//. V: Junius Parker Fishburn Memorial Library Hollins College, Virginia Los Angeles From the collection of the 7 n z_ m o Prelinger v iJibrary San Francisco, California 2006 Sanjt \ FORESTED AREA m NATIONAL FOREST *** SHELTERBELT ZONE _ U. S. HIGHWAY THE YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE 1949 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $4 TREES 1949 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE U.S. Government Printing Office -Washington, D.C. The Yearbook Committee F. C. CRAIGHEAD, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine L. S. GROSS, Forest Service L. M. HUTCHINS, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineerin W. H. LARRIMER, Forest Service C. B. MANIFOLD, Soil Conservation Service CURTIS MAY, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering JOHN M. MILLER, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine DANA PARKINSON, Forest Service, Chairman ARTHUR M. SOWDER, Extension Service ARTHUR SPILLERS, Forest Service ALFRED STEFFERUD, Office of Information, Editor Foreword BY THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE I WISH, for several reasons, that every American might have the oppor- tunity to read this book about trees. First, the book underscores the importance of forests to our national and individual prosperity, security, and happiness. Of all the figures and facts marshalled here in proof of this importance the most striking to me is that our drain of saw timber is one and one-half times its rate of growth. Other proof is close at hand — the wooden pencil with which I write, the chair I sit in, my desk, and the doors of my office. If that is not enough evidence of the everyday importance of our for- ests, I have only to look out my windows at the stately trees that landscape architects planted to temper the summer heat, to join building and earth and sky in harmony, and to give pleasure to everybody. These city trees bring to mind the watersheds, shelterbelts, groves, national forests, farm woodlands, community parks, and commercial forests between the eastern seaboard and the West, where I grew up. Truly, our woods and forests are one, in our lives, with soil, water, animals, and food. Soil and water conservation, flood control, permanent abun- dance, prosperity on the land — the very goals we work toward — involve the proper use of forests. We all know what happened to the forests the first settlers saw. Most of our virgin timber has disappeared through exploitation, waste, destruc- tion, or use and removal to meet the tremendous needs of a fast-growing Nation. However, the genius of American democracy can yet restore our forests, rebuild our ghost towns, redeem our watersheds, and find new ways to fight fire and forest pests. Much remains to be learned ; we are not yet of one mind about ways and purposes of protection. But the history of what we have done to correct a fault — another reason why I wish every American might read this book — is a lesson we can apply to other parts of our national life. Most heartening and reassuring is the fact that our forestry achieve- ments have come through democratic processes. Those with the most at stake — the men who needed grazing lands, for example, or those whose livelihood depended on irrigation, lumber, or wildlife — have opportu- nities to express their views. The guiding precept of the greatest good for the greatest number prevails. All this embraces the conviction that a basic resource is a national trust. It also embraces faith in people and their leaders and faith in our country. We in the Department of Agriculture who are responsible for national forest lands try constantly to act with the humility and wisdom that befits custodians of such a great trust. CHARLES F. BRANNAN. VI The Editor to the Reader IN THE LIBRARY of the United States Department of Agriculture are 1 1,350-odd publications about trees and forests. Among the oldest of these volumes is the 1 20-page Sylva, or a discourse of forest-trees, and the propagation of timber in His Majesties dominions. . . . The English patriot and philosopher John Evelyn published it in 1664. It is full of warnings and advice : "Men seldom plant trees till they begin to be wise, that is, till they grow old, and find, by experience, the prudence and necessity of it." One of the latest books in the library is Breaking New Ground, by the late American patriot and philosopher Gifford Pinchot. It is an auto- biographical account of a pioneer forester's work for conservation of forests, soil, and water supplies. To that goodly company, an average of 406 books, pamphlets, and articles about timber and its products is added each month. To that grow- ing number also we are adding this Yearbook of Agriculture. An explana- tion of why we do so seems to be called for. We have tried here to put into clearer perspective some items of history, importance, administration, and outlook that so far have been in scattered form. We have tried to explain another broad segment of the Depart- ment's work. We have tried to tell the essentials of choosing, planting, and growing trees as a farm crop, as a renewable national treasure, as a neces- sary part of country and city life. We have tried to make a book that is practical and useful for all Americans and interesting and inspiring for those who are unaware of the beauty and delight of the woods. We have tried to tell how and why to plant trees and care for them, and to offer a sort of forum to persons of divergent viewpoints, with all of which we do not necessarily agree. Several hundred persons cooperated to produce this book. The names vn of many of them appear elsewhere. To many others in the Government Printing Office, the Department of Agriculture, and the Congress, grate- ful acknowledgment is made. For help and loyalty beyond the terms of their job descriptions, thanks are due to Margaret V. Loyd, the editor's assistant, and Catherine F. George, of the Yearbook staff. The drawings and charts were made by Rudolph A. Wendelin, Miss Leta Hughey, Linn A. Forrest, and Harry Rossoll, of the Forest Service; Sidney H. Horn, of Ames, Iowa ; and Joseph H. Stevenson, of the Office of Information. Mr. Wendelin also made the end-paper maps, and Mr. Horn drew many of the illustrations at the heads of the chapters. Leland J. Prater, of the Forest Service, supervised the taking of many of the photographs. Working with him were the following members of the Forest Service: Ross Angle, Herbert Armstrong, F. S. Baker, Paul S. Bieler, F. M. Cossitt, Duncan Dunning, Frank Flack, George Griffiths, P. Freeman Heim, Antonio A. Hernandez, Jay Higgins, Ashbel F. Hough, Roger Huff, C. R. Hursh, Wallace I. Hutchinson, Bluford W. Muir, Frederick Simmons, Harry Sperling, C. W. Straus, and Paul J. Zehngraff. Others whose photographs appear are Wilfred J. Mead, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering; Bob Branstead, B. C. McLean, and Hermann Postlethwaite, of the Soil Conservation Service ; H. Miller Cowling, Russell B. Clapper, H. J. MacAloney, John M. Miller, and J. E. Patterson, of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quar- antine; Ralph E. Lawrence, of Washington, and Dr. Curtis May and Edwin S. Menninger, who took the unusual pictures of tree flowers. A word about the organization of the material in the Yearbook. We consider first the tree as a unit, a living thing ; next, the tree as a member of a small group — in cities and around homes; finally, trees growing to- gether in wood lots, groves, and forests, large and small. The main section of the book ends with chapters on specific problems and values — insects, fire, recreation, wildlife, forestry, and economic importance. The last part is intended to furnish additional help — lists, charts, tables, a glossary of unusual terms, and references for reading — for those who wish to pursue the subject further. For many persons the fourth section will be the most useful of all. ALFRED STEFFERUD. VIII Contents Page THE YEARBOOK COMMITTEE iv FOREWORD, Charles F. Brannan v THE EDITOR TO THE READER, Alfred Stefferud vu THE TREE Trees and Men A Tree Is a Living Thing, N. T. MIROV 1 Some Trees Are Famous, CHARLES E. RANDALL 11 Trees Remembered and Remembering, G. HARRIS COLLING WOOD . 15 Questions and Answers, w. w. BERGOFFEN 19 TREES AND HOMES Every Tree J or Its Use Trees for the Country Home, w. H. LARRIMER 39 City Trees, IRVING c. ROOT, CHARLES c. ROBINSON 43 Shade Trees for the Northeast, ALMA M. WATERMAN, R. u. SWINGLE, CLAYTON S. MOSES 48 Shade Trees for the Southeast, RALPH M. LINDGREN, R. P. TRUE, E. RICHARD TOOLE 60 Shade Trees for the Plains, ERNEST WRIGHT, T. w. BRETZ 65 Shade Trees for the Rockies, LAKE s. GILL 72 IX Page Shade Trees for California, w. w. WAGENER 77 Shade Trees for the North Pacific Area, T. w. GHILDS 82 Pointers on Planting, T. E. MAKI 85 Keeping Shade Trees Healthy, CURTIS MAY 91 Protecting Shade Trees From Insects, R. A. ST. GEORGE 97 FORESTS AND MEN Trees Living Together The Community of Trees, JESSE H. BUELL 103 Forest Types of the United States, WILLIAM A. DAYTON 109 Forests and Soils, JOHN T. AUTEN, T. B. PLAIR 114 Forest Renewal, LEONARD i. BARRETT 120 What Do We Plant? First the Seed, Then the Tree, PAUL o. RUDOLF 127 Direct Seeding of Trees, w. E. MG QUILKIN . 136 Pine Breeding in the United States, j. w. DUFFIELD, PALMER STOCK- WELL 147 Poplars Can Be Bred to Order, ERNST j. SCHREINER ....... 153 Amateur Tree Breeders? Why Not? ERNST j. SCHREINER ... 158 Production of Planting Stock, FLOYD M. COSSITT, c. A. RINDT, HARRY A. GUNNING 160 The Wind River Experimental Forest, LEO A. ISAAC, WILLIAM E. BULLARD 169 The Small Woodland Cash Crops From Small Forests, R. E. MGARDLE 173 Roots and Stems and Dogwood Bolts, A. G. HALL 176 Cooperatives and Small Woodlands, ALLEN w. BRATTON .... 183 Windbreaks and Shelterbelts, JOSEPH H. STOECKELER, ROSS A. WILLIAMS 191 Growing Better Timber, ARTHUR KOEHLER 200 The Job of Planting Trees : A Survey, PHILIP c. WAKELEY, G. WILLARD JONES 206 Planting a Small Southern Woodland, w. R. HINE 211 How To Care for Your Small Forest, M. M. BRYAN 219 Harvesting the Small Forest, ARTHUR M. SOWDER 237 Christmas Trees page The Tradition, ARTHUR M. SOWDER 245 Christmas Trees — The Industry, ARTHUR M. SOWDER 248 The Farmer and Christmas Trees, ARTHUR M. SOWDER 251 Company Forests Large Private Holdings in the North, HARDY L. SHIRLEY 255 Private Forestry in the West, GHAS. L. TEBBE, H. j. ANDREWS .... 275 Forestry on Large Ownerships in the South, j. HERBERT STONE, CHARLES F. EVANS, W. R. HINE 279 Naval Stores: The Industry, JAY WARD 286 Naval Stores: The Forests, CARL E. OSTROM, JOHN w. SQUIRES ... 291 The National Forests The People's Property, c. M. GRANGER 299 Appalachian Comeback, M. A. MATTOON 304 The AuSable Cooperative, JOHN E. FRANSON 309 Evolution of Management on Chippewa, H. BASIL WALES .... 311 Forestry in the Black Hills, ARTHUR F. c. HOFFMAN, THEODORE KRUEGER 319 Taming a Wild Forest, JOHN R. BRUCKART 326 New Security for Forest Communities, DAHL j. KIRKPATRICK . . . 334 Rebuilding a Southern Forest, FRANK A. ALBERT 339 Pinyon-Juniper in the Southwest, QUINCY RANDLES 342 Ponderosa Pine in the Southwest, c. OTTO LINDH 347 Pine Forests of California, B. o. HUGHES, DUNCAN DUNNING .... 352 Small Ranchers and the Forests, WILLIAM L. ROBB 3*58 Forests of Alaska, B. FRANK HEINTZLEMAN 361 The Administration of National Forests, EARL w. LOVERIDGE . . . 372 Projects oj Many Uses Other Federal Forests, F. w. GROVER 381 State Forests, STANLEY G. FONTANNA 390 Community Forests, GEORGE A. DUTHIE 394 Arboretums, Places of Beauty and Science, w. H. LARRIMER, ERNST J. SCHREINER 398 The National Arboretum, B. Y. MORRISON 403 £dr. . , T'TIW" . . UYCXJ4 ,'JK Insects, Diseases, Parasites Insects in the Forest: A Survey, F. c. CRAIGHEAD, JOHN M. MILLER . . 407 The Key to Protection, s. A. ROHWER . :y%3jr ;£.. 413 XI Page Four Billion Feet of Beetle-Killed Spruce, N. D. WYGANT, ARTHUR L. NELSON 417 The Spruce Budworm, R. c. BROWN, H. j. MAG ALONEY, p. B. DOWDEN . 423 Pine Bark Beetles, F. p. KEEN 427 Insects in Wood Products, THOMAS E. SNYDER 432 Controlling the Tussock Moth, PAUL H. ROBERTS, JAMES c. EVENDEN . 436 Diseases and the Forest, L. M. HUTGHINS 443 Introduced Tree Diseases and Insects, G. F. GRAVATT, D. E. PARKER . 446 Dutch Elm Disease, R. u. SWINGLE, R. R. WHITTEN, E. G. BREWER . . 451 Blister Rust on White Pine, j. F. MARTIN, PERLEY SPAULDING .... 453 Dwarf Mistletoes, LAKE s. GILL, JESS L. BEDWELL 458 Heart Rot, GEORGE H. HEPTING, JAMES w. KIMMEY 462 Breeding and Selecting Pest-Resistant Trees, RUSSELL B. CLAPPER, JOHN M. MILLER 465 The Airplane in Forest-Pest Control, j. s. YUILL, c. B. EATON .... 471 Fire, Friend and Enemy Progress, But Still a Problem, A. A. BROWN 477 Bad Business; Your Business, R. F. HAMMATT 479 Building a Fire Organization, EARL s. PEIRGE, CARL A. GUSTAFSON . . 485 Forest Fire Danger, G. LLOYD HAYES 493 The Fire on Cedar Creek, FRANK j. JEFFERSON 498 Fighting Fires From the Air, CLAYTON s. CROCKER 508 Fire as a Tool in Southern Pine, ARTHUR w. HARTM AN 517 Machines and Fires in the South, ARTHUR w. HARTMAN 527 Fun in the Forests New Values in the Minds of Men, L. F. KNEIPP 533 Trail Riding in the Wilderness, SHIRLEY w. ALLEN 537 Treasures of the Nation, CONRAD L. WIRTH, j. H. GADSBY 544 Everyone is Welcome, JOHN SIEKER 551 Safety for Forest Visitors, ROBERT s. MONAHAN 556 Forests and Wildlife Wildlife in the Small Woodland, EDWARD H. GRAHAM 561 Forests as a Wildlife Habitat, LLOYD w. SWIFT 564 Trees and Food From Acorns, ALBERT A. DOWNS 571 Managing Utah's Big-Game Crop, D. IRVIN RASMUSSEN, DAVID M. GAUFIN 573 Forests and Fish, PAUL R. NEEDHAM, FRED w. JOHNSON 581 Action on the Blue Ridge, THEODORE c. FEARNOW, i. T. QUINN . . 586 XII Forests and Water Page Timber Gutting and Water Yields, H. G. WILM 593 Watersheds and How To Care for Them, GEORGE w. CRADDOGK, CHARLES R. HURSH 603 To Help Control Floods, GEORGE R. PHILLIPS, BERNARD FRANK . . . 609 Wood in Use The Wood for the Job, R. P. A. JOHNSON, CHARLES E. VAN HAGAN . . 615 Seasoning of Wood, RAYMOND c. RIETZ 620 Preservative Treatment of Wood, THOMAS R. TRUAX 623 Painting the Farm and City Home, FREDERICK L. BROWNE .... 625 Fungi and Wood, CARL HARTLEY 630 The Prefabricated House, RONALD F. LUXFORD, F. A. STRENGE . . . 633 The Gluing of Wood, DON BROUSE 636 Chemicals From Wood, ALFRED j. STAMM 639 Putting Unused Wood To Work, c. v. SWEET 643 The Forest Products Laboratory, GEORGE M. HUNT 647 How To Use the Forest Products Laboratory, F. j. CHAMPION .... 651 The Foresters' Calling Education in Forestry, SAMUEL T. DANA 655 Teachers and Conservation, JULIEN L. BOATMAN 658 Consulting Foresters, NORMAN MUNSTER, ARTHUR SPILLERS 662 National Forest Personnel, H. DEAN COCHRAN 664 Industrial Forestry Associations, CHAPIN COLLINS 666 Prescription for Woods Safety, SETH JACKSON 676 Picturing Forests From the Air, RAYMOND D. CARVER 679 Railroads and Foresters, ROBERT N. HOSKINS 682 Yesterday and Today Since the Days of Leif Ericson, FRED c. SIMMONS 687 Logging the Pacific Slopes, NEWELL L. WRIGHT 695 The History of Forestry in America, w. N. SPARHAWK 702 Today and Tomorrow Forest Land and Timber Resources, c. EDWARD BEHRE 715 Forest Resources and the Nation's Economy, EDWARD c. CRAFT?, MARTHA A. DIETZ , 721 Future Requirements for Timber, A. c. CLINE 731 The World Forest Situation, STUART BEVIER SHOW 742 XIII Page The Real Interests of the People, WILLIAM GREEN .. 754 Labor Looks at Trees and Conservation, PHILIP MURRAY 755 A National Program for Forestry, LYLE F. WATTS 757 LISTS AND OTHER AIDS To Know the Trees Important Forest Trees of the United States, ELBERT L. LITTLE, JR . 763 Fifty Trees From Foreign Lands, ELBERT L. LITTLE, JR 815 Key for the Identification of Woods Without the Aid of a Hand Lens or Microscope, ARTHUR KOEHLER 833 Trees Best Adapted for Special Purposes 845 A Vacation Guide National Forests 855 Wilderness and Wild Areas . . .... 877 Natural Areas 883 Areas Administered by the National Park Service 889 Public Forest-Tree Nurseries 893 State Forestry Agencies 896 For Further Reference 901 Some Words Woodsmen Use 911 Index 917 xrv THE TREE Live oak near Hahnville in Louisiana: ffl am the gift of God and friend of man." Trees and Men A TREE IS A LIVING THING N. T. MIROV FROM THE SEED that in the au- tumn falls to the ground and is covered with leaves and soil, a tree is born. The seed is a thing to marvel at. Pick up a pine nut; crack it open. The rich kernel, called endosperm, is packed with starch, fat, and proteins. Inside the kernel is cradled the ivory rod that is an embryo pine, a baby tree. On one end of the miniature stem is a tuft of pale leaves ; the taper- ing opposite end of the rod will de- velop into a root. Gut open a mellow acorn. In it the baby tree does not rest inside rich, nutritional tissue. The starch and fat and proteins are packed in the two seed leaves of the embryo, which are plump and round like the two halves Pictured above is the famous Logan Elm, in southern Ohio. State-owned, it antedates the Revolution. In 1939, the tree was 70 feet high and had a crown spread of 148 feet. 802062°— 49 2 of a peanut. The whole acorn inside the shell is an embryo. In the spring, when the soil gets warm enough and moisture is abun- dant, deep changes begin to take place in the dormant seed, already condi- tioned by the low winter temperatures. The embryo tree awakens from its sleep and begins to grow. What causes this awakening of life is not exactly known, and what is known is compli- cated, indeed. The growth hormone is activated; the enzymes, whose part is to direct and hasten living processes, start their work feverishly. The insolu- ble stored fats and starch begin to break down to soluble sugars, mainly dextrose. The stored proteins are split by the enzymes into some 20 soluble compounds called amino acids. Both sugars and amino acids are rushed to the growing points, where still different enzymes rearrange them into building Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 material to be used by the germinating embryo. Proteins are formed again from the amino acids, and dextrose is partly used for building the body of the tree and partly burned up to provide necessary energy for the process. The embryo grows fast. Soon the seed shell becomes too small and splits open. The newly born tree emerges above the ground. Its shoot begins to grow straight up and its roots straight down. The root has important work to do; it provides water for the young seedling. As soon as the little root of a seedling penetrates the ground, the tree is permanently anchored, for better or for worse, to the place where, unless it is transplanted, it has to stay all its life. From now on the tree has to de- pend on the nutrients available in that particular place and to develop under climatic conditions found there, which cannot be changed. In nature, how- ever, a seedling generally begins its life in a place where its ancestors have been growing for a long time, so the little tree is well adapted to the existing conditions. As it emerges from the ground, a young tree seedling is as tender as a blade of grass. Its seed leaves may remain in the shell below the ground, as in oak, or they may be carried above the ground, as in maple. In pine, the seed leaves pull themselves out from the endosperm and spread above the seedling like the crown of a miniature palm tree. On the tip of the little stem, tucked between the seed leaves, is the growing point or terminal bud that gives origin to the shoot; its growth continues as long as the tree lives. Besides the root and stem tips, an- other important growing region is soon established in the seedling. It is called the cambium layer and is found be- tween the wood and the bark. It makes the tree grow in girth. The cambium consists of a single layer of cells that retain their capacity to divide through- out the life of the tree. This single layer of cells has a peculiar property in that it gives origin both to the wood and to the bark. In the spring, when the cambium layer becomes active, it begins to split off rows of wood cells to the inside and rows of bark cells to the outside. Generally speaking, the bark part of the tree is much thinner than the woody part, or the stem. Bark continuously sloughs off, while the wood accumulates. In the soft inner bark, or bast, are formed sieve tubes, through which manufactured sugar dissolved in water flows from the foli- age to storage tissues in stem and root. The wood formed in the spring con- sists of light-colored, thin-walled cells ; toward the end of the season smaller cells are formed — their walls are heav- ier and darker, and thus summer wood is formed. This alternation of spring wood and summer wood causes the concentric structure of the tree trunk known as annual rings; they are seen clearly on the cross section of a tree. By counting the annual rings of a tree, one can determine fairly closely its age. When growth conditions are favorable and food and water are abundant, the rings are wide. When drought occurs, the growth slows down and the rings are narrow. By reading a cross section of an old tree, one can determine what growth conditions prevailed dur- ing any particular year of the past. In the cross section of the hardwood trees there may be seen numerous dots. These are canals, so-called vessels, that serve for conducting water along the trunk. In the conifers, like pines or firs, there are no vessels and water moves painstakingly up the trunk through minute holes from one cell to another. Sixty percent of the wood of a tree is cellulose — by far the most important ingredient. The structure of cellulose is well understood and is rather simple : Molecules of dextrose are linked in pairs to form a more complex sugar, cellobiose, and these units are hooked up to form long chains of cellulose molecules. This structure of cellulose may be easily changed by action of even a weak acid; cellulose then falls apart into the original dextrose mole- cules, providing an enormous source of sugar that can be used for many pur- A Tree is a Living Thing poses, from fattening hogs to produc- tion of industrial alcohol. Most of the cellulose used at present, however, is converted into pulp and paper. The rest of the wood consists mostly of Hgnin, which is a binding material composed, like the cellulose, of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, but of an en- tirely different and more complicated chemical structure than cellulose. Lig- nin is not so useful as cellulose at pres- ent, but there is little doubt that valu- able products will be made from it. Besides cellulose and Hgnin, wood contains a small quantity of different substances — starch, fats, sugar, resins, tannins, and many others — and is liter- ally saturated with water. About 10 percent of the wood mass of a tree is found underground in the form of roots. The root system of a large tree is enormous. The total length of all roots of a big spreading oak tree amounts to many hundreds of miles. The function of the root is to provide water and minerals for the tree and to anchor it securely to the ground. It is important to keep in mind that the roots are part of a living organism and that they need air, food, and water for growing. Mistreatment of roots, such as tramping the soil above them, flooding them for long periods of time, or burying them too deeply, will af- fect the welfare of the whole tree. THE TREE COMES OF AGE. Our tree gradually becomes taller and broader, and in the course of time it reaches ma- turity. The complicated mechanism functions with the precision of a ma- chine, and its many vital processes are well coordinated. Some of the proc- esses, such as respiration or digestion of fats, are strikingly similar in both plants and animals. Others, as mineral nutrition, are found only in the plants. LET us CONSIDER first the process of photosynthesis — that is, the build- ing with the energy of light. In this process, organic matter is formed liter- ally from thin air and water. The air contains minute amounts of carbon di- oxide (0.03 percent by volume or three parts in 10,000 parts of air) . Through millions of small pores, or stomata, on the leaf surfaces, air penetrates the leaves and gives up about 10 percent of its meager supply of precious car- bon dioxide to the tree. In the leaf cells are found small particles called chloroplasts; these contain a green sub- stance, chlorophyll, similar in structure to the hemoglobin of the blood. In fact, in reflected light chlorophyll ap- pears not green but blood red. Carbon dioxide unites with the chlorophyll and in a chain of reactions, regulated by the enzymes, it combines with oxygen and hydrogen of water to form sugar. An excess of oxygen is re- leased in this process. The energy that is needed for transformation of carbon dioxide and water into the organic substance (sugar) is supplied by sun- light. Only about 1 percent of the solar energy that falls on a leaf is used for photosynthesis. The sugar formed in the process of photosynthesis is dex- trose. From it 95 percent of the body of the tree is ultimately made by a series of complicated reactions. Dex- trose may be converted into other sugars or it may be combined with nitrogen to form the amino acids, the building blocks from which proteins are made and on which all life, both plant and animal, depends. Part of the dextrose is also used for other purposes, such as conversion into starch, fats, and other substances. The most favorable conditions for photosynthesis are mild temperatures (about 70° F.) and diffused, moderate light. On hot, bright, summer days the efficiency of photosynthesis goes down. An ample supply of water is essential. When the soil is dry and not enough water is delivered to the crown, the rate of photosynthesis declines. Fer- tility of the soil is also important, for the building of the tree body requires an ample supply of mineral elements. Respiration is another life process. Like other living organisms, a tree must respire. The process of respiration consists of oxidizing (burning at low Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 temperature) dextrose sugar; although some energy is lost as heat, most of the energy released during the process is used by the organism for its vital proc- esses. Thus sugar is a source of energy for a tree just as it is for a football player. The chemical reaction of res- piration is a reversal of the chemical reaction of photosynthesis, as seen from the following scheme: PHOTOSYNTHESIS: Carbon dioxide + water + energy expended— ^dextrose + oxygen; RESPIRATION : Dextrose + oxygen-* carbon dioxide + water + energy re- leased. In daytime both photosynthesis and respiration occur at the same time. Oxygen liberated in photosynthesis is used for respiration, while the carbon dioxide exhaled by the tree is used in photosynthesis. As photosynthesis is a more intensive process than respiration, during a normal day an excess of oxy- gen is eliminated and an excess of carbon dioxide is absorbed by the tree. When, under adverse conditions, day- time respiration is more intensive than the body-building photosynthesis, the tree loses weight instead of gaining. At night, because of the absence of light, photosynthesis is at a standstill, but respiration continues — just as in hu- mans, oxygen is taken in and carbon dioxide is eliminated. Respiration is going on at all times in all living cells, in the leaves, the roots, and in the stem and bark. While photosynthesis has its opti- mum in cool days and decreases when the weather becomes too hot, respira- tion does not have such an optimum. The warmer it gets, the more intense is the respiration. Respiration is less sensitive to the lack of water than photosynthesis; that is why during droughts, when photosynthesis stops, respiration still continues and causes great harm to the tree. Inside temper- atures of 120° to 130° F. are deadly. NITROGEN is needed by a tree for making its proteins. Without proteins a cell cannot grow and cannot divide. Generally speaking, an abundance of nitrogen promotes vegetative growth of a tree. Animals have no capacity for producing proteins from nitrogen ; they depend on plants for the needed proteins. A tree has the capacity to absorb inorganic nitrogen and with it to make its own proteins. Although four-fifths of the air consists of nitrogen, less than 1 percent of the element is found in the wood of a tree. And to get that little bit of nitrogen is an extremely diffi- cult task for a tree. Nitrogen as found in the atmosphere cannot be used by the tree; it has to be converted into ammonia or into nitrates and only in this form (mostly as nitrates) can ni- trogen be absorbed by the roots. Let us see how a tree manages its nitrogen economy. Traces of ammonia are found in the air, and some of the nitrogen oxide is formed there, especially after thun- derstorms. These substances are car- ried by the rain to the soil, but their quantity is altogether too meager to contribute much to the nitrogen nutri- tion. A few trees, such as the locust or alder, have on their roots nodules formed by bacteria that are capable of assimilating nitrogen from the air and converting it into nitrates, but most trees have no nitrogen-fixing nodules. There are free bacteria that live in the soil and can use atmospheric nitrogen. But these bacteria are not abundant and they like warmth, so that in cooler climates they are not active. Fallen leaves, if not burned, contain some proteins. These proteins are gradually decomposed into amino acids, ammo- nia, and eventually into nitrates. But fallen leaves contain only about 1 per- cent of nitrogen — slightly more in the hardwood leaves and slightly less in pine needles. Animals waste a great deal of ni- trogen, which they obtain from the plants. Fur, hair, nails, and skin, be- ing made of proteins, contain nitrogen that cannot be used again by the or- ganism. Large amounts of nitrogen are eliminated by the animals as waste. A Tree is a Living Thing Trees, however, are frugal with their nitrogen. They do not waste it, but use it over and over. A tree that is well supplied with nitrogen has lush, dark- green foliage, and its growth is luxu- riant— a tree deprived of nitrogen is stunted and its leaves are pale green. An overdose of nitrogen is also bad for a tree. Conditions of nitrogen ex- cess are extremely rare in nature, but might occur occasionally, for instance, in a tree grown in a chickenyard where supply of nitrogen is in excess. How can you help a tree in its ni- trogen nutrition? Growing nitrogen- fixing legumes, such as clover, near your trees will enrich the soil with ni- trogen. The addition of leaf mold to the soil would serve the same purpose. Remember, too, that removing or burning fallen leaves from around the trees deprives the trees of the much- needed nitrogen. If burning or remov- ing must be done, it is wise to replace the loss by applying some nitrogen fertilizer. One word of caution in feeding trees with nitrogen. Nitrate fertilizers are leached rapidly from the soil; they are not absorbed by the soil as readily as, say, the phosphates. It is advisable therefore to add nitrates in small quantity and often, rather than to apply a large quantity at one time. In applying fertilizer one should keep in mind that trees do not grow so fast as field crops, and thus their de- mand for nitrogen and for other nu- trients is comparatively small. BESIDES OXYGEN, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen, which are obtained from water and air, for proper functioning a tree needs several other elements, which it obtains from the minerals found in the soil. Some of these mineral elements — potassium, phosphorus, and calcium — are needed in relatively large amounts. Other elements — magnesium, sulfur, and iron — are needed in relatively smaller quantities. Still others, called trace elements — such as manganese, copper, zinc, boron, or molybdenum — are necessary only in minute quantities. The need even of major elements is very small indeed. The total amount of the mineral elements in dry wood is less than one-half of 1 percent, and the need for the trace elements is so small that generally they are found in suffi- cient quantity in any soil. Occasionally there may be a com- plete absence or too small a supply of the trace elements in a particular soil. In that case, a tree will not grow prop- erly unless the lacking element is introduced. Great care should be exer- cised not to apply too much of the trace elements, lest great damage be done to the tree. For instance, while potash or phosphorus may be added to soil at the rate of, say, 1,000 pounds an acre, about 5 or 10 pounds an acre of a trace element is enough. More than that might be harmful to the trees. A specialist should be consulted before any trace element is added to the soil. When wood is burned, all these and many other elements are found in the ashes, but some sulfur and phosphorus and all nitrogen are lost in smoke. Twenty-seven elements, including sil- ver, titanium, and nickel, are found in the ashes of white pine. That does not mean that all these elements are neces- sary for the life of the tree. Some min- erals that may be found in a tree, such as common salt, apparently are not needed for its proper functioning. These are absorbed by the roots sim- ply because they happened to be in the soil; the tree has no way of telling the useful minerals from the useless or even harmful ones. For example, arsenic, though very poisonous to the tree, is as readily absorbed as phosphorus. Mineral elements are needed by a tree to perform various vital func- tions. Phosphorus is found in some plant proteins; seeds and growing points are especially rich in phospho- rus. Lack of phosphorus often mani- fests itself in purpling or bronzing of foliage, which is easy to detect. Sulfur also enters into the building of certain proteins. It is well distributed through- out the plant. Calcium apparently is Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 somehow involved in the carbohydrate translocation. It enters into the con- struction of the cell wall; crystals of calcium oxalate are found often in the tissues of plants. Magnesium is a con- stituent of the chlorophyll molecule. It is also probably related to fat forma- tion and to the synthesis of some pro- teins. Potassium is especially abundant in young growing parts of the tree; it has something to do with synthesis and translocation of sugars; in the absence of potassium, cells do not divide. Iron is needed to keep the tree green. Iron is not a part of the chlorophyll molecule, but without it chlorophyll cannot be formed. Iron is also needed in respira- tion. Generally, there is enough iron in any soil, but sometimes in alkaline soils it is found in an insoluble state. Iron- deficient trees lack the healthy color. The physiological role of minor ele- ments is little known, but symptoms of their deficiency are pronounced. At present our concept of the physiology of plant nutrition is in the process of revision. With the recent advances of nuclear physics, it is possible to prepare radioactive mineral salts. "Tagged" radioactive phosphorus or potassium can be followed as soon as it is ab- sorbed by a plant; it can be traced to its destination and its function in plant life can be determined. WATER is CONTAINED in all tissues of a tree, both dead and alive. Young leaves or tips of roots contain up to 90 percent of water; tree trunks con- tain as much as 50 percent. Water is indispensable to the tree. All living processes take place in water. Sugars are built from carbon dioxide and water. Mineral nutrients are carried from the soil to the top of the tree in a stream of water. In the spring the organic materials in the form of sugars and amino acids are rushed in a stream of water from their places of winter storage to the bursting buds. And there is the dramatic process called transpiration. In that process, water is absorbed by the roots, pushed into the sapwood, and then pulled up to the leaves (as high as 350 feet in redwood) above the ground. The en- ergy needed for transpiration, as for photosynthesis, is supplied by the sun. About one-half of the solar energy falling on a leaf is used for transpira- tion. Through the same openings (the stomata) that admit carbon dioxide to the inner tissues of the leaf, the water is evaporated to the atmosphere, and this evaporation creates a tremendous pull on the minute, continuous strands of water in the sapwood and thereby causes a movement of water from the roots to the treetop. There is no such process in the tree as circulation of the sap similar to circulation of the blood in animals. Only a trifle of water is transported from the crown down- ward and comparatively little is re- tained by the tissues. The terms "the sap is up" and "the sap is down" are not correct and are misleading. The formation of 100 grams of cellu- lose requires 55 grams of water. But while a tree increases its weight by 100 grams, it loses in transpiration nearly 100,000 grams (that is, 1,000 times more) of water. Transpiration brings water from the soil to the leaves so that photosynthesis can be carried on. To enter through the cell walls, carbon dioxide must be dis- solved in water. The surface of the chlorophyll containing cells must be moist at all times. The leaves have a water-regulated mechanism that permits a tree to shut off the stomata and thus prevent loss of water. But the very same stomata have to be open in order to admit carbon dioxide for the photosynthesis. When stomata are open, the tree loses water; when they are closed, the tree cannot assimilate carbon dioxide. A balance between the two processes must be maintained by the tree. The stomata open their little shutters early in the morning. At noon they begin to close, and just before sunset they are closed tight for the night. In some trees, stomata may open at night. During excessively hot and dry days the stomata are open only for a short A Tree is a Uving Thing time in the early morning and then close for the rest of the day. Under these conditions the tree cannot make much sugar from the carbon dioxide. What can a man do to help a tree in its water economy? Not more than to supply it with water by irrigation, by preserving the natural mulch on the ground and thus reducing evaporation from the soil, and by not planting trees too close to each other or exposing the shade-loving trees to full sunlight. THE PHYSIOLOGY OF GROWTH is this: Through the process of photo- synthesis and with the help of nitro- gen and the mineral elements, the tree builds up its body. In some trees, such as the giant sequoias, as much as 50,- 000 cubic feet of organic matter, mostly wood, may accumulate in this way. But the growth of a tree is not merely an accumulation of organic matter. Growth is an involved physio- logical process, in which the use of building materials is regulated by the growth substances or hormones. Growth of a tree is retarded if min- eral nutrition is held at a minimum and water is withheld. This is the meth- od used by the Japanese in dwarfing trees ; some of their dwarf trees, grown in small pots, may be several hundred years old. In fact, any pot-bound young tree is checked in its growth and thus is more or less dwarfed. Growth of the tree depends not only on the correlation of its physiological functions but also on external factors like temperature, light, and moisture. Within a certain range, an increase of temperature of 18° F. nearly doubles the rate of growth of plants ; but when temperatures are either too low or too high for a proper functioning of the or- ganism, many disturbances may occur in the tree. In that case the growth of the tree is retarded, and although life may still continue there is no coordina- tion between the different vital func- tions. The tree ceases to grow. The optimum temperature for growth is not necessarily the same as the optimum temperature for general development of the plant. Many trees need a low temperature period for their normal development; when this cold period is eliminated, they do not grow. Light must also be available in the proper amount and quality. When light is lacking, the tree cannot manufac- ture organic matter and will eventually die. Light also retards the growth of the tree. In the dark, the shoots grow faster than in the light. In yellow and red light, the plant can assimilate car- bon dioxide very well, but the plant does not develop normally — it behaves as if it were growing in the dark. For normal development a tree needs, be- sides yellow and red light, the blue, violet, and ultraviolet rays of the sun. Those rays are not needed for photo- synthesis, and their action on the growth is that of retardation. The blue end of the spectrum is needed by a tree for formative purposes. When a tree is bent by some me- chanical force, such as the wind, its normal growth is disturbed. On the up- ward side of the tree, the newly formed cells of the sapwood are stretched; on the lower side, they are compressed. This distortion of the wood structure, due to pressure, is often noticed in our conifers. Where a pressure is applied, there is formed so-called compression wood, which lowers the quality of lum- ber manufactured from such wood. In a temperate climate, trees show an annual periodicity of growth. The annual shoot completes its growth early in the season, say at the end of June. By that time, in many forest trees, all cell division for the next year's growth is completed in the bud. This means that the next year's growth pattern of a tree is determined almost a year be- fore— all microscopic flower buds are set; all microscopic leaf buds are formed. The next season the growth takes place mostly by elongation of the bud cells prefabricated in the pre- vious year. Growth in diameter takes place throughout the summer by divi- sion and enlargement of cambium cells. A long time before cold weather sets in, the tree has already completed its 8 Yearboo\ of Agriculture 1949 seasonal growth; it prepares for the winter. Evergreen trees retain their foliage for winter, but deciduous trees act differently. They remove much of the nutrient material from the leaves; then a peculiar physiological process (abscission) of the leafstalks causes the leaves to drop. The tree is in a deep rest now and can withstand a great deal of cold. An unusual warm spell in late winter or early spring, however, may cause buds to open — subsequent cold may kill them. Sometimes a north- ern tree transplanted in the South might open its buds too early in the spring and suffer from a later frost. REPRODUCTION is possible when the tree reaches its physical maturity. The sexual reproduction of trees is basically similar to that of animals. In plants, reproduction manifests itself by the appearance of male and female flowers, which may be borne either on separate trees, as in cottonwood, or on the same tree, as in pine, or even com- bined into a perfect flower, as in the magnolia. Pollen of the male flower fertilizes the ovule of a female flower, which then develops into the seed. The whole process of reproduction involves set- ting of flower buds, development of the male and female flowers, pollina- tion, and development of the seed and fruit. Each process depends on internal as well as external conditions. In annual plants, the reproductive stage means subsequent death; the plant dies as soon as the seed is ma- tured. In trees, production of seed is continued for many years. In a tree there is a delicate balance between vegetative growth and reproduction. If a tree grows too fast, it will not pro- duce much fruit or seed. The repro- ductive stage is generally reached when a tree begins to slow down its most vigorous height growth. The accumulation of carbohydrates is conducive to the flowering, while the abundance of the minerals, especially nitrogen, promotes growth at the ex- pense of reproduction. The proper bal- ance between organic and mineral nu- trition and the possible formation of flowering hormones occurs in the tree only after a certain stage of maturity has been reached. After that, a tree begins to produce seed, but not neces- sarily every year. Seed bearing is a taxing process. Much material and much energy are required for it. Many trees have periodicity of seed years, and the intervals between the good seed years vary in the different trees. Again, this periodicity apparently de- pends on a definite combination of nutritional and external factors. As the flower buds are set during the previous summer, the weather conditions of the last year have a lot to do with the flowering. Dry, warm weather gener- ally is favorable for setting flower buds. Weather conditions prevailing during pollination and the development of pollen grains are also of importance. A great deal of light is needed for flower- ing. Trees grown in the open produce flowers and seed in profusion and much earlier than trees that are grown in the shade. Abundant sunshine at the time of setting flowering buds also con- tributes to the seed crop the next year. The effect of photoperiod, or day length, discovered in 1920 by W. W. Garner and H. A. Allard of the United States Department of Agriculture, is of great importance in flowering of trees. Some trees flower only when the days are short, while others bloom when the days are long. A northern tree that was growing under the long-day conditions may not bloom if moved to the South, because the summer days of the new home are too short for it. If, say, a street lamp provides that extra needed light, a northern tree may burst into bloom even in a short-day country. Certain chemical substances, such as ethylene, are known to break the dormancy of plants. If your lilac bush unexpectedly bursts into bloom earlier than usual, it might be because you had burned some fallen leaves or clip- pings nearby and the smoke supplied enough ethylene to awaken the dor- mant flower buds. A Tree is a Lit/ing Thing Sexual reproduction of trees plays an important part in the development of the diversity of our trees. By com- bining characters of the pollen parent with those of the seed parent, new com- binations are formed, some of which may be very valuable. But sexual re- production is not absolutely necessary for trees; many of them can be repro- duced by vegetative means — cuttings, grafting, and budding. OLD AGE comes to trees, as to all other living organisms. The span of life of a tree is specific. Gray birch is old at 40. The sugar maple lives longer, up to 500 years. Some oaks may live 1,500 years, junipers 2,000 years. Some of the giant sequoias are believed to be about 4,000 years old. Old trees are like old people — the infirmities of age are upon them. They have difficulty with respiration (its rate in old plants is much lower than in young plants) ; the annual shoots are not so vigorous as they once were, and the weakening cambium activity is reflected in the formation of fewer and fewer wood cells. Hence, the annual rings become narrower. As the rate of growth of the tree decreases, dead branches ap- pear in ever-increasing numbers. The recuperative capacity of an old tree is impaired, and its wounds do not heal over so easily as before. The leaves be- come smaller; their moisture content decreases; the tree finds it more and more difficult to provide water for its vital functions; the inflow of food to the growing points drops; and the growth hormones probably cannot be transported in large enough quantity to the places where they are needed. Causes of death of a tree may be numerous and are often difficult to diagnose. When a tree is broken by snowfall or uprooted by wind or killed by fire, the cause of death is evident. But often the cause is rather obscure. Sometimes lack of water may cause death of the tree, and again trees weakened by drought may fall prey to an insect or fungus attack. Fire is an archenemy of trees. Its direct effect on trees is obvious enough. But there is also an indirect effect: Heat may injure patches of succulent inner bark of the tree trunk. Fermen- tation may easily start in these places and attract insects. The smoke of a fire contains some physiologically ac- tive gases — ethylene, for example, or acetylene. The gases may cause the opening of the dormant buds prema- turely, thus exposing them to frost damage and contributing to the gen- eral weakening of the tree. When a tree dies, its death almost always can be traced to some external cause — cold, fire, drought, insects, fungi, or malnutrition. Some of these causes are beyond our control. Others can be prevented. By taking good care of the tree, one can prolong its life. The tree should be well provided with water and light and be well nourished, or at least not deprived of nutritive substances. A healthy tree will resist attacks of insects and diseases; it will develop a large crown and a strong root system; and it will withstand the action of the wind. If a tree is treated as a living organ- ism, with an understanding of its vital functions, it will be a constant source of profit and pleasure to men. N. T. MIROV is plant physiologist of the Institute of Forest Genetics, which is a branch of the California Forest and Range Experiment Station, maintained by the Forest Service in cooperation with the University of California, in Berkeley. He holds a master's degree in forestry and a doctor's degree in plant physiology from the University of California. The attention of the reader is di- rected particularly to later chapters and sections that relate to Dr. Mirov's sub- ject, including the bibliography (For Further Reference) at the end of the booh; Pointers on Planting, by T. E. Maki; First the Seed, Then the Tree, by Paul O. Rudolf; Direct Seeding of Trees, by W. E. McQuilkin; The Com- munity of Trees, by Jesse H. Buell. 1C Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 DETAILS OF SEEDS Above: A pine seed: A, seed with wing; B, detached wing; C, cross section of a seed showing embryo (a) surrounded by an endosperm (6), which is filled with storage food, and in turn surrounded by the seed coat (c); D, excised embryo with a tuft of seed leaves. Opposite: A dewinged Douglas-fir seed in cross section. Below: Seeds of several types: A, white fir, dewinged seed, borne in cones; B, silk- tree, seeds borne in pods; C, common spicebush, seeds borne in fleshy drupes; D, common buttonbush, 2 to 4 nutlets borne in dry, podlike fruits. II SOME TREES ARE FAMOUS CHARLES E. RANDALL Some trees, like some persons, be- come famous. In every section there are trees that have the esteem of local people because of their associations with notable persons or events or be- cause of their great size or age. Some of the trees that figured prominently in the early history of our Nation have become national shrines. Trees are natural landmarks and memorials. Because they have more than the allotted life span of man, they carry their associations through gener- ation after generation. There are trees still living that were planted by the first President of the United States. There are trees that have been immortalized by poets and artists. There are trees with special religious, esthetic, or sen- timental associations. There are trees that are respected as the oldest living things on earth. Almost as numerous as the places where George Washington is reputed to have slept are the trees associated with him. Living trees planted by Washington or under his direction at Mount Vernon include some tuliptrees, buckeyes, elms, pecans, hollies, lindens, hemlocks, and mulberries. Two pecan trees on the lawn near the mansion at Mount Vernon, grown from nuts given to Washington by Thomas Jefferson in 1775, are said to be the oldest trees now standing on the estate. Washing- ton and Jefferson were kindred spirits in their love for trees, and the "Jeffer- son Pecans" are a living illustration of this congeniality. The Washington Elm near the Sen- ate wing of the United States Capitol in the District of Columbia survived until 1948. Under it, the first Presi- dent was said to have watched the construction of the Capitol. The Washington Friendship Tree, a horsechestnut, at Bath, Pa., is said to be a memorial to the friendship ex- isting between Washington and Gen. Robert Brown in Revolutionary days. On one of General Brown's visits to Mount Vernon, when peace had come, Washington dug from his garden two young horsechestnuts and presented them to his friend, who carried them on horseback into the hills of Pennsyl- vania and planted them at his home at Bath. One of the trees still lives. Charleston, in South Carolina, has its Washington Live Oak. The story goes that when George Washington visited Charleston in 1791 he was a breakfast guest in the beautiful planta- tion home of the Pinckney family. He heard the mistress of the household order her gardener to cut down the oak tree that obstructed the view from the new portico. Washington, the tree lover, expressed the wish that the tree should be spared. It was. There were many other "Washing- ton trees." One of the most famous was the Washington Elm in Cam- bridge, Mass., under which the leader of the American Revolutionary Forces assumed command in 1775. The tree is now dead, but its true descendants are growing on the campus of the Uni- versity of Washington in Seattle and in the Arnold Arboretum at Jamaica Plain in Massachusetts. (Incidentally, some supposedly pedigreed cions of the Cambridge elm have been planted that were found to have a bar sinister on their escutcheon. When a forester inspected them a few years ago, all proved to be either English or Scotch elms and not the native American elm, and so could not be descendants of the historic tree. Somebody distributed, at fancy prices, plants or seed that were misrepresented as being from the original Washington Elm.) And the John Quincy Adams Elm, planted on the White House grounds during the administration of President Adams, the great beech and other fine old trees on the estate of President 12 James Buchanan near Lancaster, Pa., the Grant Elm planted by President Grant in 1870 on the lawn in front of Woodstock Academy in Connecticut, the six tall hickories flanking the tomb of Andrew Jackson and his good wife, Rachel, at the Hermitage near Nash- ville, Tenn., and the Lincoln Oak at Lincoln's birthplace at Hodgenville, Ky., are examples of the many trees as- sociated with Presidents of the Nation. Many other trees have been asso- ciated with notable persons: The an- cient oak at Crockett, Tex., under which David Crockett was said to have camped during his journey from the States to help Texas in its struggle for freedom from Mexican rule; the Buf- falo Bill Elm, near Le Claire, Iowa, under which William F. Cody played when a boy; the giant hemlocks in Germantown, Pa., which, according to tradition, were planted by William Penn ; and the horsechestnut at Strat- ford-on-the-Potomac, Va., mentioned in Gen. Robert E. Lee's diary as hav- ing been planted by his mother, Anne Carter Lee. The lovely Charter Oak, in Hart- ford, Conn., was a famous historical shrine in earlier days. The charter of the Connecticut Colony, granted by King Charles II in 1662, was supposed to have been hidden in the oak by a patriot when Sir Edmund Andros de- manded its surrender in 1687, at the command of King James II. The charter served Connecticut as a con- stitution from 1662 to 1816 and con- veyed to the Colony all the land "from the said Narragansett Bay on the east to the South Sea on the west." When the tree blew down in 1856, the hole that concealed the charter had been enlarged enough to hold 25 men, so it was said. Pieces of the wood were made into gavels, picture frames, and chairs; one of the chairs stands in the senate chamber of the State capitol. A number of Indian trail trees may still be found at various places in the Mississippi Valley. The trees were bent over when they were small sap- lings to mark an Indian trail, and for Yearboo\ of Agriculture 1949 that reason often have several upright branches growing from the horizontal trunk. A good example of an Indian trail tree has been preserved and marked by the Daughters of the Amer- ican Revolution in Evanston, 111. Many trees are famous in literature. The Evangeline Oak at St. Martinville, La., marks the place where the Aca- dians, driven from Nova Scotia, landed in 1 758. It was immortalized by Long- fellow's famous poem. Under the boughs of the Lanier Oak at Bruns- wick, Ga., the southern poet, Sidney Lanier, was inspired to write "The Marshes of Glynn." A tree since known as "Whittier's Pine Tree," near Sunset Hill, N. H., was named the "Wood Giant" by Whittier. The "Great Elm of Concord" in Massachu- setts was beloved of Emerson, Haw- thorne, and Thoreau. A tree in Wise County, Va., was made famous by John Fox, Jr., in his novel, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine. The tree in Tuo- lumne County, Calif., under which Mark Twain wrote The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, which made him famous overnight, was known as the "Mark Twain Oak" until it was felled in 1929. Many other trees can be found that are associated with Ameri- can authors, or that have a place in American literature. Many trees of historical or senti- mental interest have been destroyed or have suffered from neglect. Many others have been preserved through the efforts of civic organizations or inter- ested local citizens. In Norfolk, Va., Memorial Oak, a tree that is believed to antedate the city itself, was purchased jointly by the city and the Garden Club of Norfolk in 1923 and dedicated as a memorial to the sons of Norfolk who died in the First World War. In McAlester, Okla., a lone pine stands in the middle of a wide street, protected by fence and concrete curb- ing. It is an example of the many favorite trees that a tree lover or civic- minded group saved by changing road locations or building plans. Some Trees are Famous An Indian trail tree, a white oak in High- land Park, 111. The tree took root at a point of secondary contact with the ground and continued to grow with two sets of roots. In Athens, Ga., was the "Oak that Owned Itself" — "for and in consider- ation of the great love I bear this tree," its owner, William H. Jackson, willed to it entire possession of itself and of all land within 8 feet of the tree on all sides. The deed, dated 1820, is recorded in the office of the town clerk. There are freak trees, interesting as curiosities, such as the old elm in Ham- burg, Conn., that grew around a grave- stone; the G-trees of Biloxi, Miss.; the Lyre Tree, an elm of freak growth in Livingston, N. J.; the Cannibal Tree, a Douglas-fir that entirely enclosed an oak in Oregon; and the trees that started from seed and grew for many years on the top of the courthouse tower in Greensburg, Ind. Dane County Village, near Madi- son, in Wisconsin, has a Forest of Fame, in which trees have been transplanted from the homes of many Presidents of the United States, famous generals, and personages associated with religion, science, music, and commerce, and from historic places such as Sherwood Forest in England. The Forest of Fame was started by John S. Donald, a pro- fessor in the University of Wisconsin. The first trees, from George Washing- ton's home at Mount Vernon, were planted by Professor Donald on Arbor Day, 1916. Among the trees that are of special interest to many tourists are the Japa- nese cherry trees in Washington, D. C., and the Mile of Christmas Trees in Pasadena, Calif. The awe-inspiring coastal redwoods and the giant se- quoias of the California Sierra are visited by people from all parts of the world. I have written about only a few of the notable trees, living and dead, for which Americans have a special fond- ness. Still to be mentioned are the trees for which I ( and millions of Americans like me) have a particular affection, al- though they have no connections with Presidents or history and it is only our neighbors and friends that come to ad- mire them. They are the trees in our own yards. For us they are reminders of how close trees are to our lives, of the words that I am told appear on a sign at the entrance to a public park in Portugal : "Ye who would pass by and raise your hand against me, harken ere you harm me. I am the heat of your hearth on the cold winter nights; the friendly shade screening you from the summer sun; and my fruits are refreshing draughts quenching your thirst as you journey on. I am the beam that holds your house, the board of your table, the bed on which you lie, and the tim- ber that builds your boat. I am the handle of your hoe, the door of your homestead, the wood of your cradle, and the shell of your coffin. I am the gift of God and friend of man." CHARLES E. RANDALL is a native of California and a graduate of Stanford University and George Washington University. After teaching in Oregon State College, work on ranches, news- paper work, and participation in a tree- disease survey in western forests, he joined the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering as a junior forest pathologist. In 1927 he entered the Forest Service as an editor and writer. Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 The General Sherman Bigtree in the Sequoia National Park,, California TREES REMEMBERED AND REMEMBERING G. HARRIS COLLINGWOOD Long before Maine became known as the Pine Tree State, before the men who accompanied De Soto complained of Florida as "cumbersome with woods and bogs/' before Columbus and his intrepid crew from three little wooden ships knelt in reverent thankfulness on the shores of San Salvador Island in the Caribbean Sea, before Leif Ericson and his Norsemen set sail from the North Atlantic coast of an uncharted continent with a cargo of timbers for Greenland, there were, among the seemingly limitless forests of what is now known as North America, many of the same giant sequoias that now tower above their giant associates in isolated areas of the western slopes of the continent. Today, after more than three centuries of exploitation and de- velopment, few other trees are stand- ing that may be said to "remember" any of those adventurous explorers. The sequoias could recall them all. Were Columbus and his crew to re- turn to see what has happened to the new land they discovered 457 years ago, they might find among perhaps a dozen varieties of trees some indi- viduals that were standing when the discovery was reported to their royal patrons. These are the hardy, long- lived ones of more than a thousand tree species that inhabit this country. Along the east coast a few of the original southern cypress or the bald- cypress still stand — but very few. Some of the biggest eastern hemlock could probably look that far back, as could also a few of the Carolina hemlock, in isolated coves of the Great Smoky Mountains. This is the tree that the late Charles Sprague Sargent described as America's most beautiful conifer. Among the broadleaved hardwoods they would find early companions only among the white oaks and post oaks, with possibly a rare old sassafras tree. Beyond the Great Plains, of whose ex- istence those explorers had not the slightest shadow of information, they would find a larger variety and many more individual trees. Extensive forests of Douglas-fir in Washington and Oregon include trees whose size in 1492 exceeded that of many present-day trees whose trunks are harvested and hauled to a sawmill. Among them, extending in more or less pure stands through British Co- lumbia to the Alaskan coast, are larch, Engelmann spruce, noble fir, western redcedar, Sitka spruce, and Alaska- cedar, whose size and growth rings at- test their age. But the biggest trees then, as well as now, were two varieties of sequoia : Sequoia gigantea, the big- tree or giant sequoia of California's high Sierra, and Sequoia sempervirens, the coast redwood, whose magnificent fluted columns rise high into the Pa- cific fog near the coast of northern California and southwestern Oregon. Those trees, and more particularly the two sequoias with their associates, are part of an amazing heritage that has contributed immeasurably to the economy, political structure, and spir- itual outlook of this Nation. The ex- tent to which they and all other forest trees can continue to help support the national welfare depends on the fore- sight and efforts of the men and women who now inhabit this broad land. During four centuries and more, while man has pressed with accelerat- ing force upon the natural resources of the continent, forests that seemed a cumbersome burden to the early pio- neers have become an asset whose con- tribution is only beginning to be fully recognized. As men and women jour- neyed across the land, broke the soil, and built towns, political needs made necessary division of the country into States, each with an identifying name. Each State has characteristics, pecu- liarities, and resources that give rise to i6 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 local pride, yet all have ideals in com- mon and all bear allegiance to a cen- tral government. The struggles and strife that resulted in this common al- legiance revealed increasing depend- ence upon trees. A few States early identified themselves by some of the trees that were characteristic of their area. Eventually, there developed a Nation-wide movement to designate a typical tree for each State — a mascot, as it were. Maine was early dubbed the Pine Tree State, yet no single species of the pine has been officially recognized. That was perhaps too obvious since it could have been none other than the eastern white pine, whose clean, straight boles had early been selected by the King's men to serve as masts and spars for the British Navy and so had borne the blaze of the Broad Arrow. Remembering her contributions to the development of the great agricul- tural and industrial Midwest during the turn of the century, Minnesota chose the same white pine for her em- blem. Idaho chose the taller western white pine and has been vigorously vociferous in claiming for that tree the official name of Idaho white pine. Two Southern States bear witness to the fecundity of forests and the eco- nomic importance of pines in their de- velopment. Alabama designated as her tree the slash pine, a dual-purpose tree. On it and the longleaf pine, a native also of Georgia, depends the naval stores industry which, until the recent age of chemistry, was the source of all our turpentine and rosin. Ar- kansas chose the shortleaf pine, her most numerous of these southern lum- ber producers. Moving to the west, we find Mon- tana has recognized the potential pos- sibilities of the versatile ponderosa pine, whose easily worked wood long struggled under the name of western yellow pine. Wyoming memorialized the home-making efforts of her In- dians and accepted the lodgepole pine. Other tribes of Indians were a strong influence upon the selection of New Mexico and of Nevada. New Mexico designated the pinyon pine and Ne- vada the singleleaf pinyon, whose nut- like seeds formed an important item in the Indian diet. Recalling the Gothic arch under which General Washington reviewed the Colonial troops at Cambridge, and similar trees that grace her village streets and country highways, Massa- chusetts honored herself by singling out the American elm. The Charter Oak, whose cavity played so significant and also so ro- mantic a part in early Colonial his- tory, was a white oak. So history may be said to have made the decision for Connecticut. White oak is also the choice of Maryland, whose Wye Oak, standing on her Eastern Shore, is said to be America's largest oak tree. Neigh- boring West Virginia, remembering that many families and industries de- pend on her heavy stands of hard- wood forest, also chose the white oak. The settlers who trekked west found counterparts of those trees in the oak openings of the prairies, and Illinois chose the "native oak," the most com- mon being the bur oak. A sweet tooth and pride in the spe- cial quality of a product for which Vermont has long laid claim made the maple her natural choice. To desig- nate this sugar maple, hard maple, or white maple is of little consequence, for all are names for the same tree. Whether New York chose the same tree because of its annual crop of sirup and sugar is a question. The children of Wisconsin, by vote, have asked their legislature to name the sugar maple as their State tree, also. These States may as logically have given weight to the hard, firm, white wood, whose uses range from shoe trees to flooring, and to the symmetry of the leaves and the brilliant autumn foliage. The straight-grained, lightweight, easily cleaved, and durable eastern redcedar was cut and split into rails and posts for many southern pioneer fences. The first three of these qualities later singled out the wood as peculiarly Trees Remembered and Remembering adapted for the wooden casings of pencils, and the spicy odor added to its desirability. But with these qualities recognized, it was the durability of the wood that permitted pencil makers to use fence rails that had stood in place for a generation or more. As a result, many a Tennessee hill farmer paid off the mortgage on his farm with the cedar rails his father had cut. Small wonder, then, that Tennessee citizens voted to make eastern redcedar their State tree. From southern New England to the Gulf coast and west into the Missis- sippi Valley grows a glossy-leafed giant known variously as yellow-poplar and whitewood, for its soft, even-grained wood, and as tuliptree, for its orange and yellow blossoms. The lumber is sought by cabinetmakers as well as carpenters, and it has contributed to homes and barns in the Middle West, as it now contributes to many wood- working industries. So it is the natural choice of Indiana and of Kentucky. Utility may have vied with romance when Louisiana and Mississippi chose southern magnolia. The lumber from magnolia contributes to the need for even-grained, soft, easily worked hard- wood, but the white blossoms against the shiny green leaves are a lasting memory of all who have enjoyed life in the South. Some of the same love of beauty and romantic fervor attributed to the South may have influenced the people of Virginia and North Carolina in their choice of the flowering dogwood as their State tree. Similarly, the people of Oklahoma singled out the eastern redbud or Judas-tree, those of Missouri selected the Engelmann hawthorn or the red haw, and Delaware chose the American holly. History records that the Southern soldiers were influenced in their cam- paign against Gettysburg by the hope they would get shoes in that area. Few may have realized that the shoemakers had established themselves in Penn- sylvania because of the seemingly in- exhaustible forests of hemlock, whose 802062° — 49 3 17 bark yielded tannin with which to make leather tough for shoe soles. But Penn- sylvania knew it and has since named the eastern hemlock as her State tree. Farther west, the bigger variety, west- ern hemlock, has been selected by Washington. Long before the movement for State trees, Ohio was known as the Buckeye State, but not all of her present citizens have ever seen the Aesculus glabra, or Ohio buckeye. Strangely enough, despite the wide range of growth of our American black walnut, it was left to Iowa to accept this tree, whose lumber is the most costly of all common American woods. Perhaps Iowa's choice was partly for lack of a wide choice of native trees. It was still more likely that Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota for the same reason picked the cottonwood, the tree which the early settlers cut for wood for their homes and fuel for their fires and the one they planted to give solace to their souls. Likewise, North Dakota looked to her water- courses and shelterbelts to find the green ash and claim it for her own. In the Southwest, two States chose trees that furnish food as well as wood. Texas chose the pecan, whose nut crop fattens hogs and helps fill the candy bars of the Nation and whose lumber is increasingly chosen for furniture, flooring, and a host of uses for which a hard, resilient wood is needed. Far- ther west, Arizona accepted the honey mesquite, whose flowers are an impor- tant source of honey, whose bean pods are eaten by cattle, and whose wood is now directed to other uses than to feed a sheepherder's campfire. Utah and Colorado went into high mountains and chose the blue spruce. The sea-faring side of New Jersey may have influenced her acceptance of Atlantic white-cedar whose light, dur- able wood is prized by boat builders. New Hampshire accepted the aro- matic yellow birch, but Michigan, with a long list of beautiful native trees whose lumber supported much of her early economy, chose the apple. The i8 Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 •-^^rf^M^^r^ r.^^Sw^Sk >^^^wK''lH^r* j^S- - £_ .*x£!irtE££&i£3? -IfflSLv^ '- r- wy — -'-"" ..X** ..V^« . t^" ' apple is the only State tree not indige- nous to the United States, but it is so widely planted and so important to the prosperity of Michigan as to seem natural to much of her landscape. Florida and South Carolina chose trees of a comparatively unusual order. In Florida, it is the cabbagepalm, and in South Carolina, it is the same, but they call it the cabbage palmetto. The two tallest trees in America grow on the Pacific coast and fortu- nately are given recognition. Oregon has selected the Douglas-fir and Cali- fornia the redwood. Each is a giant. Each is of great economic importance to the State that has selected it. Each has a great future as management of o/ an amazing heritage . . ." the stands of Douglas-fir and redwood is directed by forestry. Many of these State trees played important roles in the building of America. That this country has more than a thousand other tree species from which choices might have been made indicates the wealth of our forest heritage. Other choices may yet be made, and some States may change their selections. Such recognition fos- ters the growing realization of man's dependence on trees. It is good that it has been encouraged. G. HARRIS COLLINGWOOD is the author (with Warren D. Brush) of the book, Knowing Your Trees. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS W. W. BERGOFFEN What is the difference between trees and shrubs? There is no clear-cut distinction. However, a tree is commonly defined as a woody plant that reaches a height of at least 10 feet, has a single stem, and has a definite crown shape. A shrub usually is less than 10 feet tall and has several stems without a defi- nite crown shape. Some specimens of plant species may take the form of a tree while others of the same species may take the form of a shrub — sumac and willows, for example. How many different kinds of forest trees are there in the United States? Precisely 1,182. What is the largest genus of forest trees? Hawthorns; the genus Crataegus comprises about 165 species. What is the largest genus of com- mercial forest trees? Oaks — about 60 species, not count- ing many hybrids and varieties. What section has the most kinds of trees? The Southeast — Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Ken- tucky, Mississippi — has at least half of all the species in the country. What State has the largest number of different kinds of trees? Florida has 314 species of native and naturalized trees. Texas, Georgia, and California follow in that order. What State has the least number of different kinds of trees? North Dakota is almost treeless ex- cept, for example, cottonwoods and willows that grow along the streams. That is no aspersion, however, against that beautiful, happy State; North Da- kota is a "grass" region; North Dako- tans are as interested as anybody in trees. What is a "softwood"? A name in general use for trees of the pine family — the conifers, or cone bearers. What is a "hardwood"? A name in general use for trees belonging to families other than the conifers — such as the oaks, maples, hickories, and other broadleaf trees. What is our most important com- mercial forest tree? In terms of volume of standing tim- ber and value of products cut, Douglas- fir is considered the most important commercial tree. In what kinds of trees in the United States are males and ]emales sepa- rated? The holly, persimmon, ash, juniper, most maples, yew, and several of the less familiar trees. In those cases it is essential that both sexes be present to obtain well-developed fruit and seed. Can any trees reproduce without fertilization? Yes; asexual reproduction has been found to occur in several birches and perhaps in other species. What is the biggest living tree in the world? The General Sherman Bigtree in the Sequoia National Park in California. It is nearly 115 feet in circumference and 273 feet in height; its volume is 600, 120 board feet. What is the world's tallest known standing tree? Founders Tree, a redwood in the 20 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 Humboldt State Redwood Park near Dyerville in California. It was 364 feet tall in 1947. Are any living trees direct descend- ants of fossil ancestors? Yes; most familiar example is gink- go, a native of China that is now cultivated in the United States. The re- cently discovered "Dawn Redwood" (Metasequoia), also of China, was at first believed to be a "living fossil" but recent indications are that it may be a "surviving ancestor" of the well-known American coast redwood. In 1948, Dr. Ralph Chancy, of the University of California, headed an expedition into China to study the Dawn Redwood and bring back specimens and seed of it. Seedlings and transplants from China are growing at the University of California as a result of his effort. A league for the protection and preserva- tion of these trees in China has been founded and is being encouraged and assisted by the "Save the Redwoods League" of the west coast. What is the oldest tree? The oldest tree is probably one of the big giant sequoias in California, variously estimated to be between 3,000 and 4,000 years old. The "Dragon Tree" of the Canary Islands, which was blown over in 1868, was estimated to have been as old as the Great Pyra- mid Cheops in Egypt — about 4,000 years old. Do tree seeds all weigh the same? Seed from conifers range from a half thousand seeds up to nearly a half million to the pound. White pine seed averages 27,000 a pound, for example; red pine, approximately 52,000; black spruce, 400,000; and Atlantic white- cedar, 460,000 to the pound. Torrey pine has about 500 seeds to the pound. How large do pine cones grow? The sugar pine of the Pacific Coast States produces the longest of pine cones, some exceeding 20 inches in length. The Mugho pine of Europe produces cones from less than 1 inch to 2 inches long. What is the difference between a bigtree, or giant sequoia, and a red- wood? These trees are different species of the same family and genus. Botani- cally, the giant sequoia is known as Sequoia gigantea, and the redwood is known as Sequoia sempervirens. They grow in different places. The giant se- quoia is found only on the middle slopes of the Sierra Nevada in Califor- nia. The redwood grows only along the Pacific coast, within reach of the ocean fogs, from Monterey County northward to the Oregon line. The red- wood has needlelike leaves ; the giant sequoia has scalelike leaves. Is it a good practice to plant a new tree for every one cut? No. The use of a method of cutting that will assure renewal of the woods by natural reproduction is generally more economical and satisfactory. Na- ture usually plants many times as many trees as man cuts, if man helps nature by providing proper conditions on the cut-over areas. What kind of trees should I plant on my land? The safest rule is to plant trees that grow naturally in your neighborhood, because they are adapted to the local climate and soils. Before planting any exotic — foreign or introduced — spe- cies, consult your local forester or nurs- eryman to find out if it will grow on your soil. Can I get trees from the Government to plant on my land? The Federal Government does not distribute trees free of charge. It does, however, cooperate with the various State forestry agencies in producing and distributing trees for planting on private lands. Applications to buy trees should be made to the State forester. Trees grown in the State nurseries are sold at approximate cost of production. Questions and Answers 21 Ornamental trees, of course, can be purchased from private nurseries. How can we start a community forest? Because community forests are pub- licly owned, the first step is to get the support of local authorities who must obtain title to the land — for a county forest, the county board; for a mu- nicipal forest, the mayor and his gov- erning body; for a school forest, the school superintendent. Enlist also the support of other interested public-serv- ice organizations. Work up a plan of operation to cover the sort of forest desired as well as the type of develop- ment and use. Appoint a forest board to develop and manage the property. Seek expert advice on forest manage- ment from your local forester. In planting, do the roots need spe- cial care? John Burroughs, the eminent nat- uralist, wrote to the principal of a school in Pennsylvania: "I am glad to hear that your pupils are going to keep Arbor Day; if you can teach them to love and to cherish trees, you will teach them a very val- uable lesson. . . . Give the tree roots plenty of room and a soft, deep bed to rest in; tuck it up carefully with your hands. The roots of the tree are much more soft and tender than its branches and cannot be handled too gently. It is as important to know how to dig up a tree as how to plant it. A friend of mine brings quite large hem- locks from the woods and plants them on his grounds and has no trouble to make them live. He does much of the work with his hands, follows the roots along and lifts them gently from the soil, and never allows them to dry. The real feeders of the tree are very small, mere threads; the bulky, mus- cular roots are for strength; its life is in the rootlets that fringe them, and to let these delicate feeders dry, even by an hour's exposure to a drying air, is to endanger the vitality of the tree. By the way, in your planting do not forget the hemlock. It is a clean, healthy, handsome tree. Do not for- get the ash, either, if only for the beautiful plum-colored foliage in au- tumn. Above all, do not forget the linden or basswood, a tree generally overlooked by our arborists. It is as pleasing as maple in form and foliage, and then it is such a friend of the honey bee. What a harvest they get from it, and just when other sources of honey supply begin to fail. "I have somewhere said that when you bait your hook with your heart the fish always bite, and I will now say that when you plant a tree with love it always lives; you do it with such care and thoroughness." How successful are shelterbelt plantings in the Prairie States? Those plantings are generally suc- cessful. They directly affect the agri- cultural welfare of the region. They reduce excessive evaporation and the blowing of soil, and are a protective screen against the burning winds of summer and freezing winds of winter. What trees are most commonly used for Christmas trees? The greatest demand has been for balsam fir and Douglas-fir. Other pop- ular Christmas trees, in order of their production, are black spruce, redcedar, white spruce, Scotch pine and southern pine, red spruce, Virginia pine, white fir, Norway spruce. How many Christmas trees are pro- duced in the United States each year? About 21,000,000 trees; 87 percent are produced on private forest lands; about a million are harvested on the national forests. About 100,000 acres of woodland (most of it owned by farm- ers) are devoted solely to growing Christmas trees. How can I keep my Chirstmas tree fresh and green? Try to obtain a tree that has been harvested recently. Store it in a cool place; place the butt in water; sprinkle 22 the branches daily. When you take the tree indoors, cut the butt diagonally about an inch above the original cut and keep the tree in a stand that con- tains water. What does a farm forester do? Upon request, he helps the owner of a small woodland work out a specific management plan right on the ground. He recommends the proper protection and cutting methods ; assists the owner in marking the trees to be cut; helps measure the volume; and advises him in the marketing of the products. Sur- veys indicate that 2,000 farm foresters are needed to assist the country's 4.25 million small- woodland owners; there are now fewer than 200 on the job. How can I get advice and in-the- woods assistance in handling my own woodland right? Write your State forester at the State capital or your extension forester at the State agricultural college; or get in touch with your county agent, soil conservation district supervisor, or the local Forest Service representative. Any one of them will put you in touch with the nearest farm forester, who will work with you. What Government agency actually gives demonstrations on growing tim- ber as a crop? The State extension forester (usually located at the State college of agri- culture) works with the local county agent in staging such demonstrations. What are the Norris-Doxey wood- land-management projects? They are the projects set up, under Federal law, to give on-the-ground woodland-management advice and as- sistance to farmers and other owners of small woodlands. In 1948, farm forest- ers worked with small-woodland own- ers in 650 counties. The farm forests are employed by the individual States with the Federal Government sharing in the cost and administration of the various projects. Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 Is it profitable for a farmer himself to do the necessary work of improve- ment cutting in his woodland? It is possible for a farmer to make a dollar or more an hour by doing his own work in the farm woods. What is silviculture? Silviculture is the science and art of establishing and tending forests to get the best timber products. It is analo- gous to the planting, weeding, and other culture necessary to grow food crops. What are liberation or improvement cuttings? The removal of the bent, forked, or knotty trees, and diseased, rotted, in- sect-infested trees, and the broken and fire-damaged trees. Why do you prune young timber trees? By removing the knot-forming lower branches, pruning makes it possible to get clear wood earlier. What is sustained-yield timber man- agement? A basic objective in timber manage- ment is to fix a rate of cutting that can be maintained at approximately the same rate in perpetuity through growth replacement of the volume har- vested. Control over the rate of cut- ting for this objective is sustained-yield management. Is national forest timber ever sold? Yes. It is being sold currently at a rate of approximately 4 billion board feet a year. It is sold to supply needed fuel and other products for domestic use, to supply raw material for lumber industries, to provide employment and stability to towns or communities, and to harvest the timber crop that is con- tinuously being produced on our na- tional forest lands. How is national forest timber sold? More than 25,000 sales are made each year. About 90 percent of all the Questions and Answers 23 sales are made to small producers of fuel wood, pulpwood, posts, sawlogs, or other forest products. Sales under $500 in value may be made to indi- viduals or companies by local forest officers without advertisement if com- petition for the timber is lacking. Sales in excess of $500 are advertised and sold to the highest acceptable bidder. In no case is national forest timber sold at less than its appraised market value. It must be paid for in advance of cut- ting; permits or contracts make ade- quate provision for protection and preservation of the soil, water, and re- maining stand of timber. Can national forest timber be ob- tained free of cost? Free use of timber may be granted to bona fide settlers, miners, rural resi- dents, and prospectors — for firewood, fencing, building, other domestic pur- poses, mining, and prospecting. Usu- ally not more than $20 worth of timber is granted to any one person a year. Transients may take dead timber for their campfires and for similar uses without written permits. Why cannot foresters increase tim- ber production through the use of hy- brids as farmers have increased corn production? They can, but it takes time. Trees cannot be grown in a single season like corn. Promising hybrids of pine and hybrids of poplar are being tested. What is the age of the virgin fir timber now being harvested in the Pacific Northwest? The individual trees are 300 to 500 years old. How long does it take to grow a marketable crop of sawlog timber? In the South, 30 to 40 years (pine) ; Lake States and Northeast, 60 to 70 years (pine), 100 years (spruce), 100 to 120 years (hardwoods) ; west coast, 100 years (fir and hemlock) ; Rocky Mountain area, 150 to 180 years (west- ern pine) . How many man-days of labor does it normally take to convert 1,000 board feet of standing timber to 1,000 board feet of lumber? Two to three. What causes rot in trees? Rot or decay, sometimes termed dote or peckiness, is caused by the action on the wood by fungi, low forms of life related to the mushrooms. The fungus threads penetrate the wood and break it down. How many uses of wood are there? Somebody once counted 4,500 uses, but he did not guarantee that his tabu- lation was complete. Why should houses be built of dry lumber? Because wet lumber, and the season- ing of wood in place, result in unequal shrinkage, which causes plaster cracks, distortion of door and window open- ings, and uneven floors. Shrinkage also may cause air leakage around chimney and window openings. In floorings, it may cause unsightly cracks between the floor boards and may cause creaking floors. How long can wood houses last? Many American homes, which date from Colonial times, are still in excel- lent condition. Mount Vernon is one of them. Does paint preserve wood? No; paint does not preserve wood from deterioration due to decay. Paint prevents the weathering of wood; its main value is for decoration. Should wet or green lumber be painted? No. Paint does not adhere well to wet wood and is likely to peel off. Why does wood remain the leading material for houses? Wood is economical to use and easy to shape and work. It is excellent in- sulation material and it will give long 24 of Agriculture 1949 service with moderate care. A house built of wood can be altered easily. How is wood used chemically? To make charcoal, wood alcohol, acetone, ethyl alcohol, wood-sugar mo- lasses, fodder yeast, synthetic fibers, photographic films, and other molded articles, modified wood products such as compreg and impreg and staypak, many specialized products of wood pulp and paper, and a host of other chemical products. Is it true that most of the paper that we use today is made from wood? Yes. Only small quantities of paper are now made from linen or other cloth rags — the reverse of 150 years ago, when little, if any, paper was made from wood. How much wood is used for fuel? It is estimated that 63,000,000 cords of wood are annually used for fuel — about one-eighth of all the wood used in the United States. What major improvement has been made in recent years in the use of wood for shipbuilding? Ship keels and other long, heavy, or curved members can now be laminated from relatively small pieces of wood by the use of waterproof glues. Such lam- inated members often are superior to the solid pieces formerly used. How many cross ties are required for a mile of railway track? Three thousand cross ties are used in the average mile of railway track. How many cross ties are there in railway tracks throughout the United States? More than one billion. How many cross ties do the railroads install in a year? An average of about 50 million. Approximately 80 percent of the cross ties installed in replacements in recent years have been treated — that is, sat- urated with creosote, zinc chloride, or other preservatives to prevent decay or destruction by insects. The treatment more than doubles the service life of the ties. Bridge timbers, piling, poles, and other woods are also treated in this manner before use. Why is black walnut the outstanding wood for gun stocks? It is one of our best shock-resistant woods, it keeps its shape, attaches well to metal, and is durable. Black walnut also makes excellent furniture wood — it has a beautiful grain, is easy to work into any desired shape, and takes a good finish. How many wooden fence posts do American farmers use? About 500 million a year. What wooden shipping container is used today in much the same form as in the days of antiquity? The common barrel or cask ; cooper- ing is one of the oldest known crafts. What is the hardest American wood, in terms of density? Black ironwood, of a little-known species found in southern Florida, has a specific gravity of 1.04. It is so heavy it sinks in water. What is the softest American wood, in terms of density? Corkbark fir, found in parts of Ari- zona and New Mexico, has a specific gravity of 0.28. What are the main causes of forest fires? There are seven: Those caused by smokers' matches or by burning to- bacco in any form; campfires; debris burning — fires which are originally set for clearing land or disposing of rub- bish, stubble, and such and which get beyond control; incendiary, which are deliberately started with the intention of burning over the land or damaging property owned by someone else ; light- ning; lumbering; fires resulting from Questions and Answers maintenance of right-of-ways or con- struction or operation of railroads. What is considered the worst forest fire in American history? The Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin in October 1871— when 1,280,000 acres were burned over; homes, towns, and settlements were swept away, and 1,500 persons perished. What are the different types of forest fires? Crown — a fire that burns through the tops of trees, brush, chaparral, or that consumes all or a large part of the upper branches or foliage; ground — a fire confined to the materials compos- ing the forest floor or beneath the sur- face, as in peat beds; surface — a fire that runs over the forest floor and burns only the surface litter, the loose debris, and the smaller vegetation or ground cover. What are the different parts of a forest fire? The fingers — these are the long, nar- row tongues of a fire that project from the main body; the flanks — the parts of the edge of a fire between the head and the rear; the head — the part of the edge of a fire on which rate of spread is most rapid; the rear — the part of the edge of a fire on the windward or downhill side. What section has the greatest un- protected area of forest land? ^ The South. In 1947, 11 Southern States had organized protection against fire on 92 million acres of private for- est land ; 82 million acres were without such protection. What are the principal causes of forest fires in the different sections? In the Lake States and New Eng- land, fires are mostly man-caused ; care- less smokers head the list. In the East- ern and Southern States, also, they are mostly man-caused ; careless brush and field burners and (in the South) in- tentional fire setters head the list. In the Rocky Mountain area, more than 70 percent are started by lightning; the others result from carelessness while smoking. In the Northwest, about half the fires start with light- ning; careless smokers and campers (who abandon campfires) are serious offenders. In California, lightning starts about 23 percent, careless smok- ers and campers most of the others. When is the danger of forest fires greatest? Generally speaking, the worst fire seasons in the eastern half of the coun- try are in the spring and fall; in the West, late summer. But at no time of the year is every section of the United States completely free of the danger. How does one fight a forest fire? The ^ first essential is to deprive the fire of its fuel by making a fire line or barrier down to mineral soil, all around the fire. After one has stopped the fire from spreading, he then extinguishes all the burning material within the fire area. This applies to all small forest or woods fires. For a small grass fire, the first action is to beat out the flames if possible. One should not try to put out a big fire alone. What is a smokejumper? ^ He is a parachute fire fighter, espe- cially trained and equipped to drop to forest fires in remote forest areas and put the fires out while they are still small. Are there many smokejumpers? The Forest Service employs more than 200 smokejumpers to help control fires in the roadless national forest areas of Idaho, Montana, Washington, Oregon, and California. This type of fire fighting is being extended to other States as well. Canada recently organ- ized a smokejumper group in British Columbia. Are smokejumpers effective? Yes. They reduce forest fire losses. In 2 hours they can reach fires in road- 26 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 less areas that formerly took 24 hours of foot travel. That 22-hour gain in time often spells the difference be- tween using two men to put out a little fire and having to employ large forces of men to put out a big one. What are some of the precautionary measures against fire? Glean up logging slash; build fire breaks or fire lanes to divide the woods into small blocks; keep fire-fighting tools handy and in good condition; know the location of the local forest fire warden or forest protection officer; line up the fire-fighting manpower in the neighborhood in advance. What do foresters mean by "burning period"? Normally the "burning period" is the "heat of the day," from about 10 a. m. to just before sundown. Unusual weather or other conditions may pro- long the "burning period" and even may create a severe "burning period" at night. What is a "backfire"? A fire intentionally set on the fire side of a control line as a part of the process of controlling a fire. Using such a fire when the control line is close to the fire edge is sometimes called burn- ing out or clean burning. What is a "fire dispatcher"? He is a member of the forest fire- control organization who receives re- ports of the recovery and status of fires, determines the locations of fires, and sends the men and the supplies and equipment that are needed to suppress fires. . How does the United States Weath- er Bureau cooperate with fire-control agencies? The Weather Bureau prepares spe- cial fire-weather forecasts for use by forest fire-control agencies. Three types are issued: A "general outlook" for 2 to 3 days; a "daily forecast" for the ensuing 36 to 48 hours; and, upon re- quest, "special localized forecasts" for short periods of 3 to 12 hours. Why are man-caused fires usually worse than lightning fires? Lightning usually strikes on the tops of ridges and starts a small fire, which spreads slowly, especially if the light- ning storm is accompanied by rain. Man-caused fires most frequently start along roads, trails, and streams, in canyons, or on the lower slopes of the hills; they spread rapidly uphill and often become conflagrations. Fires in- tentionally set, that is, incendiary fires, nearly always occur in periods of high fire hazard. What is the best way to dispose of burning matches and tobacco in the forest? Break your match in two and hold it in your hand until you are sure it is out. Put the burned end back in the box or in your pocket. Cigarettes and cigars should be put out by wetting the end with saliva, throwing them in water, or clearing a spot of inflammable mate- rial down to mineral soil, and grinding the fire out with the foot. Pipe heels, which are a particularly dangerous source of forest fire, should be ground out in mineral soil. Mechanical lighters for the pocket and ash containers for automobiles are recommended for all persons who travel in forests. It is well to refrain from smoking when the woods are dry. Will burning things thrown from air- planes in flight start fires? Several fires have occurred that were believed to have originated from burn- ing material thrown from airplanes. We cannot give a categorical answer, but that the practice is dangerous seems obvious. Why did the Indians start fires in the forests? Tradition says that they did so to drive out game, but we have no positive proof that they did this as a regular custom over any large areas. The In- Questions and Answers dians had no matches and they used small campfires that they tended care- fully; so, it is improbable that they set many fires. But with the coming of the white man, and the cutting and clear- ing of timber, fires became more nu- merous and widespread. What shall I do if I discover a fire? Try to put it out at once. If that is impossible, report it by telephone or in person to the nearest Federal or State ranger, ranger station, fire warden, or the forest officer. Remember : Minutes count in reporting fires. Is our concern about fire a purely modern worry? No; Ezekiel xx: 47: "Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein." Exodus xxii: 6: "If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution." What is the most destructive agent of our forests, other than man? Forest insects and diseases account for more than double the losses each year than does fire. What is the most desirable forest environment for wildlife in general? It is the forest or woodland in which there is a mixture of food-bearing and cover-producing plants (from trees to grass), plus water and escape areas, all within the daily travel range of the wildlife. Contrary to a general belief, such conditions do not always exist in mature forests. Do deer compete with domestic livestock for forage on the forest range? If the numbers of deer and livestock are adjusted to the available food sup- ply, there will be no conflict. Generally speaking, deer feed on browse; cattle and sheep prefer grasses and weeds. Competition exists only where live- stock and deer, or both, are present in excessive numbers. What is meant by a "buck law"? A buck law is a hunting regulation that permits the killing of only antler- bearing males. It is desirable when the goal is to reestablish a herd. When herds are already established and in a healthy condition, however, the buck law is unnecessary, and its continued use complicates proper management. Can one tell the age of a buck deer by the number of points on its antlers? The points are not a reliable guide. A fully developed set of antlers usually indicates good health and maturity. Old deer often carry fewer points than young, growing bucks. Do I have to have a Federal permit to hunt or fish on a national forest? The State fish and game laws usually govern hunting and fishing on the na- tional forests. What forest creatures are most to be. feared? The common ticks. They may carry the Rocky Mountain spotted fever, a disease dreaded over a large part of the United States. In tick areas, inspect your body and clothing twice a day. If you find a tick attached to your body, remove it carefully to prevent infection through skin abrasions or cuts. Use tweezers if available. Be sure to re- move the head of the tick. Paint the spot where the tick was attached with iodine or alcohol. The best protection against possible infection is inocula- tion with the tick shots developed by the Public Health Service. What poisonous snakes are in the forests of the United States? The rattlesnake is the most widely distributed poisonous reptile. The others are the cottonmouth or water moccasin, copperhead, and coral snake. 28 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 The best precaution against snake bites is alertness. Avoid coming into close quarters with the reptiles. Contrary to popular belief, snakes do not go out of their way to attack human beings. It is a good idea to carry a snake-bite kit when you are vacationing or work- ing in snake-infested areas. How many Rocky Mountain goats are left? We estimate that there are 14,000 Rocky Mountain goats in the continen- tal United States. Most of them are in the wilderness areas of the national forests in Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Goats are also found in Alaska. They may be hunted under special permit and in accordance with State laws. How many deer, elk, and black bear are there? Of the estimated 6,300,000 deer in the United States, a third are on the national forests. There are nearly 200,- 000 elk, of which about three-fourths spend all or part of their time on the national forests. About one-half of the estimated 150,000 black bear are on the national forests. What are the most important forms of forest game? Deer, elk, grouse, tree squirrels, tur- key, and bear. How do caribou differ from their relatives, the deer, moose, and elk? The caribou are unique in that fe- males, as well as males, bear antlers. Which predatory animals live in big forests? Coyote, lynx, wild cat, mountain lion. How do forest fires harm game ani- mals, birds, and fish? Fire destroys the natural feeding and breeding grounds of the wild animals ; severe fires may also kill deer and the smaller animals. The nests and young of birds are destroyed by fire; streams are filled with silt and ashes which can be injurious to the fish. Under some conditions, as in the longleaf pine, however, regulated fire can be used as a tool to improve the wildlife habitat. Is grazing by livestock harmful to hardwood forests? It certainly is. Hardwood forests should be protected from grazing, be- cause livestock browse the young trees to the point of destruction. What is the place of grazing in the administration of the national forests? The use of national forest range by livestock is an essential part of the multiple-use principle that governs the administration of the national forests. Use of the range is an important part of the welfare of many communities and individuals, especially in the West. The Forest Service has expended ap- proximately 16 million dollars for fence construction, water development, and artificial reseeding to make the range more usable by livestock. Besides, hold- ers of grazing permits have invested about one-half billion dollars in live- stock and ranches. Is Cfburning-off" injurious to the range? In certain pine types of the southern Coastal Plains and in certain sagebrush areas in the West, prescribed burning may be helpful. Uncontrolled or pro- miscuous use of fire on the range results in great damage to both soil and forage. Is it true that all that is needed to bring back a range is plenty of rain? Rain cannot bring back range plants that have been killed by overgrazing. A good rain can help restore the growth and vigor of range plants that drought has kept back. What does one mean by the grazing capacity of a range? The term applies to the maximum number of livestock that can be grazed on a given area for a given period of time without injury to the soil, the Questions and Answers 29 forage plants, the tree growth, or the watershed, with due provision for the game, recreation, and other land uses. What are the main objectives in range management on the national forests? There are three: Perpetuation of the water, soil, and forage resources through wise use, protection, and de- velopment ; the permanent good of the livestock industry, through proper care and improvement of the grazing lands, under principles of practical opera- tion; the protection of the established ranch owner against unfair competi- tion in the use of the range. Does a grazing permit give any legal right to a national forest? No. Legal rights do not accrue in the use of national forest range. There can be no exclusive, no private vested right on lands owned by all the people. Does the forest influence the melting of snow as well as the disposition of rainfall? Yes. In the sections of the country where there is much snow, the influ- ence of forests in retarding snow melt is more important than its effect on the disposition of rainfall. The snow-melt- ing period may last several weeks longer in the forests than on open ground. Moreover, as the forest soil is likely to freeze less deeply than soil in the open, it absorbs more of the snow water. Spring freshets from melting snow on bare slopes are an important source of river floods. By delaying the melting of snow and feeding part of the snow water into the soil, forests prolong the period of runoff, reduce flood crests to that extent, and equalize stream flow in the rivers fed by snow melt. What is a watershed? A watershed, or drainage basin, is an area of land from which a stream gets its supply of water. It may be as small as a farm or as large as several States. It is more than a combination of hills and valleys and streams, forests, grass, farm crops, and the soil beneath. It may also include cities, roads, peo- ple, and animals. For there is an in- terrelation among all things, animate and inanimate, on a watershed that bears heavily on the yield of water from the land. How can one tell when a watershed is in good condition? On a good watershed, the ground is well covered with vegetation (grass, shrubs, trees) ; litter or duff (leaves, twigs, dried grasses) covers the forest floor; the streams are clear and clean; there are no gullies or erosion ; and the banks of streams are stable. How do forests function in a storm? The forest acts in two ways during a storm. First, the canopy of leaves and branches breaks the impact of rain falling upon the earth. Even dur- ing a heavy rain one has the sense of the dripping of water from the tree- tops rather than a deluge from the sky. The second is in the effect of the layer of ground litter and humus, which act as a sponge cushion to ab- sorb the water and reduce surface run- off. Much more significant than its spongelike absorption of water, how- ever, is the action of the litter and the humus in keeping the soil mellow, porous, and more permeable and in preventing the sealing up of the seepage channels into the substratum, where the great supply of earth water is stored. Much of the earth water ap- pears again at the surface in the form of springs and stream flow. The action is effective, and it continues regard- less of the intensity or duration of the precipitation received. Do forests influence climate? Forests do not materially affect the climate over a large region. In the larger sense, climate is controlled by major factors of tremendous air move- ment around the earth and by lati- tude, altitude, and the relation of a given locality to oceans and land masses — such as the direction, the dis- 30 tance, height, and character of moun- tain ranges. Forests are the results (rather than the cause) of climate in this sense. Forests do materially af- fect the climate of the immediate lo- cality which they occupy, however. That effect is due, among other things, to the crowns of the trees, which en- close the land much as roof and walls enclose a house. The forest is both cooler in summer and warmer in win- ter than open places are. The same holds true of daily extremes. Within the forest the air is more moist than outside, because the force of the wind is broken and less evaporation occurs. In the winter, the soil of the forest is less subject to frost than in the open because of the insulating effect of the litter and humus. Snow tends to lie longer in the forest than in the open. How can I find out where to camp and picnic on the national forests? For general information on vaca- tioning in the national forests, write to the United States Department of Ag- riculture, Forest Service, Washington 25, D. C. Information about specific areas may be obtained from the re- gional foresters located at Missoula, Mont.; Denver, Colo.; Albuquerque, N. Mex. ; Ogden, Utah ; San Francisco, Calif.; Portland, Oreg.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Atlanta, Ga.; Milwaukee, Wis.; Juneau, Alaska. Is there a charge for camping and picnicking on the national forests? Generally there are no charges for camping and picnicking on the na- tional forests. At some of the large recreational areas, concessioners fur- nish wood, operate bathhouses, and give other special services at a nom- inal charge. In 1948, a few large camp grounds were placed under permit and a charge of 50 cents a night for a group in an automobile (of not more than six persons) was authorized. The plan was an experiment, and may or may not be continued. In any event, most camping and picknicking areas on na- tional forests will remain free. Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 Are there cabins for rent on the na- tional forests? The Forest Service does not operate rental cabins on the national forests nor maintain lists of available cabins. There are many cabins for rent on private lands within the national for- ests and privately owned cabins on national forest land. For information about such cabins write to the cham- ber of commerce in the locality to which you plan to go. Are trailers permitted on national forest camp grounds? Yes; on most of them. A few excep- tions are made because of steep roads on which trailers are not practical. None of the usual trailer facilities (electricity, water, and sewerage con- nections) are available on national for- est camp grounds. How many people use the national forests for recreation? In 1947, 21 million persons visited the national forests for recreation, among them 9 million campers and picnickers, 1% million who partici- pated in winter sports, and hunters, fishermen, children at organization camps, guests at private resorts, people at summer homes, travelers in wilder- ness areas. What are the wilderness areas? They are roadless tracts in a number of national forests. In them the natu- ral, primitive conditions are preserved. There are 77 wilderness areas in all, mostly in the Western States; they cover 14 million acres. Hunting and fishing are permitted. Where can one engage horses for wildnerness trips? Local dude ranches have horses, guides, and pack outfits available. What are trail rider trips? They are expeditions sponsored by the American Forestry Association, 919 Seventeenth Street NW., Wash- ington 6, D. C. The Association, a non- Questions and Answers profit organization, arranges and con- ducts "Trail-riders of the Wilderness" trips into some of the wilderness areas. The American Forestry Association will send full information on request. How can I build a safe campfire? The safest way to build a campfire is to scrape away the inflammable mate- rial down to the mineral soil from an area 6 feet in diameter. Keep your fire small. Never build it against trees or logs. When you are through with it, soak the coals until no more smoke arises. Be sure your fire is dead out when you leave the campfire area. Where can I get a permit to build a campfire? From any Forest Service officer or State ranger. Although permits are not required at most developed camp and picnic areas (California excepted), persons should check with the local officials. Does the Forest Service rent sites on the national forests for summer homes? Yes. Sites for summer homes may be rented from the Forest Service on most national forests. Information regard- ing available summer-home tracts may be had from the forest supervisor of the national forest concerned. What are the rules for keeping a camp ground clean and sanitary? Burn or bury all garbage, refuse, and cans. Use camp toilets where pro- vided; help keep them clean. If none is available, dig a trench at least 100 yards from the camp and the nearest stream, lake, or living spring; heap the earth to one side and fill the trench as it is used. Leave the camp neat and clean. What is the Appalachian Trail? It is a 2,000-mile trail from Maine to Georgia, 900 miles of which traverse eight national forests and two national parks along the crest of the Appa- lachian Mountains. There are open shelters for hikers at convenient in- tervals along the trail as well as closed shelters which may be reserved through local Appalachian Trail clubs. The trail is maintained and marked co- operatively by the Forest Service, the National Park Service, and the mem- ber clubs of the Appalachian Trail Conference. Excellent guide books and maps of the route may be obtained from the Appalachian Trail Confer- ence, 1916 Sunderland Place NW., Washington 6, D. C. When was the first national forest in the United States created? The first forest reserve — the Yellow- stone Park Timberland Reserve — was created by President Harrison on Sep- tember 16, 1891. The land included within this reserve now forms parts of several national forests in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, adjacent to the Yellowstone National Park. When and why was the name "national forests" adopted? On March 4, 1907, the name "forest reserves" was changed to "national forests" to indicate that the forests and their resources were not reserved or locked up but were for immediate as well as future use. Who administers national forests? The Forest Service, a bureau of the United States Department of Agricul- ture, created February 1, 1905, by the merging of the former Division of Forestry of the General Land Office, Department of the Interior, and the Bureau of Forestry of the Department of Agriculture. The transfer to the Department of Agriculture was the result of recommendation by Secretary of Interior Hitchcock, the American Forestry Congress of 1905, and Presi- dent Theodore Roosevelt. What becomes of the money received from the sale and use of national forest resources? All receipts from the national forests are deposited in the United States 32 Treasury. Under Federal law, 25 per- cent of these receipts is turned over to the States in which the national for- ests are located. The State in turn ap- portions this fund to the counties, each county receiving as its share a propor- tion of the receipts from the national forest or forests located within the county, based on the acreage of the national forest land within the county. This fund is used by the county for school and road purposes. The Federal law also requires that an additional 10 percent of all receipts from the national forests be expended by the Forest Serv- ice for trails and roads located entirely within the forests in the States from which the receipts are obtained. What are the duties of a forest ranger? Every national forest is divided into ranger districts with a forest ranger in charge of each. Sometimes he has an assistant ranger. A ranger district, the smallest administrative unit of the na- tional forests, varies in size from 100,- 000 to 400,000 acres. The ranger's work involves supervision of timber sales, grazing, recreational and other uses of the forest. He helps build roads, trails, bridges, telephone lines, and other permanent improvements. He trains and inspects forest guards and temporary employees. He must know his district well enough to be able to conduct Forest Service business in any part of it, and he must know how to fight fire. He has routine reports to make, but he is primarily a field man rather than an office worker. His over- all responsibility is to manage the for- est as a renewable resource. What is the difference between a na- tional forest and a national park? They are both Federal areas, and each has an important place in the conservation picture of the United States. However, the principle of use of resources is the vital distinction be- tween them. Essentially, national parks ,are maintained for the preservation of outstanding features; national forests Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 are for the production of the resources. National forests are administered for the protection, development, and use of timber, water, range, and other re- sources in the public interest. A basic purpose is the protection of watersheds, to safeguard water supplies and pre- vent floods. Timber resources are man- aged to contribute toward a permanent supply of lumber and other forest prod- ucts, and to serve as demonstration areas of forest management for the benefit of private timber owners and operators. National forest ranges are managed to provide a sustained supply of forage for the grazing of livestock. The forests are managed also to pre- serve their beauty and attractiveness for the recreational enjoyment of the people ; to maintain a favorable habitat for wildlife ; and in other ways to make their resources contribute to the eco- nomic stability and the welfare of the Nation. National parks are dedicated to the primary purpose of preserving, for pub- lic enjoyment, superlative examples of the scenic and the majestic in nature, though they serve other important pur- poses such as wildlife conservation and the regulation of stream flow through watershed protection. As a rule, only lands containing outstanding scenic, geologic, or other natural wonders are included. The law requires that they be administered to provide for public enjoyment "in such manner and by such means as will leave them unim- paired for the enjoyment of future gen- erations." National parks are thus, in a sense, great outdoor museums. The na- tional parks are administered by the Park Service, a bureau of the United States Department of the Interior. Who owns the land in the United States that produces or can produce timber of commercial quality and quantity? On how much of it are cut- ting practices good? Fair? Poor? How much timber shall we need in 1955? — and 50 years hence? The information is given in the tables on pages 33 and 34. .iw-j Questions and Answers 33 OWNERSHIP OF COMMERCIAL FOREST LAND OF THE UNITED STATES, BY REGION » Region State, Private Federally owned or managed county, ' * All ' " ; * and Indus- owner- National munici- trial and ships Total forest Other pal Total Farm other 1,000 7,000 7,OOO 7,000 7,000 7,OOO 7,OOO 7,OOO acres acres acres acres acres acres acres acres New England 30, 851 Middle Atlantic 41, 586 Lake 50,345 Central 44, 213 Plains 3,326 89I 1,476 6,495 2,117 822 1,265 5.455 L95I 30 69 666 29,294 6,477 22,817 211 3,613 36,497 11,854 24,643 ,040 14,805 29,045 13,930 15,115 166 326 41,770 25,789 15,981 302 . 