Description:
Seedlings were thinned to spacings of 5, 9, 12, 15, and 18 feet and measured periodically. Twenty-seven years after treatment, quadratic mean diameters increased curvilinearity (p < or = 0.05) as spacing increased, but total height did not differ significantly (p < or = 0.05) with spacing. Corresponding basal areas decreased curvilinearly (p < or = 0.05), and cubic volumes decreased linearly (p < or = 0.05) as spacing increased. All periodic annual increments differed with period or age. Periodic annual increments for mean diameter and basal area varied curvilinearly (p < or = 0.05), whereas volume increments varied linearly (p < or = 0.05) with spacing for each period. Height increments were greatest at intermediate spacing during some periods, at wide spacings during other periods, and at the narrowest spacing during one period. Crown widths increased (p < or = 0.05) as spacing widended. Fifty percent crown cover as attained at a stand density index of about 80 for all spacings. Simulation to a breast high age of 100 years indicated that most merchantable cubic volume was produced at the 6-foot spacing but that the 12-, 15-, and 18-foot spacings produced about the same board-foot volume.