>y 1 Practical Forestry in the Sodthern Appalachians. HY . ' \ OVERTON W/PRICE, iSiqicrinloidenl of Working Plans, Division of Forestry. [Repkixt fkom Ykarbook of Department of Agriculture for 1900.] 11 DEC 1905 D.otD. CONTENTS. Page. Introduction - -^•'^7 General description of the region 357 The forest 358 Forest types 359 Lumbering 360 The local system 362 Damage to the forest 362 Fire 363 Causes of fires 363 Damage by fires 364 Suggestions for management 365 Cut-over lands 365 Virgin forests - 366 Need of practical forestry 368 ILLUSTRATIONS. Platk XXXVIII. Dogwood in flower 358 XXXIX. Yellow Poplar and Hemlock on north slope 358 XL. A characteristic mountain stream 362 XLI. A mountain road - 362 XLII. A deadening 362 XLIII. The Chestnut 368 PRA( TI( AL FORESTRY IN THE SOXITHERN APPALACHIANS. By Overton \V. Price, Super'mdendent of Working PlatDi, Dirisii))i of Fwestnj. INTRODUCTION. The' Southern Appalachians offer an excellent field for practical forestiy. The need of systematic and conservative forest manage- ment is beginning- to be keenly felt, both for the timber tract and the wood lot. The present desultory form of lumbering, which dates from the settlement of the region, has resulted in a serious reduction of the existing supply of timber. The unnecessary damage which has accompanied this lumbering, together with the repeated fires and excessive grazing to which the forest- has been largely subjected, has greatly retarded the production of a second crop. Although there is still enough wood to fill the wants of the settlers, the cost of obtain- ing it is constantly increasing with the growing distance between the supply and the market. Around the towns and villages the belt of woodlands from which all merchantable timber has been culled widens every 3"ear, while fire and grazing often prevent young trees from springing up on the cut-over area. The rapid increase now going on in the values of timber and in the cost of firewood is premature in so densely forested a countiy, and is the direct result of wasteful methods in the utilization of its resources. A continuance of these methods will necessarily result in a serious check to the general prosperity of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, where the inhabitants have already to contend with the remoteness and ruggedness of the region, and with an exceedingly low percentage of arable land. These methods will, moreover, not only render it costly to obtain wood for home consumption, but will entirel}^ destroj^ what is still the most important source of revenue in the Southern Appalachians — the lumbering of its valuable hardwoods to supply a steady and increasing demand in distant markets. It is intended in this paper merel}^ to outline the nature of the problem at hand and to suggest certain general lines of treatment that might be followed. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE REGION. The mountain region of western North Carolina and eastern Tennes- see comprises an area of 15,000 square miles. It includes the Blue 357 358 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Ridge on the east and the Smoky Mountains on the west, with the high and l)roken plateau which lies between them. Many spurs and ridges run off at right angles from these two ranges upon the plateau, and make of it the loftiest and most rugged section east of the Rocky Mountains. The more important of these cross chains are the Black Mountains, a spur of the Blue Ridge, which contain Mitchell Peak. 6,711 feet high; the Balsam Mountains, with a mean elevation of over 5,000 feet; and the Cowee Mountains, one of the longest of the cross ranges. Beginning on the east with the spurs of the Blue Ridge, which lose themselves in the Piedmont district, the elevation increases and the character of the mountain region grows more rugged westward toward the Smokies, in which the Appalachian system culminates. The slates, granite, and gneiss, with their intermediate forms, are the chief underlying rocks. Of these, the gneiss is most common. It is usually soft, and disintegrates rapidly, forming a sandy loam which, although not particularly rich, is loose, fresh, and of great depth, except where the grade is such as to cause excessive erosion. Where gneiss is the surface formation the slopes are generally smooth and rounded as a result of its rapid weathering. Where the slowly disintegrating granite forms the outcrop the topography is rugged and the slopes steep and bowlder-strewn, and sometimes craggy and precipitous, particularly those which face toward the south. With the exception of the natural meadows which occup}^ the sum- mits of some of the higher peaks, the mountains are covered with forest growth. The valleys are almost entirely under cultivation. Upland farming is carried on upon the foothills, and occasionally, for lack of better ground, upon mountain slopes so steep that their thorough cultivation is impossible. THE FOREST. It has often been said that it is in this region that the forest trees of the North mingle with those of the South, and the statement gives but an incomplete idea of the great