Issued July, 1913 Copy 1 nee Untversrry ‘YALE FOREST SCHOOL—Bulletin 3 A WORKING PLAN FOR THE WOODLANDS OF THE NEW HAVEN WATER COMPANY Preranky Arrer Five Years or Forest Practice 1908 tro 1912 By RALPH C. HAWLEY Assistant Professor of Forestry New Haven Yale University Press 19138 Monograph Issued July, 1913 YALE UNIVERSITY YALE FOREST SCHOOL—Bulletin 3 A WORKING PLAN FOR THE WOODLANDS OF THE NEW HAVEN WATER COMPANY Preparep Arrer Five Years or Forest Practice 1908 to 1912 By RALPH C. HAWLEY ' Assistant Professor of Forestry New Haven Yale University Press 19138 F'G “~ ~ a og | n.f3 & CONTENTS RR EROGUULCELO TINE Nia kere eee or eae theo race ROO a REATARD AU rata e Part I. Part II. Bescriptionor the property: ./:..0. ei se mie diate save = Loeation andysiae \od oan 2. rates edenrensrata eiaie Piiysiographic features: .2 1.) stab wiaidles sities Cima 8 a Saray atti eee dey ad mea eRe Tian ake le Popograply nwa we cates aoe eee ett Drainage i.) a(ajae inital arava ehaate a) eelate cts Sots 5 ier Sate Shae micelle gale etiam etree een eye Glassitication: of Wands.) Wieser ar yd aleie Gases BOrest hypese oss c.doen ba cpostatin se ahpame ara ates Plardwoods 0s cick sivas hen saves late, apolar cetenetes hemor ce Sol nar dale oy tale wie a heat ae ans PITTS isin Sie Disha Sia crenata tee aneek reece Taek ek: Oldr feldi.). iver ck ste hats wemlar a a gcraiavaes Present) volume! i/o ecaie tn nicia s aiateaeiahe valans MGW ale tela acllay dia ey aie ara ota) aUanse ceatad gp SI aya Rae RGU AGO cus S cpalal sant (eee ene ane nie eNO Past Operations), ha 'o'd!.is one sale haleeen) art anata) wake Cirbbiamerayh ees alg ahetaus tesa ra cee th eked sea Method of handling cuttings ............ PilamGirige 37 Gre p20k ai) acaleve la iaveroa a smebansens sae PPPOUCELIONN, heccr 5 )to Sites faci) Sel eel sreraigtee Aduaimigtratiowy 5 cu olin yeu Wie bn tages eve Receipts) and) expenditures. (04-0; ont: Mana remient unibsr 7.1). to -recis jaca ets ished iiss Management: of the property, (3:).)./ Q & Camo IAIN OH Or TABLE 1. 2. ee Puate 1. eS TABLES PAGE Areas. by types? si5.0 502 sh eee tee gee 9 Areas of the forest types according to age classes or to density of stocking \)j.ij iene ee ee 10 Contents in cords by types and age classes for each 1 a2) Cl Pa eo Cee OnCN rR Acer: amigas peta Aaa a & ls oc 14 Mean annual growth according to soil qualities .... 15 Stumpage prices for wood and timber ............ 17 Amount of nursery stock on hand, December 31,1912 20 Receipts, expenditures and surplus, 1908 to 1912 .. oi PLATE PAGE Map showing location of lands owned by the New Haven), Water (Company, +).71900 4.5 ieee facing 16 A WORKING PLAN FOR THE WOODLANDS OF THE NEW HAVEN WATER COMPANY Preparep Arrer Five Years or Forest Practice 1908 To 1912 By RALPH C. HAWLEY INTRODUCTION Soon after the establishment of the Yale Forest School in 1900, the necessity developed for finding forest lands near the city of New Haven upon which to conduct field work. It was found that many of the most accessible and best timbered tracts were owned by the New Haven Water Company. In 1901 arrangements were made whereby the wooded lands on a single tract owned by this Company of about 250 acres near the Maltby Lakes, were placed under the management of the Yale Forest School. In the autumn of 1907 the New Haven Water Company, largely through the interest of Hon. Eli Whitney and Mr. David Daggett, officers of the Company and both prominent Yale graduates, decided to practice forestry on their entire holdings of over 8,000 acres and appointed the writer as Forester. This arrangement, which is still im force, has proved of mutual advantage to the Company and the School. The condition of the woodlands has improved, open areas are being planted, expendi- tures have been more than offset by receipts, while eventually a large annual income will be received. The School utilizes these lands for purposes of field instruction. As the tract develops under proper treatment, its value for purposes of instruction will steadily increase. Since the lands of the Company are used by the School for purposes of instruction, a written working plan is desirable. The plan is divided into two parts: the first, descriptive of present conditions and past accomplishments ; the second, treating of the policy to be pursued. PART I. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPERTY LOCATION AND SIZE The lands comprised in the holdings of the Company are adja- cent to New Haven in New Haven County, Connecticut. They are not in one contiguous body, but (as shown on the map facing page 16) in many parcels, east, north and west of the city. It is evident that, while many isolated parcels* occur, in the main the lands lie in a number of large blocks. The tracts nearest the city limits, namely, Wintergreen and Maltby, and a portion of Whitney, are less than five miles from the center of the city, while the Prospect tract, farthest away, is between thirteen and four- teen miles distant. All the lands are within a fourteen mile radius of the city, and about half are within a six mile radius. The Company was organized in 1849 but has been most active in the purchase of lands in recent years. With rare exceptions the lands are on the watersheds of streams