4 2, 990 2, 960 30 North 170,321 11,311 9,523 1,788 19,414139,596 6l,oiO 78,586 South Atlantic 42,923 3,485 2,775 7JO 536 38,902 23,377 !5.525 Southeast 89,390 5,909 3,802 2,107 I,2l6 82,265 33,134 49,131 West Gulf 50,953 4,684 3,561 1,123 408 45.86i 12,549 33,312 South 183, 266 14, 078 10, 138 3, 940 2, 160 167, 028 69, 060 97, 968 Pacific Northwest: Douglas-fir subregion 26, 027 IO, 201 Pine subregion 2O, 177 12, 8l I 7,682 9.659 2,519 3. J52 2, 616 13,210 819 6, 547 .383 California 16,405 8,099 7,684 North Rocky Mountain 29,066 2o, OI2 18,061 South Rocky Mountain 15, 782 12,445 JO, 765 415 L95I I, 680 23 1,702 380 8,283 7.352 2,957 11,259 5,164 Total 46,204 23,012 17,341 5,671 3,435 19,757 3,334 16,423 1.309 6,974 2, 847 4, 505 1,498 1,459 West io%457 63,568 53,851 9,717 5,540 38,349 8,988 29,361 Allregions 461,044 88,957 73. 512 15.445 27,114344,973139,058 205,915 1 Prepared by Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Includes land capable of pro- ducing timber of commercial quantity and quality, and available now or prospectively for commercial use. Status beginning of 1945. CHARACTER OF TIMBER CUTTING PRACTICES ON PRIVATE AND ON PUBLIC FOREST LANDS, UNITED STATES, 1945 Percentage of operating acreage in properties or working circles being cut under practices that rate — Ownership class Private. Public.. Total. . . 802062' Commercial High area order Good Fair Poor Destruc- tive Mil. acres Percent Percent Percent Percent Percent 345 I 7 28 56 J 8 116 8 59 19 13 • --1 461 20 34 Yearboo\ of Agriculture 1949 SUMMARY OF ESTIMATED POTENTIAL ANNUAL REQUIREMENTS FOR TIMBER PRODUCTS IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE DRAIN ON DOMESTIC TIMBER 1950-55 $O years hence Estimated drain Estimated drain From trees of Potential From From trees of Potential From saw-tim- require- trees of saw-timber size require- trees of ber size ment all sizes1 only* ment all sizes1 only2 Major timber products utilized in the primary form: Fuel wood cord . . Poles pole. . Piling linear foot . . Fence posts post. . Mine timbers, hewed or round cubic foot . Railroad ties, hewed tie. . Major timber products that are further processed : In the manufacture of wooden prod- ucts— Saw logs for lumber board foot7.. Logs and bolts for veneer board foot8. . Cooperage stock do.8. . . . In the manufacture of chemical prod- ucts— Pulpwood cord . . Wood for hardwood distillation cord. . Logs and bolts for all other uses board foot 8. . Cordwood for all other uses . . . . cord . . Million Million Million cu.ft. Percent bd.ft. Million 363 1,836 37.6 3,066 *50 5.7 91 90.0 318 5 38 29 100. 0 114 23 56oo 480 25.7 492 56oo 220 220 35.6 312 220 22 238 98.5 1,084 18 Million Million cu.ft. bd.ft. 1,700 2,839 80 279 I? 69 480 492 220 312 I94 887 42,500 8,670 98.9 44,345 39,000 7,956 40,692 2,400 566 98.5 2,837 2,400 775 J83 98.8 919 700 •29 i, 660 70.2 5,784 40 0-5 34 35-0 53 0.5 t,OOO 236 100. 0 1,200 1,500 5 350 35-0 529 7 566 2,837 165 830 3, 320 10, 678 34 53 354 i, 800 490 740 Total 1 All trees above 5 inches in diameter at breast height. 2 Saw-timber sizes vary by regions but nowhere is it less than 9 inches. 3 Estimated that 27 million cords might be cut from sound, living trees. 4 Estimated that 25 million cords might be cut from sound, living trees. 14,593 82.7 61,053 15,576 62,508 6 Estimated that 480 million posts might be cut from sound, living trees. 6 Estimated that equivalent of 9 million cords may be imported as paper, wood pulp, and pulp- wood. 7 Measured in lumber tally. 8 Measured in log scale. This table was prepared by A. C. Cline; see p. 731. Questions and Answers 35 What is Arbor Day and how did it originate? It is a day set aside by law in most States for encouraging the planting of shade and forest trees, shrubs, and vines about homes, along highways, and about public grounds of the State, thus contributing to the wealth and comforts of the people. In some States, the law specifies the date on which Arbor Day will be observed, while in others the date is specified by the Gov- ernor or another official. The observ- ance of Arbor Day by schools, civic organizations, and clubs usually in- cludes programs designed to stress the importance of trees and their effect in improving the appearance of school grounds, streets, parks, and highways and to encourage the planting, protec- tion, and preservation of the trees and shrubs and an acquaintance with the best methods for the conservation and use of our natural resources. Arbor Day was first observed, as such, in Nebraska in 1872. The plan was conceived and the name "Arbor Day" proposed by J. Sterling Morton, then a member of the State Board of Agriculture, and later United States Secretary of Agriculture. At a meeting of the State Board of Agriculture of Nebraska, held at Lincoln, January 4, 1872, he introduced a resolution to the effect that Wednesday, the 10th day of April 1872, be especially set apart and consecrated to tree planting in the State of Nebraska and named Arbor Day. The resolution was adopted. Wide publicity was given to the plan, and more than a million trees were planted on the first Arbor Day. Who was Paul Bunyan? Paul Bunyan was a legendary lum- berjack of early American logging days. In the North Woods men still embellish the stories about this boss logger, a fabulous giant who invented the lumber industry, dug Puget Sound, and built Niagara Falls so he could have a shower bath. One account says that Bunyan was born near the head- waters of the St. Lawrence River. Some say his parents were French- Canadians. Others say they were Scan- dinavians. When he was 2 weeks old he caught a full-grown grizzly with his bare hands. He fell into a river one day and caught 17 beaver in his beard, which he had from birth. At 3 months he had outgrown his parents' cabin and, because of damage he was doing to fences and barns as he played among the neighboring farms, said good-by to his parents and betook himself to a cave in the hills. There, as he grew up, he invented hunting and fishing. In the Winter of the Blue Snow, Paul Bunyan found Babe, the Blue Ox, an animal that grew so big in his care that the distance between his eyes was measured by 1 7 ax handles, 3 cans of tomatoes, and a plug of chewing to- bacco laid end to end. Among the many who have set down the lumber- jack's mighty tales of Paul and Babe are James Stevens, R. D. Handy, and Glen Rounds. So big was Paul Bun- yan's logging camp and so hearty his men that batter for their flapjacks was mixed in cement mixers and the grid- dles were greased by men who skated on them with slabs of bacon tied to their feet. Paul made Pike's Peak by piling rocks around a pike pole. He sharpened his ax on boulders rolling down mountainsides. He moved his camp 3,000 miles in a day by hitching Babe to it. When he was deepening the Mississippi, he built the Rocky Moun- tains with the dirt he threw to one side. In a few hours he logged off the Upside Down Mountain and, in a ter- rific fight with Hels Helsen, his fore- man, so changed it that it became the Black Hills of South Dakota. He and his men and Babe cleared off whole townships between sunup and sunset. He cut down miles of trees to make a desert. He used young pine trees for toothpicks. He logged off the Dakotas with an axhead tied to a rope. He made a good start toward logging off Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The only one to get the better of Paul Bunyan, according to another leg- end, was an Indian chief. Grant Utley, Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 of Cass Lake, a Minnesota commu- nity that is a rival of nearby Bemidji, whose civic-minded citizens have erected an heroic monument to Paul Bunyan, tells about Nanabushu, whom he calls "an even greater figure in the history of the Upper Midwest." "It was Nanabushu," Mr. Utley writes, "who met Paul Bunyan about 9 miles east of Gass Lake, and gave him the first licking that he ever had, and sent him back where he belonged. For 40 days and 40 nights these two giants battled, but at last Paul, bat- tered and bleeding, retired and left Nanabushu to rule over the million and a half acres, which later was to be called the Chippewa National Forest. Over this village hovers the spirit of Nanabushu, who long ago realized that if you take care of the forest, the forest will take care of you." Can molasses be made economically from wood? Research scientists of the Forest Products Laboratory have perfected wood molasses to the pilot plant stage of development. Funds provided by the Research and Marketing Act made possible the production of a sufficient quantity to permit several agricultural experiment stations to make practical tests of the wood molasses. Pilot plant operations indicated that costs can be kept low enough to make waste wood molasses attractive to livestock grow- ers as a source of high-energy stock feed. In the first tests, wood molasses has compared favorably with black- strap molasses for several purposes. In making molasses, wood waste is treated with acid to convert it into a weak solution of sugar from which ex- cess water is evaporated to produce a 50-percent solution of wood sugar. Wood sugar molasses is being tested as a preservative for grass silage at Wash- ington, Oregon, and Wisconsin experi- ment stations. Montana experimenters are using wood molasses in preparing mixed feeds and mixed-feed pellets to use as a supplemental feed for sheep and cattle wintering on the range. This station found it possible to substitute molasses from lodgepole pine and larch for one-sixth of the grain ration for lambs. At the Southern Forest Experiment Station a cooperating farmer found that up to 30 percent of oak molasses added to a mixture of cottonseed meal and hulls was palatable to older cattle, but that calves did not relish so much molasses. Alternative ways of utilizing wood sugar are to grow feed yeast or produce ethyl alcohol. Why do foresters say on a forest and not in a forest? To foresters, a forest is an area that might include mountains, canyons, streams, open places, buildings, and other elements besides trees; they do not, therefore, consider themselves necessarily among trees or under trees or in a grove of trees, in the way a person thinks he has a picnic or hike, say, in the woods. A similar usage is on the table or on the football field or on the page. How much pulpwood does a news- paper use? Robson Black, the president of the Canadian Forestry Association, is authority for the statement that the Sunday edition of the New York Times has a weekly consumption of 800 cords of pulpwood, the product of 80 acres, and that a perpetual supply of news- print for the Sunday Times requires a timber stand of 416,000 acres that is worked on a rotation of 80 years. W. W. BERGOFFEN is in charge of radio and television activities in the Division of Information and Education of the Forest Service. He joined the Forest Service in 1933 and worked as forest ranger on the Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia and the De- Soto and Bienville National Forests in Mississippi prior to his assignment in Washington. Mr. Bergoffen is a gradu- ate of the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University. TREES AND HOMES Pecan trees — "Mississippi hickories" — were planted by George Washington at his Mount Vernon estate in Vir- ginia. The nuts were given him by Thomas Jefferson, Every Tree For Its Use TREES FOR THE COUNTRY HOME W. H. LARRIMER FOR TREES, as with people, an ideal place to grow up is in the country. There they find conditions of the soil, moisture, air, and sunshine that make for their best development. Many farms lack the beauty as well as the practical advantages that result from the carefully planned selection and arrangement of trees around the farmstead. Too many have the wrong kind of trees; too many have trees that are misshapen and neglected ; too many have trees that are located by chance where the seed happened to fall; too many, alas, have no trees at all. An important feature in the general plan for the development of the farm- Above: The Wethersfield Elm in Connec- ticut, which was 201 years old in 1949, but doomed by the Dutch elm disease. stead is the intelligent and artistic use of trees and shrubs. The time, effort, and reasonable expense involved in carrying out such a plan is well repaid in the resulting years of contentment and pleasure, as well as the practical and monetary value they add to a farm. Although by proper selection and skill in arrangement trees can be made to fit into almost any requirement of a good farmstead plan, their full con- sideration should be included from the very beginning as an integral part of any such plan. Full advantage should be taken also of the opportunity to utilize adequate space available on the farm, as contrasted with the usually closely grouped plantings around the city or suburban homes. Careful planning pays big dividends 39 4o Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 A good landscape plan shows the location and full-grown size of trees and shrubs. Trees for the Country Home The artistic use of trees enhances the beauty and value of a well-designed farmstead. 42 in planting trees around the farm- stead. This use of trees in farmstead development is so important that it justifies the preparation of a separate site map to show the proposed tree locations. After the general features, such as roads, buildings, orchard, gar- den, lawns, and service yard, have been blocked in to scale, the map is ready for the trees and shrubs. First, consideration should be given to attractiveness and ornamental ef- fects. A house becomes a picture when framed by appropriate trees. Next comes planting for shade, protection, border, and background. Impatience at this stage may be costly. It is a simple matter to move a tree from one place to another on the map. Once a tree is planted and allowed to grow for a few years, however, it is a chore to move it. When the matter is called to your at- tention, you will be surprised how fast trees can grow. Take time to consult a landscape architect if one is available, or seek the advice of a reliable nursery- man. Make sure that they understand that you want the simplicity and in- formality appropriate for landscaping a farm home. Observe other farm- steads and adopt those features that are pleasing or otherwise desirable. Also, look for things not to do. It is sad but true that most of our farm- steads show no evidence whatever of planning. Try not to make similar mis- takes. Consult the available literature on the subject — articles in the farm journals or other magazines. All such preliminary study is worth your while. The kind of trees to plant is closely related to the conditions of the place in which the trees are to be planted and the care and attention to be given them after planting. Lists of trees that are adapted to dif- ferent parts of the country are given elsewhere in this book. Weigh the merits and handicaps of each variety recommended and select those which fit your personal preference, as well as your particular needs and conditions. The location and size of the trees and shrubs when they are full-grown Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 should now be sketched in on your map, to scale. Rigidly resist the urge to plant too many trees or to interplant with temporary specimens. You be- come attached to these and their re- moval at the right time — or ever — is just out of the question. Look out for the telephone lines. Trees and telephone, light, or power lines — each has its place, but they are not the same place.Try to avoid com- petition. If a conflict does occur and must be resolved in favor of the light or power lines, the outright removal of the trees is frequently more desir- able than the mutilations often seen in such cases. Such problems may well be kept in mind in drawing up the original plans. WITH THE PLAN COMPLETED, you are ready to begin planting. This does not mean that the plan cannot be revised. Obvious changes can and should be made, but with discretion and confined mostly to the unplanted part of the plan. Keep in mind your ultimate ob- jective and make only those revisions that will keep the development headed toward that objective. It should always be emphasized that a little extra care in planting may mean the difference be- tween the loss of a favorite specimen tree or its survival and growth. Just as soon as possible you should learn to know your trees as individ- uals. That includes recognition of the general characteristics that indicate their names without reference to a technical key. One of the principal sources of satis- faction in really knowing trees is this flash recognition. It marks a stage in the friendship with trees that corre- sponds to the comfortable stage of friendship between people when they call each other by their first names. W. H. LARRIMER is a forester in the Branch of Research, Forest Service, Washington, D. C. He grew up on an Ohio farm, and received degrees from Purdue University and Ohio State University. 43 CITY TREES IRVING C. ROOT, CHARLES C. ROBINSON We rate a tree in a forest as poten- tial lumber according to the texture of its wood and clean bole, its rapidity of growth, market value, and avail- ability. City trees have price tags on them, of course (perhaps as much as $20 per inch of trunk diameter) , but we appraise them largely on intangible values of shade and beauty. We judge the city tree by the shape of its canopy, its habit of growing tall and slender or small and spreading, its spring bloom or fall color, the shape and size of its leaves, and its evergreen or deciduous nature. Important, too, is whether it has any tendency to break in storms, whether it is a clean tree or a dirty one, its susceptibility to insect pests and disease, and its ability to adapt it- self to the artificial conditions of cities. No single item distinguishes a city more than its green areas, and prob- ably our first reaction to a community is to its abundance or lack of trees. The shade they give from the sun makes the summer heat more tolerable, and filters for grateful eyes the dazzling reflection from masonry and concrete. A city of monumental buildings, like Washington, particularly needs trees to interrupt the reflected light. The landscape architect uses trees to soften hard building lines and accentuate vertical or horzontal details. The home owner plants trees to give scale and proportion to desired features and to delight his family and neighbors with spring bloom and fragrance, green coolness in summer, color in autumn, and interesting branch-and-twig pat- terns in winter. Trees form vistas, frame views, and define park areas. They can screen out undesirable sights, and separate active from passive recreation. They border our city lakes and streams and cast their reflections in our pools. Groups of trees are a back drop, a cyclorama. For all their beauty, city trees are no weaklings. It is sometimes surprising how they can survive the artificial and adverse conditions under which they grow. Smoke and gases, physical in- juries, the disrupted water table, hard- packed soil, lack of humus renewal and mulch, inadequate root space, re- flected heat from pavements and build- ings, and glacial blasts of air through the wind tunnel formed by street and buildings, all make their lot hard. Because trees manufacture their food by the action of sunlight on ele- ments in the leaf, any substantial ac- cumulation of soot or residual oil from the air will screen out sunlight and retard this process of photosynthesis, resulting in a weakening of the tree from starvation. Trees such as ailan- thus, korsechestnut, hackberry, Ameri- can ash, ginkgo, poplars, sycamores, willows, lindens, and elms are all toler- ant of soot and smoke. Others, like the sugar maple, sourgum, sweetgum, and honeylocust, can grow well only if the air is unpolluted. No one seems prepared to say why one tree and not another can stand smoke and soot. It may be related to the effect of smoke and soot-impreg- nated soil on the mycorrhiza and their relation to root growth and feeding. Why some trees are more affected than others might be a fertile field for re- search. Perhaps investigation would show us how to grow sugar maples in smoky, soot-laden air where now they cannot survive. Perhaps some simple treatment of the soil or tree may some day make this possible. Another factor that seems to affect the ability of a tree to withstand smoke and gases is the nature of its leaf sur- face. A rough, heavy, or sticky leaf will accumulate more soot and residual oil than a smooth or waxy one, and the latter is more easily cleaned off by rain- fall and wind. City trees are subject to physical in- 44 juries from many sources. Seldom is a sewer, drainage, or utility line put in on a tree-lined street but that some damage is done to the roots. Because the health of a tree is in direct propor- tion to the extent and effectiveness of its feeder roots, great care should be exercised that a minimum of damage be done to the tree roots during con- struction. This damage might not kill the tree, but it might so debilitate it that it would become easy prey to insects and disease. The power and telephone companies used to expect their line-clearing crews to hack off the tops and sides of trees for line clearance. The branches ex- posed to the sun by the sudden re- moval of the protecting canopy were vulnerable to sunscald, which cracked the tender bark and permitted the in- roads of disease and insect pests. For- tunately such butchering is on the wane, and few cities permit it today. More and more underground conduits are used; they eliminate unsightly poles and wires and do away with the neces- sity for any type of drastic tree pruning. Many trees are killed annually by il- luminating gas from underground gas lines. One should be suspicious of chlorosis or yellowing of leaves and of any other signs of the unexplained de- clining health of a tree when it is lo- cated near an underground gas line. Additional hazards of city trees are the bumps and splintering from ve- hicular accidents, the thoughtlessness of the boy who breaks off branches and gouges with his new knife or ax, and girdling by squirrels in a small park. A mower in the hands of a careless maintenance man can severely damage the bark and cambium layer at the base of trees ; those cuts and bruises can be- come immediate focal points for in- fectious diseases like verticillium wilt and canker stain of our sycamores. In- deed, there are several instances on record where injuries by lawn mowers were responsible for the spread of can- ker stain and the subsequent loss of rows of fine old sycamores. Another disadvantage under which Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 city trees live is the lack of humus build-up provided by the decay of fallen leaves. Humus or duff, formed by decayed leaves, is nature's food for the tree and her protection for its feed- ing roots from the sun and drying wind. When we remove this humus or do not permit its manufacture, we are disturbing one of nature's proc- esses for tree growth and vigor. In large city parks like Fairmount Park in Philadelphia and Rock Creek Park in the District of Columbia, much of the total area is left naturalized and the fallen leaves are allowed to remain, decay, and form the humus that pro- vides much of the tree's natural food and its mulch for moisture retention. Public opinion demands, however, that the small park square, the quadrangle, and parking space along the street be kept free of fallen leaves and other debris. As a practical matter, it would be almost impossible, even if desired, to allow a build-up of fallen and de- caying leaves. Clogged gutters and drain pipes, fire hazard, dangerously slippery streets, to name only a few, make necessary their prompt removal along streets and in most parks. In their natural habitat trees usually grow in soils and moisture conditions that are best suited to them. Thus (in New England, Middle Atlantic, and Midwestern States to which this dis- cussion pertains) we find elms, pin oaks, and sweetgums in low-lying land along the streams and even in swamps. Tuliptrees seem to like the mountain valleys from which they spread to the low-lying ridges. Red and white oaks and sourgums, on the other hand, may be found on higher mountains where their roots have to go deep for water. Too often in city planting, particu- larly along the streets, we put in elms, oaks, and honeylocusts, with but little regard to their preference of soil and moisture conditions. Trees that in their native environment search deeply for water are planted alongside those with shallow roots. It is a tribute to nature's adaptability that elms can thrive along- side the deep-rooted white or red oaks. Were it not for this amazing adapta- bility, the selection of trees for urban use would be even more complex. It is true, though, that the nearer we can duplicate natural conditions of the soil and the water table, the better we can expect our tree to thrive. The runoff of rainfall is high in cities — almost 100 percent from paved areas. The ground has no chance to absorb and store up the moisture for future needs; most of the rainfall, rather, is immediately carried off into gutters and drains. Trees in sizable city parks seldom suffer from lack of moisture in periods of normal rainfall, but the street tree in a narrow parking never gets a fair share of water and cannot absorb the little it receives. An oak tree gives off some 120 tons of water in only one season through its leaves — water that must be replenished from the soil — and it seems almost miraculous that our street trees sur- vive at all. An interesting observation is that in times of drought, street trees, which are conditioned to a constant substandard amount of moisture, fare better than those accustomed to ade- quate rainfall. How can these adverse conditions be improved? First, we must see that the tree we select for planting has a sufficiently large tree pit filled with good soil to accommodate potential roots for some years to come. The hole must have natural or artificial drainage to insure against wet feet and root suffocation. The variety selected should be environ- mentally suited to the designated site from the standpoint of exposure, eleva- tion, and purity of air. It should be planted where physical hazards are few. If natural moisture is lacking, particularly during periods of drought, it must be watered. If it shows signs of starvation, it must be fed with in- organic fertilizer or organics like ma- nure, tobacco stems, sludge, or tankage. Use determines whether a tree is desirable or undesirable for city plant- ing. A broad-spreading, low-hanging Chinese magnolia may be ideal as a City Trees 45 specimen in a small city park or on home grounds but impossible as a street tree. A fastigiate English oak may be perfect for a narrow street but of limited use in the large park. Individual peculiarities may make cer- tain trees undesirable for any urban use — the female ginkgo, whose fruit has a bad odor, for example, or the silver maple, which breaks easily in wind and snow, or the boxelder, which has rapid but unsightly growth. Lom- bardy and Carolina poplars are out of favor because their roots fill sewer lines. For street use, species or varieties should be avoided that are subject to disease and insect pests. Just as a con- tagious disease will tend to spread rapidly through a family whose mem- bers are in close contact with one another, so the Dutch elm disease, for instance, will spread rapidly through a concentrated group of city elms unless strong preventive measures are taken. Dutch elm disease and phloem ne- crosis of elm and the canker stain of sycamores make unwise their wide- spread planting, particularly for cities. The Dutch elm disease, dissemi- nated principally by the elm bark beetle, has spread quite rapidly and is difficult to control. The control of the carrier by spraying and a rigorous sanitation program, involving the im- mediate removal and destruction of all dead and dying wood, are at present the only effective means of dealing with this serious threat to our elms. This control is difficult because of the inaccessibility to spray machines of scattered infected trees. Canker stain of sycamores seems to be carried largely by man's own activities. Bruises made by lawn mowers and particularly prun- ing operations seem to be the chief means by which this canker stain is spread. For districts where canker stain is established, there are several primary control measures to be taken : Remove all diseased sycamores or diseased por- tions of them, and avoid all unneces- sary mutilation. In zone 4 (New York and Philadelphia) prune the sycamore only between December 1 and Febru- Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 ary 15, and avoid asphalt tree paints during that period; disinfect all prun- ing tools before use on healthy syca- mores between February 16 and November 30. Denatured alcohol used as a dip or swab is a satisfactory disin- fectant. If wound dressing is necessary, use a gilsonite-varnish paint into which 0.2 percent phenylmercury nitrate has been mixed. For districts where the disease is not established, observe these precautions : Disinfect all of the prun- ing equipment thoroughly before the work begins; use new paint brushes and pots. Most of the authorities are pessimis- tic about our ability to check entirely the Dutch elm disease or phloem necrosis, and at the moment we can only try to isolate them and to slow down their spread. The canker stain of sycamores, while serious enough, offers greater hope of checking and perhaps even eventual eradication or isolation. We have listed the principal epi- demic tree diseases which we are fight- ing today, but we must be alert for others which might appear at any time and alert to diseases which are chronic now but which might become epidemic. In planting trees on the home grounds, in the squares and circles, the parkways, and large city parks, the determination of varieties hinges on the effects desired and factors of natu- ral elevation and exposure that the trees require. There are several sign- posts to guide one in making the selec- tions for those sites. A good street tree is one that pro- vides shade and ornamentation, keeps within the bounds required of its growth, does not interfere with vehic- ular or pedestrian traffic, and stays healthy. Streets of different widths require trees of different shapes and sizes. A narrow, pyramidal, or columnar tree is indicated for the narrow street with a limited building set-back; a narrow street cannot accommodate a broad specimen red oak or sycamore, but Lombardy and bolleana poplars are well adapted to this type of planting if their roots do not interfere with sewers. Those poplars are softwooded and have a tendency to break in storms, but they are sometimes useful where others cannot be grown. The pyramidal English oak, the fastigiate form of the ginkgo, as well as the pyramid tulip- tree, which are tolerant of smoke and soot, are admirably suited to this use. Where polluted air is not a factor, the columnar sugar maple, the pyramidal red maple, and perhaps the sweetgum will serve the purpose, although the sweetgum is sometimes objectionable because of its falling fruit in autumn. The wider streets can be planted to American ash, Norway maple, tulip- tree, sycamore, or the lindens, all of which resist damage from smoke and fumes. Again, if smoke is not prevalent, such trees as scarlet oak, willow oak, pin oak, sugar maple, thornless honey- locust, blackgum or sourgum, and Scotch elm can be used effectively. On the broadest avenues and boule- vards there is opportunity to use large, massive tree types. Unfortunately, most of these broadheaded varieties are sus- ceptible to the gases, smoke, and soot. The patriarch red oak, white oak, black oak, willows, and even the larger pines, spruces, and firs can be effec- tive in the wide parking along such thoroughfares. The limitations of space imposed by streets do not apply in our selection of trees for large city parks and park- ways, institutions, or residence grounds. There we have an opportunity to plant the more common, better-known spe- cies as well as add greatly to the interest and variety of the landscape by the use of the rarer and more unusual sorts. Many trees of outstanding beauty are too sparingly used simply because one does not know them. Pink and white dogwoods are unsurpassed of their sort, but how many people know and use the Chinese and the Kousa dogwood, whose blooms come after the foliage has appeared? Most of us know the redbud, or Judas-tree, but how many are familiar with the beautiful white form of this spring bloomer? City Trees 47 'A city of monumental buildings, like Washington, particularly needs trees . . .' Magnolia soulangeana, the saucer magnolia, gets the spotlight, but the equally deserving star magnolia, M. stellata, and some of the soulangeana varieties remain relatively obscure. There is an encouraging trend toward the planting of more varieties of Jap- anese cherries, but several of the finest, Akebono, Mt. Fuji, and rosea, are still seldom seen. Among the flower- ing crab apples, sargenti, theijera, and Oekonomierat Echtermeyer are a few that deserve wider recognition. Yellow is a relatively rare color among our flowering trees, and the yellow-blooming things, such as cor- nelian-cherry, goldenchain, and gold- enrain-tree, can show up beautifully against a foil of green. A number of other flowering trees, too little used, deserve mention: The red horsechestnut, Aesculus carnea; the fringetree, Chionanthus virginica; snowball, Styrax japonica; the silver- bells, Halesia tetraptera and monti- cola; and various hawthorns, Cratae- gus cordata, punctata, oxyacantha and its varieties. These flowering trees can be planted as single specimens, in groups, or in great drifts to enrich park and park- way plantings and add greatly to the interest of home grounds. Chinese scholartree, Sophora japon- ica, and the zelkova are examples of outstanding shade trees that are little used. Both of these shade trees have the reputation of being trouble-free and long-lived. The scholartree gives additional dividends in its long white bloom panicles in August. The Ken- tucky coffeetree, too, offers great possi- bilities for more extensive use. Most of us can visualize the spruces, firs, and pines at maturity, but not many, perhaps, think of the little con- ical sheared cypress or cedar, bought from the nurseryman, in terms of its ultimate magnificence in size and con- tour. Groups or specimens of Deodar cedar, cryptomeria, baldcypress, Law- son cypress, and umbrella-pine acquire character as they grow, and only when these less common trees have a chance to develop naturally do they attain their full picturesqueness. City officials can do much to foster the propagation and development of good city tree types — for example, the pyramidal type of tuliptree, the py- Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 ramidal English oak, the columnar sugar maple, and the vegetatively propagated male ginkgo tree. Until cities all over the country, by their purchases, encourage the propagation of these and other desirable but little- used varieties, the growers will be forced by hard economics to confine their efforts to the more common and, in many cases, less desirable kinds. In summary, several fundamentals are to be borne in mind if our cities are to have good trees. First: Hire a competent landscape architect or arborist, one who knows the esthetic and practical problems of city tree planting. He is the key man in a successful program: He knows what varieties will or will not grow in any given location, how they will look at maturity, how far apart to plant the trees, and what soils will sustain them. He will use tree forms to create the desired effect. Second: Select only those varieties adapted to your local conditions. Third : Buy only the best obtainable materials; cheap, substandard trees are usually expensive in the end. Fourth: Insist on proper planting to rigid specifications under the super- vision of a competent plantsman. Fifth : Spray, feed, water, and prune whenever necessary ; perform these op- erations according to the latest scien- tific methods. Adequate maintenance is vital to the continuing survival and good health of trees and is as necessary as good original design and planting. Sixth: Keep in sight the goal — beauty and livability. A city of trees is a better place in which to live. IRVING G. ROOT is superintendent of National Capital Parks, Department of the Interior. He has degrees in horti- culture and forestry from Kansas State College and in landscape architecture from Massachusetts State University. He was formerly chief engineer for the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission. CHARLES C. ROBINSON is a gradu- ate in landscape architecture of Penn- sylvania State College and has devoted 20 years to the practice of his profession. He has specialized in the development of home grounds. He is a landscape architect with National Capital Parks in Washington. SHADE TREES FOR THE NORTHEAST ALMA M. WATERMAN, R. U. SWINGLE, CLAYTON S. MOSES Throughout the Northeastern States, the maples, the elms, and the oaks have long been preferred for shade trees. The elms in this region, however, are threatened by two serious diseases. In the northwestern part a wilt disease impairs the value of red oaks for shade- tree planting. Fortunately, there are still many kinds of beautiful native trees and some introduced kinds that make satisfactory shade trees. Some of the outstanding deciduous shade trees that can be recommended for residential and suburban sections, primarily because of their tolerance of city conditions, are : Sugar maple, Nor- way maple, red maple, white oak, pin oak, northern red oak, scarlet oak, Texas oak or Shumard oak, thornless common honeylocust, sweetgum, gink- go, American sycamore, London plane- tree, common hackberry, black tupelo, green ash, silver linden, littleleaf linden, Kentucky coffeetree, yellow-poplar or tuliptree, the American yellow- wood, Japanese pagodatree, and Amur corktree. In heavily congested and industrial areas the following species may be used: The ginkgo, the thornless com- mon honeylocust, London planetree, ailanthus or tree-of-Heaven, and the Amur corktree. In the Northeastern States, a large Shade Trees for the Northeast area, the climate and other conditions vary so much that not all the recom- mended kinds of shade trees will grow equally well throughout the region. The elevation above sea level, rainfall, the proximity of large bodies of water, river valleys, and other factors modify the natural distribution of plants and affect the growth of shade trees. For best growth, some kinds will be limited to the more northern or to the more southern sections. Some kinds that will grow in the southern border zone of the area may not grow at all in the most northerly parts. Some kinds of shade trees that grow best in New England may do well in the southern Appalach- ians, but very poorly on the Coastal Plain. On the other hand, some pre- dominantly southern species may ex- tend far north along the Atlantic coast. THE MAPLES are widely planted as shade trees in the Northeast, but most of the native species are not entirely satisfactory for this purpose. They are short-lived, are subject to windbreak, and require moist, rich soil. The Norway maple, introduced from Europe, and our native sugar maple are considered the most satisfactory for streets and lawns. Sugar maple is one of the most com- mon and attractive trees throughout the Northeast. It is a large tree, 50 to 90 feet in height. When it is grown in the open as a shade tree, it has a short trunk with a broadly egg-shaped or round-topped crown of stout, ascend- ing branches. Horticultural varieties that have a narrow columnar head are especially adapted for planting along narrow streets. The leaves of the sugar 802062° — 49 5 49 maple are thin, bright, rich green, and in the North usually develop in May together with a profusion of yellowish- green flowers, from which bees obtain pollen and nectar. In the autumn the brilliant yellow, orange, and scarlet coloration of its foliage is attractive. Sugar maple is readily transplanted, its rate of growth is moderate, and it is relatively long-lived, with a possible life span of more than 100 years. It is injured by city smoke and gas fumes and therefore is not suitable for plant- ing in industrial or congested residen- tial areas. It is valuable, however, on lawns, along suburban streets, or on farmsteads. It attains its best develop- ment when it is grown in well-drained, moist, rich soil, but it will survive in less favorable sites in gravelly soil. It is the source of maple sugar. A wilt disease is sometimes serious, and several leaf diseases caused by fungi are common on sugar maple. Brown dead areas in or along the edge of the leaf blade often develop when drying winds or bright sunlight and high temperatures immediately follow a period of moist weather. Norway maple is grown extensively from central New England and New York southward. It is usually about 30 to 60 feet tall at maturity, with a short trunk and numerous stout, ascending branches that form a low, round, spreading head. The greenish-yellow flowers appear in abundance in April and May before the leaves develop. The leaves are slightly larger than those of the sugar maple, deeper green, and firmer in texture. The dense foliage remains on the tree late in au- tumn and the leaves turn bright yellow before falling. Norway maple is easily transplanted, its rate of growth is mod- erate, and it tolerates a wide range of soil conditions. It stands unfavorable soil and atmospheric conditions in cities and therefore is widely used as a street tree. Its low, dense head, how- ever, requires considerable pruning to adjust it to street conditions, and it is not adapted for planting along narrow streets. 50 A horticultural variety with a nar- rower, more upright crown is some- times grown successfully under such conditions. Because the thick shade and mass of fine feeding roots of the Nor- way maple make it hard for grass to grow under the tree, Norway maple frequently is considered undesirable as a lawn tree. The Schwedler maple, a variety of Norway maple, has a similar type of growth. When young, it has bright-red leaves that change to dark red and finally to green. It is planted on lawns and sometimes along suburban streets for ornament and for shade. The Norway maple is subject to about the same pests as the sugar maple, but is less subject to leaf scorch. Red maple, a native, is less desirable for a shade tree than either the sugar maple or the Norway maple. It can be used when a fast-growing tree is needed. The red maple develops a conical or broad, rounded crown, with bright-green leaves that assume bril- liant shades of orange, red, and scarlet in autumn. The foliage casts a moder- ately dense shade. In the spring, masses of red flowers make it attractive. Red maple is easily transplanted. The wood is somewhat weak and sub- ject to storm damage, and its roots often enter and clog sewers. THE ELMS are outstanding trees, but unfortunately the American elm can- not be recommended now except for limited planting, because of phloem necrosis and the Dutch elm disease, both of which are spreading rapidly and causing heavy losses. New public plantings of American elm should be delayed therefore until satisfactory control measures for the diseases have been developed, and the home owner will do well to consider carefully whether some other kind of shade tree cannot be planted instead. In the Northeast, the Dutch elm disease extends from the Atlantic sea- board westward to Indiana. An iso- lated outbreak has been found in Colorado. It has not been found in Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 Maine, New Hampshire, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, or Arkansas. Phloem necrosis is not known to occur in Pennsylvania, States east of the Appalachians, or in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The Ameri- can elm is subject to several other pests. The American elm grows to a height of 50 to 100 feet and has a tall, branch- ing trunk. It develops numerous as- cending or drooping branches that form various types of crowns, such as the typical vase or umbrella forms. The beauty of its various forms of growth and the arching of its branches above the streets of New England towns have made the American elm an outstanding characteristic of the landscape. None of the many intro- duced species of elm can equal it for ornament or shade. The greenish flow- ers appear in drooping clusters in April or May before the leaf buds open. The leaves are 4 to 6 inches long, rough, dark green, unequally rounded at the base; they turn yellow in autumn and usually fall rather early. The American elm is easily trans- planted, grows rapidly, and often lives between 70 and 100 years under city conditions. Tfye American elm is tol- erant of a wide range of soil condi- tions, except dry, sandy locations, but its best growth is developed in moist, well-drained soils. In its natural habitat it is found along streams or in low, moist ground. It grows well on streets and in yards. The growth habit of the branches is such that the crotches of old trees often have to be braced in order to withstand heavy wind or ice storms. The rock elm might be used more for streets and lawns, as it is a large, strong, narrow-headed tree. This elm is more suited to the northern than to the southern part of the region, and should be considered particularly for the Lake States. Rock elm grows more slowly than American elm. In this region two European species of elm are grown sometimes as shade trees. They are susceptible to the Dutch Shade Trees for the Northeast elm disease and also are frequently af- fected by the elm leaf beetle. The English elm (Ulmus procerd) is a large tree, sometimes reaching 100 feet in height. It has a straight trunk that extends into the tree crown, and branches that spread or ascend to form an oblong, rounded crown more like the oaks than the American elm. The leaves, 2 to 3 inches long, remain on the tree later in the autumn than those of the American elm. The English elm can be transplanted quite easily and is adaptable to the same types of soils as the American elm. It has the tend- ency to produce numerous shoots or suckers from the roots. For that reason, another European species, the Scotch or Wych elm, which is similar to the English elm in form and growth habit but does not produce suckers, has often been preferred, both for lawn and street planting. The leaves of the Scotch elm are about 3 to 6 inches long. Several horticultural varieties of both these species are in cultivation. The Chinese elm ( Ulmus parvifolia) has small leaves, which turn bright yel- low in the autumn before they fall. Its flowers are formed in August or Sep- tember. It is easily transplanted and grows rapidly. It is hardy in south- ern parts of the region. The Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia has a beau- tiful, large specimen of this tree. The Siberian elm is resistant to the Dutch elm disease, but it is subject to canker and leaf diseases. It is not rec- ommended except for locations where better trees will not grow or for places where quick effects are wanted while the more durable species are getting started. It lives 25 to 40 years. THE OAKS are hardy and long-lived, and have beautiful foliage in summer and autumn. Some of the species that are native to the Northeast are well adapted for use as shade trees on lawns and along streets. In southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and northeastern Iowa, and down the Mississippi River to St. Louis, oak wilt threatens the red and black oaks particularly. The disease is spreading, and no control is now known for it. The red and black oaks therefore should not be planted as street trees in the infected area at present, and the home owner should realize that he runs a risk in planting them. In areas near the infected zone it would be prudent to use red and black oaks cautiously until more is known about the disease. Pin oak in this region usually reaches 40 to 80 feet in height at maturity. It makes a satisfactory shade tree in southern Maine, eastern Massachu- setts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, cen- tral and western New York, central Pennsylvania, and southward. The straight trunk extends into the crown. Its numerous slender branches, long, horizontal or ascending above, shorter and drooping below, form a broadly pyramidal head. The branches bear many short, upright, and pinlike twigs. The leaves are 4 to 6 inches long, deep- ly cut with five to seven bristle-tipped lobes, and are thin, firm, dark green, and glossy. They turn dark red in the autumn and sometimes remain on the trees during the winter. The pin oak blooms in May when the leaves are about one-third grown. It is particu- larly adapted for use as a shade tree, even on city streets, because of its narrow symmetrical form, the ease of transplanting, and rapidity of growth. It is tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions and of city smoke. Prun- ing the lower drooping branches is necessary, particularly for trees planted along streets. Pin oak is subject to a leaf yellow- ing— chlorosis — if alkaline soil condi- tions prevent the trees from obtaining sufficient iron, but the injured trees will usually respond to soil treatment, injections, or sprays. The fungus dis- eases common to many species of oak, such as the cankers and wood rots, may occur on pin oaks, but otherwise the species is free from serious diseases. The northern red oak is among the largest of the northeastern oaks. It Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 grows well along the Atlantic coast close to the ocean, as well as inland in northern localities. It attains a height of 50 to 85 feet, occasionally up to 150 feet. The trunk is usually short. The widespreading branches form a broad, open, symmetrical crown. The leaves are 5 to 9 inches long, thin, firm, dull dark green, 7- to 1 1-lobed, with bristles at the tips of the lobes. The northern red oak is rather slow in leafing in the spring but retains its leaves late in the autumn, when they turn a brilliant red. Its inconspicuous light-green flowers appear late in May or early in June when the leaves are about one-half de- veloped. It is relatively easy to trans- plant in early spring. The tree is of moderately rapid growth. It sometimes reaches a height of 18 feet in 10 years, and 50 to 75 feet in 50 years. It may live two or three centuries. It grows well in any well-drained soil, particu- larly in gravelly or sandy loam. It is intolerant of shade and wet soils. Be- cause of its spreading crown, it re- quires a relatively large area for its best development, and therefore it is adapted for planting on lawns and along wide streets. It is moderately tolerant of smoke and soot and may be used on wide streets in suburban and moderately congested districts. The northern red oak is susceptible to the fungus disease, Strumella can- ker, which may attack shade trees but is much more serious in the forest. Like most of our northern oaks, northern red oak may be severely attacked by wound-decay fungi. Its most serious enemy at present is oak wilt disease. The scarlet oak is native throughout most of the area and makes an excel- lent shade tree except in northern New England, the northern half of the up- per Lake States, the edge of the Plains, and the Coastal Plain in Virginia. In the most northern part of the region it is of medium height, 30 to 50 feet, but under more favorable growing conditions southward it may grow to 60 or 80 feet. The trunk is tapering and usually continuous into the crown. The lateral branches are ascending above, horizontal and spreading below, and form an open, narrow, irregular, or rounded head. The leaves are 3 to 6 inches long, with five to nine bristle- tipped lobes, thin, firm, glossy, and dark green. They turn dark red to bright scarlet in autumn. The flowers develop in May and early June when the leaves are about one-half grown. The scarlet oak is quite readily trans- planted, grows rapidly, and prefers dry, sandy soil, but it is more tolerant of moist soils than the red oak. It is adapted for planting on lawns and the wide streets in suburban areas, for it requires slightly less room for develop- ment than the northern red oak. It also endures city conditions and resists drought and smoke, but it is subject to rot by wound-decay fungi and there- fore may suffer from wind breakage. It is subject to oak wilt. White oak is one of our best shade trees for lawn planting. It is native to all parts of the region except a small area in the northern part of Michigan and northern and western Minnesota. It is a slow-growing, sturdy tree that grows 60 to 90 feet tall and develops a broad, rounded, open crown. It bears light-green leaves that turn brown in autumn and cling to the twigs through the winter. Its large size makes it un- suitable for planting along most streets. Young white oaks can be transplanted readily if carefully handled, but large specimens are difficult to transplant successfully. White oak trees often live more than a century. White oak is af- fected by oak wilt but is said to be less severely injured by the disease than are red or black oaks. The Texas, or Shumard, oak is an attractive tree not often seen in most parts of the Northeast. It is hardy in southern Illinois and Indiana, western Ohio, southeastern Iowa, and the Coastal Plain of Virginia. It is not native in the Appalachians or north of Maryland. It grows 50 to 75 feet high, develops an open crown, and has foli- age like that of the scarlet oak. Willow oak develops into a hand- some, large tree, and is useful along Shade Trees for the Northeast 53 streets and in lawns. The leaves are an attractive light green and resemble wil- low leaves in shape. It is native in the Coastal Plain from Virginia to New York City and in the small area sur- rounding the junction of the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers. In planting, 60 feet should be allowed between trees for full development. THE GINKGO was introduced into America from China and Japan, where it has been grown for centuries in temple gardens. It has long been cul- tivated in northeastern United States as an ornamental and shade tree, par- ticularly for street planting. It is hardy northward to southern Maine and may be grown near the seacoast. It reaches a height of 60 to 80 feet and has a single erect trunk continuous into the crown. The straight, slender branches are slightly ascending and form a broadly conical or pyramidal head. The flowers appear in May; the male and female flowers are borne on separate trees. The female flowers de- velop into a stone fruit with a malodor- ous, fleshy outer layer, which, when the fruit falls, makes pavements slip- pery and disagreeable. For that rea- son, only trees that bear male flowers should be planted. The fan-shaped leaves, about 2 to 4 inches broad, re- semble a leaflet of the