variet}' of trees which is here the result of wide local differences in soil and climate. Western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee contain over one hundred kinds of native trees. Of these, some, such as the Black Spruce and Balsam, which ffnd in the Smokies at an elevation of 4,000 feet and over conditions similar to those of their northern habitat, are either too rare or too difficult of access to be often of commercial importance. Others, such as the Black Gum, Sourwood, Dogwood, Buckeye, and Aspen, are valueless for timber, and are used for firewood only when no better kinds are to be had. (PI. XXXVIII.) Others again, among which are the Striped Maple, the Haw, and the Silverbell Tree, have as yet no merchantable value. Among the commercial trees the more important hardwoods are the Yellow Poplar, the Oaks, Hickories, Chestnut, Birch, Ash, Cherry, Yearbook U S, Dept, of Ag:riculture, 1900. Plate XXXVIll. Dogwood in Flower. Yearboc'-. U S Dept of Agiiculture. 1900. Plate XXXIX. Yellow Poplar and Hemlock on North Slope. [Photograph by H. B. Ayres.] PRACTICAL FOEESTRY IN SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS. 859 Basswood, Black Walnut, and Maple. The merchantable softwoods, of which there are comparatively few, are chietiy Shortleaf Pine, White Pine, and Hemlock. They seldom predominate in the mixture, but occur by groups and single trees, the Shortleaf Pine in the larger val- leys and on the foothills, the White Pine confined chiefly to coves and intermediate Ioav ridges i^i the Blue Ridge, and the Hemlock along the streams and on the lower slopes of the mountain valleys. The latter, although much less common than farther north in the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia, on account of the increased num))er of faster-growing trees with which it has to contend, probably reaches in this region a larger size than an3^where else within its habitat, FOREST TYPES. The many kinds of trees native to this portion of the Southern Appalachians, and the fact that most of them have a wide local range, renders the forest exceedingly varied and makes it difficult to classify it into types except in a very broad and general way. The Oaks, among which the White Oak is most frequent, form the chief part of the forest growth up to an elevation of about 2,500 feet. With them are mixed the Shortleaf Pine, the Hickories, and a host of subordinate kinds, among which the Black Gum and Red Maple are most common in moist situations, the Basswood, Birches, Ashes, Yellow Poplar, and Cucumljer Tree on fresh soils, and the Chestnut, Locust, Dogwood, and Sourwood on south slopes and in dry localities generalh\ At an elevation of 2,500 to 3,500 feet the number of the Oaks decreases and Yellow Poplar, Hemlock, Birch, Beech, Ash, Black Walnut, and Cherry reach their best development and predominate especially in coves and hollows with a northerly aspect. (PI. XXXIX.) Above 3,500 feet the forest falls off both in the number of different kinds of trees and in their size and quality. The Chestnut, Chestnut Oak, and Red Oak are the characteristic trees of this belt and occur almost pure on dry, steep slopes and ridges. Finally, at about 4,000 feet, dense woods of Black Spruce and Balsam Fir cover the ground to the exclusion of all other trees and reach to the mountain tops, except on the "balds," the local term for those mountains, the crests of which arc occupied by natural meadows. The general type of these forests, except where modified by lum- bering or fire, or by both, is that of the virgin forest, exceedingly irregular in age and density. On the loAver slopes, where the Oak prevails and where logging for timber and firewood has long been carried on, and which also have suffered from excessive grazing and repeated fires, the forest consists largely of second growth, seldom over fort}^ years old. Above this second growth, in which a constant struggle goes on between the Oaks and the Shortleaf Pine, the latter holduig its own almost everywhere and having the upper hand on the 360 YEAEBOOK OF THE DEPAETMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. poor soils, stand mostly old oak and pine, which generally owe their presence to the fact that they are unfit for lumber. The result is a ver}^ irregular two-storied forest, the old oak and pine forming the upper story and the second growth the lower, the latter varying greatly in age in different localities, according to the dates of the lumbering, and often in the same locality, where there have been repeated cut- tings, each one of which has induced a new growth of seedlings and stump shoots. Higher up in the mountains, where there has been less fire and lumbering, is perhaps the most perfect form of the mixed virgin forest to be found in this country. Trees of all ages occur together, and there is seldom, except where a space has been laid bare by wind and seeded up, any approach to an even-aged growth. It is here that the struggle for existence has been carried on without intervention and that trees of each kind have held their own in the mixture through the characteristics