Part 5
Dense shade preserves soil moisture, the most essential element for wood production; a close stand of suitable kinds of trees secures this shading and prevents the surface evaporation of soil moisture, making it available for wood production. But a close stand also cuts off side light and confines the lateral growing space, and hence prevents the development of side branches and forces the growth energy of the soil to expend itself in height growth; the crown is carried up, and long, cylindrical shafts, clear of branches, are developed; a close stand thus secures desirable form and quality. Yet, since the quality of wood production or accretion (other things being equal) is in direct proportion to the amount of foliage and the available light, and since an open position promotes the development of a larger crown and of more foliage, an open stand tends to secure a larger amount of wood accretion on each tree. On the other hand, a tree grown in the open, besides producing more branches, deposits a larger proportion of wood at The base, so that the shape of the bole becomes more conical, a form which in sawing proves unprofitable; whereas a tree grown in the dense forest both lengthens its shaft at the expense of branch growth and makes a more even deposit of wood over the whole trunk, thus attaining a more cylindrical form. While, then, the total amount of wood production per acre may be as large in a close stand of trees as in an open one (within limits), the distribution of this amount among a larger or smaller number of individual trees produces different results in the quality of the crop. And since the size of a tree or log is important in determining its usefulness and value, the sooner the individual trees reach useful size, without suffering in other points of quality, the more profitable the whole crop.
NUMBER OF TREES PER ACRE.
The care of the forester, then, should be to maintain the smallest number of individuals on the ground which will secure the greatest amount of wood growth in the most desirable form of which the soil and climate are capable, without deteriorating the soil conditions. He tries to secure the most advantageous individual development of single trees without suffering the disadvantages resulting from too open stand. The solution of this problem requires the greatest skill and judgment, and rules can hardly be formulated with precision, since for every species or combination of species and conditions these rules must be modified.
In a well-established young crop the number of seedlings per acre varies greatly, from 3,000 to 100,000, according to soil, species, and the manner in which it originated, whether planted, sown, or seeded naturally.[3] Left to themselves, the seedlings, as they develop, begin to crowd each other. At first this crowding results only in increasing the height growth and in preventing the spread and full development of side branches; by and by the lower branches failing to receive sufficient light finally die and break off--the shaft "clears itself." Then a distinct development of definite crowns takes place, and after some years a difference of height growth in different individuals becomes marked. Not a few trees fail to reach the general upper crown surface, and, being more or less overtopped, we can readily classify them according to height and development of crown, the superior or "dominating" ones growing more and more vigorously, the inferior or "dominated" trees falling more and more behind, and finally dying for lack of light, and thus a natural reduction in numbers, or thinning, takes place. This natural thinning goes on with varying rates at different ages continuing through the entire life of the crop, so that, while only 4,000 trees per acre may be required in the tenth year to make a dense crown cover or normally close stand, untouched by man, in the fortieth year 1,200 would suffice to make the same dense cover, in the eightieth year 350 would be a full stand, and in the one hundredth not more than 250, according to soil and species, more or less. As we can discern three stages in the development of a single tree--the juvenile, adolescent, and mature--so, in the development of a forest growth, we may distinguish three corresponding stages, namely, the "thicket" or brushwood, the "pole-wood" or sapling, and the "timber" stage. During The thicket stage, in which the trees have a bushy appearance, allowing hardly any distinction of stem and crown, the height growth is most rapid. This period may last, according to conditions and species, from 5 or 10 to 30 and even 40 years--longer on poor soils and with shade-enduring species, shorter with light-needing species on good soils--and, while it lasts, it is in the interest of the wood grower to maintain the close stand, which produces the long shaft, clear of branches, on which at a later period the wood that makes valuable, clear timber, may accumulate. Form development is now most important. The lower branches are to die and break off before they become too large. (See illustrations of the progress of "clearing," on pp. 15 and 16.) With light-needing species and with deciduous trees generally this dying off is accomplished more easily than with conifers. The spruces and even the white pine require very dense shading to "clear" the shaft. During this period it is only necessary to weed out the undesirable kinds, such as trees infested by insect and fungus, shrubs, sickly, stunted, or bushy trees which are apt to overtop and prevent the development of their better neighbors. In short, our attention is now devoted mainly to improving the composition of the crop.
[3] If the crop does not, at 3 to 5 years of age, shade the ground well, with a complete crown cover, or canopy, it can not be said to be well established and should be filled out by planting.
WEEDING AND CLEANING THE CROP.
