OK--let us put things in perspective--settlement took place here (upper Canada) in 1784--so the arriving settlers were looking at trees that had never been harvested by man only mother nature, so were referred to as virgin or first growth, and Great Britain as the mother land kept access to the best trees even though your name maybe was on the parcel or section of property-I suppose something like mineral rights in today's world.
A good portion of each property was clear cut for farming, but a good sized woodlot was retained for what ever need arose, so in due course over the next 200 years the bush lots were never clear cut but in most cases managed by each individual generation to ensure a continuous supply of firewood, logs and fencing materials
So lets take white pine for instance, the original trees were probably 100 to 125 years old at the time of settlement, with young trees beginning to grow at various stages--with the removal of the mature trees the young trees reached a good age or maturity in 60 to 70 years when harvesting probably would selectively begin or mid 1800's, these were referred to as second growth, the early nineteen hundred's harvest third growth and so on
I am not an expert on the subject but in this area there was so much forest to deal with that any kind of management other that from individual owners never took place--but let us not put down the olden people, they knew that a good forest was absolutely needed for survival, and in most cases seed trees were left all over the place, and the dead or dying trees were removed leaving the young to grow, and every precaution in felling trees took into account damage to young trees in the area
I remember quite well as a very young lad helping my father harvest spruce trees to build the new barn he was working on, in this particular area we left a lovely spruce tree loaded with seed, and he commented to me never cut this tree it will re-establish new growth
Well dad died and my life moved on and it didn't include burning wood or harvesting logs for a number of years in this area but I remembered his words
As time passed I purposely found my way to the spot where the tree grew, my curiosity mounted--what do you think I found