which have been given them for that purpose — one by plentiful crops of seed, another by capacity to endure great shade, another by its rapid growth or its adaptability to manj^ different soils and situations. The result has been a forest containing a w^onderful variety of types and forms of mixture. Some of the trees, particu- larly the Yellow Poplar and Hemlock, show a marked tendency to distribution by groups and patches. The Ash, Basswood, Beech, and most of the others, however, are distributed evenly throughout those localities which are favorable to them. This region shows a variety in the undergrowth which corresponds to the richness of its silva. Among the most characteristic shrubs and those which influence chiefly the reproduction of the forest are the Rhododendron and Kalmia, or Mountain Laurel, which in the higher mountains not infrequent^ form a distinct and almost impenetrable second story under the forest trees. After these the more important of the shrubs and shrub-like trees are the Serviceberry, Sumach, Magnolia, Holly, Sassafras, Haw, Stagbush, and Hazel. LUMBEKING. There are two distinct types of lumbering in the Southern Appala- chians, similar in the extent of the harm done to the forest, but differ- ing widely in the manner in which they are carried out. The one is the slipshod, desultory form which has been practiced by the farmers of this region since its settlement in order to eke out the generally scanty profits from their farms. Although their output is small individually, their combined efforts, extending over man}' years, have resulted in the culling of the best timber over a large portion of the more accessible forests. The scattered distribution of the mer- chantable trees, however, has rendered the lumbering comparatively light except where firewood has been cut as well as saw logs. PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS, 361 The other dates from the time when, some fifteen years ago, with the failing supply of timber in Maine, Michigan, and the north woods generally, began the exodus of many Northern lumbermen to the hardwood forests of the Virginias, Georgia, and Tennessee, and to the pineries and cypress swamps in the far South. With their arrival began lumbering on a large scale in the Southern Appalachians, together with the investment of commensurate capital in logging out- fits, the thorough reptiir and extension of logging roads, and the appli- cation of those skillful and businesslike methods which constitute clean lumbering. The active and systematic manner in which these men conducted a lumber job and the margin of profit which they wrung from it were a revelation to the natives, but have not yet resulted in any appreciable improvement in their methods. It is nevertheless to be remembered that several factors have tended to make a poor lumberman of the farmer of western North Carolina or eastern Tennessee. He is often hampered by lack of the capital nec- essary to make the most of lumbering in this region, and he is gener- ally wanting in the knowledge requisite to the best use of it. He has had always to contend with the difliculty of obtaining expert loggers to carry out the work, and is generally obliged, through the scarcit}^ of available white men, to employ negroes, who seldom do well in the lumber woods, for the reason that they are usuall}^ strongly averse to the mode of life required of them. Nevertheless, the nearness of large bodies of merchantable timber, among which are valuable kinds, such as the Cherr}^, Black Walnut, Hickory, and Yellow Poplar, has usually made a fair profit possible under even the most thriftless log- ging methods. The unnecessary damage to the forest and the total lack of provision for a future crop, characteristic of lumbering generally in the South- ern Appalachians, is deplorable. It is a form of waste, however, which can not be eliminated by criticism, but can best be checked by proof of the advantages of more conservative methods, through their appli- cation to a portion of these forests, either by the Government upon its own lands or in cooperation with private owners. There is, however, much immediate loss incurred by a species of slovenliness which is as foreign to clean lumbering as it is to practical forestry, and is entirelj'^ without excuse. Entire trees found to be unsound at the base are often left upon the ground to rot, rather than butt ofl" the decayed portion. Not infrequently sound trees of a mer- chantable diameter are carelessly left uncut upon the lumbered area. There is great waste in high stumps and in lack of judgment in sawing up the trees, while careless felling leaves many a lodged tree in the woods or smashes the more brittle kinds, particularly the Yellow Poplar. 