Historic, archived document

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I II.S. DEPARTMLITT OF AGRICULTURE

* FOREST SERVICE

APPAIACIIIA17 FOREST EXPERIMENT STATION Asheville, N. C.

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Technical Note 43

January 27, 1941

FORESTRY ON THE BILTI-SRE ESTATE Biliattore, N. C.

By E# Hi Frothingham, Senior Silviculturist

Foreword

The Biltmore plantations are about all that is left of what Gifford Pinchot once called "the first practi- cal application of forest management in the United States" .

The plantations covered not more than three thousand of the mo,ny thousand acres under management. Their age, the history of their success or failure, and the many species tested, today give them a special demon- strational value. The Estate presents other items of interest to foresters; the native forest, the extensive planting for decorative and other purposes, and the gam-o and wildlife populations.

A review of plantation conditions, based upon the re- sults of a study completed in 1924, \^s issued as U.S. Dept. Agr, Misc. Pub. 61, Forest Plantations at Biltmore, N. C., by Ferdinand I,'. Ilaasis. This publi- cation is now out of print; the follovdng brief sum- mary partially takes its place,

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R. E. McArdle,

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TEE ESTATE

The Estate vra.s built up from many small holdings of farm and timberland by the late George W. Vanderbilt, beginning about 1889. The mansion was built between 1890 and 1895. By 1893 an area of 7,282 acres, 54 percent forest, had been acquired, and at the time of Mr. Vanderbilt’s death, in 1914, the Estate had grown to about 100,000 acres. It extended about 20 miles southwesterly, along the ridges north of the French Broad River, in Buncombe, Hayvrood, and Henderson Counties, iT. C., to beyond Brevard, in Transylvania County. Many mile of road and trail were built, giving access to Mount Pisgah and other scenic spots and to tributaries of the French Broad River.

Between 1916 and 1922 an area of 80,381 acres was sold to the Federal Government, becoming part of the Pisgah National Forest.* Another sale, of 1500 acres, was made in 1921 to the Biltmorc Estate Company. This transfer carried vrith it a considerable area of for- est plantations, parts of vdiich can still be scon within the toirm limits of Biltmore Forest, The present area of the Estate is about 12,000 acres. It has nearly 140 miles of roads and trails, includ- ing 17 miles of macadam road.

Although the Estate contained, when acquired, a few small stands of virgin hardwood timber (including one of the finest, at Lookingglass Roclq, to be found anyvehcro in the Southern Appalachian region), much of the woodland wtls ovorcut, or badly burned, or over- grazed, Some of the cleared fields were badly eroded.

FORESTRY PERSOM'iEL AlID ACCOMPLISmiEHTS

The general purpose of the forestry work on the Estate was to build up a forest combining utility, beauty, game habitats, and hunting grounds. The program included improvement of the native for- est, and planting. In accordance with the plan for landscaping the Estate, under the direction of Frederick Law Olmsted and later of his assistant, C. D. Beadle, who is the present superintendent of roads and grounds, the earlier planting, particularly along the main roads, was largely for decorative purposes. The Douglas plantation, in 1890, briefly described further on, t/vtls the first substantial

*Thc cutting rights on this area had previously (in 1912) been contracted to the Carr Lumber Company, of Pisgah Forest, IT, C,, for a period of 20 years. The cutting was actually completed in

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forest planting. The large variety of native and foreign trees and shrubs planted -under the direction first of Mr. Olmsted and later of Mr, Beadle constitutes, in effect, a notable arboret-um.

Forestry was taken up b^?- Mr. Vanderbilt in 1892, upon the insistence of Mr, Olmsted, The first forester, appointed upon the recommendation of Cho.rles Sprague Sargent, was Gifford Pinchot, ncvfly returned from forestry training in Germany and Franco, Pinchot omployod Henry Solon Gro.ves as a field assistant. The early vrork, in 1892 and 1893, is described by Pinchot in a booklet, "Biltmoro Forest", prepared for the Chicago Yforlds Fair of 1893, This booklet outlines a vrorking plo.n for the 7,282 acres then in the Estate, For the part of the Estate east of the French Broad River the system of management adopted was high forest (clear-cutting blocks in scries, for sustained yield). West of the French Broad the system vrsis select- ion, localized to obtain the yield from one-fifth of the area during each period of five years, Ninety- tvro compartments averaging 42 acres were laid out. They were separated by topographic features and old woods roads, and formed three blocks, one on the v;cst and tvro on the cast side of the French Broad, A rotation age of 150 years was adopted, and improvement cuttings v/erc made, A nursery was installed on the Sv;annanoa River bottoms in 1892 or 1893, and planting of the cleared and often eroding fields was started*

In 1895 Pinchot was succeeded as forester by Dr. C. A, Schcnck, vrho vras recommended for the plc.ee by Sir Dietrich Brandis,