This weeding or cleaning is easily done with shears when the crop is from 3 to 5 years old. Later, mere cutting back of the undesirable trees with a knife or hatchet maybe practiced. In well-made artificial plantations this weeding is rarely needed until about the eighth or tenth year. But in natural growths the young crop is sometimes so dense as to inordinately interfere with the development of the individual trees. The stems then remain so slender that there is danger of their being bent or broken by storm or snow when the growth is thinned out later. In such cases timely thinning is indicated to stimulate more rapid development of the rest of the crop. This can be done most cheaply by cutting swaths or lanes one yard wide and us far apart through the crop, leaving strips standing. The outer trees of the strip, at least, will then shoot ahead and become the main crop. These weeding or improvement cuttings, which must be made gradually and be repeated every two or three years, are best performed during the summer months, or in August and September, when it is easy to judge what should be taken out.
METHODS OF THINNING.
During the "thicket" stage, then, which may last from 10 to 25 and more years, the crop is gradually brought into proper composition and condition. When the "pole-wood" stage is reached, most of the saplings being now from 3 to 6 inches in diameter and from 15 to 25 feet in height, the variation in sizes and in appearance becomes more and more marked. Some of the taller trees begin to show a long, clear shaft and a definite crown. The trees can be more or less readily classified into height and size classes. The rate at which the height growth has progressed begins to fall off and diameter growth increases. Now comes the time when attention must be given to increasing this diameter growth by reducing the number of individuals and thus having all the wood which the soil can produce deposited on fewer individuals. This is done by judicious and often repeated thinning, taking out some of the trees and thereby giving more light and increasing the foliage of those remaining; and as the crowns expand, so do the trunks increase their diameter in direct proportion. These thinnings must, however, be made cautiously lest at the same time the soil is exposed too much, or the branch growth of those trees which are to become timber wood is too much stimulated. So varying are the conditions to be considered, according to soil, site, species, and development of the crop, that it is well-nigh impossible, without a long and detailed discussion, to lay down rules for the proper procedure. In addition the opinions of authorities differ largely both as to manner and degree of thinning, the old school advising moderate, and the new school severer thinnings.
For the farmer, who can give personal attention to detail and whose object is to grow a variety of sizes and kinds of wood, the following general method may perhaps be most useful:
First determine which trees are to be treated as the main crop or "final harvest" crop. For this 300 to 500 trees per acre of the best grown and most useful kinds may be selected, which should be distributed as uniformly as possible over the acre. These, then--or as many as may live till the final harvest--are destined to grow into timber and are to form the special favorites as much as possible. They may at first be marked to insure recognition; later on they will be readily distinguished by their superior development The rest, which we will call the "subordinate" crop, is then to serve merely as filler, nurse, and soil cover.
WHAT TREES TO REMOVE.
It is now necessary, by careful observation of the surroundings of each of the "final harvest" crop trees, or "superiors," as we may call them, to determine what trees of the "subordinate" crop trees, or "inferiors," must be removed. All nurse trees that threaten to overtop the superiors must either be cut out or cut back and topped, if that is practicable, so that the crown of the superiors can develop freely. Those that are only narrowing in the superiors from the side, without preventing their free top development, need not be interfered with, especially while they are still useful in preventing the formation and spreading of side branches on the superiors. As soon as the latter have fully cleared their shafts, these crowding inferiors must be removed. Care must be taken, however, not to remove too many at a time, thus opening the crown cover too severely and thereby exposing the soil to the drying influence of the sun. Gradually, as the crowns of inferiors standing farther away begin to interfere with those of the superiors, the inferiors are removed, and thus the full effect of the light is secured in the accretion of the main harvest crop; at the same time the branch growth has been prevented and the soil has been kept shaded. Meanwhile thinnings may also be made in the subordinate crop, in order to secure also the most material from this part of the crop. This is done by cutting out all trees that threaten to be killed by their neighbors. In this way many a useful stick is saved and the dead material, only good for firewood, lessened. It is evident that trees which in the struggle for existence have fallen behind, so as to be overtopped by their neighbors, can not, either by their presence or by their removal, influence the remaining growth. They are removed only in order to utilize their wood before it decays.
It may be well to remark again that an undergrowth of woody plants interferes in no way with the development of the main crop, but, on the contrary, aids by its shade in preserving favorable moisture conditions. Its existence, however, shows in most cases that the crown cover is not as dense as it should be, and hence that thinning is not required. Grass and weed growth, on the other hand, is emphatically disadvantageous and shows that the crown cover is dangerously open.