maidenhair fern. In autumn they turn bright yellow and fall from the tree within a few days. The ginkgo tolerates unfavorable city conditions and a wide range of soil conditions. It is relatively easy to transplant. It withstands wind and ice storms and is free from serious pests. TULIPTREE, also called yellow-pop- lar, is native in Indiana and southern Michigan south of a line that extends eastward along the south shore of Lake Ontario, eastward to Massachusetts, and then southeastward diagonally to Rhode Island. It is native also in the southern tip of Illinois and in south- eastern Missouri. It is grown as a shade tree as far north as central Vermont. It reaches a height of 50 to 70 feet, with a tall, straight trunk that is con- tinuous into the crown. The branches are ascending at the top and horizontal or slightly drooping at the base, but they have upcurved tips that form a low-branched, compact and pyramidal head when young. As the tree matures it develops an oblong and open crown. The leaves are light green, glossy, 5 to 6 inches long, and four-lobed, with petioles or stems as long as the leaves. They turn bright yellow before fall- ing in the autumn. The large, tuliplike flowers are greenish yellow, 1% to 2 inches deep, and 2 to 5 inches wide; they appear on older trees in May or June after the leaves develop. The tuliptree is not easily trans- planted, and its young fleshy roots must be carefully protected from dry- ing during transplanting, which should be done in early spring. It requires a rather moist, well-drained soil and, once established, its growth is fairly rapid. In the forest it reaches maturity in about 200 years. When soil conditions are favorable it may be used as a shade tree along wide streets in suburban areas. Its brittle wood, however, makes it rather suscep- tible to storm and ice damage and therefore it is sometimes considered un- desirable for street planting. It is rela- tively free from fungus diseases, but a slight early leaf fall may occur as a re- sult of dry summer weather. It is most satisfactory for planting in parks and around the home, where its attractive foliage and flowers make it valuable both for shade and ornament. SWEETGUM is native to the southern part of this region. Its northern range extends diagonally from southeastern Missouri to southern Connecticut. It has been used successfully in more northern locations but has not proved hardy in some localities of the Lake States. It usually attains a height of 50 to 75 feet and its straight trunk is con- tinuous into the crown. The slender ascending or spreading branches form a narrow pyramidal or broad, rounded, and open crown. The leaves are 3 to 5 54 inches long, broader than long, star- shaped with five lobes, thin, smooth, bright green, and glossy. They turn bright red or dark red or scarlet in the autumn; the foliage is attractive and ornamental in summer and autumn. The greenish and rather inconspicuous flower clusters appear in April or May when the leaves are about one-third grown. The fruit ripens in the autumn in ball-like, tough, spiny heads about 1 to l/a inches in diameter, which re- main on the tree into the winter. Sweetgum is not very readily trans- planted in heavy soils and in its more northern limits, but otherwise it will become easily adjusted to a wide range of soil conditions. All through New England it should be transplanted in early spring. It prefers a moist, well- drained soil, has a moderate growth rate, and will thrive near the seacoast. It reaches maturity in 200 to 300 years in the forest. Sweetgum is adapted to planting in suburban areas both as a street and a lawn tree. It is relatively resistant to fungus diseases as well as to damage from wind or ice storms. THE AMERICAN LINDEN, or bass- wood, has been grown to some extent as a shade tree along roadsides, par- ticularly in the suburban areas. Some of the European lindens, however, are usually preferred as lawn or street trees, because of their more ornamental, compact growth. American linden is native through- out the Northeast, from the seacoast to altitudes of 1,000 feet. It may attain a height of 50 to 75 feet, sometimes even more than 100 feet, with a straight trunk that is continuous into the crown. The numerous and slender branches are ascending at the top, but tend to be slightly drooping below. They form a dense, broad, rounded crown. The leaves are unequal, heart- shaped, 5 or 6 inches long and almost as wide, thick and firm, dull dark green, and coarsely toothed along the margin. They remain on the trees late in the autumn and turn yellow before falling. The yellowish-white flowers, Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 produced in loose clusters in late June or July after the leaves have developed, are well supplied with a fragrant nec- tar that attracts bees. American linden is easily trans- planted, comparatively fast growing, and in the forest reaches maturity in 90 to 140 years. It may be relatively short-lived on streets. It prefers a rich, well-drained, and loamy soil, and, like most species of linden, it is intolerant of dry locations or dry climate. It may be used as a shade tree on lawns or along wide streets in suburban areas, provided soil conditions are favorable. American linden is susceptible to several leaf diseases but none is usually serious enough to cause lasting injury. A trunk rot, however, which occurs rather frequently, starts near the ground level and advances slowly up- ward. Affected trees are subject to breakage in windstorms and may be- come unsightly at an early age. Several species of European linden have proved to be desirable and hardy shade trees in the Northeast. One, the European linden (Tilia europaea, sometimes sold under the name of T. vulgaris), forms a dense, pyramidal head, and its leaves are slightly smaller than those of the American linden. It is widely planted as a shade tree on lawns and along city streets and is relatively tolerant of city conditions. It is susceptible to trunk rot, which makes it subject to wind breakage. Another species of similar growth habit is the littleleaf linden, whose leaves are l/> to 2/> inches long and sometimes broader than long. It also grows successfully as a lawn or street tree in suburban areas. The silver linden is considered one of the most satisfactory trees for street and lawn planting and is hardy from western Massachusetts and central New York southward. It may reach a height of 100 feet and has upright branches that form a dense, broad, pyramidal head. The leaves, about 2 to 4 inches long and almost as broad, are dark green on the upper surface and silvery white below. The small, Shade Trees for the Northeast fragrant, cream-colored flowers appear in July or August and are said to be poisonous to bees. The silver linden tolerates heat and drought and there- fore is suitable for planting along wide city streets. It may also be grown suc- cessfully near the seacoast. The pendent, or silverpendent, lin- den has leaves like those of the silver linden, but it has slender, drooping branches and is adapted to planting as an ornamental shade tree on lawns. Well grown, it may reach 80 feet. THE AMERICAN SYCAMORE, or the planetree, is native in the region except in northern New England, northern Wisconsin, most of Minnesota, and northwestern Iowa. This tree has been planted rather extensively as a shade tree in its native range. It is suscepti- ble to anthracnose, a fungus disease that attacks and kills the leaves when they are developing in the spring and also infects twigs, causing a disfiguring dieback. Therefore, it is not recom- mended for street or lawn planting. THE LONDON PLANETREE, which is more resistant to anthracnose, has been grown successfully along wide streets and around suburban homes. This species is considered a hybrid between the American sycamore and the Ori- ental planetree, and is hardy in the southern parts of Maine, New Hamp- shire, Vermont, in central New York, and southward. In the past few years it has proved susceptible to canker stain, a disease caused by a fungus that may kill large branches and entire trees. The disease may be controlled by using certain pre- cautionary methods in pruning and in the treatment of cut surfaces and wounds. Detailed information about the disease and its control can be ob- tained by writing to the Division of Forest Pathology, Plant Industry Sta- tion, Beltsville, Md. The London planetree may attain a height of 100 feet. Usually it has a short trunk that divides into several stout ascending secondary trunks. Its 55 head is irregularly rounded or pyram- idal. The bark resembles that of the American planetree, except that it is slightly cream-colored. The brownish bark peels off in rather large, thin patches, and exposes the yellowish or greenish innermost bark. The leaves, which have three to five lobes, are bright green, glossy on the upper sur- face, broader than long, and 4 to 10 inches wide. The rather inconspicu- ous reddish-green flowers appear in May when the leaves are partly devel- oped. The fruit matures in September or October in greenish-brown, bristly balls, about an inch in diameter. The balls hang on the trees during winter. The London planetree is easily transplanted, grows rather rapidly, and prefers a rich, moist, well-drained soil. It is tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions, however, and may be planted as a lawn or street tree where there is enough room for the spread of its branches. It endures city fumes. AMERICAN YELLOW WOOD is native in the Southeastern States, but is hardy as a shade tree southward from eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Con- necticut, and southern New York. It is a small tree, usually not exceeding 30 to 45 feet, with a short trunk and sev- eral ascending or slightly spreading branches that form a broad, rounded head. The bark of the trunk is light gray or brown, usually smooth and at- tractive. The leaves are composed of seven to nine leaflets, bright green, smooth and firm, each leaflet 3 or 4 inches long. The leaves turn bright yellow in the autumn before they fall. In June, after the leaves have devel- oped, the fragrant white flowers appear in loosely branched, drooping clusters, 10 to 16 inches long. In August or September, the fruit matures in pods about 4 inches long. American yellowwood should be transplanted in the spring; it becomes established rather slowly. It prefers rich, moist, well-drained soil, but it is drought-resistant. The slender twigs are rather brittle and may break in 56 severe windstorms. It is free from any serious fungus disease but its low head makes it suitable for planting as a street tree only in suburban areas along wide streets. The falling of the mature pods may be objectionable in some locations. Its attractive flowers and bark are ornamental on the home grounds, and its abundant foliage pro- vides adequate but open shade. EUROPEAN BEECH, an introduced species, is 40 to 65 feet high at ma- turity. It has a compact, oval crown and glossy, dark-green foilage. It prefers fertile, well-drained soil; it cannot stand soil compaction. The sev- eral good horticultural varieties that are available offer variation in growth habit, form, and color of foliage. THE THORNLESS COMMON HONEY- LOCUST has gained favor for use on streets and lawns. Its small leaflets cast a light shade that does not prevent good growth of grass beneath it. It is high-rectangular or round-topped. This tree is long-lived and a rapid grower. The large, purplish-black fruit pods of the thornless common honey- locust may be interesting — or just a nuisance when they fall to the ground. THE COMMON HACKBERRY is a slow- growing tree of widespreading form that may reach 50 to 70 feet. Opinions differ on its desirability, but it seems to be gaining in popularity. Birds feed on the fruit. The interesting bark is formed into warts or narrow ridges. The leaves are a light green, and the foliage casts a moderately dense shade. It is easily transplanted. In many places it is susceptible to a disease that causes an excessive pro- duction of small twigs, called brooms. This does not seem to be especially detrimental to the tree, however. Dur- ing the growing season the brooms are inconspicuous; in winter they give a more massive effect to the tree. In habit it is something like the American elm, although not so graceful. It dis- likes smoke and soot. Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 TREES OF LIMITED USE include sev- eral species that are good in many sit- uations or for special purposes. The American mountain-ash is a small to medium tree, with a some- what open to round-topped crown. It is short-lived, fairly slow in growth, and subject to attack by several pests. The white flowers in the spring and the bright-red fruits, which remain over winter and are eaten by birds, make it an attractive tree for suitable yard locations. In New England many beau- tiful specimens brighten the landscape. The magnolias are not usually con- sidered as shade trees, but the native cucumbertree magnolia has the neces- sary qualifications. It grows best in well-drained soil. It is native in the region from Pennsylvania southwest- ward in the mountains and in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. The wide pyramidal crown reaches 50 to 90 feet in the forest. Its red fruits are con- spicuous in the autumn. Its large leaves turn yellow before they fall. The sweetbay and the southern magnolia are sometimes used for shade in the southeastern part of the Northeast. The black tupelo is native in all States in the region, except Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and the most northern parts of New England, Michi- gan, and Missouri. It grows 50 to 70 feet tall and develops a pyramidal but irregular crown. The leaves, which are scarlet in autumn, are oval, leath- ery, and dark green. Black tupelo casts a moderately light shade. Large trees are difficult to transplant. The fruits are eaten by birds. Squirrels often cut off many young twigs in the spring. The black tupelo grows best in rich, moist soil. Amur corktree, introduced from Asia, forms a low-branched, spreading, rounded crown, which may reach 40 to 50 feet in height. The leaflets are a shiny dark green above and light green below. The foliage casts light shade. It develops an attractive, corky bark. The low-branching habit limits its use on streets, but it is recommended for parks and lawns. It is smoke-toler- Shade Trees for the Northeast ant and it can be transplanted readily. Panicled goldenrain-tree, another Asiatic species, deserves consideration when some flowering tree of relatively quick growth is needed. It is hardy in central Ohio and in southern New England. The beautiful yellow panicles of flowers are produced in July. The Japanese pagodatree, intro- duced from Asia, reaches 50 to 65 feet in height and has a rounded, spreading crown. The leaves are glossy and dark green on the upper surface and soft, hairy, and pale green on the lower sur- face. The tree has an intermediate rate of growth and casts light shade. The attractive, small, yellowish-white flowers are produced in loose, open clusters in midsummer. As far north as Ohio and southern New England the young trees are subject to winter injury but are hardy when mature. The paper birch grows rapidly into a medium-sized tree, which is pyramidal in form at first and later becomes irregularly round. It is a fast grower. Its life expectancy in the forest is about 80 years, but it may be much less under shade-tree conditions. It is not adapted to street planting although it has been successfully used in parks. It is subject to attack by the bronze birch borer, which limits its use in some localities. Silver maple is a large, widespread- ing tree of rapid growth. The leaves are whitish underneath, and when the pendulous branches sway in the breeze the tree has a flowing, silvery appear- ance. The wood is brittle and easily broken, and its roots often clog drain pipes. The silver maple is not recom- mended except for quick effects or for places where better trees will not grow. Green ash is a tall, fairly narrow tree of rapid growth. It gives moderate shade. In the Lake States it is a fairly reliable tree that lends variety along streets or on lawns. Kentucky coffeetree grows 40 to 60 feet tall. The shiny and pale-green leaf- lets turn clear yellow and fall in early autumn. The large brown seed pods hang on the tree through the winter. It is native from western New York 57 southward in the Appalachians to Tennessee and westward to southern Minnesota. It also can be grown suc- cessfully as a shade tree in central and southern New England. Several other deciduous shade trees are grown in this region but are not so common as those we have described. Eastern black walnut is difficult to transplant. Some of the new varieties produce nuts that crack easily. Bolleana poplar is a narrow upright tree that can be used for special effects. Most poplars are too short-lived to be a good investment, but this species is better than the Lombardy poplar. Golden weeping willow, a pendulous variety, can be used effectively. Amer- ican hornbeam is a good small tree to supplement larger ones. Ohio buckeye and common horse- chestnut have good forms and attrac- tive flowers, but are prey to leaf blotch. THE NARROW-LEAVED EVERGREENS, or conifers as they are more commonly called, are not suitable generally for planting along streets, but they are val- uable as shade trees around the home, particularly in suburban areas, and are ornamental all the year. Although the needles may persist for several years and the older parts of the twigs are bare of foliage, once the needles are lost from a conifer they are never replaced as are the leaves of de- ciduous trees. The transplanting of some kinds of large evergreens is difficult, losses some- times running as high as 10 or 20 per- cent for the larger trees. EASTERN HEMLOCK is one of the most satisfactory evergreens for home planting throughout New England and southward in the highlands. It is a native and sometimes is called Canada hemlock. It is a large tree, 50 to 80 feet tall, with long, slender, horizontal branches, which ascend above and droop at the base, forming a broad, pyramidal head. The lowest branches very often extend to the ground. The terminal shoot of the straight trunk Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 is flexible, and the small twigs and foliage are arranged in graceful sprays. The inconspicuous flowers appear in May and cones develop in the summer and autumn. The latter are formed at the tips of the small twigs; they are about one-half to three-fourths of an inch long, green at first, gradually turn- ing reddish to brown. In planting hemlock, the site should be carefully selected so that the young tree may be sheltered from any drying winds. The hemlock grows slowly and prefers a shady or sheltered location with moist soil. It may be grown in various types of soil, however, but will not be successful in an exposed site with dry, poor soil. RED PINE is native in northern New England and in the Lake States. It is also grown extensively in the area as a shade or ornamental tree. It may attain a height of 50 to 75 feet. The trunk is erect and continuous into the crown. The branches are stout, spread- ing, and slightly pendulous at the base of the tree. The tips of the branches usually turn upward. On young trees the branches extend to the ground and form a broad, pyramidal head. The bark of the trunk is reddish brown. The needle-shaped leaves are dark green, from 5 to 6 inches long, slender, brittle, and have sharply pointed tips. There are two in a cluster, in long, flexible tufts. They remain on the trees four or five seasons. The cones, about 2 inches long, are green when young; they gradually turn light brown and reach maturity the second autumn. Red pine will grow best in light and sandy soil in sunny locations. It will not thrive in shady sites or in poorly drained soils. It is not readily trans- planted but, when it is once established under favorable conditions, young trees will grow rapidly. The lifespan of the red pine in the forest is about 350 years. The species is susceptible to a num- ber of fungus diseases, including leaf diseases, cankers, and wood rots, but when grown in the open as a shade tree it is usually free from these diseases. EASTERN WHITE PINE, a native in much of the region, is valued highly both for shade and ornament. It may attain a height of 50 to 80 feet. Its straight and tapering trunk nor- mally is continuous into the crown. The branches are widespreading and hori- zontal and generally are arranged in whorls of five. In the young trees they extend to the ground and form a broad-based and pyramidal or conical head. The leaves are three-sided, in clusters of five, and are bluish green, soft, slender, flexible, and about 3 to 5 inches long. They usually remain on the twigs for two seasons. White pine will grow in almost any location but nevertheless it likes best a rich, well-drained soil. Under favorable conditions, white pine grows rapidly and reaches ma- turity in about 200 years, and in the forest its lifespan is about 450 years. As a shade tree it often becomes ragged after 40 to 60 years, particularly at low elevations or in the hotter and drier parts of the region. Many fungus diseases attack the leaves, twigs, and trunk of the eastern white pine, but most of them cause only slight weakening or injury. Blister rust, a fungus disease, produces serious cankers on branches or trunk and may result in the death of the tree. Pre- cautionary measures can usually be taken to prevent ornamental white pines from becoming infected. WHITE FIR is native in the western part of the United States but is ex- tensively and successfully grown as a shade or ornamental tree in the North- east. It is hardy as far north as central Maine. It may attain a height of 60 to 70 feet. Its straight, tapering trunk and whorled, spreading branches usu- ally extend to the ground and form a broad-based, pyramidal head. The leaves are narrow, flat, about 2 inches long, bluish green or silvery; they spread outward and curve upward from the twigs. They remain on the twigs for several years. White fir will grow in a wide range Shade Trees for the Northeast 59 of soil conditions, but it is rather slow in becoming adjusted after it has been transplanted. It prefers a rich, moist, well-drained, gravelly or sandy loam. Even under the most favorable soil conditions, however, the growth of young trees is rather slow. Maturity is reached in 300 years in the forests. White fir stands heat and drought well, but in the northern parts of the area late-spring frosts sometimes kill the tender new growth. A disease caused by a fungus that is native on northern balsam fir sometimes kills back the new growth and may seri- ously weaken the trees. For that rea- son it is usually inadvisable to plant the white fir near the balsam fir. NIKKO FIR, native in Japan, is one of the most satisfactory firs for shade or ornament and is hardy in central and southern New England. It may reach a height of 50 to 60 feet. It has a straight and tapering trunk — with whorled, spreading branches, con- tinuous to the ground. The leaves are narrow, flat, and about an inch long; closely set on the twigs, they spread outward and upward. They are shin- ing, dark green on the upper surface and have two broad white bands on the lower surface, and remain on the twigs for several years. Nikko fir may be rather slow in its growth for a few years after trans- planting, but usually is slightly more rapid than the white fir. Although it prefers a rich, moist, and well-drained soil, it will also grow successfully in drier locations and is relatively tol- erant of heat and drought. No fungus diseases have been re- ported on Nikko fir in this country. ORIENTAL SPRUCE is native in Asia Minor and is hardy in the central part of the region. It makes a graceful and attractive shade tree with a rather nar- row, pyramidal head. The trunk, which may reach a height of 50 to 80 feet, is erect and tapering. It has dense and spreading branches, in whorls, hori- zontal or even slightly ascending above, somewhat pendulous below, and con- tinuous to the ground. The leaves are from one-fourth to one-half inch long, closely set on the twigs, four-sided, shining dark green, and blunt at the tip. They remain on the twigs several years. The Oriental spruce is slow growing and is most successful in rich, moist, well-drained soil. It is susceptible to a fungus disease that first attacks the lowest branches of old trees and grad- ually progresses upward. Cankers and dieback of these lowest branches some- times disfigure the trees. COLORADO BLUE SPRUCE, native in the western United States, is very well known as a lawn tree throughout the Northeast. It grows 50 to 80 feet in height. Its stout, horizontal branches extend the entire length of the straight, tapering trunk, and form a symmet- rical, pyramidal head. The leaves are four-sided, sharp-pointed, and rigid and spread out from the twigs. They are about an inch long and vary from dull green to bluish green or silvery white. They remain on the twigs for several years, but they tend to lose their silvery color as they age. The Colorado blue spruce is slow growing and is tolerant of a wide range of soil conditions. Most satisfactory growth is obtained in rich, moist, well- drained soil. The lowest branches of older trees may be seriously injured by the pre- viously mentioned fungus disease on Oriental spruce. The Colorado blue spruce is particularly susceptible to this disease, which causes large resinous cankers and dieback. THE NATIVE WHITE SPRUCE is most satisfactory for shade and ornament in the northern parts of the region. It develops into a symmetrical, pyram- idal tree 50 to 60 feet tall, with dense, horizontal, spreading branches that ex- tend to the ground. The leaves are about three-fourths of an inch long, four-sided, crowded on the twigs, slightly curved, light bluish green, and remain on the twigs for several seasons. 6o Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 They give off a disagreeable, pungent odor when they are crushed. The growth rate of white spruce is much slower in dry locations than in moist, well-drained soil. Its life span in the forest is 200 to 300 years. It is slightly susceptible to the Orien- tal spruce fungus disease, but usually is not seriously injured. Black Hills white spruce is compact and slow in growth, and is generally useful in the northern Lake States. The common Douglas-fir is a large, pyramidal specimen, with branches growing well down to the ground. MANY OTHER kinds of trees, both deciduous and evergreen, might have been mentioned here. This list tends to be conservative; it is based on the ex- perience of many men who plant and take care of trees. But we compiled it with the thought that it could be a springboard from which you might take a deep plunge into the fascinat- ing hobby of planting and growing shade trees around your home or de- velop an interest in the trees of your city streets and parks. ALMA M. WATERMAN is a forest and shade-tree pathologist in the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricul- tural Engineering. She is stationed in New Haven, Conn., where she has studied trees and their diseases for more than 25 years. Dr. Waterman is a graduate of Brown University. R. U. SWINGLE is a forest pathologist and is in charge of the field head- quarters of the Division of Forest Path- ology in Columbus, Ohio. He is at present investigating phloem necrosis, an epidemic virus disease of American elm. Mr. Swingle is a graduate of Ohio State University. CLAYTON S. MOSES, a graduate of Pennsylvania State College, is a forest pathologist in the Bureau of Plant In- dustry, Soils, and Agricultural Engi- neering and is stationed in Madison, Wis. In recent years he has investigated the epidemic dying of oak in Wisconsin and adjoining States. SHADE TREES FOR THE SOUTHEAST RALPH M. LINDGREN, R. P. TRUE, E. RICHARD TOOLE Residents of the Southeastern States have a wide choice of trees for shade and ornamental purposes. They also have a difficulty in making their selec- tion, for their section has variables in climate and altitude and other con- ditions that do affect tree growth. (Florida alone, for example, can be subdivided into at least three distinct zones in which climate and commonly used plants are likely to differ a good deal from each other.) Furthermore, certain local conditions may sometimes prevent the successful use of a species within the recognized geographic range of the Southeast. For these reasons, the list of trees we pre- sent is not expected to be entirely acceptable throughout the region or adequate for specific localities. THE LIVE OAK, a tree of history and beauty, is long-lived and rather slow growing. It attains tremendous size with age. It branches low into mas- sive and widespreading limbs, and forms a broad, dense, round-topped crown of dark, glossy, evergreen leaves. It resists storm damage, insects, and diseases; the costs of care and mainte- nance therefore are relatively low. Propagation from seed or transplants is not difficult. The live oak is used widely where enough space is avail- able on lawns and along driveways and roads. Severe freezes injure it, but it is considered satisfactory in such in- land cities as Shreveport. SOUTHERN MAGNOLIA, with its beau- tiful flowers and evergreen foliage, is Shade Trees for the Southeast 61 a popular shade and ornamental tree. Rather large at maturity, it forms a broad, conical crown of pleasing sym- metry. The thick, leathery leaves are dark, shining green above and rusty brown below. Large, fragrant, creamy- white flowers, mostly produced before July but sometimes continuing until November, are followed by purplish, conelike fruits. The tree is rather slow growing and long-lived, relatively free of pests, and tolerant of varying con- ditions except poor drainage. It usually is propagated from seed or pot-grown transplants. Adequate space is needed for best development, and it is often used singly on lawns. In the moun- tainous regions, severely cold weather may kill much of the foliage. THE CAMPHOR-TREE is frequently planted in lawns and parks and along streets in many localities. It is a me- dium-sized, stout evergreen that forms a handsome, dense-topped crown. The leaves, shiny green above and silvery blue below, are strongly aromatic when crushed. The fruit, a small bluish-black drupe, often is abundant and occa- sionally is considered a nuisance. The tree is hardy but prefers a well-drained soil, and, except for thrips and scale, has few damaging pests. It is propagated usually from seed or pot-grown transplants. Well-estab- lished trees resist temperatures of 15° F. without a great deal of injury. THE WILLOW OAK is a rather large, long-lived, and fast-growing deciduous tree that develops a fairly short trunk in the open. It has a dense oval or round-topped crown. Slender branches with light-green, willowlike leaves give the tree a graceful appearance. Al- though growth is best in moist soils, it also thrives satisfactorily in rather dry situations. It is easily transplanted, moderately storm-resistant, and, except for gall in- sects on branches and a leaf rust dis- ease, is relatively free of pests. The leaf rust is seldom disfiguring, but it is the alternate stage of a serious canker dis- ease of southern pines. Willow oak is used extensively as an attractive shade tree for wide streets and large lawns. THE RED MAPLE has brilliant scarlet to orange autumnal coloring, which adds greatly to its ornamental value. It is medium to fairly large in size. Its branches develop low on the trunk to form a dense, narrow, oblong head. Conspicuous reddish flowers appear in early spring and are followed by scar- let fruits and attractive foliage. The tree grows rapidly, is relatively short-lived, thrives satisfactorily on fairly varied sites, and is rather easily propagated and moderately resistant to pests. Although grown less often than many other trees, the red maple is not uncommon in the Southeast. THE FLOWERING DOGWOOD is a native tree that is grown widely for its attractive flowers, red berries, and pleas- ing crown. It attains 40 feet and has spreading branches that form a low, fairly dense, rounded head. The small greenish-yellow flowers, produced in April, May, or June, are surrounded by four large, white bracts; pink forms occur also. Red fruit and autumnal leaf coloration add ornamental value. The tree, rather slow growing and long-lived, is propagated with some difficulty from seed and cuttings. It has relatively few pests. It thrives in shaded or exposed places but prefers well-drained and fairly light soils. While not always easily established, it is useful around many homes. THE SWEETGUM is a large and fast- growing tree with a pyramidal or ob- 62 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 long crown. The star-shaped, decidu- ous leaves develop brilliant autumn colors that range from yellow through orange to red and deep bronze. Gorky ridges on some of the branches and the persistent spiny, fruiting balls are characteristically present. The tree is fairly long-lived, tolerant of different sites excepting poorly drained ones, and moderately free of pests. Transplanting is fairly easy in light but rather difficult in heavy soils. Its woody fruits are somewhat objection- able at times, and a top dieback in some localities has been noted. THE AMERICAN HOLLY may become a moderate-sized tree 40 feet in height. It has both shade and ornamental value. Its pyramidal crown of glossy evergreen leaves and its brilliant red berries lend beauty throughout the year. Certain individuals and varieties bear fruit much more abundantly than others, so that selections are desirable or necessary. The tree is fairly slow growing, long-lived, and rather resist- ant to insects and diseases. Propagation with well-kept trans- plants is more successful than with wild seedlings. The tree is rather exact- ing in soil requirements but grows sat- isfactorily when established in acid soils. Although it is not particularly adaptable, the beauty of the American holly justifies listing it for suitable sites. THE AMERICAN BEECH is a medium- tall tree, which branches close to the ground and has a large, open-spread- ing crown. It gives a good, dense shade. Unbroken light-gray bark, maintained throughout its life, is a distinctive char- acteristic. The tree thrives best on rich, well-drained soils in the mountains or bottom lands and is relatively free of pests. A number of ornamental varieties of the European beech includes those forms with bronze-purple foliage, weeping branches, and cut leaves. Use of the beech for shade purposes is most common in the Garolinas and more mountainous parts of the region. THE COMMON CRAPEMYRTLE IS CX- tensively planted in the warmer parts of the region. An introduced tree, it is noted for its attractive flower clus- ters and persistent foliage. It is a small tree with fluted trunk from which the thin bark peels off, leaving a smooth surface. The flowers, 1 to 1.5 inches in diameter, are purple, pink, laven- der, or red, and occur in terminal panicles from June to September. The tree is fairly long-lived and slow grow- ing, and is easily cultivated. It prefers moist conditions during the growing season. In moist soils, it is subject to uprooting by severe storms. It is particularly useful if space is limited and a decorative tree is desired. THE EASTERN REDBUD is a rather small tree that is extensively favored for ornamental purposes. It usually branches 10 to 15 feet from the ground and forms a narrow erect, or spreading, flattened, or rounded head. Masses of attractive small light-pink to purple flowers appear from late in February to April. The redbud grows fairly rapidly, is rather free of pests, and is propagated from seed or young transplants. Al- though moderately hardy, it prefers rich and fairly moist sandy loam soils. Special care in establishing and main- taining the tree may be required in some localities. THE WATER OAK is a large tree that is grown extensively on wide streets and large lawns. It grows fast in early life and provides quick shade. It is tall and rather slender, with a round- topped, fairly symmetrical crown of ascending branches. Although it is not an evergreen, the leaves often per- sist until Christmas or after. It is easily propagated, tolerant of varying conditions, rather short-lived, and somewhat more subject to mistle- toe and storm damage than willow oak. Since it provides early shade, is easily handled, and has pleasing sym- metry, the water oak is grown widely where adequate space is available. Shade Trees for the Southeast THE MIMOSA, or silktree albizia, is a rather small tree that is widely cul- tivated in the Southeast as an orna- mental. It grows rapidly under a variety of conditions of soil and has graceful and fernlike leaves and strik- ing colorful flowers. The flowers, pink in color and in clusters at the ends of the branches, usually come in May and June. The seed is produced in large quantities and propagation from seed is easy. A vascular wilt disease has been highly destructive to mimosa, but we hope resistant varieties can be bred. THE WINGED ELM is medium in size, usually from 40 to 50 feet in height. It develops a short bole, with branches ascending into a fairly open round- topped crown. It is of pleasing pro- portions and has a somewhat lacy and drooping habit; the branchlets often are corky- winged. The tree grows fairly rapidly. It is moderately long- lived, and does well on dry as well as on rich, moist soils. Propagation from seed or transplants is not difficult. Although relatively resistant to pests, a destructive virus disease is known to attack it. The winged elm lacks some of the graceful qualities of the Ameri- can elm, but is liked in many places. THE AMERICAN ELM, a highly prized shade tree, is planted extensively only in the more northern part of this re- gion. It is described fully on page 50. A SUPPLEMENTAL LIST! The follow- ing trees are grown somewhat less ex- tensively than those described, or, if widely used, have certain limiting fea- tures, which, however, may be con- sidered minor in specific places. Sugarberry, or the sugar hackberry. Fairly large and widely used for quick shade; not exacting in requirements; propagates easily, but tends to split in storms; subject to some mistletoe dis- figurement ; not very clean. Pecan. Medium to rather large; is widely cultivated for nuts and to some extent for shade; fairly exacting in re- quirements; rather susceptible to dis- eases, insects, and mistletoes ; nuts often lead to branch breakage. Eastern redcedar. Medium-sized py- ramidal conifer commonly used as an ornamental; it tolerates various soils; often subject to a complex of pest and environmental troubles that may re- quire attention. Panicled goldenrain-tree. Small to medium-sized introduced hardy, decid- uous tree with sparse branching, fern- like leaves, large terminal panicles of yellow flowers in summer followed by attractively colored capsules; it is not widely tested but merits consideration for late-summer and fall coloring. Yellow-poplar, or tuliptree. Large in size and grown to some extent for shade and ornamental purposes, its pleasing form, and floral characteristics; some- what exacting in requirements; rather subject to breakage from storms. Canary date. Massive, spreading or- namental planted widely in Florida and to some extent along coastal area; tolerant of soil conditions; subject to freezing in some parts of region; used chiefly as ornamental. American sycamore. Extensively used, massive, spreading deciduous tree; grows rapidly; provides early shade; tolerates varied site conditions; propagates fairly easily; needs 60-foot spread space; subject to a number of pests; shedding of leaves, fruit, and twigs sometimes objectionable. Carolina laurel-cherry. Small to me- dium evergreen cultivated somewhat for ornament and shade; grows rapid- ly; produces small white flowers in numerous short racemes; not very ex- acting; useful for limited space; not long-lived; leaves contain prussic acid poisonous to stock. White oak. This is a large tree with a broad crown and spreading limbs; rather long-lived and fairly tolerant of varied sites; somewhat slow in growth and cultivated less extensively than several other oaks for shade. Scarlet oak. Medium to fairly large with widespreading irregular crown; rather fast growing; brilliant scarlet fall coloring; it is short-lived; the dead Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 "A tree of history and beauty" — the Lafitte live oak in Louisiana. branches may be common; mostly grown in northern part of region. Laurel oak. Fairly large in size and commonly grown in the Southeast; pleasing form and semievergreen foli- age; similar in many qualities to wil- low oak but somewhat shorter-lived and more subject to storm damage. Pin oak. Rather tall, with broad, ex- tensively branched crown; fairly fast growing; pleasing fall coloring; not long-lived; may bear numerous dead branches; cultivated mostly in north- ern part of region. Cabbage palmetto. Tall, erect palm widely used along avenues in coastal regions of the Southeast particularly; greenish-white to yellow flower clusters in June, July, and August and small black berries in the fall; tolerant of varied sites; primarily an ornamental. Weeping willow. Medium-sized, in- troduced, deciduous tree with graceful drooping branchlets ; rather widely cul- tivated throughout region ; damaged by pests in some sections; used largely as ornamental. Eastern arborvitae. A medium-sized conifer with dense, narrow pyramidal crown ; rather commonly used in north- ern part of region; fairly subject to disease, insect, and some environmen- tal troubles; chief value is ornamental. SOUTHERN FLORIDA is distinct from the rest of the region in climate and vegetation. Selected trees that are widely used for shade and ornamental purposes in southern Florida are listed. Oxhorn bucida. Medium-tall, small- leaved evergreen for windbreak, beach, driveway, and home planting. Horsetail beefwood, or Australian- pine. A medium-tall, evergreen shade tree for driveway, windbreak, and hedge planting in central Florida also. Coconut. Tall palm with large leaves and nuts, for large landscape orna- mental and beach planting. Royal poinciana, or the flamboyant- tree. Large, spreading, deciduous tree with showy flowers, for large landscape ornamental. Benjamin fig. Large, spreading ever- WTj* ,**r A forest is more than trees. Here in the Rogue River National Forest in Oregon where a ranger (above) and his pack train paused on an inspection tour, there are lodgepole pine and alpine fir; mountains, which store the snow and rain for the plains below; and a tree-girt lake, a link in the natural water-supply sys- tem. Or like Big Flat (below), which faces City Creek Peak in the Fishlake National Forest in Utah, a forest may include mountain meadows on which graze cattle, sheep, and deer that bulk large in the Nation's supply of meat and wool. The grass and the alpine fir hevond are vital in the protection of the watersheds «200 l\: In Tongass National Forest in Alaska (above), a raft of Sitka spruce and western hemlock sawlogs is abuilding on Hood Bay. It will be towed to a sawmill in Sitka. Dense coastal forests of Alaska can support huge pulp mills besides other timber- using industries. Below: Vacationists on a trail-rider wilderness trip portage across Curtain Falls, Superior National Forest in Minnesota. Across the stream is Canada. This wilderness area is in the proposed Quetico-Superior International Peace Me- morial Forest. Scores of folk take horseback and canoe trips; to other millions, for- ests afford opportunities for picnicking, camping, skiing, fishing, hunting, hiking. Here are contrasts in forests, methods, uses. Above: A father-son team uses a gasoline-powered saw to cut ponderosa pine in Kootenai National Forest, Montana. Some saws are driven by electricity — a departure from logging that relies on saws, axes, hard muscle. America has plenty of forest land — but saw-timber supply is declining; drain is 50 percent greater than growth. Also, quality of saw timber is deteriorating. Below: Pitsawing tabonuco into lumber for furniture, in Luquillo Mountains, Caribbean National Forest, Puerto Rico. Pitsawing developed into vertical saws driven by water power; later came modern circular and band saws. In a plant in Rothschild, Wis., lignin, precipitated from waste liquor of the sulfite pulping process, is extracted by a vacuum filter (above). Mixed with soda and cooked, lignin yields vanillin, source of "vanilla" flavoring, and desulfonated lignin, base for plastic and molding resins. Waste sulfite liquors also contain wood sugars which may be converted into ethyl alcohol and high-protein yeast and molasses for livestock feed. Below: A large pulp and paper company's yard at Luke, Md., where 20,000 cords of all kinds of hardwoods (except black locust and walnut) are kept always on hand for making all sorts of paper, particularly fine stock for books. How trees can beautify a city is shown in the view above of Rhinelander, Wis., an old lumbering center, where a main industry now is making glassine and laminated paper. Some towns did not survive the exploitive phase of lumbering; to some, a sustained-yield plan gives new hope. On Gerhart Lund's farm (below) near Rolette, N. D., trees are an integral of conservation farming. New and older windbreaks can be seen. On the north they give protection from winds and drifting snow. On the south and west they temper summer heat. Shrubs furnish berries for family and wildlife and protect young trees and serve as a windbreak below crowns of the trees. Birds, like the Kentucky warbler above, are farmers' willing coworkers because they eat insects; they are a delight also to city people. Other forms of wildlife — deer, fish, squirrels, and many more in forest and woodland — provide meat, fur, fun. They are part of nature's wise balance, which man often upsets. Below: Azaleas planted under the trees in the National Arboretum, in process of develop- ment in Washington, D. C. The country over, arboretums provide places for pleas- ure and study of tree habits and breeding. Opposite: To botanist, geneticist, and nature lover, tree flowers give interest and knowledge of trees and seed production. Black locust American holly Butternut Silktree; "mimosa" Tweed calliandra Black cherry Red pine Pussy willow Eastern redbud Insects, fire, and diseases damage or kill trees. Above, left: Japanese beetles defoliate trees and many other plants; despite strong efforts against them in Eastern States, they move southward and westward. Above, right: Larvae of bark beetles will develop into adults, eat their way outward, and attack other pines. Below, left: Termites do 40 million dollars worth of damage a year to buildings in the United States, not counting poles, posts, derricks. A termite colony may comprise 250,000 individuals of three castes — defenders, reproducers, and the wood-boring workers. Below, right: Blister rust on 15-year-old western white pine infected in 1941. Soon after this small mill started operations in second-growth pine in California, bark beetles began competing with it for trees. The red-brown trees in the back- ground are infested and dying; some can be sawn into lumber, but blue stains will lower their value. Spread of the beetles can be checked by burning the bark and using toxic oils and proper disposal of slash. Below: To protect a new crop of western white pine in St. Joe National Forest, Idaho, from blister rust, a crew grubs out ribes — gooseberries and currants — which are the hosts of blister spores. The crew works in lanes marked by string to assure complete coverage of the area. Smokejumpers, who parachute from airplanes to rugged and remote fastnesses not easily accessible to men afoot, form our newest fire-fighting force. Above: Two young, trained, daring jumpers have landed and with streamers signal the pilot: "Landed O. K. Can handle fire alone. Drop tools here." Such action saves pre- cious time and valuable forests. Below: Fire that swept through Engelmann spruce in Arapaho National Forest, Colorado, 50-odd years ago left desolation that time has not healed. The flames killed all seed, all seed trees; only replanting can return the tract to production. Fire destroys today's forests as well as tomorrow's lumber. ' h , -fl** ^ ^^:4 Poor cutting increases the waste of our forests. Above: Stumps cut high leave valuable timber in the woods. Removal of all the choice trees greatly degrades the forest; and often it is 50 to 100 years before such areas can produce saw timber. Below: The New York farmer who owns this white pine sold the trees for a lump sum to a mill operator, who cut everything that would make a two-by-four, and left ruin that it will take years to repair. A farm forester could have advised the farmer on management and sales, suggested a fair selling price and proper cutting practice, and saved the sturdy young trees for regular harvests in the future. Here are two examples of good cutting. Above: In Columbia National Forest, Wash, ington, between French Butte and Mt. Rainier, 60- to 100-acre patches of Douglas- fir (instead of whole mountainsides) are clean-cut, with regard to location of seed trees, prevailing winds, slopes, ease of logging, roads. New growth will start soon; then other blocks will be cut. Below: A farm wood lot in Chemung County, New York, after cutting but before logs are removed. The tract was carefully cut: Low stumps, healthy young trees left for later harvests, standing trees undamaged. Such a wood lot can return steady income in cash sales, posts, and fuel for home use. Research has disclosed better ways to care for trees and forests. Above, left: An entomologist inspects hybrid of Jeffrey and Coulter pines exposed in cage to a weevil that is particularly destructive to young Coulter pines. The cage allows him to assess results quickly. Above, right: At Pike Bay Experimental Forest in Minne- sota a geneticist finds that Scotch pines grown from seed from northern Europe resist cold better than stock from central Europe. Below: The Coweeta weirs, Southeast- ern Forest Experiment Station in North Carolina, yield useful facts on stream flows from watersheds on which different amounts of vegetation have been removed. Foresters believe that millions of acres in the United States should be planted to trees. Nurseries throughout the country produce seedlings for public and private forests. In a Georgia nursery, above, longleaf pine seedbeds are being sprayed with bordeaux mixture to control brown spot disease. Below: Tree-planting machine in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, can plant up to 10,000 seedlings a day. A colter wheel slices the sod; a trencher opens the cut; the operator spots seedlings at the right depth and spacing; finally, wheels behind pack the seedlings. Hand plant- ing, though much slower, still must be used on areas of rough and rocky terrain. Above: The forest of a large paper company in Maine. Cut in 1935 to a 12-inch stump diameter limit, the stand was opened up to allow white pine and spruce ad- vance reproduction to get established. That is good forestry; it saves loss of revenue from cutting undersized stock, insures a nurse crop that prevents sunscald, provides intermediate cuts for periodic sales, assures greater ultimate returns, steadies em- ployment. Below: The Otsego Forest Products Cooperative Association's sawmill in Cooperstown, N. Y. — an example of a way in which owners of woodlands cooperate in meeting problems of cutting and selling timber and keeping wood lots producing. On watch over forests are rangers, scientists, lookouts, loggers, work crews. Modern equipment multiplies their effectiveness and cuts costs. Above: Using portable power equipment to spray insect-infested lodgepole pine in Teton National Forest, Wyoming. Below: Pilot Carl Nelson and District Ranger William J. Trygg land their amphibious plane on Thomas Lake in Superior National Forest to get data on fire hazard — rainfall, humidity, dryness of vegetation. Planes supplement regu- lar lookouts when visibility is low and fire danger is high. Nelson and Trygg cover in hours an area that old-time rangers in canoes and afoot took months to survey. Shade Trees for the Plains green for driveway planting and as or- namental shade tree. Mango. Tall, broad evergreen for ornamental shade and, where selected strains are used, for fruit also. Cajeput-tree. Medium-tall, yellow- flowered, slender evergreen for wind- break, beach, driveway, ornamental shade. Cuban royalpalm. Tall palm with decorative, smooth trunk, for driveway and as large landscape ornamental on moist soils. African tuliptree, or Bell flambeau- tree. Tall, rapid-growing, semidecid- uous, conspicuously flowered tree for ornamental and shade. West Indies mahogany. Tall, slender evergreen that gives light shade for lawn, driveway, and general planting. The authors are forest pathologists in the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering of the Department of Agriculture. RALPH M. LINDGREN is in charge of the field headquarters of the Division of Forest Pathology in New Orleans. Dr. Lindgren is a graduate of the Uni- versity of Minnesota. R. P. TRUE is stationed in Lake City, Fla. Dr. True is a graduate of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania. E. RICHARD TOOLE is stationed in Asheville, N. C. He has been working for several years on mimosa wilt and other diseases of shade trees. Dr. Toole is a graduate of Duke University. SHADE TREES FOR THE PLAINS ERNEST WRIGHT, T. W. BRETZ Good care is doubly important for shade trees in the Plains States. Trees planted on shallow soil under- lain with clay or other hardpans have little chance of survival unless watered artificially and, even then, growth is generally unsatisfactory. The best and deepest soil available should be chosen so tree roots can develop unhindered. Cultivation, following planting, is necessary to help the trees compete with prairie grasses and other native vegetation. Cultivation should be shal- low to avoid unnecessary injury to tree roots near the surface. After the crowns of the trees are well developed, par- ticularly in group plantings, they tend to shade out competing vegetation, and cultivation may no longer be necessary. The tree also must be protected from injury by livestock and sometimes from damage by rodents. At best, most of the trees planted in the Plains States are relatively short- lived as compared to the same species growing in more favorable regions. Coarse and droughty gravels, clay- pan soils, the undrained alkaline basins 802062° — 49 6 (buffalo wallows), and shale-derived upland soils generally are unsuited for trees. Furthermore, the western third of the Plains States, from Texas to the Dakotas, have areas where the soil is deficient in iron or where iron or other essential nutrients are unavailable to growing trees. Unavailability of iron causes chlo- rosis, or yellowing, of the leaves of some tree species, reduces growth, and frequently brings on premature death. Also, in Texas and Oklahoma along the Red River and southward east of the high plains, certain large areas are infested with the cotton root rot fun- gus, an indigenous soil fungus that infects the roots of many kinds of trees and eventually kills them. A few species, however, are highly resistant to the disease and will usually survive satisfactorily. The susceptibility of sev- eral of the more important tree species to cotton root rot is indicated later. Adequate artificial watering of the shade and street trees is frequently not practicable in the Plains. In such cases their survival depends largely on rain 66 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 and snow. Furthermore, isolated indi- vidual shade trees do not have the advantage of gaining additional mois- ture by stopping drifting snow, as do shelterbelt or block plantings. Because of the reduction in annual precipita- tion from east to west in the midcon- tinental section of the United States, there is a corresponding reduction in the choice of usable tree species. Sur- vival and growth are usually poor, even for the hardiest species, where annual precipitation is less than 16 inches in the extreme northern part and 20 inches in the more southern part of the Plains States. Low winter temperatures can like- wise endanger the survival of trees. Even worse are freezes in early fall and late spring. Consequently, the choice of species becomes more restricted the farther north one goes. In the following discussion of trees for the Great Plains, we have separated broadleaf species from the conifers and describe in greater detail the trees that can be used in all parts of the Plains. The broadleaf species include the ash, cottonwood, elms, oaks, birch, poplars, and others. GREEN ASH, a native species, devel- ops spreading branches and makes a medium-sized, round-topped tree up to 50 feet in height. Its trunk may grow 1J/2 feet thick. It makes a moderate growth and the light-green foliage, turning golden yellow in autumn, gives dense shade. The greenish flowers de- velop in late spring. Green ash develops best in deep, rich, lowland soil, but it also does well on heavier upland soil. It is one of the best broadleaf trees for streets and yards in the Plains States. It is moderately drought-resistant, but it will stand wet as well as dry sites. Borers damage it, especially on droughty sites. Several relatively unimportant leaf spot diseases and a rust affect it. Green ash is moderately susceptible to cotton root rot. White, blue, or red ash are impor- tant locally, principally on the extreme eastern edge of the Plains. THE PLAINS COTTONWOOD was wide- ly planted by early settlers. This native tree quickly develops an open crown and it reaches a height of 80 or 90 feet. The trunk gets to be as large as 6 feet in diameter at the base. It affords light shade. Flower catkins appear in early spring before the leaves. The leaves become a colorful yellow in autumn. The trees may attain an age of 60 years or more on the better sites. Although they prefer rich, moist soil and thrive particularly well in the lowlands, they will also grow in drier, sandier loca- tions of the uplands. They do poorly on soils with clay hardpan near the sur- face, and should not be planted on sand dunes. The life of the plains cot- tonwood on such soil is short, usually 10 years or less. The tree is susceptible to borers, especially on the drier sites. Poplars and cottonwoods are highly susceptible to cotton root rot. Bacterial limb galls, not uncommon, cause con- siderable branch dying in older trees. Fungus stem cankers are destructive to young trees, especially on unfavorable sites where growth is slow. Leaf rusts are common but of little consequence to thrifty trees. Cottonwoods are sub- ject to attack by gall insects, which make them unsightly but cause little harm. They are moderately drought- resistant when well established on