362 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. THE LOCAL SYSTEM. The local system of lumbering is exceedingly simple. The trees are felled and sawn into logs Avhere they lie, and these are snaked, or skidded, by horses, or, more often, by cattle, to the roadside or the river bank. Logging streams are rare, however, in the Southern Appalachians, and the customary way of getting the logs to the mill or to the railroad is by wagon over the rough mountain roads. (Pis. XL and XLI.) It is a somewhat primitive system throughout, but it is the one most generally suited to the nature of the country and to the distribution of the merchantable timber, which does not often favor the employment of those labor-saving devices which have been found profitable in logging elsewhere. The lack of sufficient snow usually prevents the use of sleds instead of logging wagons. The topography is often better adapted to timber slides or to donkey engines and wire cables for bringing the logs to the roads than to snaking with teams. The merchanta])le timber, however, is generally so scattered that the amount which could be transported by one slide or from one spot by an engine and calile is seldom sufficient to render them profitable. These and similar appliances suitable to a rough mountain countrj^, but to the success of which a dense mer- chantable stand, or, in other words, a large amount of timber upon a small area, is necessary, have here usually been found impracticable. DAMA(iE TO THE FOREST. The harm done to the forest is very great in proportion to the quantity of timber cut. This is due largely to the size of the trees and to the fact that little care is taken in the fellings. The damage to young growth is aggravated by the absence of snow and by the fact that the fellings are not infrequently made when the trees are in full leaf. The breaking down and wounding of seedlings and young trees by the snaking of the logs to the roadside or the river is in large part unavoidable. There are often, however, many more snakeways, or skidways, than are necessary, and the application of a little system in laying them out would save time and young growth on a luml)er jol). On the higher and steeper slopes it is often the habit, and one which can not be criticised too strongly, except in those rare cases where it is absolutely necessary on account of the gradient, to roll the logs from top to bottom, merely starting them with the cant hook. A 16-foot log, 3 feet or more in diameter, can gain momentum enough in this way to smash even fair-sized trees in its path, and should it pass through dense young growth it leaves a track like that of a miniature tornado. The practice is in line with others to be observed in the Southern Appalachians, such as the common habit, for example, of leaving to rot the "deadened" trees which stand over clearings. Yearbook U S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1900^ Plate XL. A Characteristic Mountain Stream. [Photograph by H. B. Ayres.] Yearbook U S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1900. Plate XLI. A Mountain Road. [Photograph by H. B. Ayres.] Yearbook U. S. Dept. of Agri PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN SOUTHERN AJTALACHIANS. '^03 ?here are cases in which these clearinos have been inclosed with ences built of rails split from prime Black Walnut, with no other xcuse than that the walnut happened to be within easier reach than ither Oak or Pine. (PL XLII.) Under such methods, in which there is not only an absolute lack of irovision for a future crop, but often a marked absence of that fore- hought, skill, and aversion to waste which go to make clean lumbering, iiost of the logged-over areas in the Southern Appalachians are only aved from entire destruction of the standing trees l)y the generally eattered distribution of the merchantable timber. Fire has done, and continues to do, enormous damage in the Southern Lppalachians. This has been the result not only of local conditions, f-hich are exceedingly favorable to fires, but of a very passive senti- lent in regard to them. In most great forest regions, with increase II population has grown a more determined attitude toward forest res and a consequent falling off in the frequency of their occurrence, 'his has not yet been the case in the Southern Appalachians. The rea burned over annually has increased rather than diminished, and he general feeling among the natives is one of somewhat placid resig- ation to an evil which is not fully realized and which is considered Imost inevitable. Inevitable it assuredly is not; but thei'e are several actors which combine to render fires in this region exceedingly diffi- ult to check when once they are started. The absence of snow except or short periods, or of a marked rainy season, makes the danger a enerally constant one throughout the time when the trees are leafless, 'here are seldom in the higher mountains any clearings or natural penings to serve as lire breaks, and the forests contain a large amount f dead timber, which adds power to the lires. CAUSES OF FIRES. There is not enough game in the Southern Appalachians to encourage amping during the autumn and winter months, and very few of the orest tires can be laid to campers. The munber set maliciously is also mall. Some are undoubtedly started each year ])y cart^lessness in the imber camps, from the burning of tops and branches in the recent learings, or by tourists and cattlemen. By far the larger number, owever, are