Dr, Schcnck continued the forest mr.ncigement of the Estate c.s it cx- prindcd in size, his operations extending to the vicinity of Brevard, Schcnck* s cuttings wore of considcrc-.blo vc.rioty, but in the mctin they were improvement cuttings, limdtcd by exacting commercial require- ments cind by inadequate funds for non-commercial cultural treatment. Unfortunately no records arc available from which the results of these cuttings cc;.n be traced with any degree of reliability. Those on the 80,381 acres sold tc the government have been obliterated by the subsequent Ixmabcring,

Early in his administration. Dr, Schcnck v/as made president of the Biltmore Lumber Company, operating at Asheville what v;as said to bo "the only band-mill in western North Carolina", Efforts to drive logs dc\m the French Broad River to Asheville wore abandoned.

By 1896 Schenck had five cr six assistants, among them Overton W. Price, serving without pay for the training. This led, in 1898, tc the establishment cf the Biltmore Forest School, v/ith head- quarters on the Estate until 1909 v;hcn Schcnck loft. Since his de- parture, the Estate ho.s boon without a fcrcstor; cuttings for fuclwcod

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and other locally needed products have not follov/cd the management plans previously in force, though it is understood that they have been conducted Yiith reference to the mciintenojice of a constant supply

THE PLANTATIONS

Records as to the total area planted are lacking. If the replanting of early failures is included the total might bo as high as 3,000 acres, but it is probable that well-marked stands of plo.nted timber never covered mere than 1,000 acres. Seme good stands have been cut to make v/ay for agriculture, and mriny were on the land that vmus sold.

The purpose of planting, in accordance with Mr, Vanderbilt’s desires, ims apparently tv/o-fold: (1) to conceal bare and eroding slopes and furnish attractive borders to the Estate reads; and (2) to contribute to the building up of a forest estate on European lines, Fcllomng the Douglas planting, in 1890^ seme plantations were estab- lished by Pinchet; but the majority were sot cut by Schonck* Between 1909 and 1912 seme further planting, of Nornny spruce, vmis dene by Mr, Beadle. Some 40 different tree species have been used, o.bcut half ef them conifers and half hardwoods.

Dr, Schenck’ s first efforts v;crc with native species, mostly hardvmcds. Those appeared to have failed, for one reason or another, and Schcnck then turned to white and shcrtloaf pines fer the bulk of his plc-nting. Seme of the original hardwood plantings that were re- planted with pine still exist c.s a suppressed understory. Of the 380 acres of plantation described by Haasis in ’’Forest Planto-tions at Biltmcre, N. C.” (U. S, Dept, of Agr. Misc, Pub. 61), 144 acres are pure or nearly pure white pine, and lessor quantities of this species are found on 180 .acres of ether plantings, Shcrtlcaf pine, in greater or loss quantities, occurs on 216 acres of plantation.

The following summaries apply to a few of the mere note- worthy plantations. Except for the stands in V'hich the Appalachian Forest Experiment Station is conducting thinning experiments, no measurements have been made since 1924,

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Douglas plantation

These are the oldest plantings, dating from 1890, and con- tain the largest trees. The scattered stands cover about 300 acres.

The planting was contracted to the Douglas Nursery Company of Waukegan, 111,, for $55 an acre, with guaranteed survival of 1100 trees per acre, second year. The contract specified planting stock 10'’ to 16" in hcightj on each area planted the minimum percent by species was designated as v;hitc pine 75, Douglas fir 4, ycllov/ birch 5, chestnut 5, the remaining 11 percent to bo of hemlock, spruce, or any one or more of seven or more other spccios. The planting was on plowed strips, Schenck objected to the large growing space given the indi- vidual trees; "early returns cannot be obto.ined by way of thinning".

The wdde spacing, hovrever, has resulted in good crovm aaid bole develop- ment, In 1924 there vrc-rc about 400 vdiito pines per acre, the dominants 59’ - 72’ high and 11" - 16" d,b»h. Stands along main roads v/crc pruned in 1920 or earlier, often to a height of 20’,

Long Ridge Plantation

This is a complex plantation occupying the conspicuous ridge that faces the traveller, after leaving the Biltmorc gate, as he reaches the first open field* It covers 45 acres. The planting site was steep, bare, and badly eroding. Planting wus as follows:

Winter of 1895 to spring of 1899: By three direct seeding s at different dates, 31 acres v/ere sown to hardvroods: white, red, and chestnut oaks, chestnut, hickoryj black ivalnut, and buckeye; o.bout 6,5 bu. of seed \7crc sovrn per acre. Four acres vfcrc plo.ntcd with 1 to 4-year-old black cherry, Douglas fir, sugar maple, wrhitc oak, hickory, ailanthus, chestnut oak, butternut, and black walnut; and 15 acres with 1 and 2-ycar-old seedlings of white, red, and chestnut oaks, ash, black v/alnut, hickory, o.nd buckeye, nrmed in order of quantity planted, and 400 10-ycar-old seedlings of Frazer fir and red spruce. Spacing wya.s close, the number per acre varying from 6,000 to 7,000, Since the aggregate area reported for those plantings is larger than the area of Long Ridge as a whole, the plantings may have overlapped.