draining into storage reservoirs. In a country where the land is held in relatively small lots and usually is divided into farms, the acquisition of an unbroken tract is possible only as the result of much time and patient effort. Eventually the consolidation of many of the scattered parcels with some of the larger blocks seems probable, since the holdings are being enlarged as favorable opportunities for purchase occur. Occasionally lands are sold because of their undesirable location with respect to reservoirs. The exact total area owned is unknown, since the making of detailed maps has not kept up with the purchase of land. It is estimated, however, that the total area (exclusive of water sur- faces) is between 8,500 and 9,000 acres. The area for which maps are available and which throughout this report will be referred to as the “total area” is 7,756 acres, divided between the different tracts as follows: TRACTY AREA IN ACRES East Wallingford . : 684.5 Maltby . : : f J O99 ND Saltonstall 4 d : Miva ives Wes Wi Ria) Prospect . ‘ : 293.5 Whitney . : d : : 491.5 West River : ; ; Beers us bod gs: Wintergreen. ; : ; 454.5 Total ® : ‘ B ima (Ales) aU *Many of the smaller lots are not shown on this map. +The names of these tracts are taken either from the name of the reservoirs which they protect, or from the name of the town in which they are located. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPERTY if The working plan, while it relates particularly to these areas, can in its general provisions be applied equally well to the unmapped lands. PHYSIOGRAPHIC FEATURES Climate. The average annual precipitation at New Haven for the last forty years has been 46.65 inches, with maximum and mini- mum of 60.26 and 34.83 inches, respectively. While the rainfall is ample for tree growth, droughts are likely to occur during the growing season and, while not protracted enough to seriously affect established forests, often cause considerable loss to repro- duction and are especially disastrous to young plantations. Dur- ing the past ten years, on the average, the latest killing frost in the spring has occurred on April 21 and the earliest in the autumn on October 13; hence a growing season of at least six months may be relied on. Topography. 'The range in elevation above sea level is from about 20 feet to approximately 700 feet, although the greater part of the land lies between 100 and 500 feet, and on any given tract the range in relative elevation is small. Underlying the region and influencing its topography are three general types of rock, namely, sandstone, granites and schists, and trap. The sandstone, being the softest, has worn away most rapidly, and presents a rolling topography which makes logging easy. Only a relatively small portion of the tract is of this character. Granites and schists which underlie the greater portion of the area are responsible for considerable minor irregularities, such as small knolls, ridges or ledges rising abruptly to a height of from ten to fifty feet above the hollows. Such topography, although not rough enough to interfere seriously with logging, often makes it difficult to get wood down from the higher eleva- tions. ‘Trap occurs here in the form of intrusive dykes, some- times rising over 200 feet above the surrounding country and frequently precipitous on the north and west sides. Such ridges form the most striking topographic features of the tract and offer the greatest difficulties to the removal of timber. There is less trap than either of the other two rock types. Drainage. The general slope of the region is toward Long Island Sound. The lands are located on the watersheds of streams which, with one exception,* drain southward into the Sound. Most of the streams converge as they approach the coast so as to pass *Drainage from the Prospect tract goes northward. 8 Worxtnec Pian ror New Haven Water CoMPAny either through the City of New Haven or nearby to the east or west. Thus the easy and natural outlet for forest products from most of the lands is toward New Haven. Soils. The soils as well as the topography have an intimate relation with the underlying rock. Judged by their ability to produce crops of trees, a wide range of soils occurs, varying from those in swamps too wet to permit tree growth to others on rocky ledges too dry and shallow to produce anything but scattered, stunted trees. There is a wide range of more productive sites between these extremes. Practically no infertile, sandy lands occur, since all of the soils, regardless of the underlying rock, are fertile enough for tree growth. The poorest soils are on the trap ridges, but where of sufficient depth the trap soils are of excellent quality. The sandstone soils are the least stony. Most of the swamp land has granitic rock beneath it. In classifying lands according to their soil quality a separation into four classes was deemed sufficient, namely, into qualities I, II, III and swamp soils; quality I being the most, and quality III the least, produc- tive of upland soils, while swamp includes all soils with an exces- sive amount of moisture. THE SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL SITUATION One of the fundamental conditions for profitable forestry is a good local