The answer to the three questions, When to begin the thinnings, How severely to thin, and How often to repeat the operation, must always depend upon the varying appearance of the growth and the necessities in each case. The first necessity for interference may arise with light-needing species as early as the twelfth or fifteenth year; with shade-enduring, not before the twentieth or twenty-fifth year. The necessary severity of the thinning and the repetition are somewhat interdependent. It is better to thin carefully and repeat the operation oftener than to open up so severely at once as to jeopardize the soil conditions. Especially in younger growths and on poorer soil, it is best never to open a continuous crown cover so that it could not close up again within 3 to 5 years; rather repeat the operation oftener. Later, when the trees have attained heights of 50 to 60 feet and clear boles (which may be in 40 to 50 years, according to soil and kind) the thinning may be more severe, so as to require repetition only every 6 to 10 years.
The condition of the crown cover, then, is the criterion which directs the ax. As soon as the crowns again touch or interlace, the time has arrived to thin again. In mixed growths it must not be overlooked that light-needing species must be specially protected against shadier neighbors. Shade-enduring trees, such as the spruces, beech, sugar maple, and hickories, bear overtopping for a time and will then grow vigorously when more light is given, while light-needing species, like the pines, larch, oaks, and ash, when once suppressed, may never be able to recover.
Particular attention is called to the necessity of leaving a rather denser "wind mantle" all around small groves. In this part of the grove the thinning must be less severe, unless coniferous trees on the outside can be encouraged by severe thinning to hold their branches low down, thus increasing their value as wind-breaks.
The thinnings, then, while giving to the "final harvest" crop all the advantage of light for promoting its rapid development into serviceable timber size, furnish also better material from the subordinate crop. At 60 to 70 years of age the latter may have been entirely removed and only the originally selected "superiors" remain on the ground, or as many of them as have not died and been removed; 250 to 400 of these per acre will make a perfect stand of most valuable form and size, ready for the final harvest, which should be made as indicated in the preceding chapter.
5.--THE RELATION OF FORESTS TO FARMS.
That all things in nature are related to each other and interdependent is a common saying, a fact doubted by nobody, yet often forgotten or neglected in practical life. The reason is partly indifference and partly ignorance as to the actual nature of the relationship; hence we suffer, deservedly or not.
The farmer's business, more than any other, perhaps, depends for its success upon a true estimate of and careful regard for this inter-relation, he adapts his crop to the nature of the soil, the manner of its cultivation to the changes of the seasons, and altogether he shapes conditions and places them in their proper relations to each other and adapts himself to them.
Soil, moisture, and heat are the three factors which, if properly related and utilized, combine to produce his crops. In some directions he can control these factors more or less readily; in others they are withdrawn from his immediate influence, and he is seemingly helpless. He can maintain the fertility of the soil by manuring, by proper rotation of crops, and by deep culture; he can remove surplus moisture by ditching and draining; he can, by irrigation systems, bring water to his crops, and by timely cultivation prevent excessive evaporation, thereby rendering more water available to the crop; but he can not control the rainfall nor the temperature changes of the seasons. Recent attempts to control the rainfall by direct means exhibit one of the greatest follies and misconceptions of natural forces we have witnessed during this age. Nevertheless, by indirect means the farmer has it in his power to exercise much greater control over these forces than he has attempted hitherto. He can prevent or reduce the unfavorable effects of temperature changes; he can increase the available water supplies, and prevent the evil effects of excessive rainfall; he can so manage the waters which fall as to get the most benefit from them and avoid the harm which they are able to inflict.
Before attempting to control the rainfall itself by artifice, we should study how to secure the best use of that which falls, as it comes within reach of human agencies and becomes available by natural causes.
How poorly we understand the use of these water supplies is evidenced yearly by destructive freshets and floods, with the accompanying washing of soil, followed by droughts, low waters, and deterioration of agricultural lands. It is claimed that annually in the United States about 200 square miles of fertile soil are washed into brooks and rivers, a loss of soil capital which can not be repaired for centuries. At the same time millions of dollars are appropriated yearly in the river and harbor bills to dig out the lost farms from the rivers, and many thousands of dollars' worth of crops and other property are destroyed by floods and overflows; not to count the large loss from droughts which this country suffers yearly in one part or the other, and which, undoubtedly, could be largely avoided, if we knew how to manage the available water supplies.
The regulation, proper distribution, and utilization of the rain waters in humid as well as in arid regions--water management--is to be the great problem of successful-agriculture in the future.
One of the most powerful means for such water management lies in the proper distribution and maintenance of forest areas. Nay, we can say that the most successful water management is not possible without forest management.
THE FOREST WATERS THE FARM.