Spring of 1900: A general replanting, to conifers, of about 40 acres previously planted or sown to hardwoods. Species: vdiitc pine (79 , percent) vrcstern yellow pine, shcrtlcaf pine, Horwciy spruce, bal- sam fir, v/hite fir, Douglas fir, Siboriem and Japanese larch, Nord- mann fir, jack pine, Swiss stone pine, and blue spruce. Average num- ber per acre, 1890, On 5 acres of freshly abandened field, 3,000 vAite oaks 4 years old \Tcrc planted in rows alternating with rows of w'hitc pine (middle of west slope of Long Ridge); 10,000 balled 6-yoar- old shortlcaf pines wore planted to obliterate old roads.

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Fall of 1900 to spring of 1905; Four reinforcement plant- ings and one seeding wore mridc* Tiic' plbiitings v»'cro largely -with white pine, the seeding v/ith walnut.

This plantation is so complicated tho.t it is difficult to got more than gencro.l impressions from it. On the whole, it gives the appoarcaico of a pure staiid of Vvrhito pine, most of the other species occurring as isolated individuals. On the cast slope Scotch and shortlcaf pines msiy form as much as 25 percent of the stand, Douglas fir appeared to be doing v\rcll in 1915, not so well in 1924, very poorly today. Some of the scattered chestnut and Tvhitc oaks and black cherries arc quite largo and thrifty, but the small sugar maple planting on the west slope has been almost at a standstill for the past 15 cr 20 years.

In 1924, deminant trees of the different species had the fellewing dimensions;

Species	Height	D.b.h*	Species	Height	D.b.h.
	ft.	in.		ft.	in.
Vifhito pine	45	8(6-10)	Black locust	46	7(5-9)
Shcrtlcaf pine	i 36	6(5-7)	Black woilnut	45	7(6-8)
Scotch pine	45	7(6-7)	Douglas fir	26	5(3-6)
Yellow poplar	45	7(4-9)	Sugar mri.pl c	36	3(2-5)
Black cherry	48	9(7-11)	Hcrv'ifay spruce	28	4

Siw'.nnanca Plantation

Two acres, planted in the spring of 1896, on the hill to the loft, across the first open field after leaving the Biltmcrc gate. The site, an abandoned field, north exposure, with "good soil W'hich ■mxs very easy tc work” (Sclicnck), On 0,8 acre 2-ycar-old black cherry wns planted purej on 1,3 acres 3-ycar-old sugar mriplo, black T/Wulnut, and butternut 'wore planted mixed, in proportion of 46, 35, r-.nd 19 percent, respectively. The planting "was in previously prepared holes spaced 3’ by 3’, or about 5,000 per acre.

The cherry plo.ntatien is a failure, the trees poor, small and crooked. The other species have dene fairly vrell; they arc nov/ in about the prepertien of sugar me.plc 90, black walnut 6, and butter- nut 4 percent. The dimensions of the deminant trees in 1924 were;

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Species Height D.h.h,

ft • in.

Black cherry 18 (15-23) 3 (2-4)

Sugar maple 43 (39-48) 6 (4-7)

Walnut and butternut 34 5

Old Orchard Plantation

This stand is west of the SAimnnanoa plantation, on a slope to the left, across the first open field after leaving the Biltmore gate. The site was an abs-ndoned field v^ith deep but badly eroding soil. In 1899, 5 acres (stand 1) was planted with 1 and 2-year-old seedlings of ash (42^), white oak (30^), red oak (13^), chestnut oak, buckeye, and black walnut; and 7 acres (stand 2) Yfith 3 and 4-year- old white pines, those 4 years old partly from Germany, The plants were set in the dovmhill corners of spade-made holes, at the rate of about 4700 per acre in stand 1, 3800 in stand 2, The hardwoods did not do well and were reinforced a few years later udth 1-year-old sood- lings of ycllo^Y pine (mostly pitch pine). The latter averaged 30 foot in height in 1922, v.Hilo the slightly older hardwoods were about 12 foot high. In the same year the white pine in stand 2 averaged 35 feet high. More about the growth of the white pine stand will be found in the discussion of thinning experimentsi

Approach Road Plantation

This 6-acro plantation affords a good example of the over- topping of planted hardwoods by pine of a later plcunting, a result to be frequently observed in the Biltmore plantations. The area, was planted with 2-ycar-old black cherry and 3-ycar-old ycllovf poplar in 1895, by Pinchot; writh white pine (nursery gro'vm 4-ycar-old stock and v.dldings 2 to 4 foot high) in 1896, by Schonck; and w'ith a large number of 1-yoar-old shortloaf pine seedlings in 1905, by Schenck,

The spacing of the hardYvoods vras 4’ by 4’ , Although the dominant hardvroods in the present stand include some of the best planted yel- low poplars at Biltmore, they occur as -isolated individuals and groups in a stand that is mainly pine. Average dimensions of the dominants in 1922, by species, arc as folloYvs:

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Species Height D«b«h.

ft, in.