market. This condition is well met in the case of the Company’s lands, for the region near New Haven is one of the most thickly settled in the United States. The city of New Haven has a population of over 133,000, while fully 300,000 people live within nine miles of some part of the holdings. Manu- facturing is the principal industry, there being 500 manufactur- ing plants of various kinds in New Haven and the surrounding region. Even outside of New Haven the population is centered in towns and there are portions of the country very scantily populated. Only a small proportion of the total population is engaged in agriculture, chiefly represented by market gardening, dairying and orcharding. CLASSIFICATION OF LANDS According to the best available figures,* 46 per cent of the area of New Haven County is forested. The balance, roughly 215,000 acres, is agricultural, or included in towns and cities, *Forest Survey of Litchfield and New Haven Counties, Conn.; Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, 1909. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPERTY 9 water surfaces or salt marshes. Thus the Company’s woodlands, though the largest single holding in the county, represent but a small part of the total forest in the region about New Haven. An important step preliminary to the making of the working plan was the classification of the lands into various types. The accurate maps made by the Company’s engineers, usually on the scale of 400 feet to the inch and divided into sheets of convenient size, were of great assistance in this work. In exceptional cases less accurate maps on a smaller scale had to be utilized. On these the types and age classes were shown.* From these maps the areas were determined by means of the planimeter. Seven types were recognized as shown in Table 1, the first three being wooded, the last three unforested, and the old field partly wooded and partly open. Following the table are brief descrip- tions defining each. Fuller descriptions of the wooded and old field types will be found under “Forest Types.” TABLE 1.—AREAS BY TYPES. Area in acres. 3703.0 132.0 416.5 2737.0 I earner tabh ea Ea tre Gop ape a coo neOarOOORAGAae 712.0 Administrative 34.0 Barren PAU 7756.0 Hardwood. Comprises land occupied by hardwoods other than gray birch. Hemlock. All stands containing 80 per cent or more (judged by the crown space occupied) of hemlock are included. Pine. Includes all stands containing 80 per cent or more of pine. Old field. This type contains both wooded and open land. The forest cover is usually broken and principally composed of red cedar and gray birch. Where open land is included it is of poorer quality than that classed as agricultural, and more suitable for growing forest crops. All formerly cultivated fields which are now lying idle and slowly reverting to forest are included. With *In securing data for the type and age class maps each stand was visited and a separate description made covering the following points: Type; Age; Area; Total volume; Forest; Soil; Annual growth; Past treatment; Recommended treatment. These descriptions are recorded on 5x8 inch cards printed with the proper headings. Each ecard carries the description of a single stand or subecompartment. (See page 21.) The cards are placed in a filing case and serve as a card catalogue of the tract. Used in connection with the maps detailed information can be secured and work planned in the office for any portion. 10 Worxtne Pian ror New Haven Water Company the exception of a few isolated seedlings many of these fields are treeless. Agricultural. Land suitable for cultivation or grazing is classified under this head. It is difficult to draw the line between agricultural land and open old fields, as the former, if neglected a few years, may become old field, while, on the other hand, cer- tain old fields, if cared for, may develop an agricultural value. The distinction is based more on the present condition and prob- able use for the next few years than on the actual value of each site for producing farm or forest crops. Administrative. Certain open areas, chiefly near the lakes, are included in this class, because of use in connection with the admin- istration of the tract. Barren. This includes a small amount of land useless for grow- ing tree crops. FOREST TYPES In general, the forest may be classed as young hardwoods composed of many evenaged stands. Of 4,251.5 acres completely forested, the hardwood type comprises 3,703 acres. The pine and hemlock types cover relatively small areas, 132 and 416.5 acres, respectively, and contain from 10 to 20 per cent of hard- woods. = at ee OIE tcc autg [6 =— ss Ob = —s = ——— dn-[g OFZ = O8T = == = 09 == O8-TZ OfTe = 09 = 0L02 = — =a OL-19 Sc = S 02 Se ae es a 09-TS TS +55 >, 3f9 0019 F7 SOOT = 00s Ob 00e == 4 0eT dn-1g S08 oe Ose => — = O9T o92 08-1Z Sele = s9¢ OS ST = OebT o9oe QL-19 Szes == O8Sz OPT Osog Oe O12 0ce 09-TS Sres = OcLe ges sss 06T Srel ee OS-Tr O9LL 008 Sere O8T 0962 SvT O8T SZ Ov-Te Or6e Ov9 OSOT OT O19 Ovs 06S OL 0e-Te 09€7 OeT O8eT 02 SLé 06b 0€ Se Oc-IT 0€ ——— 0€ = =— == = = OL a | ae pooMpieH “Sp109 *Spi0g “spl0g “sp109g “sp.i0og *spl09g “sp.10g “sp10g “Ssp109g “SIBO A [VIOL ‘TRIOL “US9IBIOJUL A | TOATY YSeM | “ABUT W | ‘TTeysuo Yes *jyoodsoldg ‘AQVUPIN SPIO. SEEN “SSU[ED BBV ‘adAL, ‘LOVUL HOVY YOA SASSVID AOVY ANV SHdAL AG SGUOD NI SINALNOD—’¢ ATAVE DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPERTY 15 In Table 3 the contents in cords for the principal tracts are given by types and age classes. Included in this estimate of 34,140 cords is considerable mate- rial of suitable size and quality for lumber. There is fully 4,250,000 board feet of such timber divided as follows: Hemlock . , : ds 1,000,000 board feet. Pine’. ; ; A ‘ 250,000 “ ‘< Hardwoods . : : He Oo OO0.000N ne és GROWTH A detailed study of the present rate of growth has not been made, but during the past few years figures have been secured on numerous cuttings which show the mean annual growth per acre under various conditions. The data obtained in this way have been verified by comparison with the yield tables in Bulletin 96 of the United States Forest Service, entitled “Sprout Hardwoods in Connecticut.” Table 4 gives the annual growth for the four forest types. The areas in each type are classified according to soil quality and the rate of growth in cords per area of each type and quality has been estimated. TABLE 4.—MEAN ANNUAL GROWTH ACCORDING TO SOIL QUALITIES. Annual Type. Quality. Area. growth Total. per acre. Acres Cords. Cords. Hardwood..... I 660.0 1.0. 660 ri aerate I 2587.0 0.6 1552 faars it 400.0 0.3 120 SSAA nip eral swamp 56.0 0.5 28 Old field....... I 227.0 0.8 y Wee ore II 2487.0 0.5 500* Biel ede eae ae III 14.0 0.25 ye eae aie was swamp 9.0 0.4 J Hemlock...... 21.0 0.8 17 Bettie ye asc II 46.0 0.5 23 Bale A bt ba II 65.0 0.25 16 Bing saad este 137.0 1.00 137 HB OLE OOBOEE II 219.0 0.7 153 3 MepOa III 60.5 0.4 24 The annual increment of 3,230 cords does not indicate the actual amount of wood available for cutting, since it is calcu- lated for young as well as merchantable stands. As a rela- *Reduced due to incomplete stocking. 16 Workine PLAN For New Haven Water CoMPany tively large part of the forest is under twenty years of age, most of the increment is on unmerchantable stands. Decrease in the annual growth due to injury by the chestnut blight has not been considered in this estimate since the final effect of the disease is not known. Should the young chestnut sprouts be killed back repeatedly the annual growth may fall as low as 1,500 cords per annum. UTILIZATION Forest products of all kinds find a ready market in New Haven and the surrounding country. The principal products sold at the present time are lumber, ties, poles and cordwood. The railroads and street railways afford a large and steady demand for ties, taking chestnut and all the oaks. Chestnut poles for trolley, tele- phone and telegraph lines ordinarily find a ready market. 'Thou- sands of cords of wood are burned annually at the brickyards in the Quinnipiac Valley and by the brass mills of the Naugatuck Valley. New Haven and the many smaller cities and towns nearby consume large quantities of fuelwood. Thus cordwood usually finds ready sale. The principal species sawn into lumber are chestnut, oak, hickory, whitewood and ash. The lumber is used locally by the numerous manufactories. The timber is sawn mainly by portable mills cutting less than 10,000 board feet per day, although there are in the region a few stationary mills run by water power or steam. ‘These port- able mills can be easily moved into the relatively small patches of forest in which the merchantable timber ordinarily occurs. ‘The work of cutting and hauling logs to the mills may proceed throughout the year. Much of the woods labor is recruited from farmers and men otherwise employed during the summer time. For this reason most of the logging is concentrated in the fall and winter months. After being sawn at the mills the lumber may be stacked near by for several months. No portions of the property are more than ten miles from railroads, while the average haul is under five. Owing to the good system of state and other public roads, timber is usually hauled by teams directly to the purchaser, instead of being shipped to them by rail. Ties are either hewn in the woods or sawn at the mills and then delivered alongside railroad sidings or trolley lines. Poles are cut to order, peeled and hauled to pole yards in the cities or delivered at the holes in which they are to be set. Cordwood is cut into 5-foot lengths, piled and left in the woods for about a year to season. It is hauled directly to the brickyards, brass mills, city wood yards, ete. Late . 5 AY tr; Ys savin wi Wa Pai . a 2 : Eon oe fe ite MAP SHOWING LOCATION or LANDS OWNED BY THE NEW HAVEN WATER CO NAUGAWUCK ‘4 ) fe WALLINGF ORD / 3 W/ —ANSONIA DEscRIPTION OF THE PROPERTY aay While all parts of the Company’s lands are relatively near to market, yet the accessibility and hence the value of the wood on different portions varies widely. Local topography, by rendering it easy or difficult to bring the forest products out to the nearest road, may influence values fully as much as actual distance from market. Since standing wood and timber in this region is rarely sold by the unit, average stumpage prices are not readily obtained. In most cases a woodlot is sold for a lump sum, and often the owner has no accurate idea of what he received per unit of product. However, based on past sales from the Com- pany’s lands, the following figures are submitted which are as high as can be secured unless the owner does his own cutting and selling. TABLE 5.