The terrain-chipping system is widely used for thinning young stands in Denmark. The system is also relevant in older stands, but problems have occurred when handling larger trees in an upright position. The possibilities of harvesting roundwood and fuel-chips simultaneously (integrated harvesting) have been demonstrated. The felling operation is critical because it determines the chipping productivity and the damage to the remaining trees. The aim of the study was to analyse and compare three whole-tree chipping systems and one integrated harvesting system in a 50-year old stand of Norway spruce. The whole-tree systems had different felling operations: (1) Motor-manual felling, (2) felling and bunching at the striproads (feller-buncher), (3) felling in a herringbone pattern (single-grip harvester). Felling in the integrated harvesting system (4) was also in a herringbone pattern using a single-grip harvester, but the felling included production of a sawlog from the butt-end when possible. All chipping was performed in the stand. It was found that chipping productivity was strongly dependent on ease of feeding the trees into the chipper. Motor-manual felling was cheaper than mechanical felling and bunching, but the bunching improved the chipping productivity so much that it made up for the extra felling costs. Integrated harvesting improved the income, but the net income was lower than for whole-tree chipping with motormanual felling or felling and bunching. It was concluded that easy feeding is essential for chipping productivity and system economy. An alternative could be to use a combined harvester/forwarder for integrated harvesting. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.