Yellow poplar 42 (34-48) 7 (5-8)

Black cherry 40 (34-45) 5 (4-6)

Shortleaf pine 32 (24-41) 5 (3-8)

Spruce plcoitation

Skirting the Long Ridge, Old Orchard, Sv/annanoa, and Ap- proach Road plantations, the spruce stands are across the field to the left of the Swanno.noa Road from the Biltmore gate. This, the youngest of the plantations, was planted by Mr, Beadle in 1911, The age of the Non->ray spruce planting stock is not lcnov»n. The plc'.nting is in five groups, 23 acres in all, not far apart but differing in site quality. The average height of the dominant trees in 1921 varied between 10 and 19 feet and their diariicters betv.'-Gen 1 and 4 inches.

The stands today appear generally very thrifty.

Old Dairy Plantation

About 12 acres arc covered by this stand, avhich is south- east of the Swannanoa plantation^ v/ost and across the crock from the Service Road, Eight acres arc essentially pure shortleaf pine, with mixtures of v/hite pine and sugar maple in places. About 4 acres arc in white pine* ViThcn it was planted, in 1903, the area had been in use 10 years as a coy/ yard, and there v/as some erosion. The v/hito pine planting stock v/as 4 years old; the age of the shortlosif pine stock is not IcaovTi*

Ferry Farm Plant at ion

This plantation is north of the Ferry Road and north and west of its junction with the Dairy and River roads. It is scparo.tcd from the Ferry Road by a narroxv strip of Douglas white pine plantation. Of 22 acres planted, only 16 arc accounted for in the later records.

The planting was done in the spring of 1900, with reinforceraent s in 1901-2, In the first planting 78,000 2-year-old white and 10,000 1- ycar-old pitch pines were used (4,000 per acre). They wore planted in spade-made holes, a few handfuls of rich soil from nearby sv/ales

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were pljiced about the roots, and a stone vra.s put close to the stem of each plant. The reinforcements v/ere with white and yellow pines, the latter probably shortleaf. Characteristics of a part of this stand, from 1916 to 1936, are discussed under the heading, "Thinning Experiments", The dominant v/hite pines are shorter than the dominant shortleaf pines, and shortleaf has so generally outgrovm. white pine that the stand on a thinned plot, in v/hich iThitc pine has been defin- itely favored, has become almost pure shortleaf pine.

Rice Place Plantation

A 35-ycar-old planted stand of v;hitc oak is the principal feature of this 12-acrc plantation, vdiich is less than a mile from the Long Shoals gate of the Estate, on the road along the French Broad River, From 1903 to 1905, ash, sugar maple, white oolo, and yellow pine were planted here at the rate of about 3,420 per acre. Existing records of the different plantings arc very incomplete.

They could not be identified in 1922, and the stand descriptions msidc then arc independent ef the planting dates. At that date, the white oak, 18 years old, in one nearly pure stand of about 2 acres averaged 25’ high and 2" in d,b,h,; the average height of the dom- inants wC'.s 30’ and their average diameter 5", White ash in mixture vmth the oak is taller - 32’ -34’, Haasis’ comment v>ras "judging by these stands, ash may be expected to make better growth in mixture with oak than vrh.cn planted pure, but oak apparently vmll do better vrhen ash is not mixed wdth it". The white oak stand is dense and the trees arc slcndcf. In addition to the sprinkling of ash the stand contains a few volunteers, some of them large, of river birch, yellow poplar, beech, and persimmon.

Apiary PI rgit a t i o n

This plantation is west of the French Broad River, about I-I/2 mile from the Ferry and about I/4 mile southeast of Sheep Farm Road on an old woods road from the latter. The identity of the separate plantings with the present well-marked stands is indefinite because of planting failures, rcplantings and overlaps. The present stands cover about 21 acres.

