the most abundant , but there
were some tracts of a few acres each ,
six to eight acres in all , of pine 25 to
GO years' growth with but a few oaks
among them. Every winter we have
cut upon some part of the lot and
finished the cutting in the winter of
1890-1897.
The plan pursued has been to remove
all the oak that interfered with , or
shaded too much the growing pine , and
yet leave enough trees standing to encourage -
courage the sprouting of pine seeds ,
with which the ground in many places
was well supplied , and also to leave
some shade to the young seedlings for
a few years. Among the oaks wore
found many thrifty growing pines 10
to 25 years old.
Since 1890 enough pines have
come up in many places , where oaks
formerly predominated , to give promise
of a thick pine forest in years to come ,
and wherever this new growth of pines
is abundant the oak sprouts have been
broken off. The best way found to
kill oak stumps is to pound off the
sprouts in winter when the stumps are
frozen. Where trees have been cut
four years very few stumps treated in
this way sprouted again.
Our pines five years old and over
seem to thrive best in places where all
other trees have been removed. It is
a question whether the oak-sprouts ,
luickleberry and other low growth
would not have made enough shade for
seeds to germinate and grow to the
best advantage if all the oalcs had been
removed , especially on land sloping
northerly.
While cutting the surplus wood it
was our custom to cut off all dead
, , branches of the
.
Trimming. , .
standing pines as
high as could bo reached from the
ground with an axe , and occasionally
to cut live limbs to the same height.
The method for the first four years waste
to cut the limbs as near to the trunk as
could be done without injury to the
bark of the trunk , but sometimes , acci
dentally the cut would extend into the
bark of the trunk , and in smoothing the
wound some bark of the trunk would bo
removed all around the cut. In a few
years' time it was found that the scars
made by limbs thus cut off had become
partly or wholly covered with new bark ,
while the scars made by cutting off
limbs without cutting into the bark of
the trunk had not healed over , and
showed little or uo signs of doing so.
The most of the trimming of the last
three or four years has been done on
the plan of cutting into the trunk
enough to make a scar about twice the
diameter of the limb cut off , cutting
enough on all sides of the limb to be
sure to cut through the inner bark of
the trunk , for if the bark on any part
is left unbroken it will not close in
upon that side , and longer time will bo
needed to cover the wound with now
bark. Live limbs of all sizes up to
three inches in diameter , and some
even larger ones , have been cut off in
this way , and give promise of becom
ing entirely covered with new bark.
All trees five feet high and over have
had one or more rows of the lower limbs
cut off , the plan being to continue
such trimming yearly until all limbs
have been removed to the height of 20
feet or more , always leaving enough
: op limbs to promote the best growth
of the tree.
The difference in these two methods
of trimming is well shown on one small
tree. Five years ago several limbs one-
quarter to three-eighths of an inch in
diameter were cut off with a luiife as
close to the tree as coxild bo done with
out cutting into the bark of the trunk ,
or into the enlargement that often
forms where the limb joins the trunk.
Three years ago several other small
linbs were removed from the same
; reo , but instead of being careful to cut
off only the limbs special care was
; aken to cut into the bark of the trunk ,
leaving scars two or three times the
diameter of the limbs cut off. New
bark has closed over the limbs thus
cut off three years ago. Where the
limbs were so carefully cut five years
ago , bark has not yet covered the
wound , but the tree has grown outward
all around the wounds , leaving holes
in the trunk about three-eighths of an
inch deep. Cutting into the bark of the
trunk causes some loss of sap the first
year , but the upward growth of the
trees thus trimmed appears to be as
rapid as of trees trimmed otherwise or
not trimmed at all. The greatest up
ward growths of the last seven years
are found on trees trimmed in this way ;
whether it is due to difference in the
seasons or to the trimming we cannot
say.
say.Wo
Wo have trimmed trees at all seasons
of the year , but consider the middle to
the end of summer to be the best time.
A drawing knife is convenient for
trimming small , low limbs , and for
smoothing limbs cut with a saw. Live
limbs up to an inch in diameter can be
best cut with a heavy knife. The limb
to be cut off is pressed toward the
trunk of the tree with one hand , while
the other hand , with one downward
movement of the knife , cuts off the
linib. Some sizes of limbs are best cut
with a thin , sharp axe , skilfully used ,
striking the limb neither up nor down ,
but with side cuts.
In removing limbs out of reach from
the ground we begin at the upper limb
to be removed , perhaps 20 to 80 feet
from the ground , and cut off the limbs
as we go down , using in one hand a
light axe with short handle.
So little labor is required properly to
cut off small live limbs , that it seems
to be a good investment of money in
thick growths of pine to cut off the
limbs that would soon die if not re
moved , and thus secure clear lumber
for all subsequent growth , instead of
leaving the liuibs to die and hold to
the trunk many years afterwards to
cause an inferior quality of lumber. It
requires more time properly to trim
dead limbs than live ones.
A white pine tree standing alone , or
not shaded somewhat by other trees ,
may need to retain all the limbs that