—PRICES FOR WOOD AND TIMBER. Stumpage Stumpage Well Poorly located. located. $ 1.50 per cord $0.30 per cord $3.75-$5 per cord Value delivered, wholesale, $ .45 apiece $ .30 apiece $ .70 apiece Sober .20 i Oo . ADF ites .00 Ye ao) ie Poles (30- and 35-foot lengths are most in demand): $ 1.75 apiece $1.00 apiece $3.00 apiece ae “ee 4.0 ae Pras) 1.30 10 $ 8.00 per M. $5.00 per M. $20-25 per M. LONE 1 in S00} sda iis 20-35)" 28 ip StOO tie ayipen A ie 8 GOO aceon PAST OPERATIONS Cuttings. Five kinds of cuttings have been made since the woodlands were placed under management, namely, cleanings, liberation cuttings, thinnings, damage cuttings and reproduction cuttings. Most of the cutting has been done in the hardwood type in which thinnings, damage cuttings and reproduction cuttings have been made. Approximately 150 acres have been thinned, 250 acres have received damage cuttings and 75 acres reproduc- tion cuttings. Thinnings are moderately heavy “C” grade and remove mer- chantable dead, suppressed,* intermediate and a few co-dominant trees. This removes between 30 and 35 per cent of the total vol- *Frequently suppressed trees of tolerant species like beech and maple have been left as an understory to improve soil conditions. 18 Workinc Puan ror New Haven Water Company ume or from six to twelve cords of wood per acre. The product of the thinnings is suitable only for cordwood, except occasional chestnut fence posts. So far, thinnings have been made in stands thirty-five or more years old. In two or three instances a second thinning has been made from five to seven years after the first. The second thinning, “C” grade, removes from four to six cords per acre, or about 20 per cent of the total volume. The wood removed in thinnings has been mainly cut at a stated price per cord, the rate varying from 90 cents for chestnut to $1.25 for hickory; average $1.00 per cord. It is doubtful whether these prices are any higher than if the stand were cut clear instead of being thinned. Owing both to past mistreatment of certain stands and to injury wrought by the chestnut blight, damage cuttings have been and still are required. Fire-injured and stagheaded trees and all the diseased chestnut are taken out in the cuttings. Much of the material is suitable for ties, poles and lumber and is cut into these products instead of into posts and cordwood. A yield of from ten to fifteen cords per acre is usual, leaving from 30 to 60 per cent of the stand. The damage cuttings resemble first cuttings of the shelterwood system. Ordinarily oak predominates among the trees left standing. Relatively few stands have received reproduction cuttings. There are, however, a few examples of first cuttings under the polewood sprout system where in stands from fifty to sixty years of age about 40 per cent of the volume has been removed in the form of a heavy thinning for the purpose of encouraging seedling reproduction of heavy-seeded hardwoods. Insufficient time has elapsed since the cuttings to determine the success of the method. More frequently mature stands have been cut clear and left to reproduce by sprouts. Since these stands ranged in age from 70 to 100 years, the sprout reproduction has been incomplete. In the pine type only a little cutting has been done. A mature stand on the Saltonstall tract received a damage cutting in 1910, unhealthy and dying trees and merchantable dead trees being cut. On the Maltby tract a few acres of young plantation were cleaned of the hardwood sprouts and seedlings which overtopped the pine. On about two acres of the same tract large hardwoods shading young pines have also been cut. Method of handling cuttings. Where cordwood and posts only are secured in a cutting, the work has usually been done by the Company and the cordwood sold wholesale, piled in the woods. On the Maltby tract, where a small engine and cutoff saw are installed, the wood is sawn into short lengths and retailed to the DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPERTY 19 Company’s employees. The Company uses all the chestnut posts in putting up boundary fences. Where ties, poles or lumber are cut, the standing timber is sold either by the lot or at a unit price. Only rarely has lumber been sold at a unit price, since local lumbermen are unfamiliar with this method of sale. Ties frequently, and poles nearly always, are sold at a unit price. In a few cases cordwood and timber have been sold to reliable purchasers on a basis of 60 per cent of the difference between the total expenses of manufacture and the total receipts from sales. By this arrangement the Company receives 60 per cent of the difference and the purchaser, who finances and attends to the entire operation, 40 per cent. The results so far have been fully as good financially as could have been secured through selling by any other method. The total annual cut of all products, including lumber, ties, etc., figured entirely in cords for purposes of comparison, is as follows: 1908 : é d : : 1,300 cords. 