The planting site v/as an abandoned field of poor stony soil covered with beard-grass, but wdth a small pe.tch of good soil near the site cf an old farm house. In the spring of 1897 Schenck planted

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15 acres (in furrov/s) vdth locust (48^), hickories (14^), black cherry (10^), white pine (9%), sugar maple (5%), bass\TOod, black walnut, yellovi buckeye, Douglas fir, silver fir, Siberian larch, blue spruce, Norway spruce, and Sitka spruce, at an average rate of about 3,000 per acre* In the fall of the s£aae year he made a dir- ect seeding of 19,5 acres, largely a reinforcement of the spring planting, using white oak (43 bu*), hickory (16 bu*), chestnut oak (9.5 bu*), and chestnut (0*5 bu*); and in the fall of 1898, 24 bu* of chestnuts were planted on 4 acres to complete the above planting. In the spring of 1899, 500 sugar maples (7 years old) and 1000 white pines (2-yoar-old vdldlings) were planted to fill blanks, and a year later the earlier plantings 'were reinforced vfith 24,000 each of white pine (2 years old) and pitch pine (1 year old)*

Of the 11 well-marked Apiary stands described in 1921-22 by Haasis, two arc of special interest because they contain the thin- ning experiments, started in 1916, vrhich vd.ll be described under the next heading. These are Stand 3 (sugar maple o.nd white pine), 0,4 acre, and Stand 4 (v/-hito pine), 2*0 acres* Stand 5 (black chcrrjr),

0*2 acre, -which is adjacent to Stand 4 and partly in the isolation strip of thinned sample plot 4a, is also of interest because of the development of the cherry, v/hosc dominant trees, in 1924, were from 53’ to 55’ high and from 9” to 10" in diameter. The cherry has good vrood development but rather poor form; it has overtopped and suppressed rows of planted white and chestnut oaks*

THE THIMIIIG ESPERIllElITS

Folloiving the abandonment of systematic forestry activities on the Estate in 1909, the plantations have received none of the cultural treatment that many of thv.m needed very badly* Stands bord- ering the principal roads hOvVe been pruned and freed of dead trees, but the numerous plantings that grew into overdense stands have been left to stagnate or to thin themselves by natural competition, with a hea-vy loss through mortality and probably also in quality and con- dition of the ultimate mc^turo forest* Systematic thinning should have follovrcd the very dense planting used in much of Schonck’ s work; and this, indeed, vmis his intention if the forestry prograra had con- tinued, These dense stands presented such good opportunities for ex- periments to determine the rate of grow-th in thinned as compared with un-thinned planted stands, and to study the changes in the stand inci- dent to grevath and competition, that in 1916 the Forest Service, in

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cooperation with the Biltmore Estate, began such a study with the es- tablishment of four groups of small plots. Since 1921 the experi- ments have been continued by the Appalachian Forest Experiment Station.

The plots were small ahd the experiments limited in scope because of the lack of uniformity of stand and site conditions over large areas. Two of the experiments are in pure white pine stands in the Old Orchard and Apiary plantations, respectively, one in a mixture of short leaf and white pines in the Ferry Farm, and one in mixed sugar maple and white pine in the Apiary plantation. In all of these the first thinning v/as done in October, 1916, a second in the winter of 1922-3, a third in the dormant season of 1928-9, and a fourth in the spring of 1936, At, or about, the time of each thinning, measurements were made of all trees to be cut or loft standing on the thinned plots and of cill trees on the unthinned control plots, by species and crown classes. The numbers of growing seasons between the dates of measure- ment wore 5 for the first period, 7 for the second, and 7 for the third, a total of 19, At the start, each tree ims given a mmnbcr so that its history, and the history of like groups, could be follcrwcd throughout.

Some general results of the thinnings arc presented in the following summaries, Grov-rth, salvage and grovdng stock are expressed, for the Y/hitc pine plots, in standard cords por acre of peeled wood to a minimum top diameter of 4” inside bark in trees 4.2" d.b.h. and larger; and for the other plots in square feet of basal area per acre in all trees.

Thinnings in Pure bJhitc Pino

The Old Orchard and Apiarj'- plantations, in which the two white pine thinning experiments arc being conducted, differ in several respects. The Old Orchard v/as planted in March, 1899, the Apiary in the spring of 1897, The number of trees planted per acre varied be- tw'ccn 3200 and 3500 in the Old Orchard and bctiYccn 4400 and 4800 in the Apiary, In the latter, hoYrover, there is evidence that 2-ycar-old American stock from the Biltmore nursery Yra.s planted in alternate rows Yfith 4-ycar-old German stock, and thcvt the plants from one source cr the other, presumably the younger American steck, soon became subord- inate. In 1916, Y/hcn the thinning plots wore established, most of the trees in every other rov/ of the Apiary plots had died. The mortality per acre between the dates of planting and of the first thinning Y^as 3,000 in the Apiary plantation (20 grovmig seasons) as compared with only about 850 in the Old Orchard (18 groiving seasons). The dcvclop-

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ment of the Apiary stand was strongly influenced by this heavy reduction in the nmber of trees.