the result of the long-established practice of burning ver the woods in the autumn under the belief that better pasturage 5 thus obtained the following year. These flres are set l)y the farmers n the area upon which they expect to turn out their sheep and cattle uring the next season, and there is rarely an attempt made to conflne tiem unless a neighbor's house or barn should be endangered. The onsequence is that, except when isolated by roads or clearings, they S64r YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. often spread from the wood lots of the valleys and foothills in which they are set out to the forests of the higher mountains, where the}- burn unmolested for days or even weeks, until finally extinguished b} rain, snow, contrary wind, or lack of inflammable material in the sparse forests of the stony upper slopes. These fires are set year after year upon the same areas. They decrease annually in heat and power on the areas already burned over, until finally, with almost every vestige of the humus destroyed and the mineral soil baked and hardened, there is but little left upon the ground to burn except the leaf-fall of the preceding season. It would seem that so common and ancient a practice as the burning over of forest land in the Southern Appalachians in order to improve the pasturage would long since have been abandoned had it not proved successful. However, apart from the damage caused to the forest, doubt has already arisen among some of the farmers themselves as to whether it is not, after all, a short-sighted policy. The result of l)urn- ing over forest land the first time in this region is undeniably to destroy shrubs and seedlings and to stimulate the growth of weeds and grasses which aflord good grazing. On the other hand, there are many locali- ties which owe their unfitness for grazing to repeated fires. The final result is a sparse, unhealth}' forest, entirel}^ insuflicient to protect from sun and wind the hardened and impoverished soil beneath it, which is generalh' covered with a straggling growth of broom sedge or wire grass, and is practically bare of other herbage. On slopes, where the admission of Hght and the destruction of the vegetable mold has been followed by more or less excessive erosion, the mineral soil is some- times exposed, or even worn down to the underlying rock, where it is near the surface. The whole matter awaits thorough and systematic study before it can be authoritatively stated whether, disregarding the damage to the timber and with a view to grazing only, it is best to exclude fire entirely from forest land in this region or under what conditions and restrictions to make use of it. The local grazing interests are impor- tant, and the annual fires will continue until it has been established to the satisfaction of the natives that they fail of their prime object in the long run. A detailed investigation on the ground of this matter by unprejudiced men, with the publication of its results, will be the first and most important step toward the protection of these forests from fire. DAMAGE BY FIRES. The immediate damage done by fire in the Southern Appalachians is much slighter than in the evergreen forests of the North and West. Crown fires are rare except in particularly dr}'^ seasons and under a high wind, and it is seldom that trees are consumed or even killed out- right, except in second growth and young woods. The chief harm PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN SOUTHERIJ APPALACHIAiyS. 365 done la in the killing of youncj tree growth and in the decay which starts from the scars left at the base of the trees, to which the Yellow Poplar, the White Oak. and the Hickories are particularly .sas<:ep- tible. The firnt thing for the timber cruiser here, after he has satis- fied himself of the .size and quality of the merchantable stand, is to \o(fk for traces of severe fires. Should they have run over the area, it is possible that the labor and losri in timber of butting off the decayed portion at the IfUse of the tree may seriously impair the profit from the lumbering. Apart from damage to the merchantable stand, the result of fire is here aV?o greatly to disturb the balance between the different trees, a matter of some importance where there is so large a numV>er in mixture, many of which are practically worthless. For example, the Dogwood, Sourwood, Black Jack, and Scrub Oak offer great resistance to fire, and are characteristic kinds in the young growth on burned-over lands. Repeated fires on White Oak and Poplar land will soon so dry out and impoverish the soil as to render it unfit for the reproduction of thovse species, to which a moist, rich soil is necessary. On the foothills and in the larger valleys where the Shortleaf Pine enters prominently into the mixture, oak forests are constantly being converted into pine forests through the agency of fire. A dense growth of E^almia is fre- quently the result of repeated fires on south slopes and renders the growth of the seedlings difficult or even impossible. SrGGESTIONS FOE MANAGE>£E>'T. There are two problems presented to practical