Whether forests increase the amount of precipitation within or near their limits is still an open question, although there are indications that under certain conditions large, dense forest areas may have such an effect. At any rate, the water transpired by the foliage is certain, in some degree, to increase the relative humidity near the forest, and thereby increase directly or indirectly the water supplies in its neighborhood. This much we can assert, also, that while extended plains and fields, heated by the sun, and hence giving rise to warm currents of air, have the tendency to prevent condensation of the passing moisture-bearing currents, forest areas, with their cooler, moister air strata, do not have such a tendency, and local showers may therefore become more frequent in their neighborhood. But, though no increase in the amount of rainfall may be secured by forest areas, the availability of whatever falls is increased for the locality by a well-kept and properly located forest growth. The foliage, twigs, and branches break the fall of the raindrops, and so does the litter of the forest floor, hence the soil under this cover is not compacted as in the open field, but kept loose and granular, so that the water can readily penetrate and percolate; the water thus reaches the ground more slowly, dripping gradually from the leaves, branches, and trunks, and allowing more time for it to sink into the soil. This percolation is also made easier by the channels along the many roots. Similarly, on account of the open structure of the soil and the slower melting of the snow under a forest cover in spring, where it lies a fortnight to a month longer than in exposed positions and melts with less waste from evaporation, the snow waters more fully penetrate the ground. Again, more snow is caught and preserved under the forest cover than on the wind-swept fields and prairies.
All these conditions operate together, with the result that larger amounts of the water sink into the forest soil and to greater depths than in open fields. This moisture is conserved because of the reduced evaporation in the cool and still forest air, being protected from the two great moisture-dissipating agents, sun and wind. By these conditions alone the water supplies available in the soil are increased from 50 to 60 per cent over those available on the open field. Owing to those two causes, then--increased percolation and decreased evaporation--larger amounts of moisture become available to feed the springs and subsoil waters, and these become finally available to the farm, if the forest is located at a higher elevation than the field. The great importance of the subsoil water especially and the influence of forest areas upon it has so far received too little attention and appreciation. It is the subsoil water that is capable of supplying the needed moisture in times of drought.
THE FOREST TEMPERS THE FARM.
Another method by which a forest belt becomes a conservator of moisture lies in its wind-breaking capacity, by which both velocity and temperature of winds are modified and evaporation from the fields to the leeward is reduced.
On the prairie, wind-swept every day and every hour, the farmer has learned to plant a wind-break around his buildings and orchards, often only a single-row of trees, and finds even that a desirable shelter, tempering both the hot winds of summer and the cold blasts of winter. The fields he usually leaves unprotected; yet a wind-break around his crops to the windward would bring him increased yield, and a timber belt would act still more effectively. Says a farmer from Illinois:
My experience is that now in cold and stormy winters fields protected by timber belts yield full crops, while fields not protected yield only one-third of a crop. Twenty-five or thirty years ago we never had any wheat killed by winter frost, and every year we had a full crop of peaches, which is now very rare. At that time we had plenty of timber around our fields and orchards, now cleared away.
Not only is the temperature of the winds modified by passing over and through the shaded and cooler spaces of protecting timber bolts disposed toward the windward and alternating with the fields, but their velocity is broken and moderated, and since with reduced velocity the evaporative power of the winds is very greatly reduced, so more water is left available for crops. Every foot in height of a forest growth will protect 1 rod in distance, and several bolts in succession would probably greatly increase the effective distance. By preventing deep freezing of the soil the winter cold is not so much prolonged, and the frequent fogs and mists that hover near forest areas prevent many frosts. That stock will thrive better where it can find protection from the cold blasts of winter and from the heat of the sun in summer is a well-established fact.
THE FOREST PROTECTS THE FARM.
On the sandy plains, where the winds are apt to blow the sand, shifting it hither and thither, a forest belt to the windward is the only means to keep the farm protected.
In the mountain and hill country the farms are apt to suffer from heavy rains washing away the soil. Where the tops and slopes are bared of their forest cover, the litter of the forest floor burnt up, the soil trampled and compacted by cattle and by the patter of the raindrops, the water can not penetrate the soil readily, but is earned off superficially, especially when the soil is of, day and naturally compact. As a result the waters, rushing over the surface down the hill, run together in rivulets and streams and acquire such a force as to be able to move loose particles and even stones; the ground becomes furrowed with gullies and runs; the fertile soil is washed away; the fields below are covered with silt; the roads are damaged; the water courses tear their banks, and later run dry because the waters that should feed them by subterranean channels have been carried away in the flood.