Furthermore, the part of the Old Orchard plantation in wiiich the thinning plots are located is on a north-facing slope with a considerable range of moisture conditions and a corresponding variation in the heights of the dominant trees, w'hilo the Apiary plots arc on level ground and the dominant heights are very much more uniform* Again, the thinning of the Old Orchard plot has boon imdor control from the start, while tlie Apiary? plot suffered some unauthorized cutting in 1922. Those differences have combined to give quite different results from the two experiments. For cxajn.plc, in the Apiary plots the present volume per acre of the unthinned plot is much in excess of that of the thinned plot, while in the Old Orchard group the volumes arc nearly equal.

The Old Orchard Thinnings

The area of Plot group 1, in the Old Orchard white pine plantation, is about an acre and a half, including a quarter-acro thinned plot (Plot la), two onc-cighth acre un- thinnod controls (Plots lb, c), and isolation strips* Be- cause of site differences from one end of the group to the other, the control was divided into two parts, one at each end of the thinned plotj the tvro controls combined had about the same number of trees in 1916, and about the same basal areas and volumes* as the thinned stand, and so the figures for the successive dates of measurement and thinning httve been combined for comparison with these of the thinned plot, YiThilc each of the control plots is relatively uniform as to site, there is ccnsidcrablc variation within the thinned plot, which has therefore been divided into four sub-plots.

Table 1 presents some of the characteristics of the thinned and unthinned plots at the time of the first and the latest thinning:

-12-

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Table 1#- Characteristics of Old Orchard white pine plots at time of first and latest thinning

Thinned Plot la Unthinned

Plots lb,c

1916 1936 Before After Before After Thinning Thinning Thinning Thinning	1916	1936
No, of trees per acre (total)	2304	1136	368	312	2584	1040
Avg, d,b.h,, inches	5,5	4.1	7.9	8,2	3.3	5.6
Avg, height, dom- inants and co- dominants, feet	34	38	58	59	33	46
Basal area per acre, square feet	153	106	126	113	157	175
Volume per acre of vrood 4" i,b, and larger in trees 4*2” d,b,h, and larger, standard cords	8.2	7.6	27,8	25,3	7.6	28,9

The total quantity of wood removed in the four thinnings was 2170 c^ibio feet, computed as the entire stem volume, vrithout bark. Thirty-eight percent (9,1 standard cords) was vrood 4” and over in diameter, inside bark. This salvage includes the inter- mediate growth of the trees cut. The remainder of the grov.i;h of the stand v/OuS, of course, that of the trees left standing after the 1936 thinning. This amounted to 20 cords of 4” v;ood per acre in the thinned plot, 21 cords in the unthinned control, or cj.n an- nual average of a little more than a cord in each during the 19 growing seasons that elapsed between the first and the latest thinning* Combining salvage and growth, the total production per year vras 1,5 cords per acre for the thinned as against 1,1 cords for the unthinned plots.

-13-

When the 1936 volumes of the thinned plot (after thin- ning) and of the unthinned controls, showi in Table 1^ are com- pared, the latter is seen to have an advantage of about 14 per- cent, This quantitative advantage, however, is offset by the fact that 65 percent of the 1936 volume of the thinned stand is in trees 8" d.b.h, and over, and 25 percent in trees 10" and larger; vrhile in the unthinned plots the corresponding percent- ages arc only 40 and 12, Thus with only a relatively small defi- cit in total volume of growing stock, the thinned stand is mark- edly superior in quality, while- its yield in wood removed in thinning represents a past yearly advantage of nearly half a cord per acre.

The diagrams on Pg-gtj.s 15-16 bring out advantages for the future growth of the thinned stand that have resulted from thin- ning, Both diagrams are dravm to scale. In the thinned plot,

75 percent of the trees were dominant or codominant before thin- ning in 1936, as compared vj-ith only 42 percent in the unthinned plots. In the thinned plot, also, the tree crcvnis arc longer and more vigorous. Measurements of 185 troes in the Old Orchard and Apiary plots gave the following average relations botv/een crovm ratio (ratio of orovm length to total height) and grov/th percent in basal area for the different croirai classes;

Crovm Class	Crovm	Ratio	Grovirth Percent in Basal Area	Basis,	trees
	Thinned Unthinned	Thiiincd Unthinned	Thinned	Unthinned
Dominant	.51	.41	9*19 7,71	51	35
Codominant	.31	,30	6,89 5*20	40	18
Intermediate	*27	,23	6*07 3,41	18	11
Overtopped	—	*11	2.20	—	1-a
All	.40	,31	7.83 5,62	109	76

The more rapid growth associated •v/ith largo crovai ratios promises soon to raise the growing stock volume of the thinned stand to, or above, the level of that of the unthinned controls.

