• Lavigne, M.B.
  Canada Forest Service: Newfoundland Forestry Centre
  
• Donnelly, J.G.
  Canada Forest Service: Newfoundland Forestry Centre
  
• van Nostrand, R.S.
  Canada Forest Service: Newfoundland Forestry Centre
  

Stemwood production rates per hectare and per tree for the five years immediately after thinning were compared among plots of various spacing's in a young black spruce stand (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) Some thinned plots were fertilized with 200 kg/ha of nitrogen. Production rates per hectare were inversely related to width of spacing. By contrast, production rate per tree increased with increased spacing. Fertilization increased periodic stemwood production rates when done in combination with thinning.

Rates of stemwood production per hectare were positively correlated to foliar weights per hectare, but rates of stemwood production per kilogram of foliage were negatively correlated to canopy foliar weights. Higher rates of stemwood production per kilogram of foliage were due in part to less stem surface area per unit of foliar weight and not solely to increased availability to trees of light, mineral nutrients and water. The rate at which stem surface area per unit of foliar weight increased was reduced by thinning and by fertilization. This effect of thinning will be the most enduring one and therefore will have the greatest effect on final yields.