1909. : : ; : T600) wc LOURO: 50 : : ‘ : 1,000 <“* 1911 , i : 4 : 2500") so ** OO \ : : : 2200s Planting. Experimental plantings were made by the School on the Maltby tract from 1901 to 1905 and approximately forty acres were planted. ‘The species used were white pine and Nor- way spruce, with a few European larch, red pine, Scotch pine, arborvite and hemlock. From 1909 to 1912 small plantations of white, red and Scotch pine were also made on the Whitney tract. From 1906 to 1908, inclusive, no planting was done. In the spring of 1909 the Company planted 35,000 white pine transplants and five bushels of red oak acorns and in the spring of 1910, 40,000 white pine transplants. In 1911, about 9,000 red oak seedlings were planted on the slopes above Lake Dawson. In 1912, 233,000 transplants, mainly white pine with a few Scotch pine and Norway spruce, were planted on the Saltonstall, Maltby and Whitney tracts. The area of the plantations is given in the “1-10 year” age class of the pine type. (See Table 2, page 10.) The last few seasons have been unfavorable for plantations and losses have been heavy. In the 1912 plantations the loss at the end of the first year was about 50 per cent, or approximately the average for the entire state. A nursery was established on the Maltby tract in the spring of 1909 for producing the stock needed to plant the Company’s open 20 Worktnc Puan ror New Haven Water Company lands. This nursery now has an area of one-half acre and is mainly used for growing seedlings to the age of two years, when they are transplanted and most of them placed in another nursery on the Whitney tract. The transplants are planted in the fields when three years old, though in some cases four-year-old plants have been used. The nurseries are now fully developed to the output desired, namely, a minimum of 240,000 transplants a year or enough to plant 200 acres. Inventories under date of December 31, 1912, show the following number of plants on hand: TABLE 6.—AMOUNT OF NURSERY STOCK ON HAND DECEMBER 31, 1912. Seedlings. Transplants. Species. White Pine Red Pine Western Yellow Pine... Norway Spruce European Larch Totals Fi 331,000 The transplants set out in 1912 were the first grown from seed in the Company’s nurseries. The total cost was $3.80 per thou- sand or $4.60 per acre of plantation. Setting out the trees, 6 x 6 feet apart, or 1,210 plants per acre, cost $7.20 per acre, thus making the total cost of the plantation $11.80 per acre. Protection. The main reliance in guarding against forest fires is patrol. No special men are employed for this purpose, since regular employees are assigned to each tract to keep the reser- voirs and streams in proper condition and act as watchmen against trespassers and fires. Men are often detailed on Sundays and holidays during the dry season to watch particularly dan- gerous places. Their efficiency in extinguishing and guarding against fires is improving each year. Chemical extinguishers with extra charges are distributed in convenient places on the various tracts. As yet, however, the supply is not as large as desirable. Fire lines are used around some of the pine plantations, and also on the Wintergreen tract where there is great danger of fires being started by careless people. In the latter case several cleared lines which are burned over each year divide the tract into DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPERTY a0 sections within a single one of which a fire may be confined. Both burned and plowed lines are used around the plantations. With but few exceptions the forest is already well protected against grazing. Administration. The Forester acts in an advisory capacity, recommending both the general policy and most details of the work. Actual operations in the field are in charge of the Com- pany’s superintendent, who accomplishes the work largely with the Company’s regular employees, assigned temporarily as needed to forestry work. All the planting work and protection of the tract is thus handled. Most of the cordwood is cut by the Com- pany, but a large share of the cuttings for products more valu- able than cordwood is done by lumbermen who purchase the tim- ber, and whose work is inspected by the Company. Receipts and expenditures. 'The financial result of the work so far has been satisfactory, considering the condition of the tract, namely, that the forest is largely made up of young stands and that, therefore, the areas on which cuttings can now be made are small compared to the total size of the tract. A small surplus has resulted each year as shown in Table 7. Expressed as annual net returns per acre these figures are very low and indicate the present unsatisfactory condition of the forest. TABLE 7.