-14-

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BILTMORE THINNINGS, WHITE PINE

COMPARING THE HEIGHTS, CROWN LENGTHS, AND DIAMETERS, OF THE AVERAGE DOMINANT (D) AND OVERTOPPED (0)

TREES IN-

IN 1936 THE THINNED STAND, WITH ONLY 39 PERCENT OF THE NUMBER OF TREES IN THE UNTHINNED STAND, CONTAINED 7B PERCENT AS MUCH WOOD VOLUME AS THE UNTHINNED STAND. WITH THEIR LONGER CROWNS THE TREES IN THE THINNED STAND WILL GROW MORE RAPIDLY.- THE GREATER MASS OF FOLIAGE POSSESSED BY EACH TREE WILL PRODUCE A LARGER QUANTITY OF FOOD MATERIAL

IN THIS AND THE ACCOMPANYING DIAGRAM THE TERM “DOMINANT" CO) IS EXTENDED TO INCLUDE THE CODOMINANT TREES, AN D “ OVE R TO PP E D " ( 0) TO INCLUDE THE INTERMEDIATE TREES.

-15-

HEIGHT IN FEET HEIGHT IN FEET HEIGHT IN FEET

BILTMORE THINNINGS, WHITE PINE, PLOTS |-A,B,a

50

40

unthinned, trees crowded, many dead. 904- DOMINANT AND 1672 OVERTOPPED TREES PER ACRE.

1936

UNTHINNED. CROWNS SHORT. 432 DOMINANT AND 608 OVERTOPPED TREES PER ACRE.

1936

THINNED 3 TIMES. CROWNS LONG. 276 DOMINANT AND 92 OVERTOPPED TREES PER ACRE.

-l6-

The Apiary Thinnings

Thinned Plot 4a, in the Apiary plantation, is l/S acre in size while its \mthinned control is S/lOO acre. The character- istics of the two plots in 1916 o.nd 1936 are sho'vm in Table 2;

Table 2,- Characteristics of Apiary white pine plots at time of first and latest thinning

Thinned Plot 4a Unthinned

Plot 4b

1916 1936 1916 1936

Before After Before After Thinning Thinning Thinning Thinning

Uo, of trees per

acre (total)	1760	952	296	248	1425	575
Avg, d,b,h, , inches	4,7	5,4	9.3	9.6	5,1	8,6
Avg, height, dom- inants and co- dominants, feet	41	45	64	65	44	61
Basal area per acre, square feet	210	152	139	126	204	234
Volume per acre of wood 4" i,b, and larger, in trees 4,2” d,b,h, ctnd larger, standard cords	25.1	23.1	33,4	30,4	29,0	54.6

The total stem volume, without bark, removed in the four thinnings was 3200 cubic feet, of v;hich 52 percent (18,6 standard cords) \Yeis wood 4” and over in diameter, inside bark. The trees loft standing after the 1936 thinning produced 19,4 cords of 4-inch vrood per acre during the 19-year period between the first and the latest thinning. In the control plot the- grovrth in the

-17-

same period ms 25.6 cords. In average annual growth the con- trol exceeded the thinned plot by about 0,3 cord per acre.

This was largely because of the heavy uncontrolled cut of 1922,

If salvage is added to grovrth the total yearly production per acre averaged 2 cords for the thinned plot but only l-l/S cord for the control.

As sho\'m in Table 2, the growing stock value per acre of the control plot in 1936 was more than double tho.t of the thinned plot. The heavy 1922 cutting is chiefly responsible for this result, although it is partly the effect of the slightly better site and density conditions on the control plot evidenced by the greater height and smaller number of trees in 1916, In quality of the stand in 1936, the thinned plot, v/ith 92 percent of its volume in trees 8” d,b,h, and larger, is somewhat superior to the control, ivhich has only 77 percent of its volume in the larger size class. It is not likely, hev/over, that the volume per acre of the thinned stand will ever equal that cf the control.

Thinnings in Mixed Shortleaf and IThitc Pines

This experiment is located in a part of the Ferry Farm plantation in vdiich, in 1916, white pine formed from 30 to 50 percent of the stand, by number of trees. The remainder of the stand ms principally shortleaf vdth a few pitch pines. During the 16 years prior to the establishment of the plots t-hore had been an indicated mortality cf from 15 to 25 percent. The stand before thinning v;as dense, with shortleaf pine decidedly in the ascendency ever the v/hito pine.

The purpose of the thinnings was tc free the best trees (regardless of species) from undue competition, and tc encourage the continuance cf a mixed stand by admitting light to prcm.ising vdiite pines in the lower crovm classes. Otherwise the white pine seemed doomed by the greater aggressiveness cf the shortleaf,

Tho thinnings have failed tc reach this objective.