good upland sites. They are also susceptible to chlorosis and grow poorly on alka- line soils. They are mainly usable as farmstead trees. When used for street plantings, only male trees should be selected, to avoid the nuisance from cottony seed. Roots of the cottonwood often clog sewer and drain pipes. The wood is weak and subject to breaking Shade Trees for the Plains in storms. Large, old trees near houses are often dangerous. The cottonwood should not be planted on streets, except where more suitable species will not grow. Other species, such as Lombardy poplar and the hybrid Carolina poplar, have also been used widely but are better suited to the eastern edge of the Plains area where rainfall is greatest. THE AMERICAN ELM, perhaps the most beautiful broadleaf tree, some- times reaches 90 feet in this region. This elm has a symmetrical, vase- shaped crown that frequently attains a width of 60 feet or more. It lives to an age of 75 to 100 years on the better sites, provides moderately dense shade, and grows moderately fast. Its small, brown flowers appear in early spring before the tree leafs out. It prefers deep, rich, moist loam, but it will stand adverse soil and weather conditions and does fairly well even on sandy exposed sites. In the Plains States, American elm is often seriously attacked by the elm leaf beetle and European elm scale. The elm sawfly causes defoliation at times. The wooly elm aphid is also abundantly present, especially during wet seasons. A fungus leaf spot disease is common. Phloem necrosis has been found in eastern Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma and is a serious menace to the existence of the American elm throughout the Plains. We fear that phloem necrosis will progress rapidly westward; until a method of control is discovered for this destructive dis- ease, we advise against planting the American elm. Trunk rot due to a fungus is fairly common in planted street trees. American elm is suscep- tible to cotton root rot and should not be planted on soils infested by this fungus. Rabbits are another enemy. THE SIBERIAN ELM, often sold un- der the name of Chinese elm, has been planted perhaps more widely than any of the other introduced species. It grows rapidly to a height of 50 to 60 feet. The main branches tend to grow upward and form sharp crotches that are easily broken by wind. Slime flux commonly develops in such wounds. The species provides moderately dense shade. Small purplish flowers appear in early spring before the leaves show. It does best on sandy loam soils, but it will also grow on sandy sites of low fertility. It lives about 50 years or less. It is drought-hardy, but, because it de- velops its leaves early in the spring and retains them later than most trees in the fall, it is in constant danger of severe damage by unseasonable freezes. Cytospora fungus cankers cause further damage to frost-injured trees. Siberian elm is highly susceptible to cotton root rot and cannot be used on soil infested by the fungus. Rabbits often damage it severely. This species is used for both street and yard planting, but is now in general disfavor because of its sus- ceptibility to frost damage. COMMON HAGKBERRY makes a mod- erate growth up to 50 to 70 feet, and develops a large, rounded crown. Its spreading branches provide moderate shade. The small, greenish flowers ap- pear in late spring. It prefers a rich, moist, and well-drained soil, but it will grow successfully on practically all types. The common hackberry is frost- hardy and withstands heat well. It attains an age of 60 to 70 years. Webworms commonly cause defoli- ation, especially of young trees. This species is subject to rabbit damage. Witches' brooms are a distinguishing feature of older trees and are regarded as undesirable, but they do not se- riously affect the health of the trees. Several minor leaf diseases occur on this species. It resists cotton root rot, and is drought-hardy when once es- tablished. It will not stand extensive flooding. The common hackberry is a good street tree and should be used more extensively in this region. THE BUR OAK,, a large, slow-grow- ing native tree, reaches a height of 80 68 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 feet on the best sites. Its life expect- ancy is 75 years or more. It has a short trunk and a broad, massive top that gives moderately dense shade. The slender flower catkins and the leaves appear in midspring. The bur oak does well on many soils but prefers rich bottom lands. Drought-resistant and frost-hardy, it should be planted more extensively despite its slow growth. Twig galls are common, but few insects attack the tree. Leaf rollers are observed frequently and red spider occurs in dry years. Foliage diseases usually are not serious. Powdery mil- dew and leaf scorch sometimes do damage. Gronartium rust is common on oak leaves in some localities. Rab- bit damage is severe to the young seed- lings in the western part of the area. Bur oak is susceptible to the cotton root rot fungus. Other species more limited in use are pin oak, black oak, and the chin- quapin oak. In the uplands of Nebras- ka, the trunks of pin oaks often have vertical cracks that are the result of freezing injury. Several broadleaf species have a more restricted use. AILANTHUS, or tree-of-Heaven, can be planted in the eastern part of the central and southern Plains. It grows rapidly, gives moderate shade, and lives 30 to 50 years. It develops best in light, moist soil but tolerates fairly heavy soils. It stands smoke and dust better than most trees and it is, there- fore, adapted to street planting in fac- tory districts. Only the female plants should be used, because the flowers of the male trees have a disagreeable odor and the pollen is said to cause ca- tarrhal troubles. The brown seeds hang on the trees until late winter. Some persons may consider them unsightly. Ailanthus suckers so readily that it is objectionable in some locations. Web- worms frequently defoliate the young trees. Ailanthus is moderately resist- ant to cotton root rot. Moderately drought-hardy, it does not stand flood- ing, and it is subject to wind damage. EUROPEAN WHITE BIRCH, which has drooping branches, can be used in the easternmost part of the northern Plains. This widely used ornamental has several horticultural varieties. It gives moderate shade, prefers moist soil, and is not frost-hardy on dry soil sites. On favorable sites its life ex- pectancy is 25 to 35 years. It is not drought-resistant. Bronze birch borer causes serious injury and is perhaps the main factor that limits survival. The young trees sunscald readily. Yellow birch is better suited to dry sites. The best use for the birch species is as ornamentals. THE BOXELDER^ a native, is mainly a yard tree in the northern and cen- tral Plains. It develops best on deep, rich, moist soil but survives surpris- ingly well on the dry and droughty sites. It gives moderate shade. It is short- lived, 20 to 40 years, depending on site quality. All in all, it deserves wider use in this zone. One reason why it is in disfavor for planting near dwellings is that the boxelder bug, which breeds on the female trees, enters houses or cellars in search of hibernating places. Because the insect lays its eggs on the fruit, only male trees should be planted as a yard tree in the northern and central Plains. NORTHERN CATALPA can be planted in the eastern part of the central and southern Plains. It commonly lives 35 to 40 years and is not especially drought-hardy. The large leaves are frequently affected by a Phyllosticta leaf spot disease, which, however, is not ordinarily serious. An insect known as a midge causes a leaf scorch. Decay fungi commonly invade the wood through wounds; the rot often advances rap- idly and shortens the life of the tree. The species is not resistant to cotton root rot but it is moderately frost- hardy. The leaves sometimes turn yel- low because of iron deficiency. Catalpa is not particularly popular because its blooms and seed pods can be a nui- sance. Rabbits damage it. Shade Trees for the Plains KENTUCKY COFFEETREE, a native, is used as a street or yard tree in the central and southern Plains. It prefers a deep, moist soil but adapts itself to drier sites as well. The trees may grow as tall as 50 feet and may live 40 to 50 years. The leaves give light shade and are said to possess an ingredient poi- sonous to flies. The cofFeetree is sus- ceptible to cotton root rot and should not be used on infested soils. THE CHINESE ELM has much the same habit of growth as the Siberian elm, but the flowers open late in the summer. It is small and half-evergreen from Oklahoma southward. It is like the Siberian elm in adaptation to soil conditions. Other species of elm, such as the Scotch elm and English elm, and such native species as rock elm and slippery elm, can be used especially in the east- ern part of the Plains. The first two, however, are almost as readily sus- ceptible to frost injury as Siberian elm, and the latter two are considerably less drought-resistant. None of these has been widely used as street trees. SUGARBERRY, or sugar hackberry, a native tree, is useful in the southern Plains. It is a smaller tree than the common hackberry but grows up to 25 feet tall. It is not so frost-hardy as common hackberry. It will grow on dry soil and is drought-resistant. It is not widely used. Netleaf hackberry, also a native, is not widely planted. It grows up to 35 feet in height. It is drought-hardy but not especially frost-hardy. It grows naturally on rocky or gravelly soil. THE BLACK LOCUST is suitable for parks and lawns in the central and southern Plains. A native, it does well on sandy soils and is moderately frost- hardy and drought-resistant, and long- lived, 40 to 60 years. The trunk is commonly attacked by wood-rotting fungi that follow borer injury. The wood rots materially reduce the length of life of the tree and are especially common in the southern Plains. Black locust is highly susceptible to chlorosis and to cotton root rot. The wood makes good fence posts. COMMON HONEYLOCUST is valuable in the central and southern parts of the Plains. It grows well in most kinds of soils but prefers deep and rich loam. It lives 40 to 50 years. It is not so sub- ject to borer injury as black locust, but trees on droughty soils are commonly attacked. Twig girdlers are common on this native species in the southern localities. It is susceptible to cotton root rot, but is drought-resistant and frost-hardy. It is less susceptible to chlorosis than the black locust. Its seed pods make good cattle feed. It grows well in street or yard plantings ; in fact, it is one of the best trees for the central West. A thornless variety of the common honeylocust is gaining favor. It has most of the desirable characteristics of the common honeylocust. SILVER MAPLE can be used in the eastern part of the northern and cen- tral Plains, but is not recommended where better trees will grow. Under most favorable conditions this native tree may reach an age of 70 years. Not particularly drought-hardy, it prefers rich bottom-land soil but will do fairly well on fertile upland soil. Silver maple is subject to a number of insect at- tacks, mostly foliage destroyers such as bagworm, green worm, and blad- der gall mites. Foliage is frequently infected with various leaf spot fungi, which are generally of minor impor- tance. Twig borers are also common and may cause considerable damage. Trunk rots are common but occur most frequently in drought-weakened trees. A fungus disease, Verticillium wilt, occurs occasionally and some- times kills the trees. Silver maple is susceptible to chlorosis, which is caused by lack of iron. It is best suited to growth in the eastern third of the area but will grow farther west when it is ar- tificially watered. It often is subject to 7o Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 wind damage, but it is commonly used as a shade and street tree. Its roots commonly plug drain pipes. Other species — sugar maple, Nor- way maple, black maple, red maple — are usable only in the extreme eastern border of the Plains area where rain- fall is heaviest. THE RUSSIAN -OLIVE, an introduc- tion from southern Russia, usually at- tains less than 30 feet in height. It survives well on many sites, from sandy to alkaline soils, but prefers moist, rich soil in open sunlight. It is drought- hardy and moderately frost-resistant. The dry, cast-off leaves sometimes are eaten by sheep, goats, and cattle. Al- though it is but little troubled with insect or fungus attacks, it is suscep- tible to cotton root rot. The Russian-olive merits wide use, especially in the drier and more alkali sections from the Dakotas southward. It is not especially desirable as a street tree, but if it is used in streets the lower branches should be pruned when the tree is young. THE AMERICAN SYCAMORE prefers rich, moist soil, but it can adapt itself to drier sites. It is not frost-hardy enough for planting in the northern Plains, but can be used in the eastern part of the central and southern Plains. Leaf blight, a fungus disease, is often prevalent and causes considerable de- foliation, disfigurement, and reduction in growth. It is moderately resistant to cotton root rot, and is the best of the fast-growing tall trees for use on soil infested with the disease. It is sus- ceptible to chlorosis, however, on al- kaline sites. It is recommended for street planting in places free of blight. The American sycamore is widely planted as an ornamental. THE LONDON PLANETREE is less sus- ceptible than the American sycamore to leaf blight, but is more restricted in range. It is best suited to the extreme eastern edge of the Plains where rain- fall is highest. It is excellent in parks. THE EASTERN BLACK WALNUT grOWS moderately fast and reaches a height of 60 feet or more. On favorable sites it will live 75 years. It thrives best on moderately friable soil that has good fertility and moisture. It will stand some flooding but will not live long on the swampy sites. Because its leaves and fruit hulls contain tannic acid and stain objects with which they come in contact, the tree should not be planted too close to walks or clotheslines. Sev- eral insects attack the leaves and fruit but do not endanger the health of the tree. Fungus diseases are also of little consequence. It is susceptible to cotton root rot and is not drought-hardy. It is used as a street and shade tree, but the fruits are objectionable on streets. WEEPING WILLOW and black willow are sometimes used as shade trees. The European white willow appears to be more drought-resistant than the other species, but it should not be planted on dry sites. The willows are all fairly short-lived and subject to insect damage and fun- gus diseases. Desertwillow, native to the South- west, develops into a small tree 20 to 30 feet high under favorable condi- tions. Often, however, it is shrublike, especially in hedge plantings. It is ex- tremely drought-hardy and prefers a sandy soil. It will not tolerate flood- ing and is short-lived — probably about 20 years — but withal it is an excellent tree that can well be planted more widely in the Southwest. Its principal advantage over other species there is its high resistance to cotton root rot. Other broadleaf species of local im- portance that do well on sandy soils and are usable principally in the south- ern parts of the Plains are the western soapberry (which is resistant to cotton root rot), and Osage-orange and east- ern redbud, both of which are prey to cotton root rot. The principal value of evergreens on the Plains is as ornamentals and for protection from wind. They do provide much shade, particularly when they Shade Trees for the Plains are in groups. The most desirable spe- cies are eastern redcedar, Rocky Moun- tain juniper, ponderosa pine, common Douglas-fir, and some spruces. THE EASTERN REDCEDAR, a medium- sized tree, forms a pyramidal or coni- cal crown, grows 30 to 40 feet tall, and reaches an age of 100 years or more. Flowers are produced in small cones in midspring. It prefers loamy soil in open sunlight, but it will grow successfully on almost any soil. It is drought-resistant and frost-hardy but will not stand flooding. It is some- times damaged by grasshoppers and hail, but it makes rapid recovery. It is subject to attack by red spider. The main objection to its use is that it is a bridging host for a rust that also attacks apple and related trees. East- ern redcedar should not be grown where apples are grown commercially, because of the possibility of damage by the rust. The rust galls cause rela- tively minor damage to the cedar ex- cept when infections are numerous on young trees. Ornamental eastern redcedar is also damaged by a needle blight. It is the best evergreen for use on soil infested with the cotton root rot because it is highly resistant to the disease. Mice often damage young plants. Rocky Mountain juniper resembles eastern redcedar, but it is perhaps even more drought-hardy. It is particularly suited for the western Plains area. PONDEROSA PINE, a native, can be used in the Black Hills and vicinity. It grows slowly to a height of 50 to 75 feet. The broad, conical crown gives moderate shade. It is long-lived. It does well on various upland soils in full sunlight but it will not stand per- manent shading. Ponderosa pine is susceptible to cotton root rot but it is frost-resistant and drought-hardy. It is used mainly as an ornamental and occasionally in street planting. THE DOUGLAS-FIR: The Rocky Mountain strain of the common Doug- las-fir makes a particularly good orna- mental shade tree for the eastern part of the northern Plains. It is best adap- ted to a moist, deep, porous soil but it is moderately drought-hardy and fairly long-lived. Common Douglas-fir here is prac- tically free of serious pests. It is not recommended for use in the central part of the area, but it does fairly well in eastern Colorado and Wyoming. The common Douglas-fir grown from Pacific coast seed should not be used in any part of the Plains area. WHITE FIR is one of the most beau- tiful of the coniferous ornamentals. It is about as drought-hardy as the Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir and does sur- prisingly well even on poor to dry, shallow sites after it has become well established. AUSTRIAN PINE is similar to pon- derosa pine but less adapted to poorer sites. It is subject to a fungus twig blight that causes some dieback of branches and is less drought-resistant than ponderosa pine. SCOTCH PINE is a widespreading tree with somewhat scant foliage. It is well adapted to upland soil but less drought- hardy than either ponderosa pine or Austrian pine. Several other pines also are useful in the region. Among them are jack pine, in the north-central part, on the lighter soils; loblolly pine and shortleaf pine, which can be grown in the southern parts, but are susceptible to cotton root rot; and the eastern white pine, which frequently makes an excellent tree in the eastern central Plains. THE SPRUCES: Several species of spruces can be grown, particularly in the northern Plains. Colorado blue spruce, black spruce, and western white spruce are examples. As a class the spruces are fairly drought-resistant and frost-hardy. The spruces are somewhat shorter-lived than the pines, but are fine ornamental shade trees. Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 In the southern Plains the Arizona cypress is of limited value. ERNEST WRIGHT worked in the Great Plains region 7 years before he was transferred to the field headquar- ters of the Division of Forest Pathology in Portland, Oreg. In his work on the Great Plains, Dr. Wright studied the survival of trees in relation to climate and disease. T. W. BRETZ, a forest pathologist, conducts investigations on methods of controlling the phloem necrosis of elm in Missouri and nearby States. Dr. Brett? experience includes searching for plant diseases in Iowa and Missouri on the Emergency Plant Disease Sur- vey and teaching and research work in Texas, where he became familiar with conditions in the southern part of the Great Plains. SHADE TREES FOR THE ROCKIES LAKE S. GILL Getting trees to grow along with the settlements and cities of the southern Rocky Mountain region has been all the more impressive because trees are naturally absent from most of the area. The region — Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah — is largely a high plateau 4,000 to 8,000 feet in ele- vation and broken by mountain ranges that often exceed 10,000 feet. In south- ern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico, roughly the area drained by the Gila River and its tributaries, the plateau is 1,000 to 4,000 feet in alti- tude. The plateau is largely treeless, although a few species occur along stream banks, and usually the foothills support an open woodland forest of low pinyons and junipers. Coniferous forests, broken occasionally by stands of quaking aspen, cover the sides of the mountains. Normal precipitation is less than 16 inches a year, only about half of which falls during the growing season. In the Gila Basin the average annual rainfall is less than 12 inches, although there is proportionally more rain in the winter than in other parts of the region below 8,000 feet elevation. Precipitation is 20 to 30 inches in the mountains. Cold winters and hot summers are the rule except in the Gila drainage, where winter temperatures are usually mild. Wide changes in daily temperatures occur throughout the region, especially during the winter months. Late frosts are the rule. Searing winds are com- mon. Most of the soil is alkaline ; much of it is low in nitrogen and poor in physical characteristics. Often an im- pervious layer of hardpan lies close to the surface. Under such conditions, the early settlers deserve great credit for intro- ducing new trees. Today Salt Lake City, Denver, and Phoenix are out- standing examples of large cities that have been beautified by shade trees despite natural odds against them. At first the plains poplar and the common hackberry, both native, were commonly planted. More recently, the plains poplar has lost favor because of its space requirements, its expansive and high water-consuming root system, and its untidy habit of shedding "cot- ton." The common hackberry is still widely used in difficult locations. The black locust and boxelder were among the first introductions to survive the vicissitudes of climate and soil with minimum care. Later the Siberian elm joined them. These three cannot be surpassed in their ability to produce quick shade, stand abuse, and endure unusually unfavorable climatic and soil conditions. Today the list of shade trees that can be grown successfully in the southern Rocky Mountains is indeed impressive. Most of them require supplemental ir- Shade Trees for the Rockies 73 rigation. Sometimes the soil in which they are planted must be carefully selected or specially prepared, either with a view toward reducing alkalinity or of penetrating underlying hardpan to permit better drainage and root growth. Under the most severe condi- tions only the hardier kinds will live, but even in the northern part in pro- tected locations a number of the more tender species that cannot be recom- mended for the whole region can be grown. Following are brief descriptions and supplemental notes of the more com- mon trees that have been successfully planted in the region. Most of the broadleaved evergreens suitable only for the extremely mild winters of the Gila River Basin have been omitted. THE DECIDUOUS trees are listed first. The tree-of-Heaven ailanthus, often called simply ailanthus, is an aggres- sive tree that can thrive where many other kinds would perish. It grows rapidly with some care, but it is rela- tively short-lived and provides little shade from its thin, loose crown. It is recommended as a street tree where low moisture, poor soil, and excessive heat preclude the use of more attrac- tive species. It is almost immune to smoke and soot injury but is easily broken by snow and high wind. Only seed-bearing trees should be planted, as the pollen-bearing form, the male, has an offensive odor when it blooms. It may be planted throughout the re- gion except in the high mountains or parts of the plateau where winter tem- peratures are low. Green ash, although smaller than white ash, is the preferred street tree. It has darker foliage, is more resistant to drought, and seems to have fewer enemies. It is suitable for the plateau but it is not recommended for the mountains. Velvet ash, especially the smooth or Arizona form, is well adapted to the Gila drainage area. It will not stand protracted cold, but it resists drought and can grow in strongly alkaline soil. White ash has a rather oval crown and light-green and moderately dense foliage. It will stand abuse but is sen- sitive to drought. The oystershell scale often attacks it. It is not recommended for the mountains or the Gila Basin. Boxelder develops into a tree with a ragged crown of fairly light-green foli- age. Although the boxelder is extremely drought-resistant and able to with- stand abuse, it is recommended only for places where more desirable trees will not grow. It is the breeding place of the boxelder bug, which in some years becomes objectionable in the houses nearby. Aphids commonly at- tack boxelder, and in the cities the honeydew that drops from them is objectionable on pavements. It will grow anywhere in the region. The Arizona form is best adapted to the Gila River drainage. Northern catalpa, a relatively small tree, possesses a globe-shaped crown of large, heart-shaped leaves. It stands drought fairly well but not cold. Its flowers are large and attractive, but some persons object to it as a street tree because of the litter of the fallen flowers in early summer and the seed pods in autumn. It may be planted throughout the plateau, although it is not recommended for the extreme northern parts or for elevations above 5,000 feet. American elm has been planted ex- tensively on the plateau for many years. It is not very tolerant of alkali and should have plenty of irrigation to thrive. It is heavily attacked by the European elm scale. It is subject also to two serious epidemic diseases, the Dutch elm disease, which recently was 74 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 found in Denver, and phloem necrosis, a killing virus disease that has not yet been found in the region. American elm should be used sparingly until con- trols are available for the diseases. Siberian elm, which was introduced as Chinese elm and is still often called that, can persist despite drought, poor soil, and abuse, and at the same time provide shade and greenery. It is nat- urally scrubby in habit, but it can be trained while young into a fairly attrac- tive street tree. It has been overplanted in some cities. Its root system is prone to invade tile sewers and to heave pave- ments and curbs. It produces seed pro- fusely and the seedlings may become extremely noxious weeds in nearby gardens. It is not subject to the epi- demic diseases described for American elm but is highly susceptible to the cotton or Ozonium root rot. Often the European elm scale attacks it. The common hackberry is usually a small tree with a spreading, flat crown of dense, light-green foliage. It is ex- cellent for use under adverse growing conditions in hot, dry climates. The foliage does not tend to turn yellow in alkaline soils. It is recommended for all parts of the region except in the mountains. Thornless honeylocust forms a thin, irregular crown that provides light shade. It is one of the last trees to leaf out in the spring and one of the first to lose its foliage in the fall — a distinct shortcoming in a region of long, hot summers. But it is drought-resistant, hardy, and capable of withstanding abuse once it is established. It is not recommended for the mountains. Linden is not extensively planted here, although it is recommended as a good street tree in some of the larger cities for places where it will receive fertilization and irrigation. It is sub- ject to sunscald following transplant- ing. American linden and the littleleaf linden are the two preferred species for the high plateau. Local authorities should be consulted regarding suit- ability of linden in parts of northwest- ern Colorado. Black locust is a tree that will stand the rigors of drought, poor soil, and abuse. It produces showy, white, fra- grant flowers in the spring, but some persons object to its ragged appear- ance, early leaf fall, and the litter of its flowers and seed pods. In some localities it is severely attacked by the locust borer. The thornless variety is preferable, but various pink-flowering forms are gaining in popularity. Norway maple is a handsome tree with a dense, globelike crown of dark- green foliage. It is favored as a street tree in the larger cities in places where irrigation and fertilization are possible and space is ample for root develop- ment. It is less subject to snow damage than silver maple and is moderately resistant to smoke injury. The Schwed- ler variety has bright red leaves in the spring, which later turn deep green. This variety is less likely to suffer from yellow foliage in alkaline soil than other maples. Norway maple is sub- ject to sunscorch or leaf scald, especially when the root system has not sufficient room to develop properly. It is best suited to the high plateau and is not recommended for the Gila River drain- age. It is best to consult local authori- ties regarding the use of Norway maple and its varieties, as the species has proved to be tender in some localities. Red mulberry is a somewhat larger tree than Russian mulberry but is less resistant to drought and cold. Russian mulberry develops a crown of dense, dark-green foliage. It is fairly resistant to drought but is subject to winter injury. The fruits attract birds but also make a litter on walks and streets. The male, or staminate, trees do not produce fruit. This tree should not be planted in the mountains or in the colder parts of the high plateau. Oak may be grown successfully in a few restricted areas in the region, not- ably in the foothills of northern Colo- rado. The limiting factor is soil alka- linity, which, besides giving the foliage a yellow cast, inhibits normal develop- ment for a naturally slow-growing tree. Bur oak appears to be best adapted Shade Trees for the Rockies 75 to the plateau as a whole, but even with the best of care and conditions it grows slowly. London planetree, a slow-growing but attractive tree, has a crown of deep- green leaves on a grayish- white, smooth stem. It makes a fine street tree where it can be planted in rich soil with ample irrigation. It is not recommended for the mountains or the cold plateaus of northwestern Colorado. The closely related sycamore has much the same characteristics and re- quirements but is less desirable because of its susceptibility to a seriously dis- figuring leaf blight. Lanceleaf poplar is a clean-looking tree with moderately dense, light-green foliage and smooth, greenish bark. It is recommended for mountain areas only. Narrowleaf poplar resembles lance- leaf poplar but is better adapted to lower elevations. With some care it makes a good street tree at altitudes of 5,000 feet or more. It is subject to attack by several borers, which, if not controlled, will ruin its apearance and shorten its life. Lombardy poplar has a narrow columnlike crown of thin, almost up- right, branches. It is better adapted to roadside than street planting. It seldom remains attractive more than 20 years, and is commonly killed about that age by an uncontrollable disease. It is not recommended for the moun- tain areas. Plains poplar is a distinctive native tree with a low, spreading, irregular crown. It may be used anywhere on the plateau but should be planted only where it will have ample room to de- velop and where there is plenty of moisture. Stock from male, or stami- nate, trees is preferred as it does not produce the bothersome "cotton." This tree is rapidly losing popularity in the cities because it takes so much space, and in the agricultural areas it is being cut as a water conservation measure. Russian-olive is a small tree with an irregular-shaped crown of silvery-gray foliage. It has a tendency to assume a shrubby habit but can be trained into an attractive tree. It is excellent for color contrast in group plantings. This tree is especially adapted to the high plateau. It is highly resistant to drought and tolerant of alkali. Tamarisk has an irregular outline, thin, feathery, gray-green foliage, and white to pink flowers. It is well adapted to dry alkaline soils and will thrive with little care. It should not be used at ele- vations above 5,000 feet or in unusually cold locations, as found in some parts of northwestern Colorado. EVERGREENS are worth particular attention. Arizona cypress and its relative, the smooth Arizona cypress, have conical crowns of grayish-green foliage. They grow rapidly with irrigation and are especially adapted to the Gila River Basin or the lower elevations — below 5,000 feet— of the high plateau. They will not stand severe, protracted cold. Twig-girdling insects sometimes attack them in force. Eucalyptus can be grown only at the lower elevations of the Gila River Basin — and even there they may be killed or damaged in the relatively se- vere winters that sometimes occur. Of the several species that have been ex- tensively planted in southern Arizona, the horncap eucalyptus is most toler- ant of alkali and hardpan so prevalent in the area. Rocky Mountain juniper, another native of the plateau, frequently is found growing with Colorado pinyon pine. It is a small evergreen tree with a conical crown of greenish to greenish- gray cast. The branchlets often droop and have a weeping effect. This tree can be used effectively as a specimen in formal planting, or in seminatural groupings, as for example, with pinyon. In Denver, with irrigation, it develops into an attractive tree of moderate size. Aleppo pine is used extensively in the Gila River Basin as an ornamental or specimen tree but will not grow else- where in the region where winters are more severe. 76 Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 Austrian pine makes a fine specimen tree anywhere in the region. It de- velops a cone-shaped crown of deep- green foliage, which is little affected by hot, dry winds. Some irrigation is necessary on the plateau. Canary pine, useful as a specimen tree, has light-green foliage of medium density. It will not stand long periods of cold weather, and therefore it can be planted with success only in the Gila River Basin ; even there it should receive irrigation. Colorado pinyon pine, also native to much of the plateau, does well under cultivation. It grows slowly into a low, scrubby tree too small for shade but good for group plantings in full sun- light. It will respond to some irriga- tion, but constant heavy watering is detrimental. Ponderosa pine is a native tree with much the same appearance as Austrian pine, but usually it is slower in growth. Growth is extremely slow the first 10 years or so. Later it can grow a foot or more annually even in severe locations provided it receives some irrigation. Scotch pine resembles Austrian and ponderosa pines in ruggedness but is less regular in shape. Colorado spruce, often called Colo- rado blue spruce, is similar to Engel- mann spruce except that the foliage is always gray green or bluish green. At elevations below 8,000 feet it tends to become scraggly with age and for that reason is less suitable than Engelmann spruce on the plateau. With watering it makes a beautiful, ornamental tree. Engelmann spruce, with its tall, cone-shaped crown of green to gray- green foliage, is well suited to lawn planting and for use as an outdoor Christmas tree. It will thrive in both mountain and plateau areas if pro- vided with fairly rich soil and given some protection from high winds. FOR THE NORTHERN Rocky Moun- tain region, resistance to cold is a para- mount consideration in the selection of shade trees. Suitable species are Norway maple, cutleaf birch, bass- wood, white poplar (alba), green ash, hackberry, American elms, Austrian pine, Scotch pine, Black Hills spruce, Colorado blue spruce, and Norway spruce. Russian-olive and the Siberian pea-tree may also be used where a smaller type of tree is desired. LAKE S. GILL is a forest pathologist of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering. He is stationed in Albuquerque, N. Mex. He has investigated many aspects of forest- and shade-tree problems in the South- west. Dr. Gill is a graduate of Yale School of Forestry. What do we plant when we plant the tree? We plant the ship, which will cross the sea. We plant the mast to carry the sails; We plant the planks to withstand the gales — The keel, the keelson, the beam, the knee; We plant the ship when we plant the tree. What do we plant when we plant the tree? We plant the houses for you and me. We plant the rafters, the shingles, the floors, We plant the studding, the lath, the doors, The beams, the siding, all parts that be; We plant the house when we plant the tree. What do we plant when we plant the tree? A thousand things that we daily see; We plant the spire that out-towers the crag, We plant the staff for our country's flag. We plant the shade, from the hot sun free; We plant all these when we plant the tree. HENRY ABBEY 77 SHADE TREES FOR CALIFORNIA W. W. WAGENER Climate is the key to the trees that can be grown in a region. On the Pa- cific coast, the key to the climate is the Pacific Ocean, which imparts its rela- tively mild temperatures and its char- acteristic summer droughty period. The region embraces more than 16° of latitude and extends inland about 120 miles to the high barrier formed by the Sierra and Cascade Mountain chains. East of the barrier, the climate is arid or semiarid and has a much greater yearly range in temperatures. Eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, and a part of eastern California share this in- terior type of climate. This article dis- cusses shade trees in California; the next article is about trees in the north- ern Pacific area — the western parts of Washington and Oregon. No part of the United States presents a greater diversity in climate, topog- raphy, and soils than California. Rela- tively mild winter temperatures and a long summer dry season are common to all parts of the State except the higher mountains, but in other respects even a few miles may bring wide dif- ferences in the conditions that govern tree growth. Few trees, consequently, have suffi- cient adaptability to be satisfactory in all parts of the region, and the planter must make his choice on the basis of the conditions prevailing in his own neighborhood. An important consider- ation in inland districts is whether the tree is to receive supplemental irriga- tion, directly or indirectly, or whether it must depend on moisture provided by the winter rains. Another is whether the ground contains appreciable quan- tities of soluble salts, commonly known as alkali. If so, the choice should be species known to be alkali-tolerant. From the thousands of trees that will grow successfully in California, or parts of it, I shall discuss here a limited number that are generally suitable for shade and ornament or have specific qualities that fit them for use under conditions that are unfavorable for most species. In general, I omit trees used primarily for accent or specimen planting, the palms, nearly all of the eucalypts, and a few species of other types that once were popular but are not recommended now because of in- sects, diseases, or undesirable qualities. Among the last are the elms, Monterey cypress, and the black acacia. Besides the trees here described, the owner who is considering planting around the home should not overlook the ornamental and shade value of our fruit and nut trees. The apricot, avo- cado, cherry, orange, kaki persimmon, mission fig, Persian walnut, and many another often serve a double utility. THE CALIFORNIA LIVE OAK is a rather evenly rounded tree when it is young; it spreads broadly with age. It grows up to 30 to 75 feet — rather slowly at first but faster when it is well established and supplied with mod- erate amounts of water in summer. Its leaves are small and oval, dark green and glossy above, paler below, and rather dense. It casts a fairly dense shade unless the crown is thinned by pruning. For yards, streets, and road- ways it is satisfactory in the coastal dis- tricts, where it is native, and also in the less hot and dry parts of the in- terior. In some districts it is subject to defoliation by the larvae of the Cali- fornia oak moth which never kill the tree and are readily controlled by sprays. Some trees suffer from mildew in the coastal districts that have sum- mer fogs. Because heavy pruning and heavy summer watering favor the de- velopment of mildew, the tree should not be planted on lawns or other areas that are constantly irrigated. Despite these disadvantages, the merits of the tree make it good for many districts. 78 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 SOUTHERN MAGNOLIA is a medium- sized or tall (25 to 60 feet), round- topped or pyramidal evergreen with large, thick, glossy, dark-green leaves and rust-colored branchlets and buds. It is slow of growth, moderately long- lived, and relatively few insects and diseases bother it. The large, white, showy, fragrant flowers come in late summer and fall. It is hardy through- out the region except in the higher mountains, but does not tolerate alkali. Altogether, it is a satisfactory orna- mental for home and street. It should be given additional moisture in sum- mer in most parts of the region. CAMPHOR-TREE is a handsome, com- pact, medium-sized and oval-crowned, evergreen tree, 20 to 40 feet in height when mature, with dense, glossy, light- green foliage, bronze-tinged in spring. The leaves, which have an odor of camphor when crushed, cast a fairly dense shade. The flowers are small, yel- low, and inconspicuous; the growth rate is moderate, and the length of life is average. The trunk is rather heavy and enlarged at the base. Cam- phor-tree is satisfactory for planting around the home and as a street tree if parkways are wide enough. It is hardy in most of the region, including the central valleys, but it needs access to additional moisture in the drier situa- tions in summer. It is fairly tolerant of alkali. RED IRONBARK, a slender and open, medium-sized, evergreen tree of the eucalyptus family, eventually grows to 50 to 60 feet in height. It has rough, furrowed, dark, and persistent bark and small, gray-green leaves. The flowers are deep pink and are produced in profusion in late winter, spring, and into June. Its growth rate is moderate and its longevity is average. It is hardy to about 15° F. and stands drought well. Thus it is adapted to both coastal and inland situations. Moderately al- kali-tolerant, it is a satisfactory tree for roadsides as well as for backgrounds or screen planting around the home. THE CALIFORNIA PEPPERTREE is a medium to large and broadly round- topped, evergreen tree, and 30 to 50 feet high when mature. Its finely cut, light-green and drooping foliage casts a light shade. The small and yellowish- white flowers come in many-branched clusters and are followed in fall by pendent bunches of small, rose-colored fruits that persist through the winter. It grows fast and is of average longevity. It is somewhat tender, but it can stand temperatures of about 18° F.; conse- quently, it is usable in most of southern California and the milder parts of cen- tral and northern California. Although it is drought-resistant and somewhat tolerant of alkali, it has the reputation of harboring black scale and therefore is in disfavor among many citrus grow- ers. It is also susceptible to Armillaria root rot, better known in the region as oak root fungus, and for that reason is uncertain on land formerly occupied by oak woodlands. It used to be planted often as a street tree, but for that pur- pose it has several faults. Nevertheless, the peppertree is so firmly identified with California, so attractive when it is properly used around the home, and fits so well with California architecture that it will remain popular. CAPE CHESTNUT is a medium-sized, round-headed tree, 50 to 60 feet high when mature. Its medium-sized, elon- gated, somewhat sparse leaves cast a light shade. Growth rate is moderate; it is fairly long-lived. It is cultivated chiefly for its panicles of showy, laven- der-rose flowers that appear in late May and June. Hardy in most of south- ern California and in warmer situations elsewhere in the region, it can endure temperatures to about 15° F. In the colder locations it is partly deciduous. It is suitable for planting around the home and as a street tree, but it re- quires watering in the summer. THE GINKGO, an erect, rounded, and pyramidal tree, becomes somewhat spreading with age. The ginkgo is long- lived and rather slow growing to an Shade Trees for California 79 ultimate height of 40 to 50 feet in Cali- fornia. The unique leaves are medium- sized, fan-shaped, and a clear green in color, changing to yellow in autumn. Because it is hardy and has practically no pests, it is useful both as an orna- mental and shade tree, but it needs extra summer moisture in the drier places. Only male trees should be planted, because the fallen, mature fruits of the female tree have a dis- agreeable odor. THE NORWAY MAPLE is a medium- sized, round-headed, spreading, decid- uous tree, 25 to 60 feet high. It has moderately large, light-green leaves that form a dense crown and cast a rather heavy shade. It is relatively fast growing, of average length of life, and hardy. It has proved satisfactory as a lawn and street tree in the interior and mountain valleys of the region, except for a tendency of the roots to raise sidewalks. It is moderately tolerant of alkaline soils. The silver maple is fast growing, large, spreading, and 60 to 100 feet in height. Its large leaves, bright green above and silvery below, form a rather open crown, which casts a medium to light shade. The flowers, greenish and in clusters, appear before the leaves. It is hardy, and its useful life is about average. It is similar to the Norway maple in uses and districts to which it is best adapted. Its roots sometimes raise sidewalks. THE LONDON PLANETREE is rounded and pyramidal in habit, but becomes spreading with age. It grows to 30 to 70 feet, and has large, broad, lobed, green leaves that form a rather open crown and cast a light shade. Its growth rate is rapid; its longevity is about average. Its light-colored bark peels in thin plates. The brown, globular fruit- ing heads, about an inch in diameter, disintegrate when mature. It is hardy throughout the region, but it is subject to the sycamore blight, which attacks the leaves, and the syca- more scale. Some strains of the tree are practically immune to the blight and resistant to the scale. It is a satis- factory shade and street tree, especially for inland valleys, when propagated from parent stock selected for freedom from blight and pests. The London planetree is alkali-tolerant. THE SWEETGUM forms a rounded pyramidal tree, usually reaching not over 50 feet in height in California, with deeply furrowed bark and me- dium-large, deeply lobed, dark-green leaves, paler on the under side. These turn to a crimson or wine purple in the fall. The seeds are borne in spherical heads — which are about an inch in diameter and rather prickly on the outside. The tree grows at a moderate rate and it produces a compact head, which casts a medium-dense shade. It is hardy and relatively long-lived, but not tolerant of alkali. The sweetgum is satisfactory as a street tree and for home planting in all parts of the re- gion, except on alkaline soils. It is not adapted to locations exposed to dry winds, and it requires extra summer moisture in the drier localities. OF THE VELVET ASH, the Modesto or Montebello forms make a spread- ing but rather compact tree, 30 to 40 feet high when mature. The willow- like, deep-green leaves cast a medium- dense shade. Fast in growth, it is hardy except at high elevations in the region. In longevity it is about average. It is drought-resistant, moderately tolerant of alkali, and more resistant to the red spider type of mite than the regular form. It is subject to occasional de- foliation by insects in some districts, but these pests can be controlled read- ily by sprays. A popular shade and street tree for the interior valleys, it stands drying winds well and succeeds with little moisture. Recently a leaf disease has appeared in parts of the region which may make it less desir- able as a shade tree in the future. THE CAROLINA POPLAR, a tall, up- right tree from 40 to 100 feet in height, 8o of Agriculture 1949 is pyramidal to columnar in form and is fast growing. The medium-sized and rounded, bright-green leaves cast a medium shade. Of average longevity, it is hardy and slightly tolerant of al- kali. It grows best in moist sites. Only the male trees should be used in order to avoid the disagreeable fuzz that is shed from the blooms of the female. This and the other more spreading types of poplar are especially adapted as shade or roadside trees in moun- tain valleys or around irrigated pas- tures in the lower inland valleys. Suck- ers are sometimes troublesome. Poplars should not be planted close to sewer lines because of the penetrating roots. PIN OAK forms a rounded, pyram- idal tree when young but tends to be- come irregular at maturity, with a height of 50 to 80 feet. The deeply cut, glossy, dark-green leaves cast a medium-dense shade and turn an at- tractive scarlet in the late fall. The tree grows at a moderate rate and is hardy and long-lived but not tolerant of alkali nor resistant to drought. In California, pin oak is a desirable street and shade tree for both inland and coastal districts where extra moisture can be supplied during the summer. SOUTHERN RED OAK is a round- topped tree with spreading branches, 50 to 70 feet high at maturity. The leaves are medium large, incised, dark green above and pale below, and dark red in late fall. It casts a medium shade. Its growth rate is relatively rapid. It is fairly long-lived, but is not drought-resistant or tolerant of alkali. It resembles pin oak in uses as well as in its range of suitability. THE CALIFORNIA BLACK WALNUT, a large, irregularly rounded tree that is 50 or more feet high at maturity, usu- ally is taller than broad and branches from the trunk rather high above the ground. Its bark is furrowed. The dark-green leaves are divided into many leaflets and cast a medium-dense shade. Growth rate is rapid. It is long- lived, fairly tolerant of alkali, and drought-resistant. The hard, rounded nuts are borne in a green husk and mature in late fall. It is a desirable roadside and shade tree for coastal and interior valleys in locations where the falling nuts are not objectionable. It stands dry winds well. THE CHINESE PISTAGHE is a round- topped, fairly long-lived tree, 40 to 60 feet high when mature. Its growth rate is moderately rapid. Its attractive, divided foliage becomes highly colored in late fall. The flowers are incon- spicuous. The female trees bear pend- ent, open sprays of small fruits that are scarlet in late summer and purplish in fall. It is hardy everywhere in the region except at high altitudes. It is moderately alkali-tolerant and is es- pecially adapted to dry climates for shade or roadside planting. It is not desirable as a street tree because of the many fruits of the female trees. THE PANIGLED GOLDENRAIN-TREE IS a rather low, widespreading, round- headed, deciduous tree, 20 to 30 feet high at maturity and somewhat open in habit. It casts a light to medium shade. The leaves, composed of many fine leaflets, are dark green above and paler beneath, and give a soft, fernlike ap- pearance. The profuse yellow flowers are borne in large clusters in late sum- mer. The fruit is a papery-walled cap- sule and remains on the tree until fall. The growth rate is fairly rapid. It is hardy and its length of life is about average. The tree is drought-resistant and will tolerate alkali, including black alkali, to a greater extent than almost any tree known. It is therefore espe- cially adapted to difficult situations in the drier portion of the region where few other species will succeed, but it will grow well in more favored loca- tions. It deserves to be more widely planted. OF THE WHITE MULBERRY,, the Khl- gan fruitless variety is a fast growing, broadly, round-topped, deciduous tree, Shade Trees for California 81 30 to 40 feet high when mature. Its medium-sized, broadly oval, thin, light- green leaves cast a rather dense shade. It stands heat, drought, and alkali ex- ceptionally well, and will give a quick shade under conditions where most trees would fail. The branches are somewhat brittle and eventually are subject to wind breakage in windy sit- uations unless they are carefully pruned back when necessary. This fruitless variety overcomes the objection to falling fruits common to most other mulberries. It is not recom- mended for locations where other trees of better types will do well, but it is un- excelled for unfavorable places where a quick, nonpermanent tree is needed. THE CANARY PINE is tall, slender, and fast growing when it is young, but ultimately becomes rather broad and round-topped. It reaches 60 to 80 feet in height, with long, grayish-green, drooping foliage and rather slender cones 4 to 8 inches long. The bark is reddish brown and lightly fissured. It is hardy in most of the region below an elevation of 2,000 feet, and endures temperatures down to about 10° F. It is moderately long-lived. It casts a light- to medium-dense shade. A handsome tree, the canary pine is especially use- ful for background and screen planting. THE COULTER PINE is a stout, thrifty, roundly pyramidal native conifer with rather long, stiff, dark-green needles and fissured dark-brown to blackish bark, Coulter pine is 50 to 80 feet high when mature, moderately long-lived, and hardy in nearly all parts of the region. Its cones are large, decorative, 9 to 14 inches long, and composed of stout, sharp-pointed scales. It is espe- cially adapted as a specimen or back- ground tree in hill or valley situations where little or no supplementary mois- ture can be supplied. Because the heavy, prickly cones may fall after the tree becomes older and offer a hazard, it should not be planted where it will overhang buildings or walks. 