—RECEIPTS, EXPENDITURES AND SURPLUS, 1908 To 1912. | Receipts. Expenditures. Surplus. $1,581.93 $1,490.24 5,406.56 2,355.22 3,797.80 2,783.76 2,335.62 1,965.74 é 5,290.78 3,662.88 1,627.90 Average annual surplus $1,230.97 Average annual net return per acre based on an estimated total area (excluding agricultural lands) of 8,000 acres Management units. For purposes of systematizing the manage- ment it is advisable to divide and subdivide the total area. The lands naturally group into several main tracts, each protecting the watershed of a given set of reservoirs. Seven such groups serving as main divisions are recognized, as follows: East Wal- lingford, Maltby, Prospect, Saltonstall, Whitney, West River and Wintergreen. Each tract is for convenience divided into smaller portions called compartments and each compartment into sub- 99 Worxktnc Puan ror New Haven WatTerR CoMPANny compartments. Boundaries of compartments are usually ridges, streams or public roads and are easily recognizable. Compart- ment divisions are permanent. A compartment may contain a number of different forest types and age classes. There are in all fifty-one compartments, ranging in size from less than 50 to over 400 acres. Each compartment is divided into as many sub-compartments as it has individual stands, that is, portions of the forest differing in age or type. A single sub-compartment contains only one type and only one age class, and serves as the smallest unit considered. There are few sub-compartments of less than an acre, while the largest contain about 100 acres. Sub-compartment boundaries are often not marked on the ground, being distinguishable as lines of difference between types and age classes. These boundaries are subject to change with each revision of the maps. There are more than 700 sub-compartments. PART II. MANAGEMENT OF THE PROPERTY OBJECT OF MANAGEMENT The chief interest of the Company is water, with forestry as a secondary consideration. Water companies depending upon the flow of streams are in a favorable position to practice forestry. It is necessary for them to own more or less land around their reservoirs and along the main streams. A forest cover on a watershed assists in keeping the water free from impurities. Much of the land, either from its topography or quality of soil, is incapa- ble of producing farm crops, and forestry affords the only means whereby it can be made productive. The remainder, although fertile enough to be of agricultural value, is, for the most part, so located with respect to streams and reservoirs that it is inadvis- able to farm on account of the danger of contaminating the water. Cultivation may be practiced provided no manure is used, but inasmuch as the fields deteriorate rapidly unless fertilized, it amounts to the same thing as forbidding cultivation. A water company having an indeterminate existence is in a better position than a private owner to afford the present invest- ment needed to protect and develop the forest until finally it becomes the source of an annual net income. The New Haven Water Company realizes that its lands can be made to grow tree crops without interfering with its main work. It desires to make this profitable financially and at the same time afford the maximum protection to the watersheds. This is the main purpose of the forest management. While striving for the best financial results, effort is directed to developing the appearance of the forest from the esthetic stand- point. SILVICULTURAL SYSTEMS MetuHops or CuTTinc AND REPRODUCTION Hardwood type. Where this type is to be managed perma- nently for the production of hardwoods, the so-called ‘‘polewood sprout” method of reproduction is advised. Under this method 94 Worxkinc Puan ror New Haven Water ComMPpany a heavy cutting, removing from 40 to 60 per cent of the stand, should be made from eight to fifteen years before the end of the rotation, to encourage seedling reproduction of species which do not sprout prolificly. At the end of the rotation the remainder of the stand is cut and the seedlings which started after the first cutting, together with sprouts, form the new stand. The “pole- wood sprout” method can be applied only to stands which do not need to be harvested for approximately ten years. Overmature stands which must be utilized at once are cut clear and reproduced by sprouts. This does not give a fully stocked stand, as many of the stumps fail to sprout. The open places should be planted. Eventually it may be advisable to change the entire hardwood type into a pine forest. Whether this should be done will depend largely upon whether means are found for controlling the chestnut blight. Chestnut is now an abundant tree on the tract and is a rapid grower, hence if it becomes possible to grow it with a rea- sonable degree of safety, the hardwood type should be managed for chestnut. A final decision on this point should be postponed. With the chestnut eliminated from the hardwood forest, there are no species left which can approach the white and red pines in rate of growth and yield per acre. The oaks would be the principal trees left were the chestnut removed, and they are particularly susceptible to the attack of the gipsy moth. There is a possibility that this insect may spread throughout Connecticut and in that event it would be imperative to replace the hardwoods, especially the oak, with pine. For the next few years cuttings in the hardwood type will be almost entirely of three classes: (1) Clear cutting of overmature stands; (2) damage cuttings to remove blight-injured chest- nut; (3) thinnings in stands from thirty to fifty years of age, removing 25 to 40 per cent of the volume, for the purpose of increasing the rate of growth and utilizing trees which would otherwise be overtopped and killed. Hemlock type. A large