forestry in the South- ern Appalachians: The one, the management of the cut-over lands of the foothills and larger valleys, which have suffered from excessive grazing and repeated fires, and have been lumbered heavily, not only for timber, but also for fuel: the other, the management of the forests of the higher mountains, which still contain large bodies of virgin timber, and in which fire and grazing have done comparatively little damage. These are the two great classes of forest land in this region. They differ not only in past treatment and in the character, quality, and amount of the stand, but also in the demands which are made upon them. The forer^ts of the foothills and lower valleys constitute the wood lots which must supply the farmer with his firewood and fencing. The mountain forests, on the other hand, are usually so difficult of access that they are as yet of value only for saw logs. CCT-OVER LA>-D6. It has already been mentioned that the cut-over lands characteristic of the more accessible and thickly populated districts consist largely of uneven-aged second growth, chiefly of Oak and Pine, with scattered old trees of the same kinds standing above it. The density is generally 366 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. low and the qualit}^ of the old trees exceedingl}^ poor, while the second growth is often characterized b}' the presence of worthless species, by injuries due to fire and grazing, and by a lack of vigor which is the result of excessive shade. In some localities, where the young trees have been killed oil' by fire and there is left onl}^ a scant}- remnant of the old stand, cuttings can do no good, and would be likely still further to impair the meager chances for successful reproduction. The larger part of these forests, however, is in urgent need of improvement cuttings, with the object of producing a denser and healthier growth, and of removing the trees of worthless kinds which have sprung up after lumbering or form a part of the old stand. The cutting out of undesirable species, such as Dogwood, Sourwood, and Scrub Oak, of branchy advance growth which is suppressing promising seedlings and saplings, and the gradual removal of the old trees, would be in line with this polic^y. These cuttings would entail no more than a thorough understanding of their purpose and a reasonable amount of care in their execution. The}" could be carried out successfully by the farm- ers after the principles had once been illustrated and explained by a forester. Their entire practicability has been forcibly illustrated upon the Biltmore estate, near Asheville, N. C, where about 4,000 acres of woodland, formerly owned by a number of small farmers, are made to produce annually about 3,000 cords of firewood, with a steady and marked improvement in the general condition of the forest. It is often urged by the farmers that these careful cuttings would cost more than would be brought by the sale of their produce. The Biltmore experiment, in which a rule has been made that all cuttings shall at least be self-supporting, has satisfactorily established the fal- lacy of such a view. The firewood cut upon the Biltmore estate is sold in the open market in competition with that taken by the farmers from their own lands and under their own methods, and it realizes a fair margin of profit above the cost of cutting and hauling. It is to be remembered, however, that the good results of these improvement cuttings in the forests of the Biltmore estate would have been seri- ously impaired had not cattle and fire been kept out since the institu- tion of systematic and conservative management. VIRGIN FORESTS. The mountain forests of the Southern Appalachians are silvieulturally the most complex in the United States. They contain many kinds of trees varying widely in habit and also in merchantable value, and the forest type is constantly changing w4th differences in elevation, expo- sure, gradient, and soil. Their proper management is difficult, because the lack of uniformity in the forest renders it necessary constantly to vary the severity of the cuttings and to discriminate in the kinds of trees which are cut, instead of following only those general rules PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS. 867 which suffice where there are fewer species represented and the forest conforms more closel}' to a single type. In order to reproduce these forests successfully and to minimize the damage done by lumbering, first of all it will be necessary to have a radical improvement in the fellings. Such an improvement is entirely practicable, without addi- tional cost per 1,000 feet B. M. of tim})er felled. It often requires no more labor to fell a tree up a slope than down it, or upon an open space rather than into a clump of young growth; and it is in just such cases as these that unreasoning disregard for the future of the forest is commonly manifested in the Southern Appalachians, In thp selection of trees to be felled, the small farmers, who for a long time were the only lumbermen in the Southern Appalachians, have been governed by the same