802062°— 49 7 THE LAWSON CYPRESS, a narrow to broadly pyramidal tree, is native to the coast of southwestern Oregon and northern California. It reaches a height of 75 to 100 feet in cultivation. Its growth rate is moderate. The foliage is bright green or bluish and hangs in broad, flat, drooping, fernlike sprays. Its shade is dense. It is hardy through- out the region and is long-lived under favorable conditions. It is an excellent specimen or background tree for the coastal districts and the cooler portions of interior valleys and foothills where alkali is absent. It needs additional summer moisture, except in the coastal belt which is subject to summer fogs. Nurserymen offer a number of hor- ticultural forms of the species that dif- fer from the parent type in color of foliage and growth habit. THE CALIFORNIA INCENSE-CEDAR is a native conifer, broadly pyramidal when young if it is not crowded. It is narrowly columnar to broadly and ir- regularly pyramidal in later life. Its mature height is 80 to 100 feet. The tapering trunk is broad at the base, with deeply ridged, reddish to cinna- mon-brown, fibrous bark. The deep- green foliage grows in pliant, flattish sprays and casts shade of medium to heavy density. Growth is moderately rapid and the species is long-lived. It is fairly free of pests. The California incense-cedar is hardy anywhere in California and usu- ally will succeed except on alkaline soils. It requires supplemental mois- ture during the summer in the drier parts. It is excellent as a specimen tree or for background planting. It will also succeed as a roadside tree in mois- ter localities if it is given enough room to grow properly. THE DEODAR CEDAR is a graceful tree, broadly pyramidal in form at the base and narrowing to a thin spire at the top in younger trees. It is irregular- ly pyramidal and spreading when ma- ture and 50 to 100 feet high. The lower branches persist to old age. The foliage 82 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 of short needles, in clusters on pendu- It is adapted both to home and road- lous branchlets, is green or glaucous- side planting if space is ample, green in color. This cedar is relatively fast growing and long-lived. De- W. W. WAGENER, a forest pathol- servedly it is the most popular conifer ogist in the Bureau of Plant Industry, for planting in the region, for it is al- Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, most free of insects and diseases and is in charge of the field headquarters most successful in coastal and interior dis- tricts. It requires added summer mois- ture in the drier parts of the interior. of the Division of Forest Pathology in San Francisco. Dr. Wagener is a grad- uate of Yale University. SHADE TREES FOR THE NORTH PACIFIC AREA T. W. CHILDS The northern part — western Wash- ington and Oregon — of the Pacific coast region resembles the southern part in several respects, but three dif- ferences greatly influence the kinds of shade trees that can be used in the two areas. In western Washington and Ore- gon, precipitation is greater and more frequent than farther south, average temperatures are lower, and the sum- mer dry season is much shorter. The Pacific coast itself, a long, narrow strip to the west of the barrier ranges, is divided naturally into the northern and southern (that is, California) subdivi- sions by the main summit of the Siski- you Mountains. The unusually favorable climate in western Washington and Oregon per- mits the use of a wide range of tree species, both native and introduced. East of the Cascade Range, environ- mental conditions are ordinarily much less favorable, and the species listed are not generally suitable for that area. COMMON HAGKBERRY develops here into a round-topped tree with a ma- ture height of 40 to 60 feet. Its growth is moderately rapid and it is moderate- ly long-lived. Its shade is of medium density; leaves appear in late April or early May. It resists drought, cold, and wind ; twig brooming ( witches' -broom ) is not serious. Although inferior to American elm in some respects, com- mon hackberry should be a good yard and street tree in many localities east of the Cascade Range. Its smaller size and relative resistance to pests make it a desirable substitute for elm along nar- row streets and in places where the elm leaf beetle is destructive. THE AMERICAN YELLOWWOOD is a widespreading tree, 50 to 60 feet high when mature. Growth is moderately rapid and it is moderately long-lived. Its small white flowers in long clus- ters appear in early June. The leaves turn bright yellow in late fall. It is resistant to cold. It is fairly resistant to drought, and relatively free from insect and fungus pests. American yellow- wood has not been planted extensively, but it deserves to become more popu- lar as a street tree and as a yard tree. It is well adapted to the territory west of the Cascade Range and should also do well in the Columbia River Valley and on the Snake River Plain if it is watered occasionally. SWEETGUM., a rounded, pyramidal tree, has a mature height of 80 to 120 feet. It is moderately rapid in growth, long-lived, fairly resistant to cold and relatively free from pests, but it is sus- ceptible to injury by drought and by wind. Its star-shaped leaves, about 6 inches across, turn crimson or wine purple in the fall. The bark is deeply furrowed. It casts a moderately dense shade and makes rather heavy de- Shade Trees for the North Pacific Area mands on soil fertility and moisture, so that water and fertilizer must be generously applied if a good lawn is to be maintained. Sweetgum is an excel- lent street and yard tree. It has attrac- tive form and brilliant fall color. THE YELLOW-POPLAR, or tuliptree, is narrowly pyramidal to broadly spreading and grows rapidly to 100 to 160 feet. It is long-lived and fairly re- sistant to cold, but it is intolerant of drought and city smoke. It is rela- tively free from pests. The yellow flowers, about 2 inches in diameter, beautiful but not showy, appear in early June. The leaves are keystone-shaped and turn yellow in the fall. The tree requires moist, fertile soil and has a tendency to rob lawns of moisture and nutrients. This handsome tree unfor- tunately is not well suited to most city locations and is generally undesirable as a street tree. It is recommended for use on larger suburban and country properties for shade and ornament. THE NORTHERN RED OAK is broadly round-topped. Its growth is moder- ately rapid, and it may attain a height of 60 to 90 feet. It is moderately long- lived. The shade is of medium density. It resists cold but not drought and is susceptible to root rot. The leaves turn dark red or orange to brown in early fall. It requires considerable space and fertile soil for good development. This oak has proved to be an excellent street tree in the Eastern States and should be equally satisfactory in the Pacific Northwest. If given enough water, the northern red oak may prove to be a valuable shade tree in many localities east of the Cascade Range. THE OREGON WHITE OAK grows slowly but is very long-lived. Its ma- ture height is 60 to 80 feet. This tree is broadly round-topped and its shade is rather sparse to moderately dense. Old trees frequently are infected with mis- tletoe and sometimes with wood rots. It requires moderate moisture and soil fertility for good growth, but does not compete seriously with lawns. It adds neither grace nor brilliant color to the landscape, but those lacks are far out- weighed by its restful form and air of tranquil permanence. Notwithstand- ing its slow growth, this fine native should be more extensively used as a yard tree on lots of medium and large size and as a street tree where space is available for its development. THE PIN OAK may be pyramidal to rounded and irregular, and 50 to 80 feet high at maturity. Its growth is moderately rapid and it is moderately long-lived. Its shade is of medium den- sity. It is fairly resistant to cold but is not resistant to drought. The leaves appear in late spring, turn deep scarlet in late fall, and often remain on the twigs during most of the winter, par- ticularly on young trees. It prefers rich and moderately moist soil, and is more easily transplanted than either north- ern red oak or the Oregon white oak. It does well in city environments and can be used to advantage along streets. THE BIGLEAF MAPLE is broadly and compactly round-topped. Its mature height is 60 to 80 feet. Growth is rapid. It is moderately long-lived. Shade is dense. It is susceptible to a wilt disease and often is attacked by insects, which cause "honey-dew" to drip from the leaves. It makes heavy demands on soil fertility and moisture, so that mainte- nance of a lawn under it is difficult. A disease of unknown cause that affects the leaves and kills the twigs has been observed recently in parts of Califor- nia. This handsome native has been widely used, and even more widely misused, west of the Cascade Range. It is not a desirable street tree because its roots heave sidewalks badly and its dense growth necessitates frequent and drastic pruning by line-clearing crews. It has also proved unsatisfactory in most city yards because of its space requirements, litter, and its injurious effect on lawns. These failures have more or less obscured the suitability of bigleaf maple for planting along rural Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 roads and around the country homes. Norway maple is slightly smaller and grows a little less rapidly than bigleaf maple, but is not otherwise preferable. THE AMERICAN ELM cannot be rec- ommended unqualifiedly for use in the Pacific Northwest. Elm leaf beetle is often serious, and spraying is necessary to control this pest. PACIFIC MADRONE, a narrowly oblong to broadly round-topped, broadleaf evergreen, has a mature height of 60 to 80 feet. Its growth is moderately rapid and it is long-lived. It gives sparse to medium shade and is resist- ant to drought but not to severe cold or wind. The small white flowers ap- pear in showy clusters from March to May; the fruits are orange red in late fall. The leaves are oval, 3 to 5 inches long, glossy dark green above and pale below. The bark is thin and pea green or orange to reddish brown. This un- usually colorful native is well suited for use as a yard tree west of the Cascade Range, in the Columbia River Valley of central Washington, and perhaps also in favorable localities elsewhere in this region. It is less satis- factory as a street tree, because it scars easily and its smooth bark is a constant temptation to small boys with jack- knives. Its appearance is occasionally impaired for a short time by leaf- spotting fungi, but pests seldom cause any permanent harm. A FEW ADDITIONAL SPECIES are valu- able for special situations. For windy sites in western Wash- ington and northwestern Oregon, the California sycamore is useful. Rock elm, European linden, and eastern black walnut can be used in the mountains and valleys of eastern Oregon and Washington where con- ditions are not too severe. Green ash is satisfactory for the arid plateaus east of the Cascade Range. CONIFERS RECOMMENDED for west- ern Washington and Oregon include several species of cedar, cypress, and pines. ATLAS CEDAR is pyramidal and 90 to 100 feet high when mature. Its growth is moderately rapid and it is long-lived. Its shade is sparse to medium. It is fairly resistant to cold and pests. Foli- age is bluish green or silvery blue in one popular variety — blue Atlas cedar. It requires fairly rich soil and moderate moisture. Atlas cedar and its close relatives, the Deodar cedar and cedar-of-Lebanon, must be given considerable space for good development and for proper dis- play of their attractive forms. They have been successfully used sometimes for street trees. If given an adequate water supply, they should do well in many localities east of the Cascades. LAWSON CYPRESS has been widely planted because of its rapid growth, the blue-green color of its foliage, and its slender form. It is hardy throughout the region and is long-lived under fa- vorable conditions. Unfortunately, in the Northwest a root disease has killed many fine specimens. THE CALIFORNIA INCENSE-CEDAR is broadly pyramidal when young, but later it tends to become narrowly columnar to broadly and irregularly pyramidal. Its mature height is 80 to 100 feet. Growth is moderately rapid and it is long-lived. The deep-green, frondlike foliage casts shade of medium to heavy density. The fibrous bark is deeply ridged and reddish to cinnamon brown. The trunk is broad at the base and tapers rapidly. It is fairly resistant to drought, cold, and pests. The ability of California incense-cedar to thrive in city environments is questionable, but it will undoubtedly prove to be valuable for both shade and ornament in large suburban and country yards. It is native to the eastern slope of the Cascade Range as far north as Mount Hood, and should do well in the Co- lumbia River Valley and on the Snake River Plain. Pointers on Planting HIMALAYAN PINE is a broadly py- ramidal tree that reaches a height of 120 to 150 feet. It grows rapidly and is moderately long-lived. It is fairly re- sistant to cold and drought. It is sus- ceptible to a fungus twig canker but highly resistant to white pine blister rust. The rather sparse foliage is gray- ish green. A handsome tree for large yards, the Himalayan pine is not suit- able for street planting. COMMON DOUGLAS-FIR grows mod- erately fast to a height of 160 to 180 feet, and is long-lived. Its shade is of medium density. It is fairly resistant to cold and drought but not to wind. In some localities, exposure to city condi- tions has resulted in the slow decline and eventual death of many trees of this species. Douglas-fir is more tolerant of such unfavorable environments when exposed to them from the seedling stage; however, this species seems generally to be more suitable for country than for city use. Seed of local origin should be used east of the Cas- cade Range, where climatic extremes are much greater than in the coastal region and are likely to result in injury to planting stock of nonlocal origin. Shore pine is valuable for windy sit- uations in western Washington and northwestern Oregon. T. W. CHILDS conducts research on problems of forest and shade trees. He is a member of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils., and Agricultural En- gineering, and is stationed in Portland. POINTERS ON PLANTING T. E. MAKI No home owner is too poor or busy or inexperienced to let his yard go treeless. Poor? — he can use small trees, which cost little, or he can dig up wildings in the woods. Busy? — he can learn easily the techniques of plant- ing trees rapidly. Inexperienced? — he can do a satisfactory job with a little study and observation. He should first know something about choosing a tree. ABOUT SIZE : Small trees recover so quickly from transplanting that in a few years they provide shade, effective screening, windbreak, and modifica- tion of vistas. No expenditure on the home grounds increases the value of the property so quickly and easily as landscaping with young trees ; they are an investment rather than an expense. We are here concerned with these small specimens, that is, seedlings and trees up to about 3 inches in diameter of trunk, or up to about 15 feet in total height. Practically all the steps in plant- ing small trees apply to both shrubs and large trees, but the latter take special equipment and skill and usually cost more than owners care to spend. Next, trees must be adapted to the climate and the soil of their new situa- tion and be in harmony with the pur- pose of the planting. For screens and windbreaks, it is best to plant evergreens like the spruce, hemlock, fir, cedar, juniper, holly, and similar species that retain live branches close to the base throughout their life. For shade in the yard, deciduous trees (like birch, elm, mulberry, red oak, sycamore, and willow) or ever- greens (like Norway spruce; live oak; Douglas-fir; white, ponderosa, pitch, and loblolly pines) are suitable. In the open, these species develop spreading limbs and may be pruned from below sufficiently to give good clearance. In places where species that attain heights of only 40 to 50 feet at ma- turity are adequate, it is unwise to choose those that grow into giants of 100 feet or more. Later damage from limb breakage and windthrow can 86 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 largely be avoided by proper selection time of the year, but the novice should and location of treJat planting time. plant only in the fall, winter or early and location of trees at planting It is better not to plant species like maples and elms directly on lawns. These and some others form a mat of surface roots and are voracious feed- ers. Much extra watering and fertiliz- ing is required to keep the lawn under such trees green and healthy. Some trees, like the American elm, have a forking habit of growth that may require bracing later. Others, like silver maple and yellow-poplar, have brittle branches that break easily in wind and ice storms. Pin oak, black- gum, green ash, shipmast locust, red- gum, and similar species have an erect habit of growth, require less space, and withstand wind and ice storms better. spring, when most trees are more or less dormant. In some localities, fall plant- ing is as successful as spring planting; in others, it may be either somewhat better or decidedly worse. In the Eastern States south of a line from Boston to Buffalo, Chicago, and Kansas City, and east of a line from Topeka to Corpus Christi, deciduous trees can be moved from the time leaves turn in the autumn until buds burst in the spring, except when tem- peratures are below freezing. The same holds for the humid coastal re- gion on the Pacific, from northern California to British Columbia. Within those zones, evergreens may Some species are rapid growers but be planted from late summer till late are intolerant of shade. Frequently that quality characterizes the relatively short-lived species, like aspen, cotton- wood, and some of the other poplars. The Carolina poplar, which has been widely used in landscaping, is a poor choice around homes because of its short life and its tendency to clog up sewer lines with its roots. Do not mix rapid and slow growers in the same grove or windbreak, or else be sure that the slow growers do well under shade. The trees one selects should be healthy and vigorous. Trees grown in a well-established local nursery are preferable to wild ones or to nursery stock shipped in from great distances. Native species are preferable to the exotic — introduced — ones, but exotics of proved adaptation may be used freely. Some home owners believe that individuality and beauty require ex- otic species, but that is not so. A little time spent in observation and inquiry on successfully landscaped grounds in one's own community may be inval- uable in getting the right start. If one does choose wilding stock, open-grown specimens are hardier and easier to dig than stock in dense woods. SEASON OF PLANTING: Experts can plant trees successfully at almost any spring, provided they are moved with a ball of earth around the roots. North and west of the indicated lines, spring planting is recommended for both evergreens and the deciduous plants because severe freezes or dry winds harm the newly reset plants. Exceptions are the peninsula of Flor- ida and the interior and southern parts of California. In those places, ever- greens can be transplanted whenever soil moisture is abundant; deciduous trees can be transplanted when they are as nearly dormant as they are likely to become there. SPACING: In working out the space requirements of the trees, it is well to draw a sketch to scale, showing build- ings, roads, driveways, walks, courts, shrubs, flower beds, and whatever else will influence the placement of trees. On this sketch one should plot the areas the trees will need when they are mature. Common mistakes are to plant too close in an effort to get quick screening effects, to set small trees under win- dows, to crowd the walls of buildings, and to plant trees where they will eventually block vistas that should re- main open. The oft-quoted rule, "plant thick and thin quick," is no good unless one is aiming at natural Pointers on Planting grove effects, a goal mainly sought only in windbreak plantings. Some trees, like white oak, live oak, black walnut, and elm, need 50 to 60 feet between the trunks at maturity. Smaller trees, like willow, dogwood, and holly, need about 20 feet. Red- cedar, fir, hemlock, and spruce need 20 to 30 feet, but if they are used for windbreaks they may be planted as close as 8 to 10 feet. Columnar varie- ties like juniper, Lombardy poplar, and arborvitae frequently need only 6 to 8 feet. A Sunday afternoon's stroll through a park or an open grove in the country will yield enough informa- tion on bole size and crown area of mature trees of several species. The basic point to remember is to plant far enough from buildings, walks, and driveways to obviate costly moving or much pruning when the trees are big. PREPARATION OF THE SITE: The usual advice is to transplant a tree in soil at least as good as the soil in which it previously grew. That advice is sound enough where it can be applied, but planting stock frequently comes from rich, well-drained nursery sites and has to be reset in inferior soil. In such instances, some site preparation is essential. Drainage is of first importance. Sometimes heavy clay soil or hardpan is encountered at the bottom of the planting hole, but is fortunately under- lain by sand or gravel. If so, puncture the compacted layer several times with a large soil auger, post-hole digger, or similar tool and fill the resulting holes with gravel. This will permit water to percolate downward into the pervious sand or gravel layer beneath. For small seedling stock, a 3- to 5-inch layer of gravel at the bottom of the hole is all that is needed. If the soil is especially tight and is not underlain by a sand or gravel layer, the use of agricultural tile is recom- mended. A single line of 3- or 4-inch tile laid across the bottom of the hole and barely covered by a layer of crushed rock or coarse gravel will help drainage. The bottom of the hole should slope toward the tile, which should be carried to a suitable outlet. In digging the hole, the good topsoil should be set aside and saved for back- filling. Since the soil dug out of holes is often infertile and either too heavy or too light, it is advisable to mix ma- terial into it to improve texture and fertility. In heavy soils, a mixture of one-third topsoil, one-third sand or weathered cinders that are screened to remove large chunks, and one-third mixture of equal parts of peat moss and subsoil is recommended. Well-rotted manure, finely chopped sod, leafmold, or weed compost may be substituted for peat moss. In light soils, the recom- mended mixture for backfilling is one- third topsoil, one-third peat moss, rotted manure, leafmold, compost, or finely chopped sod, and one-third mix- ture of equal parts of subsoil and sand or cinders. Turn over these mixtures three or four times with a shovel, sepa- rating out all stones, the larger woody root fragments, and other trash. On the more unsatisfactory sites, as beach sands or where grading or ero- sion has exposed a gravelly, cemented subsoil, it is advisable to dig out entire bed areas or enlarged holes and fill them in with friable, fertile new soil. Temptation is ever present to add mineral fertilizers in preparing the site for planting. The wise man will sub- due this urge. He will just see that the soil is well drained, has abundant mois- ture, and is of proper tilth to permit good aeration. DIGGING BARE-ROOT STOCK: Until they are 15 to 20 feet high, deciduous species (like pin oak, sycamore, locust, elm, maple, willow, ash, yellow-poplar, and basswood) that shed their leaves each autumn and remain leafless over winter can be easily moved with bare roots. Other deciduous species (like white oak, blackgum, persimmon, hick- ory, walnut, dogwood, and birch) can also be moved bare-rooted, but they recover more slowly and require more care to insure survival. Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 88 The first step in digging up a tree for transplanting is to make a circular trench around the outside spread of the roots of the tree. A tree with a 1- inch trunk diameter (measured a foot above the ground) should have a trench with at least a 10-inch radius. The trench radius should be increased about 10 inches for each inch of in- crease in trunk diameter. Depth of trench should be at least 18 inches, ex- cept in situations where the roots are especially shallow. Gut small roots with a spade and larger ones with an ax. Second, remove the soil from the roots by carefully working inward from the edge of the trench, using a narrow- tine spading fork to comb the roots. Continue combing until most of the roots are exposed. For large trees that require more time to dig, cover ex- posed roots with wet burlap. Third, tip the tree carefully to loosen it further after all lateral roots are un- covered. Avoid strain on any roots that escaped cutting. If a strong taproot is encountered, dig deeper to obtain at least 20 to 30 inches of taproot, de- pending on the size of the tree. Fourth, cover all roots temporarily with damp burlap, moist soil, leaves, or other material to keep them from drying after the tree has been lifted. Whenever possible, move trees on calm, cloudy days to reduce root drying. Trees should be planted as soon as possible after lifting. Where delay is unavoidable, trees may be maintained without deterioration by setting them in easily worked, well-drained soil. DIGGING BALLED STOCK: All ever- greens are best moved with a ball of soil that keeps a central core of the sensitive roots intact and reduces the transplanting shock. Deciduous trees may also be moved with balled roots, but the need is not so great as with ever- greens. The width of the ball varies with the size of the plant, as shown in the first table. To dig balled stock: First, mark a circle on the ground around the tree, making the radius of RECOMMENDED MINIMUM BALL DIAMETERS FOR DIFFERENT SIZES OF SHRUBS AND TREES Shrubs and small trees Larger trees Tree diameter Height of plant Diameter of ball Jf foot above ground Diameter of ball Feet Inches Inches Inches 1V2- 2 II I'A-l'/z 18 2-3 12 l'/2-I3/4 20 3-4 14 I 3/4-2 22 4 - 5 16 2 -2'/2 24 5 -6 18 2V2-3 28 6 -7 20 3 -3'/2 33 7 -8 22 3'/2-4 38 8 -9 24 4 -4'/2 43 9 -10 26 4'/2-5 48 10 -12 29 5 -5'/2 53 12 -14 32 5'/2-6 58 14 -16 36 6 -7 65 RECOMMENDED DEPTHS TO DIG FOR DIFFERENT BALL SIZES Diameter of ball Inches 10 20 30 48 Depth of ball Inches 8 15 20 30 the circle somewhat larger than the width of the ball. Second, dig a vertical trench just outside the marked circle, going down below the zone of abundant fibrous roots. The depth of the ball varies with the size of the tree, as in the second table. Third, cut any lateral roots flush with the inside face of the trench. To avoid jarring the soil loose, use prun- ing shears or a saw instead of an ax for the larger roots. Fourth, pare off all the surplus soil with the back of the spade toward the ball. Trim the sides to slope inward so that the diameter at the bottom of the ball is a few inches less than that at the top, and the surface of the ball is smooth. Fifth, if the ball is not more than 18 Pointers on Planting inches in diameter and the soil is com- pact, adhering firmly, simply undercut the ball and tip it over on a square of burlap. Then lift the ball from the hole. Next, draw burlap tight around the ball and pin it in place with nails. If the soil is loose or the ball diameter exceeds 18 inches, reinforce the pinning with heavy cord, net fencing, or light rope drawn around the ball. The pin- ning and roping should be completed in the hole before lifting. Digging is easier and balls hold together better if the soil is fresh. Take advantage of periods immediately following rains to move trees. Balls too large to lift by direct man- power require the use of platforms and rollers. Trees requiring ball diameters of 4 feet or greater are best moved with special machinery. Moving large trees is a job for experts, not one that the average home owner should attempt on his own. But it is well to remember that large trees can be moved success- fully and that throughout the country there are arborists equipped to under- take such jobs — which are often diffi- cult and cost accordingly. PLANTING: Schedule the planting job so that all soil preparation is com- pleted and all holes dug before the plants are brought in. This will reduce the length of time the trees need to be out of the ground. The steps in planting bare-rooted and balled stock are somewhat dif- ferent. For bare-rooted stock : First, inspect the hole to see that it has a flat bottom and is deep enough and wide enough to accommodate the roots freely without any cramping. Second, shovel 3 to 4 inches of top- soil or prepared soil into the bottom of the hole. Heap up a mound in the center of the hole at the spot where the base of the trunk will rest. The mound should be large enough to pre- vent formation of air pockets as the soil packs and recedes. Third, inspect the roots and prune off any ragged ends. Insert tree and fill in the earth to hold the tree at about the depth it had in its former location. Fourth, spread out the roots to ap- proximately their original position, and shovel in backfill of topsoil or pre- pared soil to hold them in place. Trample the soil carefully around the trunk and roots to prevent excessive settling of soil away from the roots, taking care not to scuff any bark from the roots or base of trunk. Fifth, when the hole is nearly filled, pour in several gallons of water. Water will cause rapid settling of soil and bring it into close contact with the roots. After free water has disappeared, fill in the hole level with the adjoining ground. Add more filling later if the soil continues to settle. To reduce run- off during subsequent watering, build up a small ridge around the hole. For trees planted with a ball of soil: First, see that the hole is at least a foot wider than the ball diameter and about 5 inches deeper than the ball. Second, heap up a low mound in the center of the hole. Measure the depth of the ball as accurately as it is possible, then adjust mound height to insure leaving the tree at the same level it held in its former location. Lower the tree into the hole, then shovel in enough soil at the base of the ball to hold it in place. Third, remove the burlap and shovel in topsoil or prepared soil until the hole is about half full. Tramp down to reduce air pockets. Fourth, fill the hole with water, and when this has soaked away, fill with soil up to ground level. Fifth, build up a 3- to 4-inch ridge around the outer edge of the ball to reduce runoff from watering. If the ball is compact, of heavy texture, and much drier than adjoining backfill, ex- amine the ball to see whether it is ab- sorbing water. The tendency is for water to percolate downward and out- ward into the looser, lighter textured adjoining soil, leaving the ball dry. If this is happening, take special pre- cautions to see that the ball is ade- quately moistened at the start. 9° PRUNING: Enough leaf -bearing sur- face of newly transplanted deciduous trees should be thinned out by pruning to balance the loss of roots. Prune only lateral branches, removing from one- half to two-thirds of them. The main leader and any short branches growing out directly from the leader or the main trunk should be left undisturbed. Most evergreen trees require little, if any, pruning, except to remove broken or injured branches. Wounds from pruning or other in- jury, if more than a square inch in area, should be dressed with special asphalt- base tree paint, shellac, or other suit- able wound dressing to hasten healing and reduce the possibility of decay. High-quality roofing asphalt may be used (as a substitute) if prepared dres- sings are not obtainable. Tree-wound dressing compounds and paints are available at arborists' supply houses and also in most well-stocked hardware and paint stores. AFTER-CARE : The work does not end after the tree has been set in the ground, has been given a preliminary watering, and has been properly pruned. If the tree is more than 7 feet tall and in a situation exposed to winds, it needs support. A single stake, long enough to reach up into the lower part of the crown after being driven down to solid soil about 1 foot from the base of the trunk, will do for trees up to 2 inches in trunk diameter. The tree is fastened to the stake with wire, which is run through a piece of old garden hose to keep it from cutting into the bark. If wire and hose are not avail- able, burlap and sash cord or light rope will do. Trees that are 2 to 4 inches in diam- eter require two or three such stakes. Trees larger than 4 inches in diameter should be guyed down with three or more guys. Use wire or cable run through old garden hose or attached to the tree by means of a lag hook, and fasten the lower ends to 2-inch by 4-inch by 4-foot stakes or to deadmen. Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 Another point to remember is mulching. A 2- to 3-inch layer of peat moss, leaves, straw, hay, shredded corn stalks, bagasse, wood shavings, or simi- lar material laid down in a circle over the root area is definitely advisable. This mulch will reduce evaporation, prevent early freezing, and keep down weeds. On deciduous trees a mulch layer is not necessary after the first 2 years, but on evergreens, particularly broadleaf types, a continuous mulch layer is desirable. Where rodents are numerous, the mulch layer should be pulled away from the base of the trunk to reduce possibilities of girdling injury. To the newly planted tree, proper watering is the most important of all measures. The soil should be kept fresh at all times and occasionally be well- saturated to make sure that roots have not dried out. But waterlogging should definitely be avoided. Excess water will kill some species faster than drought. Exposed trunks of newly planted trees are sometimes injured by sun- scald. To prevent this injury, wrap the trunk and lower limbs with strips of burlap or with special horticultural crepe paper, which comes in strips 4 to 6 inches wide. The wrapping should remain on at least a year. Inquire among local nurserymen or experi- enced tree planters to determine which species, if any, require wrapping. No fertilizing is advised at planting time, but when the tree is established, say 6 months to a year after planting, moderate fertilizing is recommended. The kinds and amounts of fertilizers and the season of application depend on the local soil and climate. Advice on this matter can usually be obtained from the county agent, State experi- ment station, or any local nurseryman. T. E. MAKI is in charge of the Gulf- coast Branch of the Southern Forest Experiment Station, Gulfport, Miss. A graduate of the University of Min- nesota., where he majored in forestry and soils, he has had experience in landscape plantings in the Lake States, Idaho, Maryland, and Mississippi. KEEPING SHADE TREES HEALTHY CURTIS MAY The formula for keeping shade trees healthy has three parts: Selecting kinds of trees that are adapted to your locality; planting them in good soil; and following a program of soil main- tenance, watering, pruning, and treat- ment for diseases and insects. The kinds of shade trees that will grow well in the different regions are discussed in preceding articles. A few general considerations need to be re- peated here: Generally speaking, the species that grow naturally in any region are adapted to the climate of the region and can cope with native pests. If they also can withstand the artificial conditions imposed when they are planted for shade trees, it is advisable to use them, provided they are of the proper form and size. Some trees grow satisfactorily outside their natural range, it is true, and many species introduced from other con- tinents succeed well in various parts of the United States. Before one makes extensive plantings of the introduced species, he will do well to check their usefulness, hardiness, and values. On those points, other sections of this book, aboretums, experiment stations, nurserymen, and garden publications give a wealth of information. Your properly chosen tree has been planted — how does it grow? If it grows well, leave it alone. If it does poorly, one or several remedies may be needed. Some of the symptoms of disease and decline in trees are so specific that the cause can be diag- nosed accurately and easily. Other symptoms can develop from a number of causes. Five early warnings that all is not well are sparse foliage; leaves that are paler green than normal ; die- back of the tips of the twigs; drying and loosening of the bark; and ab- normally slow growth. Look first to the soil — its fertility, drainage, aeration, and moisture. The trouble might be that the roots are not developing as they should because the soil is heavy clay, airless and poorly drained, such as the soil often is that is excavated in the construction of a base- ment. If so, fertilizer, organic matter, and loosening of the soil are needed. Most of the roots of trees do not grow deeply into the earth. Unless the soil is gravelly or sandy, the bulk of the roots of most kinds of trees is likely to be found in the upper 3 feet; com- monly they penetrate even less deeply. When the minerals in the soil mass in which the roots are growing become inadequate to maintain good growth, the tree begins to show signs of decline. Annual depletion of the mineral ele- ments by taking away all grass clip- pings and fallen leaves may not affect the tree for several decades of its early life, but after 30 to 50 years signs of mineral depletion often are evident. Street trees are even more likely to decline from lack of soil fertility than lawn trees, because the soil mass in which their roots can develop well is likely to be even more restricted than it is for lawn trees. The need for addi- tional minerals in the soil can be cor- rected by applications of fertilizer. THE FERTILIZER should be applied regularly, preferably in the spring, just about the time growth begins. It can be applied safely until about the mid- dle of the summer in most parts of the country — even later in the Deep South. Or, the fertilizer can be put on in the fall after the trees have lost their leaves. Evergreens, however, should not be fertilized in the late fall. The amount of fertilizer to be used without danger of causing injury varies somewhat with the kind of tree, the condition of the soil, and the time of application. A safe dosage is 2 pounds for each inch in diameter of the trunk 3 feet above the ground line. Wherever 92 possible, it should be put into the ground to a depth of 15 to 24 inches to encourage deeper root growth. When fertilizer is spread on the sur- face over a period of several years, the tree tends to develop roots at the sur- face of the soil, which interferes with mowing the lawn, and during drought periods cannot obtain sufficient water. Maples and elms tend to produce many roots near the surface even under the best conditions, and fertilizer on the soil encourages the habit. If a chemical fertilizer is used, it should be thoroughly soaked deep into the soil; otherwise it might cause some burning of plants, and the roots, which take up nutrients only in solution, will be able to get it slowly or not at all. The practice of raking and burning the fallen leaves each autumn and re- moving all grass clippings eventually reduces the fertility of the soil to such a low point that trees may not get enough of the mineral elements they need. In the forest the decaying fallen leaves provide a protective mulch that conserves natural moisture and tem- pers summer's heat and winter's cold. They return to the soil the mineral ele- ments necessary for tree growth. Grass under trees may rob them of needed minerals. Top dressing the lawn does not meet the requirements of the tree, but a heavy application of well-rotted manure over the root area of the tree is usually beneficial. A SECOND FACTOR that sometimes affects the growth of shade trees is the lack of aeration of the soil. Clay soils that bake hard in summer and that are heavy and sticky when wet are not favorable for good tree-root growth. Such soils can be made looser by the addition of sand or some other suitable material and organic substances, such as manure, peat, compost, thoroughly rotten sawdust, decayed leaves, and so on. The materials can be worked into the top 4 to 6 inches of soil. Ordinarily for that purpose it is better to use a fork than a shovel, because a fork in- jures the roots less. A surface mulch of Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 organic material is often helpful; it helps to conserve water and provides insulation against overheating. For the decomposition of newly fallen leaves and sawdust, additional nitrogen is required. Unless nitrogen is added, the addition to the soil of fresh leaves or sawdust may actually reduce the amount of the essential nitrogen available to the tree roots. Moreover, fresh manure, newly fallen leaves, and similar materials mixed into the soil or buried in it may release, during decomposition, injurious sub- stances that are poisonous to the trees. However, leaves and sawdust can be used as surface mulches. Trees often get too little water: Many street trees grow in places where the area of soil exposed to rainfall is small; lawn trees have to compete for water with grass and other plants. Moreover, the drain pipes that honey- comb the soil in cities remove from it, every day, thousands of gallons of water and might lower the soil water table so much that established trees cannot get enough water. Heavy watering will prevent damage from this cause. Light sprinkling merely moistens the ground for only a few inches and does not benefit the trees. A thorough soaking of the ground for several hours once a week is much bet- ter than sprinkling each evening. A COMMON CAUSE of the decline of established trees in residential areas is damage done to them when the houses were built and streets laid out. Soil piled on the ground over the root area of a tree can kill it within a few weeks or after a score of years, de- pending upon the depth of the fill, the sensitivity of the species, and other factors. A few inches of earth fill over its roots can kill the American beech. The American elm will often with- stand several feet of earth fill. If the earth fill happens to be gravel or has a large amount of decomposed organic matter in it, the effects may not be evident until 15 to 30 years later. Gradual compaction of the Keeping Shade Trees Healthy filled-in soil and the complete decom- position of the organic material slowly reduces permeability of the soil to air and the roots die slowly from suffoca- tion. Eventually the tops of trees with damaging earth fills over their roots begin to die back. Often they blow over in storms — the stubs might have rotted below the soil line and for some distance above it; oxygen starvation of the roots combined with wood decay has finally killed the tree. How can one tell whether an earth fill has been made over the root area of a tree? Normally the base of a tree at the ground line and just above it is greater in diameter than the main trunk a few feet above the ground. A buttress or flaring of the trunk just above the ground line indicates that it has grown normally at that soil level. However, if the trunk enters the ground without expanding, flaring, or buttressing, one should be suspicious that an earth fill has been placed over the roots. The soil around the base of the trunk should then be removed to determine if a fill has been made. The bad effects of a fill can often be prevented or overcome by installing drain tiles in the soil. The tiles should be placed at the old soil level. They should open into a well built around the base of the tree. This well can either be left open or can be filled with coarse stones. The tiles may be installed either in a radiating pattern or be laid in parallel lines. In either case they will provide both aeration and a place to introduce water during drought. MANY DISEASES of shade trees are caused by parasitic fungi and bacteria. Some virulent parasites will attack and disfigure or kill trees even though they are growing under the best possible conditions. Many weak parasitic or- ganisms, however, that do practically no damage when trees are growing well can destroy trees that grow under poor conditions. To avoid the attacks of many kinds of twig blights and trunk and branch cankers caused by weakly parasitic or- 93 ganisms, give your trees the best pos- sible growing conditions — keep them well fertilized, provide organic mate- rial in the soil, make certain that the soil is permeable to air, and water ade- quately during droughts. Many of the virulent fungus para- sites can be controlled by the applica- tion of fungicides, but for others no means of control are yet available. Some diseases can be prevented by con- trolling the insects that spread them. Most leaf diseases (which do their damage by reducing the ability of the leaves to make sugars and other foods needed for growth and other normal functions) can be controlled by spray- ing with fungicides. Sycamore an- thracnose, a destructive fungus disease, will respond to pruning of the cankered branches and spraying with a fungi- cide two or three times in summer. Bordeaux mixture is the commonly recommended fungicide. For this work power sprayers are usually necessary. Leaf spots of elm, maple, horsechest- nut, ash, and many other kinds of trees can be controlled by spraying. Many leaf diseases are not suffi- ciently serious to warrant spraying for them. They ordinarily will not kill a tree in one season, but if the attack is serious year after year, great damage may result. The fungi that cause cankers of the limbs and branches can often be con- trolled by removing the diseased branches or by cutting out the cank- ered tissues. When cankers are excised, the wounds should be painted with an Illustrated on the next two pages are the form and comparative size of commonly planted shade trees. They are drawn to scale; the distance between the horizontal lines is 1 0 feet. Another point brought out is one that home owners often overlook — a young tree, 2 or 3 feet high when it is planted, may in time grow into a giant, and therefore should not be planted too close to a house. The drawings were made by Rudolph A. Wendelin; the original silhou- ettes were prepared by Marguerite M. Mc- Cormick, under the direction of Curtis May, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering. Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 Catalpa Black larch Sugar maple Tuliptree Ginkgo White spruce Red mulberry White oak Red maple Paper birch Yellowwood Chestnut oak Sweetgum Willow oak Horsechestnut II ellbark hickory American beech American linden Sequoia Scarlet oak Redcedar Mimosa ' Hackberry Redwood Keeping Shade Trees Healthy American elm Chinaberry 'Honeylocust Dogwood Pin oak Blackgum Sycamore maple White pine Ohio buckeye Redbud Austrian pine Magnolia American ash Norway spruce Hornbeam Norway maple Lombardy poplar Black cherry Eastern cotfonwood Hemlock Madrone American holly Arborvitae Live oak asphaltum paint containing 0.2 per- cent phenol-mercury nitrate, a power- ful fungicide. One might want to treat the wound caused by pruning dead and undesir- able branches from a tree. Many hard- ware stores and paint stores sell tree paint or tree wound dressing, which usually is obtainable in either plastic or liquid form and practically always has an asphalt-base paint. Ordinary asphalt roofing paint is satisfactory, but it is not antiseptic. Some fungi develop in the wood of living trees and cause wilt and dieback of the tops. They are difficult to con- trol; for the most part, no adequate means of combating them have been developed. Verticillium wilt of elm and of maple, however, can sometimes be overcome by fertilizing the affected trees, improving the condition of the soil in which they are rooted, and watering heavily during dry spells. Some kinds of fungi require more than one kind of plant to complete their life cycle. For example, one kind of gall that develops on the common redcedar is caused by a rust fungus. To develop, the fungus spores produced on the galls must be transmitted to an apple or closely related tree, on which they cause leaf and fruit spot. The Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 spores are then carried back, by the winds or otherwise, to redcedars, which they infect. The rust fungi that have such a life history generally can be controlled by spraying, but some- times one can avoid such diseases by eliminating one of the host plants. Along the northeastern seaboard, ash rust sometimes becomes epidemic; the fungus that causes it develops on marshgrass, which sometimes is used as a mulch in orchards. DECAY OF THE WOOD of limbs and trunk can be combated by removing the affected parts or removal of the decayed wood. Sometimes the cavities made in removing decayed wood are filled with concrete or other materials ; sometimes they are left open. Wood decay fungi often gain en- trance through wounds that expose sapwood or heartwood. Avoidance, in- sofar as possible, of wounding and painting of accidental wounds and pruning cuts over 1/2 inches in di- ameter will assist in the prevention of wood decay. CURTIS MAY is a principal pathol- ogist in the Division of Forest Path- ology, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, United States Department of Agriculture. THE PHOTOGRAPHS in the next section were chosen to summarize the main points in this book and to awaken interest in the purposes and pleasures of trees and forests: Our forests are diverse in types, ex- tent, and uses. They are a living part of every Amer- can's life, whether he lives in Puerto Rico, North Dakota, Alaska, whether in Maine or Hawaii. They provide paper, recreation, furniture, foods, feeds, protection from wind and flood, homes for birds and other wildlife, and so many other products and comforts that no man has counted them all. Forests protect hillsides and moun- tainsides and make on them living res- ervoirs of water. Trees and forests, however, are not something only on a far mountain. The trees at our own doors are neighbors, friends, and helpers. These trees, these forests, need care. We are making great strides in car- ing for our trees and forests. We have new machines, uses, cutting methods, knowledge of breeding trees, improve- ments in watershed practices, fire fight- ing, planting, marketing, and more. 97 PROTECTING SHADE TREES FROM INSECTS R. A. ST. GEORGE Many kinds of insects attack shade trees. Some of the worst infest the trunk or the branches or the leaves. Some merely mar the appearance of the part attacked. Others cause severe injury. But of all of them it can be said that they have specific habits whereby they and their damage can be iden- tified, assessed, and used to determine the need for applying control meas- ures. It is convenient to separate the more important insect enemies of shade trees into two groups, those that attack weakened and dying trees and those that infest the more healthy ones. THE FIRST GROUP includes many species of bark-infesting and wood- boring beetles. They can detect trees that have reached a decadent stage long before a man can see the changes associated with decadence. The ambrosia beetles frequently are among the first insects to attack weak- ened trees. Their presence can be de- tected by the strings or piles of white, powdery frass that they push to the bark surface as they extend their tun- nels deep into the wood. It is a posi- tive indication that the tree is dying. If the infestation is confined to a small area on one side of the trunk, the tree might be saved by taking measures to revitalize it — fertilizing and watering, and by applying a protective chemical spray to the stem of the tree. But if the attack extends entirely around the trunk, the processes of decadence are likely to have progressed so far that the tree will die, and the expenditure of large sums of money to save it is questionable. Often it is more practical to dispose of such a tree than to try to save it. Certain of the roundheaded beetles attack dying trees. The females of some species of the roundheaded beetle make slits or pits in the bark and deposit their eggs in them. After the larvae have 802062° — 49 8 worked beneath the bark and into the wood their presence can be detected by the noise they make while cutting their tunnels and also by the coarse, shredded wood fibers that are pushed to the bark surface. Many bark beetles attack weakened trees. They work between the bark and the wood. They make small shot holes in the bark and push their granular borings to the surface. Their color, which is similar to that of the bark, helps one to distinguish between the bark borers and wood borers. Certain species, known as turpentine beetles, are much larger than the rest of the bark beetles and confine their attacks to the bases of trees. A large, reddish pitch tube is formed at each point of entry. In the eastern and southern sec- tions of the country, their attacks are mostly unsuccessful, but in the western pine regions turpentine beetles can sometimes kill slow-growing and in- jured trees and cause considerable con- cern to owners of mountain homes. The obvious way to combat these in- sects is to keep the trees healthy — to remove the factors responsible for the weakening of shade trees. Among the factors causing the most damage are prolonged droughts; earth fills; sun- scald and whipping of the stems, due to severe thinnings around trees left for natural shade; mechanical injury to the trunks and roots of trees made by heavy equipment while cutting roads and grading the soil around new homes; poor drainage; transplanting at the wrong time of year; and not using due caution in handling the trees or caring for them sufficiently until they are well established. THE SECOND GROUP includes those insects that attack healthy trees. All parts of the tree are subject to infesta- tion. The stem borers include many kinds Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 of beetles and moths. Their larvae cause injury by tunneling into the sap- wood and heartwood of the trunks. The locust borer, which attacks black locust, is a good example of this group. The twig borers and girdlers consist principally of certain roundheaded beetles, the larvae of which mine or girdle the terminal shoots. Sometimes the girdled terminals are not entirely broken off by the wind; then dangling dead branches become conspicuous, especially on hickory and oak trees. The white-pine weevil attacks and kills the leaders of white pines. A moth causes similar injury to the terminal shoots of the red and Scotch pines. The elm bark beetles feed in the crotches of the smaller branches of the elm tree and, in doing so, transmit the spores of the destructive Dutch elm disease. Certain sucking insects, known as chermids, attack the terminal shoots of white pines and frequently cause a marked drooping of the branches or their death. The buds of several species of pines are subject to attack by tip moths. The gall-making insects consist for the most part of tiny flies, certain plant lice, small wasps, and some mites. Most of them are relatively unimportant. The leaf feeders include nearly all types of insects and their close relatives, the mites; the chewing insects destroy the foliage and the sucking insects remove the juices. Some mine the leaves; others work on the surface. The elm leaf beetle and the Japanese beetle are good examples of the leaf- eating type. They skeletonize the foli- age and cause the leaves to turn brown and drop to the ground. Repeated de- foliations weaken elms and may cause their death. Of these two insects, the Japanese beetle is by far the more important economically. Unchecked by its natu- ral enemies and supplied with an abun- dance of its natural food plants, it soon spread over much of the eastern United States. Serious infestations now occur from Connecticut to North Carolina. The beetles appear during June and remain active until the latter part of August in the vicinity of Washington, D. C. They cause most extensive in- jury during the first 2 or 3 weeks, when they attack the upper and outer parts of trees and shrubs exposed to sunlight. The beetles also can seriously injure flowers, fruits, vegetables, and the grubs destroy the roots of grass and other plants. The catalpa worm, or sphinx, is an example of the kind of insect that eats the entire leaf and frequently all the leaves of a tree. The bagworms attack many kinds of trees. Their favorite host is arbor- vitae. Their presence can be detected by the cases or bags on the trees. The locust leaf miner is a small, brownish beetle that deposits its eggs on the leaf surface. The new-hatched larva penetrates the leaf and mines the interior. Severe injury disfigures the leaves and may kill them. Spider mites and such insects as the aphids, chermids, and scales suck the juices from the foliage of many kinds of shade trees. One leafhopper that feeds on elm leaves has been found to transmit the elm virus disease, which kills the trees more quickly than the Dutch elm disease. GENERAL PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES can do much to prevent such insect damage to shade trees. Some, which do not require the use of chemicals, are aimed at safeguarding the trees from the weakening influences to which they are frequently subjected during and following new construction. Trees that are being left to provide shade about new residences, after thin- nings have been made among the re- maining trees, should have their trunks wrapped with burlap or other suitable material to prevent sunscald in hot weather. Isolated tall trees of small diameter should be anchored by guide wires to keep them from being whipped by the wind. Protecting Shade Trees from Insects Trees cut in thinnings made during the fall months should be removed from the property before spring to avoid attracting insects ; if they are cut in summer, they should be disposed of at once. The lower part of the trunks should be boxed to protect the bark from mechanical injury while heavy equip- ment is being used about the property. Changes in grade level around trees should be avoided wherever possible. If it is necessary to raise the grade more than about 6 inches, injury to the trees can be reduced by installing a system of tiles and a well about the trunk of each of the trees so that air can reach the roots. ( Details are given in Department of Agriculture Farmers' Bulletin No. 1967, Reducing Damage to Trees From Construction Work.) Good drainage away from the build- ing and the trees is needed. In trans- planting, one should choose the right time of year to move the particular species. The ball of earth about the roots should be as large as possible. The tree needs plenty of water for a considerable period after it is placed in a new location. During a drought, all trees should be watered as much as practical. Sometimes it is wise to apply com- mercial fertilizer to the soil around trees to help maintain or improve their vigor. Toxic CHEMICALS,, applied to the bark, can often protect trees against insects that attack the main stem and limbs. Such chemical protection is especially desirable where summer homes are built in wooded areas. A chemical like DDT, which acts as a contact insecticide as well as a stom- ach poison, is suitable. It will help to prevent attack even by many of the insects that are attracted to the trunks of weakened trees. Applications of DDT in the form of emulsions or wettable powders have prevented attack by many insects that infest the buds and foliage of various kinds of shade trees. However, DDT 99 is not a cure-all, and certain insects, such as bagworms, some of the aphids, scales, and the spider mites, are not readily controlled by this chemical. Other newer chemicals that have recently appeared on the market and show promise for killing some of these insects and mites are methoxychlor, hexaethyl tetraphosphate, tetraethyl pyrophosphate, and parathion. Meth- oxychlor is reported to be only slightly toxic, while the other chemicals are regarded as being highly toxic to humans and warm-blooded animals, so considerable care must be taken in handling them. Because of this hazard and until further experimentation has been conducted to determine the tol- erance of various plants to these chemi- cals, they are not recommended at this time for general use. SEVERAL CONTROLS are now avail- able. Trees that have become infested by insects despite precautionary meas- ures should be examined carefully to determine whether the trees are dying, whether they should be disposed of so as not to menace the remaining trees, or whether they can be saved by the application of a toxic chemical. Dying trees — in their bark and wood — usually contain broods of in- sects that can damage nearby living trees if they are allowed to develop and emerge. Bark beetles, usually the most im- portant of these insects, can be de- stroyed either by burning the infested bark or by applying chemicals. It is important that any contemplated con- trol measures be carried out promptly before the insects can mature and emerge, preferably at the first sign of change of color in the foliage. All types of bark-boring insects can be killed by felling the trees and thoroughly spraying the bark with a solution composed of one part ortho- dichlorobenzene to six parts of fuel oil. Placing the tree trunks in the sun will help to increase penetration of the spray. The log sections should be turned at least once in order to treat 100 thoroughly the entire bark surface. Care must be taken in applying this spray to avoid getting it on living trees, shrubs, or flowers, as it will injure or kill them. Precautions must be taken also to keep the spray from coming in contact with the skin and especially from reaching the eyes of the operator. Borers that tunnel the main trunks of shade trees are difficult to control. The method usually employed consists of injecting into the burrow some fumigant, such as carbon bisulfide, and then closing the opening with putty or its equivalent, so as to confine the gas. If the insect is of the type that works mainly beneath the bark, like the dog- wood borer, a mixture of paradichloro- benzene and cottonseed oil daubed on the parts attacked is often effective in killing the insects. A DDT emulsion sprayed on the bark should be bene- ficial in preventing further attack, and the application of fertilizers and water will increase the vitality while the trees are overcoming the infestation. Damage to pine trees caused by tur- pentine beetles can be checked either by cutting out the attacking beetles as soon as the pitch exudations are ob- served or by injecting carbon bisulfide into their galleries. Infested terminals of trees attacked by twig borers and twig girdlers should be removed and burned. A good control for scale insects and mites consists of applying a dormant- strength miscible oil spray in the spring just before new growth begins. These and other sucking insects, like aphids, that are present on the terminal shoots in summer should be sprayed with a contact insecticide, such as an emulsion of nicotine sulfate, soap, white oil. Damage by tip moths can be checked by spraying the terminal growth of pines with a DDT emulsion or wettable powder. For best results, the spray has to be put on as the eggs hatch. Many of the leaf feeders are con- trolled with applications of lead ar- senate, which is more effective than DDT in controlling certain insects, such as the bagworm. In general, how- Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 ever, DDT is the more valuable ma- terial because it is effective a long time and because it kills insects when they crawl over sprayed surfaces, as well as when they eat it or are touched by it. Various kinds of spraying equip- ment are available for applying in- secticides to shade trees. The simple 3-gallon type is suitable for spraying a few low trees about a home. Large power sprayers and the new mist blow- ers are used for treating large trees on residential, city, or park areas. If an insect outbreak affects the trees over a wide territory, it is best for all concerned to cooperate in planning a control program. United action can reduce the insect population more quickly and more effectively than if each person acts independently. Fur- thermore, where tall trees are con- cerned, community action will make practical the use of high-power spray- ing equipment, such as hydraulic machines or the more modern mist blowers. It is not necessary to go into detail on an important point like this — a point that every home owner ap- preciates. He knows how difficult and costly it is to replace trees that have died, how precious are his shade trees, how close his friendship with them can become — quite beyond measurement in dollars and cents. But if such a measure is needed, we have one by J. A. Hyslop, formerly of the Depart- ment of Agriculture. He has estimated that the losses due to insects in shade trees total 87 million dollars a year in the United States. Home owners, alone and together, can stop the insects. R. A. ST. GEORGE is an entomol- ogist in the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, and is sta- tioned at the Agricultural Research Center at Beltsville. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Agricultural Col- lege and George Washington Univer- sity. He has been associated with the Division of Forest Insect Investiga- tions since 1918 and has specialized in research problems concerning insects that affect forest and shade trees. FORESTS AND MEN -4 juniper centuries old: "A man does not plant a tree for himself, he plants it for posterity/3 Trees Living Together THE COMMUNITY OF TREES JESSE H. BUELL A"> ONE gets farther and farther be- yond the centers of population he comes finally to the forests that human activities have not changed — to virgin forests. In them, one can see better what man has done to forests and how he can more wisely mold them to his benefit. In these manless forests, also, a person comes to understand that a forest is a changing, living community, subject always to the forces of inani- mate nature — earth, air, sunshine, and rain ; to the interaction within them of plants and the animals ; to the changes that forests themselves can effect in their environment. Green plants are the engines for the manufacture of the carbohydrates — the basic stuff that all vegetable matter comes from, all animals live on, and by which, ultimately, all of us are fed, clothed, sheltered, and kept warm. A forest is a vast battery of such engines. In a single growing season an acre well stocked with vigorous trees may pro- The drawing at the top of the page is of a scene among the redwoods in California. duce 3 or 4 tons of useful wood, not counting the additional unmeasured pounds of the new growth on branches and roots and in leaves, buds, flowers, and seeds. The raw materials are car- bon dioxide from the air, water and mineral nutrients from the soil, and warmth and energy from the sun. Of these, only water and warmth are likely anywhere on earth to be too scarce for forest growth. Carbon dioxide makes up only 3 parts in 10,000 parts of the atmosphere, but unlimited fresh sup- plies are continually brought by air cur- rents. Mineral nutrients, although in- dispensable, are needed in such small quantities — they make up only a small fraction of the dry weight of trees — that they are abundant enough almost' everywhere to keep forests growing. But forests use up vast quantities of water. To make a summer's growth, the roots of the acre of healthy forest that grew 3 or 4 tons of wood may take up from the soil 4,000 tons of water. Much of this water, passing up from the roots through the trunk, branches, and leaves, escapes into the surround- 103 104 ing air. Its chief usefulness to the tree is to carry nutrients from the soil and organic materials from storage places in the trunk and roots to the leaves and the growing twigs. Although the water that is transpired into the air never goes into the building of woody tissue or leaves, trees cannot live with- out it. Such quantities are required that the climate over large areas of the earth is too dry to supply them. And the circumpolar regions are too cold for tree growth. No plant can thrive where monthly mean tempera- tures are below freezing the year around. Just a few days in midsummer, warm enough to melt the snow and thaw out the soil to a depth of an inch or two, may bring into bloom tiny alpine plants on the bleak north shore of Greenland within 350 miles of the Pole. But so short a growing season would give a tree no chance to store up food for another season's burst of growth and it could not withstand the intense cold of the arctic winter. So it was that before man began to use the forests their distribution over the continents was determined by the climatic pattern of the earth. Drought and cold are the barriers that limit tree growth, but the effect of each de- pends upon the other. It is the com- bination of temperature and rainfall that counts: A rainfall sufficient for vigorous tree growth in the Temperate Zone, to give an instance, might be in- adequate in the Tropics, where water evaporates more rapidly from the soil and plants transpire faster, and would be useless in the polar regions, where temperatures are below freezing most of the time. In general, forests occur only where the annual precipitation is more than 15 or 20 inches a year and where the frost-free period is at least 14 or 16 weeks long. In regions too dry for forests, grasses grow or they give way to desert; where it is too cold, tundras and icefields spread. The broad forest zones of the earth are the coniferous forests that stretch around the world above about 45° north latitude, fol- Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 low the mountains farther south, and (in North America) extend down the Pacific coast and then reappear in the southeastern United States ; the broad- leaf, Temperate Zone forests of east- ern North America, western Europe, and eastern Asia; the scrub or wood- land forests that border the desert areas of all the continents; and the tropical forests of Africa and South America. We in the United States are fortu- nate in our present and past climates, for they have given us the richest and most varied forests to be found any- where in the Temperate Zones. In Maine or Michigan the forests are spruce and fir. In the South they are longleaf and loblolly pines; in be- tween they are birch, maple, white pine, and hemlock toward the north, and oaks, hickory, and yellow-poplar toward the south. In parts of Cali- fornia are giant redwoods; in other parts are scrub chapparal and wood- land that border dry lands where cacti are as big as trees; they, in turn, give way to deserts where almost nothing grows. West of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon and Washington are Doug- las-fir forests; eastward to the far edge of the Rockies are ponderosa and lodgepole pines where the rainfall is sufficient, with spruce and fir showing up in the places where the mountains go high enough to reach the alpine cold. In the wide belt stretching from the base of the Rockies toward the Mississippi, the only trees you will find are cottonwoods and willows along the creeks or planted shelterbelts around the farms, for this is the great domain of the grasses. Within the broad pat- tern there are innumerable variations. But neither the broad pattern nor the local variations are standing still. IN THE FIRST PLACE, climates are continually shifting. Geological revolu- tions, such as inundations, mountain uprisings, and ice ages, can profoundly alter weather and vegetation. We do not need to go into details, but one example is especially interesting. When The Community of Trees 105 the icecap moved slowly down from the polar regions, Temperate Zone trees, which at one time grew almost to the Pole itself, migrated southward ahead of the freezing weather. In Europe the trees finally came to the Alps, which made an east-to-west barrier directly across their path. The climate of the mountains was already cold, and, be- cause none of the scattering seeds lodged where they could grow, many species disappeared; only a few were left to repopulate the land when the glacier receded. Today Europe has only a few native kinds of trees. In our country, the mountains run north and south, and none lay in the way of the trees that were retreating before the ice. Consequently a rich variety sur- vived the ice age and gave us our pres- ent wealth of species. The second source of change is the forest itself. It is a living community of trees; through its own internal work- ings it is constantly adjusting itself. Within the community, plants and animals live, grow old, and die; some- times they help their own kind to inherit their places; more often they hinder them from doing so; always, however, they alter the environment, and, through that alteration, change the forest itself. On any tract of land, these continu- ing adjustments bring about a natural development of the vegetation that re- sembles the evolutionary development of an animal or plant. Early plant com- munities give way to more advanced forms in a succession of infancy, youth, and maturity that, while the climate stays unchanged, is regular and pre- dictable. These regular and predictable changes are of utmost importance : We can modify them by the way we treat the forest ; we can speed up natural suc- cession or delay it, depending on the kind of forest most useful to us. Let us, then, take a closer look at natural forest succession, and consider ways in which we can modify it. Every forest area began once as a stretch of bare rock or of water. If it was a lake, algae and other floating plants first appeared. As they died and sank they made the lake more shallow, and plants could grow that must have their roots in the bottom and their leaves above the water. The remains of these in time built the land still higher, making the area less suitable for floating and rooting acquatic plants and more favorable for land plants. These, in turn, took over and helped to build up the ground with decaying leaves and stems and to dry it out by transpiring quantities of water. Herbs gave way to bushes and they to for- ests, because climate was favorable. If the forest area began as bare rock, lichens first got a toehold in the crevices that could catch a few drops of moisture. Gradually, as one genera- tion after another added its substance to the fragments of rock broken away by weathering or the corrosive action of the lichen juices, a thin layer of soil was built up in which mosses could take root and the process continued. As each type of plant spread its shade and added more humus, the air near the ground was made cooler so that evaporation was lessened, and the soil became more spongy and could hold more rain water. The soil deepened and got more moist, the shade in- creased, and new plants were favored over those already there. Finally again, because the climate permitted, a forest resulted. None of us in his lifetime can see all these stages over a single area. The whole process may take hundreds or thousands of years, and some of the steps may change so slowly that they seem interminable. But in one spot we can find lichens helping the slow dis- integration of rock, in another poly- pody ferns growing on soil so thinly spread over a ledge that they dry to tinder during drought, and in another blueberry bushes where the soil is a few inches deep. Elsewhere we can find pitch pines and scrub oaks in dry situations and a forest of maple and beech in a deep, moist cove. By going from one place to another we can pic- ture the slow process of succession. io6 Or, in a favorable situation, it may be moving so fast that we can ap- prehend its progress in a few years. Take an abandoned farm in southern Connecticut. The summer after cul- tivation stops, tall weeds grow in the fields. Next year, there may be a little grass beneath the weeds, and black- berry seedlings will have started. At the end of 5 years, the field will be a tangle of briars. Here and there clumps of gray birch will have started from seed blown in by the wind, and juni- pers will be dotted about where birds have lighted and have gotten rid of the seeds of the juniper berries they have been eating. In 10 years, the old field is a young forest of birch and juniper higher than your head; in 20 years, oaks and maples will be coming in in the shade; in 40, the birches will be dying out, some of the oaks that got an early start will be crowding the junipers, and the place will begin to look like the wood lot that never was plowed. Meanwhile, around the edges of the millpond down the slope, the pickerel- wTeed and waterlilies will have grown farther and farther out into the water. The shore line will have been pushed out with a tangle of buttonbushes, and at the upper end of the pond, where 40 years ago one could push a row- boat, there may be a forest of red maples with oaks coming in along the drier edges. Both in the old field and the mill- pond, as in all vegetational succession, progress is toward median moisture. Dry areas become less dry, and the wet areas less wet. The important lesson to be gained from a study of natural plant succes- sion is that, wherever the climate is suitable for forests, the trend is to- ward them. Fire may destroy them, in- sects or diseases decimate them, or winds blow them down; but, given time, they will build back again. Fur- thermore, once the process of succes- sion is understood for a region, the steps can be predicted. The trend is not only toward a forest but toward a Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 particular type of forests, the forest that can use most efficiently the rainfall and the temperatures that prevail. It will be made up of trees whose seedlings can grow in the shade of their parents. Such a forest perpetuates itself. It is the climax, and does not change unless the climate changes or it is disturbed. Of all the disturbers of forests, man is first. Because trees grow in climates comfortable for him and favorable to agriculture, he has destroyed them to make room for his cities and his farms. He has needed wood, and to satisfy that need has used up or cut into for- ests on vast acreages of land that he did not intend to use for anything else. When the first settlers came to this country there were 1,072 million acres of forests within the 1,905-odd million acres that now make up the United States. Only 624 million acres remain ; of them, only 45 million are at all com- parable to the original forests. The forest land most suitable for farming has already been cleared. The trend is now the other way ; large areas once farmed have been abandoned. FORESTRY is THE handling of forest lands to satisfy the needs of man, just as farming is the management of farm lands to serve his purposes. As agricul- ture is the science underlying farming, so silviculture underlies forestry. Both deal with plants. The basis of both is botany. Their difference is of degree rather than kind. Forestry generally sticks closer to nature than farming does, following the natural progress of plant succes- sion almost exactly if the kinds of trees in the climax forest furnish the most useful wood products. The farmer had to get rid of the original forest and often felled the trees and burned them. The crops he raises are different from the climax forest. Trees cut in the vir- gin forest are themselves the first crop in forestry, and the successive crops are much like the one that grew naturally. In farming, new crops are started by plowing and planting seed. That is not often done in forestry. Instead, natural The Community of Trees 107 seeding from trees left standing is de- pended upon. When small trees grown in nurseries are planted in forests, it is usually to correct some mistake in land management, such as the clearing for farms of land not suitable for farming or the accidental burning over of for- ests; or it is done to alter drastically the type of forest that grew naturally. Agriculture tends the growing crop by tilling the ground to reduce the competition of weeds. In forestry, til- lage is almost never used except during the earliest stages when trees are raised in nurseries and planted in the forest. Rather, the weed trees are cut. Some- times they can be used. The weeds a farmer pulls are rarely useful. Agricultural crops are mostly an- nual ; the forest crops, almost never. In agriculture, one crop is removed with comparatively little thought of the one to follow. In forestry, there is emphatic need to consider the next crop. It is the chief duty of silviculture to devise methods for harvesting forests in such a way that a new crop will be assured — so that plenty of seed of the wanted species will be shed on the ground and conditions will be right for their germi- nation and the growth of the seedlings. The tools of silviculture are the ax and fire-fighting equipment — the ax to modify natural succession to man's needs, and the fire-fighting equipment to keep forest fires in their places. In order to understand more inti- mately what silviculture is and to get its relation to natural forest succession clearer, let us go back to the com- munity of trees. And to make it easier let us consider specific forests. First, a tract of loblolly pine in the Carolina Piedmont. A great deal of lob- lolly pine grows in this region, but we have evidence that it is not the climax forest. Loblolly is intolerant of shade, and the new seedlings cannot grow be- neath the old trees, which change the environment by shading the ground and by adding moisture-holding humus to it. Shady, cool, moist, humus-cov- ered ground is a hard place for loblolly seedlings to get started. Those condi- tions favor the shade-enduring hard- woods, oaks, gums, and hickories. A little study of surrounding areas will show that loblolly is a pioneer species on abandoned fields and burned-over areas. Its seeds are light and winged, and mature trees can seed large areas in a single season. Consequently all trees in a stand of loblolly are likely to be about the same age. These facts indicate that loblolly forests are the result of disturbances in the natural succession. Further proof comes from the forests along the creeks where fields have never been cultivated and where fires burn less readily. These forests are hardwoods. Hardwoods are evidently the climax type in the Carolina Piedmont, or at any rate they are a higher stage in suc- cession than loblolly pine. But hard- woods are not what we want to grow there. Pine is better suited to a greater number of products than hardwood, and it grows faster. So the job of silviculture is to devise a method of har- vesting our tract of loblolly to get an- other crop of the same species started. That can be done by clear cutting the stand except for the trees necessary to produce the seed for the next crop. Clear cutting will lay the ground open to the hot sun. It will dry out. Much of the moisture-holding humus will disappear and again conditions fa- vorable to pine seedlings will prevail. It is true that to perpetuate loblolly pine we must push nature backward a step. But consider how much further back we would go to raise a crop of tobacco: To do that, every vestige of natural growth would be removed first and later kept out by tillage. Another example: An acreage of northern hardwoods in Michigan — the sugar maple, yellow birch, beech. Seedlings of those species can grow in the shade cast by their parents, and all ages of trees, from seedlings to vet- erans, grow together. Remnants of the original forests evidently undisturbed for many tree generations are of this type. We must suppose that northern hardwoods are one of the climaxes io8 here and that the forest would perpet- uate itself if it were left undisturbed. The problem of silviculture in this case is to harvest the crop with as little disturbance as possible. The procedure is therefore to imitate the way indi- vidual trees die in the natural forest and cut a mature tree here and there. To round out the picture, consider land that has been abandoned for agri- culture in an area once covered with forests. Eventually this land will revert to forests. But if there are no seed trees nearby of pioneer species that can start on dry, shadeless land, it may take a thousand years. Natural succession can be hurried along by planting such abandoned fields to pine. All of these examples are oversimpli- fied. But more details of silvicultural methods are given in later articles. REAL SIMPLIFICATION of silviculture can come only with more knowledge of how forest communities behave. The very richness of the forests in these United States multiplies the problems of the silviculturist. For many forest as- sociations, we know little about nat- ural succession; for some, we can only guess at the climax type toward which the association tends. So much of our original forests has been destroyed or cut over that it is hard or impossible to find undisturbed areas of many types. Belatedly we are establishing, on the national forests and elsewhere, natural areas in the few remaining virgin- forest communities. These areas are to be protected from all cutting and other artificial alterations so that we can learn from them the nature of our cli- max or near-climax forests. Most bothersome of unsolved silvi- cultural problems are those that deal with the effects of modifications that must necessarily be made when the tree crops are harvested. To work in the direction of natural succession is usual- ly easy and inexpensive. To work against it is harder and may be costly. For instance: Will it be possible con- tinuously to keep back the hardwoods in the Carolina Piedmont and raise Yearboo\ of Agriculture 1949 pine without eventually having to fer- tilize the soil artificially? Can we man- age to tolerate just enough of the soil- enriching hardwoods without letting them get the upper hand? Or will we have to go to the expense of plowing and planting trees if we insist on rais- ing pine? Such questions probe deeply into the underlying laws of ecology. We seek ever the best balance be- tween the ways of nature and our wants. To make the forests yield useful products while maintaining and im- proving their natural vigor requires continuous, painstaking research. FORESTERS MUST be forward-look- ing. A single tree crop may require 200 years to mature. But the single crop is not the only concern; there must be provision for successions of them. Fur- thermore, we cannot wait a century or two between harvests. Things must be arranged so that some trees can be harvested each year or every few years. That requires foresight and planning, and leads to another branch of for- estry— forest regulation. The basic rule of forest regulation is to cut each year a volume of timber no greater than the volume that grew during the year. If the layers of wood added to the trees on an acre of north- ern hardwood forest in Michigan total, say, 250 board feet each year, then trees with a volume of 250 board feet or less can be removed from the acre annually without reducing the growth capacity of the forest. Thus yield can be sustained indefinitely. But sustained yield of our forests depends on more than making plans. It depends on how well we are able to work with nature and get her to work with us. Wherever this cooperation is attained, communities of men and communities of trees are in harmony. JESSE H. BUELL is assistant chief of the Division of Forest Management Research in the Forest Service. He was formerly engaged in research in sil- viculture at the Southeastern Forest Experiment Station. io9 FOREST TYPES OF THE UNITED STATES WILLIAM A. DAYTON Because of the size of the United States, the diversity of its conditions, and the wealth of its vegetation (we have about four times as many tree spe- cies as does Europe) and because of differences in terminology and of opin- ions on classification, climaxes, and such, it is not surprising that ideas about the forest types of the United States are still somewhat controversial. Dr. James Graham Cooper (1830— 1902), Army surgeon, explorer, and naturalist, seems to have been the first to publish a vegetative- type map of North America. It appeared in 1859 in his paper On the Distribution of the Forests and Trees of North America, with Notes on its Physical Geography. Overleaf is reproduced the United States part of Dr. Cooper's map; the original letters for his regions are re- tained, but hachures have been added to make their differentiation clearer to the eye. It will be observed that four of Dr. Cooper's regions are in the Eastern seaboard, three are in the Appalach- ians, six are in the Plains States, five are in the Rocky Mountain areas, three are in the Intermountain area, and two on the Pacific coast. Most of them are forested areas, at least in part. Dr. Cooper was a link between an- cient students of the subject and the modern investigators, who have added a great deal to our ken of botany. Theophrastus of Eresus (372-287 B. C.) by the will of Aristotle became heir to the great philosopher's cele- brated library, guardian of his chil- dren, and his successor as head of the Lyceum at Athens. Theophrastus has been called "primus verorum botani- corum" — the first real botanist. He was perhaps the first to emphasize the relation of trees and other plants to their environment, and may rightly be regarded as the father of the concepts of ecological and vegetative types. Nearly two centuries ago, Linnaeus, in his Philosophia Botanica, had a chapter on plant distribution corre- lated with the geographic regions, cli- mate, soils, and the other factors of habitat. Henry Solon Graves, who published Practical Forestry in the Adirondacks in 1899, is generally credited with the introduction of the term "forest type" in this country. The late Dr. Frederic E. Clements, a distinguished ecologist and author of Plant Formations and Forest Types, published in 1909, calls Professor Graves' types "plant (or forest) formations." He separates for- mations into associations, associations into societies, societies into communi- ties (with two or more principal or secondary species), and communities into families (defined as groups of co- specific individuals) . The Ecological Society of America tentatively suggested this definition of "forest types" in 1934: "A forest stand essentially similar throughout its extent as regards composition and development under essentially sim- ilar conditions, i. e., essentially similar throughout as regards floristic com- position, physiognomy, and ecological structure." Ten years later the Committee on Forestry Terminology of the Society of American Foresters defined forest type thus: "A descriptive term used to group stands of similar character as re- gards composition and development due to certain ecological factors, by which they may be differentiated from other groups of stands. The term sug- gests repetition of the same character under similar conditions. A type is temporary if its character is due to passing influences such as logging or fire; permanent if no appreciable change is expected and the character is due to ecological factors alone; climax if it is the ultimate stage of a succession of temporary types. A cover no Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 Forest Types of the United States type is a forest type now occupying the ground, no implication being conveyed as to whether it is temporary or per- manent." Raphael Zon, in Principles Involved in Determining Forest Types, pub- lished in 1906, emphasizes the im- portance of forest types in silvical studies of individual species, and sets forth a philosophy basic to determin- ing forest types. The main considera- tions are physical conditions of climate, soil, and the like; man and his opera- tions ; accidents, such as fire and wind. He says that "one of the most im- portant characteristics of a forest type is its stability, its resistance to invasion by other forms," and adds that the re- production of the forest must always be considered. Arthur W. Sampson (The Stability of Aspen as a Type, 1916) believes that aspen is a temporary type, replaced, slowly but surely, by conifers. Carlos G. Bates, in Forest Types in the Central Rocky Mountains as Af- fected by Climate and Soil, 1924, states that, in a general way, the forest zones of that region correspond with air- temperature zones. He adds that a re- view of the facts leaves little doubt that the tree species of the central Rocky Mountains are controlled in their dis- tribution almost wholly by the degree of insolation of the site, with the re- sultant temperatures, and by the closely •< Adapted from Dr. James G. Cooper's Distribution of the Forests and Trees of North America (1859). The letters indi- cate: C, Lacustrine Province (Canadian Re- gion); D, E, F, G, Apalachian Province (Alleghany, Ohio, Tennessean, Caro- linian Regions, respectively); H, Mississip- pian Region; I, Floridian Region (part of West Indian Province); J, K, L, M, N, Campestrian Province: (1) Prairies, J (Texan Region), K (Illinois Region), L (Saskatchewan Region), (2) Arid Plains, M (Dacotah Region), N (Comanche Region); Q, Mexican Province (Chihuahian Region); R, S, T, U, V, Rocky Mountain Province (Arizonian, Wasatch, Padoucan, Utah, and Shoshone Regions, respectively); W, X, Y, Z, Nevadian Province (Californian, Ore- gonian, Kootanic, and Yukon Regions, respectively). Ill related surface conditions of moisture. A distinguished Finnish forester and ecologist, Aimo K. Cajander, places forest typification on a combined eco- logical and biological basis (The Theory of Forest Types, English trans- lation revised by Mr. M. L. Anderson, 1926). He recognizes two kinds, in principle, of forest classification, ac- cording to quality and site. He says: "The features of a plant association are generally determined by those species which are present in the greatest abundance and frequency. Those spe- cies, however, which are present at a lesser rate of abundance, but are, nevertheless, always or nearly always present, are also, of course, equally characteristic of the association. Fi- nally those species, which, though they may be more or less rare, are met with, however, almost exclusively in the as- sociation in question, are also charac- teristic of that association. On the other hand, of course, the absence of certain plant species is also a very im- portant feature in the delineation of a plant association, although the defi- nite establishment of absence is more difficult." Arthur Freiherr von Kruedener, who published Waldtypen — Klassifikation und ihre volkswirtschaftlich Bedeutung in 1927, based scientific classification of forest types on three factors: Cli- mate, soil, and plant associates : "Was wir unter Waldtypen verstehen, sowie von den Faktoren — Klima, Boden-Un- tergrund und Pflanzengemeinschaft, welche drei in ihrer Verbindung uns erst den Begriff des Waldtyps geben." Gustaf A. Pearson, in Forest Types in the Southwest as Determined by Climate and Soil, 1931, distinguishes seven broad zones with four forest types: Woodland, ponderosa ("west- ern yellow") pine, Douglas-fir, and Engelmann spruce. The soil differ- ences, he says, appear to be due more to physical than to chemical differ- ences, the more porous soils being best suited to tree growth, the upper alti- tudinal range determined by ability to withstand low temperatures and the 112 lower altitudinal range to drought en- durance. The soil, except locally, rarely acts as a limiting factor. He does not regard light as a limiting factor in the range of trees, but it may affect the composition of stands. Marinus Westveld (Type Defini- tions Based on Statistics of Stand Com- position, 1934) gives type definitions of the red spruce-yellow birch (with yellow birch subtype) as well as the red spruce-sugar maple-beech (with sugar maple subtype) types. In the red spruce-yellow birch type, the conifers usually make up more than 40 percent of the stand, with spruce and the bal- sam fir in about equal numbers, the yellow birch composing between 25 and 50 percent, and sugar maple seldom more than 5 percent of the total stand. In the red spruce-sugar maple-beech type, the conifers make up 25 to 45 per- cent of the stand, spruce usually being more abundant than fir. Sugar maples generally make up more than 10 per- cent of the stand and, combined with beech, usually considerably exceed the yellow birch in number. Again, in the field of forest classifi- cation systems and their terminology, there is a large literature and differ- ences in viewpoint. The eminent German forester Hein- rich von Cotta in 1804 listed forest lands in 100 quality classes, "0" being absolutely barren land incapable of producing wood of any sort, and "100," the best imaginable land. W. Schiitze, who wrote Beziehungen zwischen chemischer Zusammenset- zung und Ertragsfdhigkeit des Wald- bodens in 1871, classified six areas of German forest land on the basis of determining in a surface layer 5^4 feet deep the percentage of mineral matter soluble in hydrochloric acid. This is a refinement in the methodology of forest typification which obviously it has not been practical to utilize in this country on any large scale. The late John W. Harshberger, in his Phy to geographic Survey of North America, 1913, divides the part of North America lying within the United Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 States into two zones, temperate and subtropical. These zones, so far as for- ests are concerned, are again divided into 9 regions, 24 districts, and 16 areas. Under these forest areas, forest and other plant formations are recognized. Jesse B. Mowry (The Nature and Development of Forest Types, 1920) recognizes two classifications of the term "forest type" : Where type means ( 1 ) locality, and ( 2 ) composition. He believes that, for the present at least, forest types should be designated by terms indicating both concepts. He em- phasizes the importance of moisture in tree growth, their tissues consisting of from 65 to 95 percent of water, and quotes Ebermeyer to the effect that conifers require less potash, lime, and phosphate than do deciduous trees. Although published a quarter of a century ago, still the best available map of the vegetation of the United States is that by Homer L. Shantz and Raphael Zon (Natural Vegetation, Section E, Atlas of American Agricul- ture, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Part I — The Physical Basis of Agricul- ture, 29 pages, Washington. 1924). This map is reproduced on the next page, on a smaller scale and with hatching replacing the original colors. It will be observed that the forested and woodland areas are classified in it under 18 divisions. A booklet of the Forest Service, In- structions for Making Timber Surveys in the National Forests, 1925, has a chapter, "Standard Classification of Forest Types," covering 7 treeless land types and 52 woodland and forest-land types. The Committee on Forest Types of the Society of American Foresters in 1940 recognized and defined 97 forest types in the eastern United States. "Eastern United States" is interpreted to include "the eastern forests which are separated from the western forests by a broad zone of relatively treeless or desert country. The territory covered by the committee extends in some places to the westward of the eastern Forest Types of the United States 802062C Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 forests. The western boundary of the 'eastern United States' as thus defined is a wavy north and south line extend- ing from Canada to Mexico between the 97th and 101st degrees of longi- tude." Lee R. Dice, in the book The Biotic Provinces of North America, 1943, recognizes 20 biotic provinces in the United States, in 17 of which trees are either important or dominant. He defines biotic province as "a consid- erable and continuous geographic area . . . characterized by the occurrence of one or more important ecologic as- sociations that differ, at least in pro- portional area covered, from the as- sociations of adjacent provinces. In general, biotic provinces are character- ized also by peculiarities of vegetation type, ecological climax, flora, fauna, climate, physiography, and soil." The Committee on Western Forest Types of the Society of American For- esters in 1945 recognized and defined 50 forest types in the western part of the United States. This means that the Society of American Foresters has rec- ognized 147 distinct forest types in the United States. Some of these, such as ponderosa pine, redwood, lodgepole pine, and Engelmann spruce, may oc- cupy large areas in pure or almost pure stands. Most of the types, however, are mixed. In general, eastern types are more complex than western, and conifer types less complex than hard- wood forests. In going from north to south, the types, with some exceptions, tend to a greater number of species. WILLIAM A. DAYTON is in charge of dendrology and range-forage in- vestigations of the United States Forest Service. He is probably best known for his publications on native range plants and is joint editor, with Harlan P. Kelsey, of Standardized Plant Names. Mr. Dayton has been connected with the Forest Service since 1911. FORESTS AND SOILS JOHN T. AUTEN, T. B. PLAIR Successful reforestation, particularly with the hardwoods, has to take into consideration selection of the proper species and the balance between trees and soil. Perhaps the soil has eroded or all trees have been removed from it: Then it is not simple to choose trees that grow well on bare land; also, the balance that existed in the virgin for- ests was destroyed when the land was cleared. Basic soil and atmospheric changes often make such areas inca- pable of supporting the original species. Soil loss from erosion following fire, overgrazing, clearing, and cultivation is a basic loss. It reduces productivity of cleared land; it also lowers the site quality in existing forests. Any appre- ciable change in soil necessitates a shift in species composition in order to obtain those best suited to the site. Site deterioration means species of lower value in the stand and a loss to the owner. Accordingly, the problems of restor- ing and conserving our trees and for- ests will be simplified by a knowledge of forest soils and of the relation be- tween forests and soils. A soil is a natural mineral body with distinct features that identify it, even in widely separated areas. It has def- inite structure with horizons or layers, one over the other. The topsoil, from which the fine soil has been washed by percolating waters, is the A horizon. Just under it is horizon B, the heavy horizon or subsoil, which receives the fine soil washed out of A. The C hori- zon is the parent soil material below B. A fertile soil contains a myriad of living organisms, plant and animal, adapted to the soil conditions. It has pore space, which contains water and Forests and Soils air. To some degree, like a living body, it absorbs oxygen and releases carbon dioxide. A soil has characteristic parts in harmony with its environment. Its productivity depends on all of its parts. The formation of a soil, a slow proc- ess, doubtless began on the first crust of the earth, when heating and cooling and wetting and drying cracked the surface rocks, made little patches of loose rubble, and caused little pockets of mineral crystals to settle in crannies and depressions, and allowed lichens, mosses, and other simple plants to grow in the thin soil and on porous rocks. Rain dissolved the softer parts of the rocks and made soluble minerals avail- able to plant roots. As the soil mantle grew deeper, the soil grains became finer. Water perco- lated through the soil mass, carried fine particles from the surface layer down- ward, and deposited them at lower depths to form subsoil. Plant debris fell on the surface and the micro-organic life appeared. Larger and more com- plex plants appeared until finally trees and forests, as we know them today, emerged with their characteristic soils. Each forest soil developed its orderly arrangement of horizons, its porous and absorptive structure, and its bal- anced and active population of bac- teria, molds, fungi, worms, insects, and animals. Roots of the trees anchored the soil in place ; the leaves provided a protective cover of litter and added fertility yearly. Soils differ broadly among climatic provinces. Basic differences occur be- cause rainfall, temperature, and rocks are different. Any part of the earth having a characteristic climate and parent-rock material has its special kinds of soil: The gray, desert sage- brush soils of southern Wyoming; the subhumid, chestnut-colored prairie soils of western Nebraska; the black, tall-grass prairie soils of Iowa and Illi- nois; the gray-brown, hardwood-cov- ered soils of Indiana and Illinois; the gray, leached, pine-covered podzol soils of Maine; and the rich-brown, humid, forest soils of the Northwest. Even within a climatic province, many differences occur among soils, chiefly because of differences in vege- tation, degree of slope, and the nature of the parent rock. Vegetation alters the surface of soils, but the primary local difference is permeability of the soil to water. Permeability is altered according to changes in coarseness of the soil and is controlled largely by the nature of parent rocks and by the sub- soil density associated with topography. A basic factor in soil formation is the relation of topography to subsoil. Rain falling anywhere on bare soil puddles it with muddy water. Such muddy water contains colloidal soil — exceedingly small soil particles, some of them almost molecular in size. If the soil surface is sloping, much of the muddy water runs off. If the surface is flat, much of the water seeps into the lower soil, where the colloidal particles are deposited, forming a part of the B horizon. This horizon forms in the lower soil at depths usually ranging from 8 up to 36 inches, depending on height of the water table during the formative period. The thickness of this zone depends on the rate of internal drainage and fluctuation of the water table during the rainy season. Density of the B horizon is affected by the flat- ness of the terrain. In general, the flatter the terrain the denser the B hori- zon. This horizon — sometimes called the subsoil, or where very dense, a clay- pan — is the key to drainage. Soils in any one area are affected by differences in parent-rock material. Coarse sands from sandstone do not puddle as much as clay from shales; hence subsoil formation is less pro- nounced in sandstone- than in shale- derived soils. Differences in the rock composition do not alter the basic soil- forming process, but do affect the rate of soil formation. SOILS AFFECT THE TREES principally through soil air and soil moisture. Seasonal available soil moisture com- monly determines what species grow in any forest and their rate of growth. Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 n ? Graphic relation between equal-aged yellow-poplar and subsoil in the same planting. Soils affect forests much as soils affect any other crop. Dry soils in the hard- wood belt are likely to have dry-site oaks, like scrub oak, blackjack, and scarlet oak. Moist soils support such species as yellow-poplar, beech, maple, black walnut, and red and white oaks. Wet soils are more favorable for syca- more, cottonwood, redgum, pin oak, and willow. Four general soil conditions in- fluence forests through their effects on available soil moisture : Surface poros- ity, subsoil density, aspect, and depth. The first affects rate of water absorp- tion; the second, free movement of water in the soil; the third, surface evaooration rate; and the fourth, the volume of water available. Surface porosity is an ever-present and indis- pensable attribute of the forest soils. A forest soil always develops porosity under a protective litter cover. This porous surface facilitates absorption. Water movement is governed by sub- soil density : The denser the subsoil, the slower the movement of water through it. Furthermore, the shallower the A horizon above a tight subsoil, the less rainfall the soil absorbs because of the smaller volume of porous surface soil. Aspect and exposure influence avail- able soil moisture by affecting the rate of evaporation. South- and west-facing slopes normally have less soil moisture than north and east. In hilly or moun- Forests and Soils 117 tainous country, the quantity of mois- ture available to a tree varies with its position on the slope. Trees on lower slopes normally have more available moisture than trees on otherwise sim- ilar upper slopes. Deep soils that have adequate water-holding capacities keep trees growing at maximum rates — if other factors are not limiting — whereas shallow soils not having adequate water-holding capacity do not. Some tree species grow well under many soil conditions, others do not. Black locust, for instance, can grow on deep or shallow, moist or dry soils. True, it does not grow equally well on all situations, but it does persist. Other species, such as yellow-poplar, occur on only a few deep moist soils and usually do not become established on shallow dry soils or on tight claypan soils. Segregation of species within their ranges is therefore often due to differences in soils. Forest types or associations of tree species depend somewhat upon rela- tive tolerance of the several associated species to shade. Some stand more shade than others. For instance, pon- derosa pine, cottonwood, and black locust are less tolerant of shade than yellow-poplar, white oak, beech, and hemlock. Some species appear to be more tolerant under some soil condi- tions than under others. Two factors, then, chiefly determine forest types in any climatic province: First, the in- herent capacity of a species to with- stand the shade and, second, the soil conditions. FORESTS AFFECT THE SOIL most of all through litter. Litter breaks the im- pact of rain, retards runoff, and filters rain water into the soil without disturb- ing soil structure. In dry weather, litter reduces surface evaporation. When litter decays, it provides mineral ele- ments for tree growth. It shelters mi- crobiotic life, which breaks down many kinds of complex substances into sim- ple forms, and it shelters worms that help to keep the soil granular and mellow. In extremely cold weather, the forest litter acts as a blanket through which the heat from the soil cannot escape rapidly. Litter therefore reduces the depth of freezing of forest soils. When a forest soil does freeze, it tends to honeycomb and is therefore permeable to sudden rains that may come in late spring. Litter is the source of the humus horizon of a forest soil, and the humus layer is the part of a forest soil that distinguishes it from an agricultural soil. Cultivated soils contain humus, too, but it chiefly comes from a humus layer previously formed under grass or forest. The humus of a farmed soil is maintained only by extraordinary methods of crop rotation and fertiliz- ing, whereas the humus layer of a forested soil is maintained by the yearly leaf fall. When bare fields are planted to trees the humus layer increases in thickness. This increase is a good in- dex of site recovery. Forests help prevent peak floods through their effect on the soil. A po- rous, permeable soil absorbs rainfall faster than a cultivated soil. A soil covered with litter, brush, and tree stems retards runoff of much surface water that may not be absorbed quickly. Experiments show that from a 40- to 50-inch rainfall in Ohio, forests store about 6 inches more water than fields in cultivated row crops. The forest intercepts much of the force of wind-driven rain, and thus prevents beating of the protective lit- ter and soil. It protects the soil from excessive heat, light, and drying winds. Its roots hold the soil in place. They have grown, died, and decayed through centuries, and have made the soil more and more porous and permeable. As they decay, they leave deep channels through which water may percolate and air may move. Rain water dissolves salts of calcium, potassium, and magnesium from the soil, causing it to become sour, but in the hardwood region these bases, re- plenished in the litter, tend to preserve a "sweet" soil. These elements, to- gether with organic matter, keep the n8 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 GOVERNING EFFECT OF RAINFALL-EVAPORATION RATIO ON VEGETATION Each vertical plane cutting the figure from front to back locates a geographic position between the prairie of western Iowa (left) and the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia (right) with its rainfall-evaporation ratio by months. The undulations at the right represent contrasting evaporation rates on Appalachian ridges and coves. upper hardwood-forest soil mellow and granular. The forest absorbs mineral elements from the soil, and in turn largely replaces them in the yearly leaf fall. If the forest dropped more leaves than decayed each year, it would even- tually bury itself in its litter ; and if the rate of organic-matter decay were greater than the rate of organic ac- cumulation, the soil would at inter- vals be totally devoid of organic mat- ter. Such conditions never occur; a balance short of them is maintained. OF THE FACTORS that adversely af- fect forest soils, burning alone usually does not seriously influence a hard- wood-covered soil. It destroys the litter, which protects the mineral soil, but subsequent erosion does the real damage. Fire in a coniferous forest is frequently more serious since shallow soils over bedrock are more common. Overgrazing is injurious to any kind of forest. In wet weather trampling compacts the soil and makes it hard and harsh when it dries. Trampling breaks up the litter cover, thereby ex- posing mineral soil to excessive drying in summer. Heavy grazing destroys forest soil structure, and eventually lowers its site quality. Since soils are formed slowly, their loss through accelerated erosion is especially serious. Erosion is more damaging to some soils than to others. Many of the hardwood lands of south- ern Illinois grew only a few good crops after the trees were removed. The porous, organic-rich loess mantle dis- appeared quickly when the protective litter was plowed under. Aspect and degree of slope greatly affect the rate of site deterioration due to erosion. Any disturbance of site by erosion is much worse on dry south Forests and Soils 119 FOREST COMMUNITIES WHITE OAK BLACK WALNUT RED OAK HARD MAPLE BEECH BASSWOOD WHITE ASH Soil, topography, and tree species become adjusted in natural stands. slopes and ridges than on moist north slopes because the dry sites are already nearer the critical soil moisture level. Cultivation of forest soil immediately reduces its natural porosity and de- stroys its protective litter. Erosion then attacks the body of the soil. Experiments conducted by the Cen- tral States Forest Experiment Station and reported in 1945 show that site quality for black locust, black walnut, and yellow-poplar may be predicted on the basis of easily recognizable soil properties, such as permeability to water, depth to subsoil, and slope, position, and aspect. Studies by the Soil Conservation Service in the Pacific Northwest show that growth rates of Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine may be predicted on the basis of the same soil properties. Agreement on the relationship be- tween the same set of general soil prop- erties and tree growth in such widely separated and different regions sug- gests that soil-tree relationships are ba- sic and applicable to many more forest regions. Predictions of tree suitability to, and rate of growth on, bare land help to set values on land intended for reforestation. These soil-tree relation- ships provide some basis for predicting the eventual site quality of deteriorated land. They assist also in choosing the best tree species for degraded sites and in managing stands to maintain a com- position of more desirable species. JOHN T. AUTENJ a soil scientist in the Forest Service, has been engaged in forest-soil investigations since 1929. He was once soil analyst for the Iowa soil survey and professor of chemistry and soils in Pennsylvania State College. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois and of Iowa State College. T. B. PLAIR is chief of the Regional Forestry Division, Soil Conservation Service, Pacific Coast Region, and has been primarily concerned with plan- ning forest land use since 1935. He is a graduate of Mississippi State College and the University of California School of Forestry. 