In order to accurately estimate the litter mass, we evaluated the required sample sizes across 13 chronosequence stands for five years (1994~1996, 2003~2004) in northern hardwood forests in New Hampshire, USA. It was found that the number of required litter traps in our stands (0.25~0.5 ha) within ${pm}10%$ of the sample mean was appeared to be similar or higher than the 15 litter traps installed in this study. Notably, in 1994 and 1995, the number of required litter trap was twice higher than the 15 litter traps. Further, within ${pm}20%$ of the sample mean, the number of required litter traps was less than 10 across all 13 stands for five years, which indicates that we can reduce the sample size. Precisely, the number of sample size had increased in stands with steep and high elevation, but no relations with stand age across 13 stands were observed. Based on these results, we suggest that it is important to sample litter mass for several years, in order to determine the number of appropriate sample size, and stands with steep and high elevation may need more litter traps.