Each cf tho plots is l/lO a.crc in size and their site qualities arc apprcximrdcly equal. There v/as no thinning in 1936; tho third, and latest, -vms in 1929, The principal stand character- istics of tho thinned and unthinned plots are compared in Table 3;

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Table 3,- Characteristics of Ferry Farm shortleaf and white

pine plots in 1916 and 1936

Thinned Unthinned

Plot 2a Plot 2b

1916 1936 1916 1936

Before After Thinning Thinning

No, of trees per acre

Shortleaf pine	2320	1230	460	1510	660
White pine	1040	870	290	1420	570
Both	3360	2100	750	2930	1230
Avg, d,b,h,, inches
Shortleaf pine	3.7	4.3	6.6	4.0	5.6
Wliite pine	2.0	2.0	4.4	2.0	4.6
Both	3,3	3.5	5,8	3,3	CT
Avg, height of dominants
and CO dominants, feet
Shortleaf pine	25		47		40
¥/hitc pine	18		44		4-6
Both	23		45		46
Basal area per acre.
square feet
Shortleaf pine	174	123	108	135	114
V/hito pine	23	20	30	45	66
Both	197	143	138	180	180

During the growing seasons between 1916 and 1936, the rate of production (grovrth plus salvage) of the thinned stand vra.s 10,5 sq, ft, basal area per acre per year, of v/hich 8,8 sq, ft, was shortleaf and 1,7 sq, ft, white pine. The control plot, as a whole, made no grovrth in basal area, although the trees 6" d,b,h, and larger actually imde considerable grovrth which was offset by the death of smaller trees. The thinnings not only increased the total production of the stand but also its quality, for of the basal area in 1936 , 25 percent in the thinned stand was in trees 8” d,b,h, or larger, as compared with 10 percent in the control.

The thinning has so far failed in its attempt materially to increase the proportion of white pine in the upper crown classes.

-19-

Between 1916 and 1936 the increase in the number per acre cf demin- ant and cedominant vfhite pines in the thinned stand was from 20 tc 40, while in the ccntrol it v^^as from 120 tc 150* Apparently the more tolerant white pine could cempote with the shcrtlcaf mere suc- cessfully in the dense than in the thinned stand; in both, the bulk of the upper crown class trees is still of shortleaf pine. The failure of the white pine is surprising, for as a rule shortleaf pine does not outgrow it. The cause is quite likely some initial advantage of the shortleaf, such as older or more thrifty planting stock.

Thinnings in Mixed Sugar Maple and Y'fhite Pine

The best available location for thinning experiments involv- ing sugar imaple was a small stand in the Apiary plantation covering less than half an acre. Hero Dr» Schenck had planted, in 1897, nearly equal portions of 5-yoar-old sugar maple and 2-ycar-old white pine in alternate rows. In 1916, when the thinning plots v/ero established, the stand was 19 years old, and the mortality had been 55 percent. Thinned Plot 3a is l/20 aero and control Plot 3b 1/30 aero in size.

The stand characteristics are given in Table 4.

Table 4*- Characteristics of Apiary sugar maple and white pine plots in 1916 and 1936

Thinned Unthinned

		Plot	3a		Plot	3b
	1916		1936	1916	1936
	Before	After	Before	Aft er
	Thinning Thinning Thinning Thinning
Ho, of trees por acre
Sugar maple	1560	860	580	420	1560	840
White pine	400	160	— -	—	510	150
Avg, d.b.h., inches Sugar maple	2,6	2.9	4.9	5.4	2.7	4.2
White pine	4.5	5,4		—	4.6	7,6
Avg, ht, of dominants	and
codominant s, feet Sugar maplo	39		51
VHiite pine	39		—
Basal area per acre, square feet
Sugar maple	55	40	75	66	6-4	83
YiThite pine	44	25	—		56	47
Both	99	65	75	66	120	130

-20-

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This was to be primarily a sugar rari-plo experiment. Upper ^ crown class maples wore favored by increasing their grovidng space.

The maples, in 1916, vfere slender, and to reduce danger of their breakage by sleet o.nd wind, many of the pines were loft standing until the thinning of 1928, after which the thinned stand vfc.s pure sugar maple. This was at the expense of the best volume-producing element in the stand, and since the pine was loft in the control plot the groT-uth rate and growing stock of the latter are much greater than in the thinned plot.

Considering only the sugar maple, however, the thinned plot seems to be catching up with the control. Before the 1916 thinning the basal area per acre of the sugar maple in Plot 3a was 13 percent less than in Plot Sb v;hilc in 1936 it was only 10 percent less. In Plot 5b the proportion of white pine in the total basal area has diminished from 48 percent in 1916 to 36 percent in 1936.

The quality gain that has resulted from the thinnings so far, with respect to sugar maple, is evident from the fact that 12 percent of the maple basal area in Plot 3a after tlie 1936 thinning is in trees 8" d.b.h, and larger, while in Plot 3b ^ there were no maples as large as 8",

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-21-

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