considerations which govern lumbermen else- where. They have taken the best trees and left uncut those of doubtful value rather than run the risk of loss in felling them. Furthermore, the fact that they have lumbered generally on a very small scale and have often had great difficulties with which to contend in the transport of logs has led them to extremes in this respect. The result is that they have reduced the general quality of their forests in a measure entirely disproportionate to the amount of timber cut. As a rule, only prime trees have been taken, and those showing even slight unsoundness left uncut, except where the stand of first-class timber was insufficient. Diseased and deteriorating trees remain, to offset the growth of the forest by their decay and to reduce its productive capacity still further by suppressing the j^ounger trees beneath them, while in the blanks made by the lumbering worthless species often con- tend with young growth of the valuable kinds. In other words, the lumbering has closely followed the selection system, but the principles governing the selection have usually been at variance with the needs of the forest. In order to bring about successful reproduction of the desirable species and to maintain the quality and density of the stand, lumber- ing in the mountain forests of the Southern Appalachians must be governed by the following main considerations: (1) Remove all diseased, overripe, or otherwise faulty trees of a merchantable size where there is alreadj^ sufficient young growth upon the ground to protect the soil and to serve as a basis for a second crop of timber. In extreme cases, where the condition of the forest is greatly impaired by the presence of a large number of such trees, or where they overshadow and seriously retard promising young growth, their removal ma}^ be financially advisable when the sale of the produce no more than pays the cost of logging. (2) So direct the cuttings that the reproduction of the timber trees may be encouraged in opposition to that of the less valuable kinds. This can not be successfully accomplished in the Southern Appalachians 368 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. by cutting to a diameter limit merely. A limit will by all means be advisable for each species, based upon a study of its rate of growth and the proportion which different diameters bear to its contents in board feet. It will be frequently necessary, however, to leave trees of a merchantable diameter where their removal would seriously impair density or where seed trees are necessary. In the leaving of seed trees many considerations are involved, only a few of which can be mentioned here. The Oaks, Hickories,Walnut, and Chestnut should be favored, since their seed is too heavy to be carried bj^ wind, and much of it is eaten by animals. (PI. XLIII.) The marked tendency of the Hemlock and Yellow Poplar to reproduce by groups must be encouraged. On south slopes and in dry localities generally, where Dogwood, Sourwood, and Scrub Oak contend with the timber trees, great care must be taken not to disturb the balance between them. The rich, moist soil of the poplar coves is particularly likely to pro- duce a luxuriant growth of weeds and brambles instead of tree seed- lings if too much light is admitted to the soil; while the Ash, Cherry, and Basswood, which are only sparsely represented in the mature stand and are further handicapped among the young growth by their strong demands upon light, would require an exceedingly conservative method of management. NEED OF PRACTICAL FORESTRY. The degree of care which is justified in the lumbering of any forest depends primarily upon the value of the timber which it produces. The higher the margin of profit on lumbering the larger the capital which is represented by the immature trees and the more important the financial considerations involved in their protection. Stunipage values are not sufficiently good in the Southern Appalach ,as to warrant the application of an elaborate system of forest management, but they are high enough to make a sound business measure of prac- tical forestry. The production of repeated crops of merchantable timber is here advisable, not only on account of the price this timber commands at present, but because it is rapidly increasing in v: lue for the lack of satisfactory substitutes, notably in the case of th Black Walnut, Cherry, Hickory, White Oak, and Yellow Poplar. From the point of view of the State, further considerations are involved in the preservation of the forests of this region. They con- stitute the drainage basins of several important rivers, there is no other great forest region except the Adirondacks of northern New York which is within easy reach of so large a number of people, and its healthfulness is sufficient to have transformed it in the last twenty years from what was practically a wilderness to a deservedly popular health resort. irbook U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, 1900. Plate XLlll. The Chestnut. [Photograph by H. B. Ayres.] LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 000 879 754 7