share of the hemlock forest grows on steep, rocky, thin-soiled slopes and ridges where it is essential that a forest cover be preserved. On such situations it is often difficult to re-establish the forest if once removed, since hemlock does not sprout. For these reasons stands of hemlock on slopes and ridges should never be cut clear, but only single individuals and groups of the larger trees removed at any one time. This will maintain an unevenaged stand and furnish the best possible pro- tection to exposed sites. In a few cases the hemlock type occurs on level or gentle sloping land. Here the mature stands, which are nearly evenaged, should MANAGEMENT OF THE PROPERTY 95 be cut clear and the area planted to pine. Hemlock is too slow- growing to be encouraged anywhere but on steep slopes, where its thick crown and habit of retaining live branches well down to the ground make it admirable as a protection forest. Pine type. All stands but one in this type are ten years of age or younger. For this reason it is hardly necessary to decide on the method of reproduction to be used in the type as a whole. The one mature stand is open in character, but with such a thick undergrowth of shrubs and hardwoods that it will be difficult to secure natural reproduction. The stand should be left untouched for the next ten years to the end that reproduction may start beneath the hardwood undergrowth. The young plantations, except those made in open fields, will require improvement cuttings to remove undesirable trees and shrubs that are overtopping and injuring the pine. Old field type. The forest on old fields is too open and is com- posed either of such slow-growing trees as cedar, or such worthless trees as gray birch, that conversion into pine is desirable. On the old fields having a density of stocking of 0.6 or less the con- version can be accomplished by planting the openings. At the present time it is not advisable to plant old fields that have grown up thickly. These should be left until the stand becomes old enough to be cut for cordwood. A clear cutting can then be made and the area planted. RotTATION AND EXPECTED YIELD Hardwood type. Seep ? aye Tee ei : “er me - met ata | ss : erg r 7 , i : he Nae . i. aoe if : Z we Rov eet ns a oat < 7 : Sue a Wey ie A = ‘igen ty esd ei ORE i oy nme “ sj 3 ~s as Op eee, A! dered, ae oe er = aoe er » eee : ‘ ~ ha ee ee , < oe ‘ h 2 a ‘aor write Wyte Land vs. BY op hata, 2 vse kant te Seat vant "yaa pet bes bese be he het ee et ee oe = teat hee had hey ge Ay GR te = om, oS ee ee Ne tee tee ge the rt Sed Get gt hee, bes ag oo od aed Saket Sees Sse hee ae rey ta 4 ‘ 1. Less Mem Chee mney! lng e a ae | - t wait, 4 se erst ecole ae ae ee a saad. 7 be & Be maait ar * nap { ecsthes <=, =. ae 2 ag 3 “Raw » aad | trowed aid “ > yy aoe Geeta Mee oo Soe Nag Se ig os oe * andl ae ie ne ee me toe ee Se ES ee ee ea 2 Raye Sige Rah ed tae age a tet - List — haeey «~~ Seen SF eae toe “oe igs eS ac ot See ay | ee” A “eee Minsay* Wg ia ne an SS Beet oa a eg = in - sion! see ee anes en oe + = = at Pera Se re a eo, Say ae Naw St Sage Ng ae ta il Mae Sep Ce le ge Lege exe Ace 7 = Se Net lee _ tat Nica? al ox mm mi, \ [a is 2 ee a ‘Sr, Se “eames 4 Seta hk ee “te oy 2 nee a ‘hae a A. t Les r re nincnl™ ie eat o Ramee. * ee | =. her, eres Nera Wer NES sen et ' i. Ka or? = See ih io i Ls Sani eT Sea ee a ha nies a na aed * Tp me Aneto , ease oe me Des ¥ Se eitnae vow ty, ev ae 4 nev [ \ we beet feet bey be oe . : i hee oe? ae | Se = _ ~*~ we my . “1, ‘ “hese hae bo Wee ie Ee ss load = Sar Raa ~ Sef Rha " a : \ 4 —— = Bee ona Saal - Ly _ bs 1, Sst bone Pine “er wa ed oral _ ie » ae Lome A — — ey = hi 8 bean oy = Sap Sagat sf . ~ “~ ‘ — Sag wes Psecee) ia age Bey Ps Sap oe ‘Sour “eer Keer ber we we 7 =. Se Sha ea” “ear <" = il a md eed ~ Sed Tage ones oe a =a an ng qi 5 = ‘os = eae Beir ws aot a as e Peay Okey Gree icy eer = ey o oh es ee ¥ Rae Gag! Seas Seach wher? Tat ete & ne se | os a” oe i. fF na ~ tS wast besarte Fn: “~ * zs ra i . nt & car wigs eh. ahs 3: rs Se ‘Seager ed 4 2°. va Smear ae ee a Po eerie er Gee ~* $s Nears iy? i es <= ax _ nap er ecg ire ‘gaat iol rae? ‘ woe — Se ma? ue ue ® ae ‘ arent ee a ae ae nucle” a = pe i ray Cea Wie rr eR ao ~m a go he ee ee A LS “tt Reet = Sead arm Sp Saxt gt hg ~ 7 ‘a & “ny a en) ie Sr hen are wa ahs, 7 eas 2 be ~ core Reine! ‘hgnianrAy ers 2 ~~ Ho $ «tn a ‘ : * lad ea a ee, * se » "Ry eeagd wad a % Se ‘ , é . dee “et om S Soop Vine lage Cia Seay! a od se = ee = 3 Some NT =a ‘ J fa = Rimes ~ Sie Rag a To Ee” - 2 — ~ io ae Sea Sa” ie e “ep See tone En 9 La Ry” ‘Nie = KJ ’ : 4 — ae ese aa nal “Sica Brod ae ¢ teat er ~ he er ei — os A 3 : be he ey ees — et — eS ye ae Oat ged he i a = ara ed Spee Sau Sega a Se ke > ——) Sam | Boge ce — — ae tr - - i TAN Le ot herd 9 es ” ae “ Sad i a) Hs ae pes oad ee mY tt acai og tea? wid 4 1 ‘oie 7 Wipe were ae ae bee \ ‘hoe “Sei et ee wea. et Marc oe ro iro be a “ar “ - Bi re Smee Se ee Sige a" be ag Jan a2 ES cbarsatinn. sige : Pots = - Wyn 4 oon my » a waa 7 Seer ~ ae Oar, x ay + = — nae rete ie nal Fal cs am > $ ee x: laa Seago ‘Wa wens & ais | er he. ome a cl “egir Ser er cg = ae A Sheen Aeros . Sewn : Feary Soha) 7 Sad aes tis _ = a eae as WG ae pe ee | — a — = oe, Sa an = ef Va et ee ae = Oe Sf Ew F