120 FOREST RENEWAL LEONARD I. BARRETT Forestry attempts to perpetuate at the least cost the species that will pro- vide the greatest volume of useful commodities. In forestry, harvesting is followed promptly by a new crop, and maximum productivity is maintained in perpetuity. The means of establishing new for- est crops are few. They include plant- ing small trees or seed, securing a growth of sprouts, and natural seeding from the mature forest. The first two are important locally in several of the forest regions of the United States, but prompt forest renewal, through repro- duction by natural seeding, is appli- cable wherever standing forests exist. My purpose here is to discuss the basic factors that must be considered in seeking natural forest renewal and the methods that are finding success in the United States. The methods of renewing forests were born at least 700 years ago, when the feudal lords and communal forest owners of central Europe felt the pinch of short wood supplies and vanishing game habitats and, through edicts and restrictions, sought to perpetuate for- est resources. At first, the methods were based on the observations and folklore of huntsmen and did not begin to receive the benefit of systematic and scientific scrutiny until about the mid- dle of the eighteenth century. From then on, progress was comparatively fast; within 100 years European forest- ers developed well-defined and effec- tive ways to get continued productivity of forests. The practice of forestry was elevated from a folklore or speculative status to that of applied science. The beginning of a conservation movement in the United States about 50 years ago saw many attempts — in teaching, research, and practice — to transplant the European prescriptions to American forests. They did not suc- ceed too well. Gradually, as our own basic knowledge expands, methods more applicable to our varied forests and their requirements are emerging and creating an American science of silviculture. The science is still in its infancy, and many more years of experience and research will be needed before sound solutions are obtained to many important problems of forest re- newal. But American foresters believe that modern methods of research will shorten this period of development. If a farmer, in one operation, could harvest this year's crop of grain and sow the next, using a fraction of the crop as seed, he would accomplish an operation similar to the one the forest grower uses in renewing a timber crop. For farm crops it would not work, be- cause the life processes of the plants require intense culture and care if the yield is to be worth while. The farm manager approaches his job with the viewpoint of comparatively complete control of the crop environment that is needed to meet the demanding re- quirements of specific plants. He has learned that it pays to modify the weather; he controls moisture by irri- gation and frost by smudge pots. Trees also are demanding in their requirements for germination, early survival, and best growth. The cul- tural measures necessary to meet these requirements, however, are generally quite different from those needed to meet the requirements of farm crops. The intensity of culture used in farm- ing would be wasteful and sometimes inimical to successful forest renewal. Another article in this book discusses the biology of the forest, and shows how natural trends over long periods change the species in a forest. It indi- cates also that forests respond to the natural variations in the factors that affect tree growth by a change in spe- cies or in rate of growth and thrift. The biological basis of successful Forest Renewal forest regeneration is a knowledge of these long-time trends, of the natural factors and their variations that affect tree growth, and of how the variations meet the basic requirements of the trees for best development. Thus the manager of woodlands must have as fully developed a knowledge of plants and the specific environments with which he is dealing as the farmer. But the woodland manager necessarily seeks his objective by guiding and modifying these natural trends and factors, rather than by attempting such complete environmental control as the farmer. His methods are less obvious therefore than those of farm- ing and often may not be apparent to the untrained eye. THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS of treCS are light, heat, moisture, and wind — particularly in the early stages of seed production and dissemination, germi- nation, and survival. When a tree is beyond its first stages, the texture and chemical composition of the soil must be added. Because a man cannot change the requirements of trees, suc- cess in securing natural regeneration depends upon how well he can change and modify the natural factors to meet the requirements of the tree. Reactions of tree species to changes in these factors vary widely. I. T. Haig learned from experiments in Montana that only 8 percent of lowland white fir seedlings on mineral soil survived in full sunlight, whereas about 90 per- cent survived under intensities of 24 percent and less of full sunlight. At the same locality, less than 15 percent of western larch seedlings survived under either full sunlight or almost complete shade, while more than 80 percent survived under one-fourth of full sun- light. George P. Burns at the Vermont Agricultural Experiment Station found that sugar maple seedlings required only about 2 percent of full sunlight. Paul J. Kramer at Duke University discovered that loblolly pine seedlings required nearly full sunlight for best 121 development. At the same time he dis- covered that the life processes of east- ern red oak could be fully satisfied under about one-third of full sunlight. Working in the Lake States, Hardy L. Shirley showed that, under unmodi- fied conditions with only the amount of light varied, the dry weight of 2- year-old jack pines in 80-percent light was four times that of those in 23 per- cent light. Within those variations of light, white spruce showed no signifi- cant difference in dry weight. Similar variations in requirements between species could be cited for the other factors that affect tree growth. The important point to keep in mind is that trees vary widely in the condi- tions under which they develop well, and the creation of those conditions is vital to successful forest renewal. Because these factors are all inter- related, a modification of one affects another. For example, light is one of the most easily controlled. That is accomplished by cutting that changes the density of the forest canopy and allows light to enter the stand in pro- portion to intensity of the cut. A change in the amount of light reach- ing the forest floor affects soil tempera- ture. Soil moisture also is affected, be- cause the trees that are removed no longer draw upon it. Light is so important and (more than any other single factor) is so closely correlated with other factors that species of forest trees are often classified on the basis of their apparent tolerance or intolerance to shade. This concept of tolerance is really an expres- sion not only of the shade-enduring capacity of a species but also of its abil- ity to develop well under the complex of all factors associated with various degrees of light. The concept is im- perfect in several respects and is un- satisfactory if it is universally applied to the exclusion of other considera- tions, but it provides a useful working principle in devising methods of forest renewal. Under this concept, tolerant species are those that can become established 122 and develop well as an understory in a well-stocked stand of larger trees, while intolerant trees are those that cannot survive such a subordinate position. From the examples I have cited, it is apparent that species such as sugar maple, white spruce, and the lowland white fir are very tolerant of shade, jack pine and loblolly pine are rather intolerant, and western larch and east- ern red oak have intermediate ratings in the scale of tolerance. SEEDING CHARACTERISTICS of trees are also important in arriving at work- able methods of forest renewal. The means of natural dissemination of seed are key factors and can be divided into two major groups. The largest group is the light-seeded species whose seed can be disseminated by the wind. Seed of these species are attached to wings, downy material, or other structures that aid in distribution by the wind. In this group are the pines, spruces, and firs, and many important broadleaved species such as the yellow- poplar, the ashes, maples, birches, elms, poplars, and others. The second group consists of heavy-seeded species whose seed is distributed only by gravity, with some rather ineffective aid by birds and animals. This class includes the oaks, walnut, hickories. Obviously with these there can be little lateral distribution from the parent tree by wind. Hence, with this group, the trees chosen to reseed an area must be more closely spaced than with the group whose seed is wind-borne. Seed-producing capacity is another important characteristic to be con- sidered. It may be poor because the intervals between the good seed years may amount to as much as 6 or 7 years (with species such as red pine, longleaf pine, and beech) or because not much seed is produced, as is the case with chestnut oak. Other species (such as Virginia pine and scarlet oak) bear good crops every year or two. Many other seeding characteristics are of importance. One is the time over Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 which seed is dispersed. Some species, like white pine and the firs, spread their seed within a few days or weeks. Others, such as loblolly pine, spread a considerable portion within a few weeks, but continue to shed significant quantities of seed for several months after the cones open. Still others, such as jack pine, lodgepole pine, and pond pine, retain seed in persistent cones for several years, shedding few or none until opened either by the heat of a fire or by exposure, after felling, to the high temperatures that exist near the soil surface in midsummer. As in basic requirements, seeding characteristics vary widely between the species, and knowledge of them is needed by anyone who wants to ac- complish forest renewal. As TO CUTTING i I mentioned earlier that forest renewal is an integral part of the harvesting process and how readily light and associated factors can be modified by cutting. Seeding char- acteristics, too, can be taken advantage of by cutting, because relatively few trees are needed for regeneration pur- poses where species produce good crops of wind-borne seed. The knowledge of a species and its requirements, coupled with the tools of logging, are the basic equipment for successful forest renewal. A forest composed of the tolerant species, that is, those that develop well in an understory position, if they are protected from fire and grazing, will contain on a single acre trees of many sizes and ages. To the layman it may present an unkempt appearance, and his first reaction may be a desire to clear away the underbrush. The wood- land manager who deals with such a forest feels fortunate, because his prob- lems of forest renewal are relatively simple and almost automatic. In this type of forest, the scattered individual mature trees or small groups of them are removed at intervals along with the deformed, diseased, overcrowded, or otherwise unneeded trees. The rate of such cutting is prescribed by a Forest Renewal 123 branch of forestry called management or regulation, which determines the rate of growth and allowable cut so that continuous production from a single property is assured, provided the renewal phases are properly handled in harvesting. Such an all-aged forest is known as a selection forest, and the harvest and renewal method applicable to it as the selection system. No particular provision is needed for differences in seeding characteristics of species, be- cause many trees of seed-producing age are always standing on an acre. Also present are smaller trees ready to take advantage of and fill in the high open- ings created by the harvest of the large, mature individuals or groups. Natural renewal under the selection system therefore is constantly under way and, unlike some of the other systems, is not limited to any particular period in the life history of the forest. Too much emphasis cannot be placed, however, on the greatest con- trolling factor respecting the applica- bility of the selection system : It works well as a method of forest renewal only where the chosen species are capable of germination, survival, and satisfac- tory development in the shade of a productive stand of older and larger trees. Some species native to the United States that fall in this category are sugar maple, beech, some of the firs and spruces, and several more tolerant hardwoods or broadleaved species. For species that will not thrive in an intimate mixture of all ages and sizes, methods aimed at eventual com- plete removal of the mature crop must be adopted. Although a number of such methods have been developed, they all have their origins in two broad, basic systems; each has the ultimate objec- tive of producing stands in which there is relatively little variation in the age of individual trees. ONE OF THE BASIC SYSTEMS COn- sists of a series of partial cuttings as the stand approaches maturity and termi- nates in a final cut that removes the last of the crop. Two or more cuttings may be spaced over a period of 10 to 30 years, or more, if the situation is particularly difficult. Early cuttings of the series have several objectives. They harvest the poorer trees that may not survive until later cuts as well as improve the growth rate of the better trees that are left. They may also harvest trees suitable for specific products that have an un- usually good demand at the time. From the viewpoint of forest renewal, how- ever, they open the stand enough to stimulate production of seed and pro- vide light so that new seedlings may start. Later cuttings continue the har- vest features and gradually provide more light and other conditions favor- ing the continued establishment of the new crop and its development. When a satisfactory stand of young trees has become established, the final cut of mature trees is made; it frees the new crop of all competition with the old. The number of cuttings, their intensity, and the periods between the cuttings vary widely with the species and other conditions, but all these vari- ations are covered in the shelterwood system. In the partial-cutting stages, it may closely resemble or even be confused with the selection system. Where such confusion exists, the for- est manager must seek reorientation in a knowledge of the basic requirements of the species or the mixture of species with which he is dealing. The shelterwood system is designed to meet the requirements of species that require partial shade during es- tablishment and early life, or of those that tolerate some shade but are poor seed producers, or of those that are heavy-seeded. Red pine is an outstand- ing example of a species whose re- quirements are met by this system. Ponderosa pine, the southern pines, and the less tolerant oaks (such as black oak and scarlet oak) also seem well adapted to renewal by the shelter- wood system. This system has an important fea- ture in the opportunity it provides for 124 the control of competing brush. In many localities, too heavy a cut in the maturing forest creates conditions favoring the invasion of shrubs or other undesired plants, which may offer such serious competition to seed- lings of the desired species that they can later be established only by expen- sive artificial measures, such as the re- moval of brush followed by planting. In many areas where such a threat is present, careful attention to the tim- ing and intensity of cutting can con- trol brush and favor establishment of valuable tree species. THE OTHER BASIC SYSTEM is sub- stantially a single cutting that removes all or nearly all of the mature crop. It is primarily a clear-cutting system, but its use in forestry is accompanied by the concept of small cutting areas so located with reference to seed sources that a plentiful supply of seed can be promptly disseminated over the cut- ting locality. The methods developed under this system take many forms. In shape, they conform more or less to the clear-cut strips, blocks, wedges, or spots. After new growth is established in the clear-cut areas, another series of cuttings in adjoining mature timber is made. In the United States, where much forest renewal must be accom- plished in forests that have been un- managed in the past, a single series of cuttings may consist of a diverse pat- tern of irregularly shaped areas on which mature timber stood at the time management was started. If renewal is to be prompt and ade- quate, the size of such clear cuttings must be held to a safe minimum. That is usually smaller than many per- sons suppose, and is dictated by the effective seeding distance of the ad- joining uncut timber. For many spe- cies (like the southern pines) such a distance is usually not more than 400 or 500 feet. For others (such as red spruce or Douglas-fir) it may be three or four times that distance. Winds often carry seed for many miles, but the distance over which enough seed Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 will reach the ground to produce a sat- isfactory stocking of young growth is usually rather short. The location of cutting areas down- wind from seed sources is sometimes important. For species that shed an entire seed crop in a few days or weeks, a wise precaution is to locate cutting strips at right angles to the direction of prevailing winds during the time of year when seed is shed. The location of other types of clear-cut areas can be similarly directed with reference to de- sirable seed sources and prevailing winds during the time of seed fall. Mountainous terrain and its effect on wind currents may be fully as impor- tant as the direction of prevailing winds, and local knowledge of these characteristics of wind is useful. For species that shed seed slowly in the fall and winter months, the location of the cutting areas with respect to wind cur- rents is of less importance. The varia- tions in wind direction over a long period are enough to accomplish the necessary dissemination. Of greater importance than wind is the quantity of seed necessary to pro- duce an established crop of seedlings. The difference between the number of seed reaching the ground and the num- ber of resulting seedlings is tremendous. The difference has not been measured for all species and localities in the United States, but study thus far indi- cates that 200 to 400 seed reach the ground for every seedling that becomes successfully established. Satisfactory renewal, therefore, re- quires that several hundred thousand seed an acre reach the ground within a few years after cutting. The reasons for this difference are many. Forest-tree seed are important as food for wild birds and animals and, where heavy populations of wildlife exist, all or most of a seed crop may be consumed. Many seed fall on inhos- pitable spots for germination, and many seedlings succumb during their first season to the competition of other plants or adverse weather. The practi- cal importance of this difference be- Forest Renewal Gullying of forest land is healed in time by tree growth. tween amount of seed produced and the seedlings established is that abun- dant sources of seed must be kept avail- able. Often that means the necessary seed source must consist of well-stocked blocks, strips, or other bodies of mature trees. The jack pine, Douglas-fir, and lodgepole pine are typical species for which block methods of clear cutting are providing satisfactory conditions for forest renewal. Some species produce such copious crops of seed at short intervals that re- newal can be accomplished by leaving individual trees well distributed over the cutting area. For these, a modified clear-cutting method called the seed- tree system, has proved suitable. Suffi- cient seed for necessary renewal is pro- duced by a dozen or more mature trees an acre. If maturity is judged on the basis of small-sized products such as pulpwood, which can be produced from young trees, seed production may not yet have reached a very high level and the method may fail because of the lack of sufficient seed. The lack may be offset by leaving more seed trees per acre, in which case the method approaches and may actually become the shelterwood system. Such a tend- ency toward the shelterwood is also characteristic of species that demand full light for good development, but are poor producers of seed. The seed-tree method is often effective with such wind-firm species as the Virginia pine, the slash pine, and loblolly pine, al- though the shelterwood method is favored by many for the last two. WITH MANY of the various methods aimed at the production of even-aged stands, additional measures designed to make more efficient use of the seed will pay dividends. Since most wind- borne seed germinate best in contact with mineral soil, some form of rough cultivation, either immediately before or after seed fall, is effective. This op- eration is usually accomplished by a heavy tractor and disk combination and is necessarily limited to rather smooth ground. It is particularly effec- tive where winter logging on snow or the logging equipment does not ac- complish much scarification of the forest floor and exposure of mineral 126 soil. It is also recommended following the cutting of species with persistent cones that open best at high tempera- tures. In the process of disking, the cone- bearing limbs of cut trees are broken and forced close to the soil; there the high surface temperatures slowly open the cones and release the seed. THE REACTION OF MATURE stands to partial cuttings of the selection and the shelterwood systems is adverse for some species. That reaction takes the form of increased death of trees left in the cutting area for future growth and for seed sources. So far, we can give only theoretical explanations for this in- creased death rate. One explanation is that temperature and soil moisture are suddenly changed by the cutting, so that new conditions are created to which the older trees cannot adapt themselves. Freed wind movement may increase the rate at which water is evaporated from leaves and needles, thus upsetting physiological processes in the tree. Mechanical injury to roots from severe bending as falling trees strike some of their neighbors is an- other possible contributor to the in- creased death rate. Except for the particularly sheltered areas, the reaction frequently takes place in the older stands of both east- ern and western hemlock, Douglas-fir, the yellow birch, and some species of spruce. Other species may show the same reactions to lesser degrees. Thus we find that the tolerant hemlocks which should respond well to the selec- tion system have other characteristics that require clear-cutting methods in many localities. SHALLOW SOILS over the bedrock may make the selection or shelterwood systems dangerous, because a partial cutting removes some mutual mechan- ical support and permits increased wind velocity. Loss from windthrow may be serious. An inherent lack of wind- firmness due to typical shallow-root systems also results in windthrow. En- gelmann spruce is a species that re- of Agriculture 1949 quires clear cutting in spots because of a lack of wind firmness. ADAM SGHWAPPAGH, a distinguished European forester of the past century, cites an experience that carries an im- portant message for all who seek suc- cess in forest renewal. In tracing the development of European forestry, he related : "An important step in the progress of sylviculture was the evolution of the so-called Selection System, introduced at the end of the eighteenth century. By it, single trees or small groups in the forest are chosen and felled, according as their state of maturity suggests, and the necessity for younger growth re- quires. Originally adopted for the utilisation and regeneration of decidu- ous species, particularly Beech, the sys- tem met with the commendation of those pioneers in scientific forestry, G. L. Hartig and Heinrich von Gotta. Upon the selection method being ap- plied to the Scots Pine — the species least suited to this treatment — failure resulted, which caused a sudden reac- tion in favour of clear-felling with sub- sequent planting. Both the selection and the clear-felling systems have their peculiar advantages under particular circumstances; but the indiscriminate use of either leads naturally enough to disappointments." LEONARD I. BARRETT is chief of the Division of Forest Management Re- search of the Forest Service. Before taking that position in 1945, he was director of the Central States Forest Experiment Station in Columbus, Ohio; chief of the Division of Forest Management Research in the South- eastern Forest Experiment Station in Asheville, N. C.; junior forester and as- sistant silviculturist in the Central States and Southern Forest Experi- ment Stations. Before entering on his research career in 1926, Mr. Barrett served 2 years as a fire lookout, survey- or, and timber estimator on various national forests in the Pacific North- west and Alaska. What Do We Plant? FIRST THE SEED, THEN THE TREE PAUL O. RUDOLF IN THE United States more than 600 species of woody plants are use- ful for conservation planting, and some 75 million acres are in need of refores- tation. For that, more than 100,000 tons of forest seeds will be needed. We should therefore know all we can about forest seeds — where they are borne, how often good crops come, when seeds are ripe, when is the best time to col- lect, how to clean them, how to store them, how to obtain prompt germina- tion, how good they are, and what their origins are. SEEDS DEVELOP from flowers. The floral organs are the stamens and the pistils, which produce the sperm, or male cells, and the egg, or female cells, which, when united, produce the seed. Some trees and shrubs have bisexual, Above: A onetime Navy plane is used to seed white pine on burned-over forest lands in Maine. or perfect flowers. Many, however, have stamens and pistils borne in sepa- rate flowers, either on the same plant or on separate plants. Others have both perfect and unisexual flowers on the same plant. A knowledge of these habits helps the seed collector to know what trees are likely to produce seeds and also what crop to expect from the abundance of blossoms. A typical tree seed consists of an embryo, usually embedded within an endosperm (sometimes very thin or even absent) , all enclosed in one or two seed coats. The embryo is a complete plant in miniature. The endosperm contains food reserves that become available for germination and early growth. The seed coat protects the em- bryo from injury before germination. Tree seeds range in size from the powderlike rhododendron seeds to the large black walnuts. They differ greatly also in shape, color, and other char- acteristics. From the standpoint of col- 127 128 lection and extraction, however, seeds fall into three groups: 1. True seeds readily extracted from dry fruits. Included in this group are trees whose seeds are borne in cones (fir, hemlock, larch, pine) or in fruits that split open, such as pods (honey- locust, locust, yellowwood), or in cap- sules (e. g., the fremontia, poplar, wil- low) . Commercial seed is almost always the true seed. 2. Dry fruits with seeds surrounded, by a tightly adhering fruit wall. In- cluded are species whose seeds are borne in achenes (clematis, cliffrose, eriogonum) , the nuts (chestnut, filbert, oak), and samaras, or key fruits (ash, elm, maple) . Because it is hard to do so, seeds of this group are seldom ex- tracted from the fruits. For all practi- cal purposes the entire fruit is the seed. 3. Seeds of fleshy fruits. Included are species whose seeds are borne in accessory fruits ( buffaloberry, winter- green), aggregate fruits (raspberry), the berries (barberry, currant, honey- suckle), the drupes (cherry, dogwood, plum, walnut), multiple, or collective fruits (mulberry, Osage-orange), or pomes (apple, pear). To SUPPLY the needs of the seed trade and reforestation, large quanti- ties of tree seeds must be collected, extracted, and stored every year. In scouting out supplies, the seed collector should keep eight points in mind: 1. The parent plants should be of desirable form and development. 2. Trees whose crowns receive light from above and the sides usually pro- duce the bulk of the seed crop. 3. The flowering habit determines which trees will produce seeds and the part of the crown in which they are borne. 4. Estimates based on actual count of fruits on representative trees or on small sample plots well distributed over the collecting area are most re- liable. 5. "Tree seed farms," set aside in mature stands of particularly good de- Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 velopment or plantations of known good seed source, which produce seed in reasonable abundance, will provide desirable local collecting areas. 6. The tree seed-crop reporting serv- ices, available in some regions, tell the collector where good local crops are. 7. The soundness of seeds in indi- vidual localities, or even on individual plants, should be tested. 8. Next year's potential crop can be estimated from the number of first- year fruits for such trees as the pines, black oaks, and others which require 2 years to mature their fruits. RIPENESS of the seed and the length of time it may remain on the plant or on the ground without deterioration or injury determine the time of collection. Collectors usually judge the ripeness of fruits by their general appearance, color, degree of "milkiness" of the seed, hardness of the seed coat, their attrac- tiveness to animals, or some combina- tion of these factors. For some pines, ripeness can be determined more ac- curately by the floatability of freshly picked cones in motor oil, kerosene, or other liquids. The exact time for starting seed gathering must be determined for each species in each locality each year. How- ever, the general season in which to make collections is known for a great many species, some of which are: Spring: Berlandier ash, river birch, cottonwoods, elms (except Chinese), red maple and silver maple, poplars, and the willows. Summer: Bigcone-spruce, cherries, Douglas-fir, elders, alpine larch, mag- nolias, red maple, mulberries, Siberian pea-shrub, plums, serviceberries, Cali- fornia sycamore. Fall : The ashes (except Berlandier) , beeches, bigcone-spruce, birches (ex- cept river birch), boxelder, catalpas, cherries, Douglas-fir, Chinese elm, firs, hickories, junipers, the larches ( except alpine), magnolias, maples (except the red and silver), oleasters, Osage- orange, pecan, most pines, plums, spruces, sycamores, walnuts. First the Seed, Then the Tree 129 Winter: Ashes (except Berlandier), yellow birch, the boxelders, catalpas, Osage-orange, black spruce, Norway spruce, sycamores, walnuts. Any season: Aleppo pine, bishop pine, jack pine, lodgepole pine, Monte- rey pine, pond pine, sand pine. Forest seeds commonly are collected from standing trees. Most tall trees must be climbed and the fruits or seeds detached by hand picking, by cutting them off, or by knocking them off. In hand picking, the fruits usually are placed in containers. If the fruits are cut or knocked off, they are usually caught in sheets spread below. Seeds usually are hand-picked or flailed from small trees or shrubs without climbing them. It is usually cheaper to collect seeds from felled rather than from standing trees. The collector must, however, gather seeds only from trees cut after the fruits have begun to ripen. Twenty or thirty years ago conifer cones frequently were gathered from squirrel hoards in the Lake States and the West. This is still done to some extent. However, seed collection from rodent caches is of limited usefulness because the parent trees are unknown, hoards are difficult to find consistently, and few species are included. Some successful collectors gather squirrel-cut cones from the ground. Seeds or fruits are gathered from water surfaces or from drifts along the shores for a few tree species, such as baldcypress and some of the willows. Fruits should be taken to the extrac- tion point soon after collection. Fleshy fruits should neither be crushed nor dried for very long. Others should be spread out and dried partially before shipment. To PREVENT spoilage, to conserve space and weight in the shipment and storage, and to facilitate handling and sowing, seeds of many species must be separated from the fruits and cleaned of fruit parts and debris. Seeds are separated from the fruits by drying, threshing, depulping, or cleaning procedures such as fanning and sieving. The simplest method of drying is to spread the fruits in shallow layers so that there is free circulation of air across and around each fruit. Where the climate is damp, or the quantities of fruit great, drying is usually done under a roof. Artificial heat is necessary to open some cones readily. Artificial drying ordinarily is done in special kilns which aim to provide the highest dry heat that the seeds can stand without injury. Two general types of kilns are used for extracting seeds from cones: The simple convection and the forced-air. The former has long been in use; the latter has been developed since 1934. Newly developed in Canada is a kiln using batteries of infrared lamps. Convection kilns depend upon the natural rise of heated air through cones spread on trays placed directly above the source of heat. Forced-air kilns are more complicated. Heat and hu- midification are supplied by steam, and fans provide forced circulation of the warm air. Temperature and the humidity are controlled automatically by an electrically operated recorder- controller. Forced-air kilns are more efficient than convection kilns. For example, it takes from 24 to 72 hours to extract seeds from red pine cones in convection kilns as compared to 5 hours in forced-air kilns. However, forced- air kilns are more expensive and require skilled men to install and oper- ate them. The infrared kilns give prom- ise of efficiency and relative cheapness and ease of operation. Upon their removal from the kiln, cones are run through tumblers — re- volving boxes or drums with screened sides — to shake out the seeds. The seeds of many dry fruits must be separated from the bunches, pods, or capsules in which they grow. The simplest methods are flailing or tread- ing under foot. Sometimes agricultural machinery can be used. Frequently, however, special apparatus is neces- sary for fully efficient extraction. Two 802062°— 49- -10 130 types have proved widely useful, a macerator developed by the Forest Service, and a hammer mill. Either can produce several hundred pounds of clean seeds a day. Some small fleshy fruits are dried whole. However, the seeds of most fleshy or pulpy fruits must be extracted promptly to prevent spoilage. Small lots can be cleaned by hand, by tread- ing in tubs, or by rubbing through hardware cloth with hand brushes and water from a hose. Food choppers, concrete mixers, feed grinders, cider mills, wine presses, and restaurant po- tato peelers have been used for remov- ing seeds from fleshy fruits, but none of these are as widely applicable as the Forest Service macerator or the ham- mer mill. Mulberries, chokecherries, or Osage-orange fruits, which require mashing and soaking before they can be run through the macerator, should not be allowed to ferment. Seeds of several species, such as elm, maple, and oak, require no extraction, but need merely to be freed of chaff or trash. Often dried, without extrac- tion, are some of the small fleshy fruits such as the chokecherries, elders, hol- lies, manzanitas, mountain-ashes, Rus- sian-olives, and viburnums. Methods of seed extraction com- monly used for several species are : Air or kiln drying : The arborvitaes, baldcypress, bigcone-spruce, ceanoth- uses, chamaecyparises, chestnut, chin- quapins, cypresses, Douglas-fir, elms, eucalyptus, firs, hemlocks, California incense-cedar, larches, pines, poplars, common prickly-ash, redwood, spruces, sweetgum, willows. Kilns necessary: The Aleppo pine, bishop pine, jack pine, lodgepole pine, Monterey pine, pond pine, sand pine. (The cones remain unopened on the trees for several years in all these species.) Threshing or screening: Acacias, alders, baccharises, beeches, catalpas, Kentucky coffeetree, filberts, fremon- tias, hickories, honeylocusts, American hornbeam, common lilac, locusts, Si- berian pea-shrub, eastern redbud, the Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 rhododendrons, silktree, sourwood, su- macs, walnuts, witch-hazel. Depulping: Apples, aralias, barber- ries, blackberries, buffaloberries, lilac chaste-tree, the cherries, cotoneasters, creepers, elders, grapes, hollies, honey- suckles, black huckleberry, common jujube, junipers, red mahonia, manza- nitas, mountain-ashes, the mulberries, Osage-orange, common pear, common persimmon, plums, European privet, raspberries, meadow rose, sassafras, common sea-buckthorn, serviceberries, silverberry, snowberries, western soap- berry, common spicebush, tupelos, viburnums, yews. Cleaning methods: Apache-plume, ashes, birches, antelope bitterbrush, the elms, hackberries, eastern hophorn- beam, common hoptree, the lindens, mountain-mahoganies, oaks, Carolina silverbell, tanoak, common winterfat, yellow-poplar. CLEANING is SOMETIMES necessary. For better storage and handling, seeds of many species must be cleaned of chaff, trash, adhering fruit parts, or empty seeds, after separation from the fruits. Sometimes cleaning is combined with extraction and often a combina- tion of methods is required to clean the seeds. Most of the conifer seeds, for example, must be both dewinged and fanned. Conifer seeds may be dewinged by hand rubbing, beating or trampling in sacks, or moistening and raking. Large- scale dewinging is usually done in ma- chines, which tumble the seeds against stiff brushes, or in a macerator. Such machines must be used and adjusted carefully or much of the seed will be injured. Often seeds can be cleaned satis- factorily by running them through screens, either dry or with running water. Often two screens are used in series, one with a mesh large enough to pass the seeds but hold back larger objects, and a second with a mesh small enough to hold the seeds but to pass smaller material. Fanning is the principal means of re- First the Seed, Then the Tree moving wings or light chaff from many kinds of seeds. Sometimes empty seeds also are fanned out. Small lots can be cleaned by passing them from one con- tainer to another in the wind or in front of a fan. Large lots usually are run through standard agricultural seed fanning or cleaning mills. Unless fanning is done skillfully, either too much debris will remain or too many good seeds will be blown out. Seeds of most pulpy or fleshy fruits can be cleaned most effectively by flo- tation in water. Sound seeds usually sink, whereas poor seeds, skins, and pulp either float or sink more slowly. Freshly gathered acorns often are separated from the cups and weeviled fruits by flotation in water. Loblolly pine seeds can be cleaned better by flotation in water than by fanning. Prompt drying after such wetting is essential. To determine the amount of fruit needed for specific sowing or market requirements, it is necessary to know the extraction factor. The amount of cleaned seeds pro- duced per 100 pounds of fruit as usually collected ranges from 30 to 50 pounds for many species, and may range from 1 to nearly 100 pounds, as shown below: One to five pounds : Apples, arborvi- taes, red chokeberry, cucumbertree, golden currant, Douglas-fir, firs, hem- locks, honeysuckles, black huckleberry, California incense-cedar, inkberry, the larches, common lilac, mountain-ashes, the mulberries, Osage-orange, common pear, pines, raspberries, serviceberries, common snowberry, spruces, mahog- any sumac. Six to ten pounds : Glossy buckthorn, silver buffaloberry, black chokeberry, the elders, firs, honeysuckle, mountain- holly, western snowberry, skunkbush sumac, sweetfern, sweetgum, American sycamore, yellow-poplar. Eleven to twenty pounds : Japanese barberry, bearberry, chamaecyparises, cherries, devils-walkingstick, elders, euonymuses, riverbank grape, shell- bark hickory, pawpaw, Siberian pea- shrub, common persimmon, plums, redwood, Russian-olive, common sea- buckthorn, common spicebush, sugar sumac, common winterberry. Twenty-one to forty pounds : Ailan- thus, apricot, Japanese barberry, American beech, boxelder, most buck- thorns, butternut, the gum bumelia, catalpas, cherries, Kentucky coff eetree, Virginia creeper, desertwillow, dog- woods, American filbert, fringetree, shagbark hickory, shellbark hickory, American holly, honeylocust, eastern hophornbeam, junipers, common ju- jube, locusts, mountain-mahoganies, common persimmon, eastern redbud, Russian-olive, common sea-buckthorn, silktree, western soapberry, smooth sumac, staghorn sumac. Forty-one to sixty pounds: Ailan- thus, indigobush amorpha, baldcy- press, boxelder, Kentucky coffeetree, desertwillow, elms, European filbert, mockernut hickory, Norway maple, sugar maple, oaks, pecan, Fremont silktassel, smooth sumac, black walnut, little walnut, southern waxmyrtle. Sixty-one to eighty pounds: Ailan- thus, ashes, boxelder, lilac chaste-tree, bitternut hickory, mockernut hickory, pignut hickory, lindens, sugar maple, Tatarian maple, oaks, pecan. Eighty-one to one hundred pounds : Ailanthus, bitternut hickory, pignut hickory, black maple, red maple, sugar maple, oaks, laurel sumac. STORAGE VARIES considerably. Forest seeds seldom are sown immediately after extraction and cleaning. Com- monly they are extracted in the fall and held over winter. Often, too, they must be held for several years because some species produce good crops in- frequently. In either case the seeds should be stored so as to maintain high viability. For some species this is a simple matter; for others it is quite difficult, and for many, suitable storage practices are not yet known. The simplest and oldest method of storage is to hold the seeds at air tem- peratures either in sacks or, preferably, in sealed containers. Storage may be 132 at room temperatures, in cool cellars, or frequently in special seed-storage sheds. Seeds of many species can be kept for one or more years in such sheds, but for longer periods cold stor- age is necessary. Seeds of many woody plants keep well at temperatures between 33° and 50° F. Before storage, seeds of most conifers should be dried to a moisture content below 10 percent of oven-dry weight. Seeds of the oaks, hickories, and silver maple, however, should be kept above 35-percent moisture con- tent, and those of southern magnolia should not be allowed to dry at all. Proper cold storage requires a refrig- erator or cold room in which tempera- tures can be held nearly constant. Sealed containers maintain the right moisture content and are best for such storage. Many of the nuts and some other seeds often can be stored for a few months by mixing them with one to three times their volume of moist peat moss, sand, or chopped sphagnum moss, and placing them in a refrigera- tor or holding them over winter in the ground under a mulch. Sometimes fall sowing is used instead. The short-lived seeds of the poplars can be kept fairly well for several months in sealed containers from which much of the air has been ex- hausted by suction pumps, or in which the relative humidity of the air is less than 20 percent. So far, however, vacuum storage has been attempted on a laboratory scale only. Under proper storage, seeds of most trees can be kept viable for 5 to 10 years and that of some species has been kept for several decades. The best storage methods known for several species follow : Dry, cold storage in sealed con- tainers: Apples, arborvitaes, ashes, barberries, bigcone-spruce, birches, an- telope bitterbrush, blackberries, silver buffaloberry, ceanothuses, lilac chaste- tree, the cypresses, Douglas-fir, elders, elms, firs, riverbank grape, hackber- ries, hemlocks, honeylocusts, common Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 hoptree, black huckleberry, junipers, larches, black locust, maples (other than silver) , the mountain-ashes, oleas- ters, Osage-orange, pines, some pop- lars, common prickly-ash, raspberries, eastern redbud, redwood, sassafras, giant sequoia, the snowberries, spruces, sumacs, sweetgum, witch-hazel, yellow- poplar. Moist, cold storage: Beeches, buck- eyes, chestnut, chinquapins, filberts, hickories, silver maple, oaks, tanoak, walnuts, yews. At air temperatures: Acacias, Ken- tucky coflfeetree, eucalyptus, fremon- tias, common lilac, lindens, common pear, the Siberian pea-shrub, European privet, meadow rose, fourwing salt- bush, the common sea-buckthorn, com- mon winterfat. Under partial vacuum: Some pop- lars. PRETREATMENT is SOMETIMES re- quired. Seeds of some trees and shrubs germinate quite promptly. Those of many, however, often fail to sprout even when exposed to suitable condi- tions of temperature, moisture, oxygen, and light. Such seeds are called dor- mant, and special treatment is required to induce germination. There are two main causes of seed dormancy : ( 1 ) An impermeable or hard seed coat which prevents water and oxygen from reaching the embryo, or sometimes prevents the embryo from breaking through even though water has entered; and (2) internal conditions of the embryo or stored food. Many kinds of seeds have only one kind of dormancy, but there are many others which have double dormancy. To overcome seed-coat dormancy, seeds usually are subjected to one of the following pretreatments : ( 1 ) Soak- ing in concentrated sulfuric acid (usu- ally from 15 to 60 minutes) ; (2) scari- fying the seed coats with abrasives; or (3) soaking in hot water (usually at a temperature of 170° to 212° F.) for about 12 hours as it gradually cools. Treatments used to break internal dormancy are : ( 1 ) Cold stratification, First the Seed, Then the Tree 133 in which the seeds are placed in moist sand, acid granular peat, or chopped sphagnum moss and held at 32° to 41° F. for 1 to 4 months; and (2) chemi- cal treatment, in which the seeds are soaked in such materials as thiourea or exposed to fumes of such substances as ethylene chlorhydrin. The chemical treatments have been largely confined to experimental use. To overcome double dormancy, the seed coat must be made permeable and the embryo or stored food induced to undergo the changes necessary for germination. Sometimes cold stratifi- cation is sufficient, but more often soaking in hot water, acid treatment, scarification followed by cold stratifi- cation, or warm followed by cold strati- fication is necessary. Double dormancy can often be broken by sowing the seed soon after collection in the late summer and early fall. Out of 444 species of tree and shrub seeds studied, 33 percent were non- dormant, 7 percent had seed-coat dormancy, 43 percent had internal dormancy, and 17 percent had double dormancy. A single species may have both dormant and nondormant seeds, or more than one kind of dormancy. Typical species with dormant seeds : Seed coat dormancy: Acacias, amorphas, Dahurian buckthorn, felt- leaf ceanothus, the hairy ceanothus, Monterey ceanothus, Kentucky coffee- tree, honeylocusts, black huckleberry, locusts, mesquite, common persimmon, silktree, western soapberry, sumacs (except skunkbush) . Internal dormancy: Alders (except European) , the ailanthus, apples, most ashes, baldcypress, barberries, beeches, bigcone-spruce, birches (except river) , antelope bitterbrush, American bitter- sweet, buckeyes (except California), alder buckthorn, glossy buckthorn, cascara buckthorn, buffaloberries, lilac chaste-tree, cherries, American chest- nut, chokeberries, creepers, currants, flowered dogwood, devils-walkingstick, Douglas-fir, euonymuses, filberts, firs, fringetree, gooseberries (except round- leaf), riverbank grape, hackberries, hemlocks, hickories, hollies, honey- suckles, eastern hophornbeam, com- mon hoptree, American hornbeam, junipers, most larches, common lilac, Pacific madrone, magnolias, most of the maples, the European mountain- ash, mountain-laurel, the mulberries, bitter nightshade, black oaks, oleasters, pawpaw, common pear, most pines, plums, common prickly-ash, European privet, sassafras, serviceberries, com- mon sea-buckthorn, Fremont silktassel, Carolina silverbell, common spicebush, spruces (except the western white), sweetgum, sycamores, common trum- petcreeper, tupelos, viburnums, wal- nuts, southern waxmyrtle, checker- berry wintergreen, yellow-poplar. Double dormancy: Bristly aralia, black ash, blue ash, European ash, bearberry, most ceanothuses, coto- neasters, most dogwoods, elders, fre- montia, the panicled goldenrain-tree, downy hawthorn, black jetbead, some junipers, common jujube, the lindens, manzanita, Amur maple, American mountain-ashes, the mountain-holly, Osage-orange, Digger pine, Swiss stone pine, whitebark pine, raspberries, east- ern redbud, meadow rose, wild-sarsa- parilla, snowberries, skunkbush sumac, witch-hazel, yellowwood, yews. SEED QUALITY largely governs the rate at which seeds should be sown to produce a certain number of good seedlings. Tests can disclose several of the fundamental characteristics of qual- ity: Genuineness, purity, number of seeds to the pound, moisture content, and viability. The sample tested should be truly representative of the entire lot. Repre- sentative sampling can be attained either by thorough mixing of the en- tire seed lot before sampling, or by drawing a number of small subsamples of equal size at random from different parts of the lot in proportion to the quantity of seeds in each part. The number of seeds required for a germi- nation test seldom should be less than 400, tested separately in four equal parts. For lots larger than 100 pounds, 134 from 800 to 1,000 seeds should be used. Genuineness is determined by com- paring a representative sample of the seed lot under test with samples of known identity. Purity commonly is expressed as the percentage by weight of clean whole seeds true to species in a sample containing seeds and mixed impurities. The number of seeds per pound is obtained by careful weighing of a counted number of seeds. It is usually expressed in two ways: The number of clean seeds per pound of the sample as received and the num- ber of clean seeds per pound of pure seeds. Moisture content usually is ex- pressed as a percentage of the oven- dry weight of the seeds after commer- cial cleaning, but not on a pure seed basis. Viability, or the percentage of seeds capable of germinating when exposed to the most favorable conditions, is determined directly by germination tests or indirectly by cutting tests, the growth of excised embryos, flotation, biochemical staining of embryos, or measurements of enzyme activity. The indirect methods give quicker results, but they are seldom as reliable as di- rect germination tests. Germination tests usually are made in flats, porous clay pots, or greenhouse benches filled with fine sand, acid peat (sometimes used as compressed mats), or sphagnum moss; or in germinators on porous plates, blotters, filter paper, or agar. Sand, peat, or sphagnum moss are preferred as giving results closer to germination in the nursery. Carefully counted numbers of seeds, pretreated where necessary, are sown on the sur- face of peat mats or at controlled depths in sand, moss, or peat flats. Small seeds are sown shallow; larger seeds deeper, as a rule. The sand, peat, or other medium must be kept at a fairly constant mois- ture level. Air temperatures should be controlled closely. Many species ger- minate well at temperatures fluctuat- ing from 68° F. at night to 86° during the day; some do just as well at con- stant temperatures of 70° or 75°; Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 Oak seedling. The two plump seed leaves packed with food remain inside the acorn. others need temperatures that fluctu- ate from 50° (night) to 77° (day) ; and some germinate best at temperatures between 40° and 50°. The needs of each species must be known and sup- plied for best results. Light is not neces- sary for germination of most tree seeds, but aids that of some southern pines. Germination tests ordinarily are run for 30 to 60 days. Counts should be made every 2 or 3 days, and systematic records of results should be kept and made available to the seed user. Promptness of germination is almost as important to nurserymen as amount. NURSERYMEN DETERMINE the rate of sowing from the laboratory tests as modified on the basis of their own ex- perience. Nursery germination of tree seeds commonly is from 50 to 80 per- cent of laboratory germination. Since First the Seed, Then the Tree 135 further losses normally occur after ger- mination, the usable seedlings pro- duced by a number of species usually run from 10 to 60 percent of the viable seeds sown. The following produce 10 to 15 usable seedlings for every 100 viable seed sown: European white birch, silver buff aloberry, Siberian crab apple, desertwillow, elms, Tatarian honeysuckle, European larch, common lilac, and Russian mulberry. Lilac chaste-tree, Japanese larch, and red- wood yield 16 to 20 usable seedlings; Dahurian buckthorn, hackberries, Si- berian larch, black locust, and nanny- berry produce 21 to 30; the common jujube and Siberian pea-shrub, 31 to 40; and the baldcypress, pines, and spruces, 41 to 60. THE SOURCE OF SEED is important. Forest trees and shrubs have evolved races within species. Each race is spe- cially adapted to thrive under the con- ditions in which it has developed. Unless seeds of proper origin are used in forest planting, trees undesirable in vigor, form, or hardiness may result even though the right species has been used. Studies started more than 100 years ago in Europe and about 35 years ago in the United States have shown that there are climatic races in about 30 North American and 35 foreign tree species. Doubtless many other trees and shrubs also have developed races. Com- prehensive information is available for only five trees: Ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir from North America ; and Scotch pine, Norway spruce, and Euro- pean larch from Europe. Within these species the various races differ in rate of growth, stem form, leaf length, and color; the time that growth starts and stops; resistance to frost, drought, diseases, and insects; fruit and seed size; and wood quality. Some forest trees, within areas of uniform climate, have even developed races particularly adapted to local site conditions. Furthermore, trees of the same species within an individual stand may display much hereditary variation in all the characteristics listed under climatic races. For these reasons seed collectors should use extreme care in selecting the stands and even individ- ual trees from which they obtain seeds. They should try to have stands of de- sirable trees set aside as tree-seed farms to provide a continuous source of high- quality seeds. In most countries of northern and central Europe rigid laws have been enacted to enforce the use of forest- tree seeds of suitable origin. In the United States no Federal legislation has yet been passed, but some dealers have provided information as to seed origin. The United States Department of Agriculture in 1939 adopted a for- est-seed policy, stressing the use of local seeds, and some other agencies have followed suit. ON THE BASIS of present knowledge, there are three general requirements that should be enforced either by vol- untary action or regulation : Seed collectors should be required to label their seeds accurately and ade- quately as to species, time of collection, and place of collection. Seed dealers should be required to purchase only properly labeled seeds from collectors who are known to be reliable. Users of seed or nursery stock should demand adequate information as to seed origin and should use only seeds of local origin or of proven adaptabil- ity to local conditions, or stock grown from such seeds. PAUL O. RUDOLF is silviculturist at the Lake States Forest Experiment Station, maintained by the Depart- ment of Agriculture in cooperation with the University of Minnesota. He has been doing research in forest-plant- ing, forest-seed, and nursery problems in the Lake States since 1931 and is author of numerous publications on those phases of forestry. Mr. Rudolf holds degrees in forestry from the Uni- versity of Minnesota and Cornell University. 136 DIRECT SEEDING OF TREES W. E. MCQUILKIN Growing tree seedlings in a nursery and transplanting them later to the field is the standard artificial means for establishing forest plantations. On good sites and poor, in wet years and dry, the use of nursery stock, properly grown and properly planted, has proved more likely to succeed than any other artificial method. Direct seeding, which means sowing seeds in the field where the trees are to grow, thus bypassing the nursery and transplanting operations, under some conditions may be a simpler, faster, and less expensive reforestation method. Because of certain inherent drawbacks, however, direct seeding is not regarded as a method to replace planting on a wide scale, but rather as a useful adjunct to it by which, in selected situations, reforestation can be speeded up and costs reduced. By conservative estimates, we now have in this country at least 30 million acres of land in need of artificial re- stocking. Obviously, any procedure that will facilitate getting this land back into forest production should be fully utilized. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES will first be considered. With proper procedures on selected sites, direct seeding may be done successfully at lower cost than for planting nursery stock. Furthermore, since direct seed- ing is not dependent upon maintenance of a nursery and the starting of stock 1 to 4 years in advance, it permits a degree of flexibility in reforestation programs according to availability of labor, allotments of funds, and the press of other jobs that is impossible with planting. If curtailment is neces- sary, seeds can be held over a year or so more easily than growing nursery stock ; with expansion, seed usually can be procured upon shorter notice and with less advance planning. Also, seed- ing can be done over a considerably longer season. Growth direct from seed in the field permits normal development of root systems. Transplanting at best entails mutilation of roots and a set-back in growth. Although most species seem to suffer no lasting damage when prop- erly handled, many cases of poor growth and disease in forest planta- tions are believed to be caused by mal- formed root systems that result from improper or careless planting. Some strongly taprooted species seem by nature poorly adapted to withstand transplanting — they typically suffer high mortality, and many of the sur- vivors fail to regain the vigor of nat- ural, undisturbed trees. With direct seeding, all depressive after-effects of transplanting are avoided. On very stony areas, direct seeding is especially advantageous. Successful planting at reasonable cost on such sites may be almost impossible because of difficulty in digging holes to required depth and in finding enough rock-free soil to make a proper refill around the roots. Trees starting from seed in such ground are able to extend their roots around and between the stones, and may make excellent growth. Opposed to these advantages is one major disadvantage that relegates di- rect seeding to a secondary place; namely, that with a few possible ex- ceptions (such as on extremely stony ground) direct seeding almost always entails greater risks of failure than planting nursery stock. Greater risks are inherent in the method. Because of greater palatabil- ity to wildlife, greater susceptibility to certain types of insect injury and dis- eases, smaller size, undeveloped root systems, and generally greater fragility, seeds and newly germinated seedlings in the field almost unavoidably are more vulnerable to injury and death Direct Seeding of Trees or destruction by all the natural ob- stacles to plant establishment than are transplanted nursery stock. In the nurs- ery, seeds and seedlings are given in- tensive care and protection during the highly vulnerable early growth period; such care cannot practicably be given in the field. The natural obstacles most likely to interfere more in direct seeding than in planting are the rodents and birds, drought, competition or smothering by the surrounding vegetation, injuriously high surface-soil temperatures, frost heaving, insect pests, as well as the seedling diseases. Of these, rodent and bird depreda- tions upon the seed, and direct-heat injury from high soil temperatures are problems practically unique to direct seeding. Planters of nursery stock ordi- narily escape them entirely, and nurs- erymen can feasibly institute control measures if required. In certain sec- tions, throughout the Western States particularly, seeding without some form of rodent control generally is futile; in other sections, notably the southern Gulf Coast States, birds are the major problem. Direct-heat injury and mortality (independent of drought effects) may occur among tender, newly germinated seedlings if the surface-soil tempera- ture rises above 120° F. Such tempera- tures are not unusual on bare ground in full sun; considerably higher tem- peratures sometimes develop on black soil surfaces or south-facing slopes. In extreme cases, even transplanted nurs- ery stock may be damaged. Both seedings and plantings are affected by the other obstacles named, but in general seedings are more sensi- tive and more likely to fail as any factor or condition becomes increas- ingly unfavorable. Little trees starting from seed in the field are more subject to the damaging effects of drought, root competition from other plants, and frost heaving because of their less well-developed root systems; they are more subject to smothering by other plants because of their handicap in height. Certain insect pests, like cut- worms and white grubs, sometimes are highly destructive to the tender young plants but ordinarily do not seriously damage the 1- or 2-year-old seedlings. Likewise, serious damage from certain of the diseases, notably damping-off, is largely restricted to the period during and immediately after germination. Other lesser disadvantages of direct seeding as compared to planting are that it requires a good deal more seed per reforested acre — seed that may sometimes be difficult to obtain — and that it is a somewhat more painstaking type of work, especially with small- seeded species like most conifers, which germinate poorly unless the depth of coverage is carefully controlled. With recognition that direct field seedings are inherently more sensitive to adverse factors than plantings, the art of successful seeding can be char- acterized as, first, the discernment and the utilization of the combinations of species, site conditions, and the seasons where natural obstacles to plant estab- lishment are relatively few or present in mild degree; and, second, applica- tion of such treatments as are necessary and economically feasible for lessening the obstacles or modifying the factors most likely to cause failure. SEVERAL PRINCIPLES AND METHODS : Direct seeding generally should be restricted to the more favorable sites. These sites usually are characterized by fairly deep, mellow, loamy, and well- drained soils situated on lower slopes and benches with northern or eastern exposures, in coves, or on bottom lands. Site selection is more important in dry climates than in the moister ones. In the Lake States, for instance, which average rather dry among the forest climates, direct seeding generally is an uncertain undertaking except on the lower lying parts of the areas known as sand plains. Extensive acreages of this formation are found in Wisconsin. Seeding tests in the sand plains have indicated good chances for success where the ground-water table lies be- 138 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 tween 2 and 5 feet from the soil sur- face, but increasingly greater risks of failure as the water table gets deeper. Besides good soil and moisture con- ditions, sites favorable for seeding are characterized by relatively thin and open plant cover. This points to recent burns on forest land and to recently abandoned farm lands as being among the most likely situations for satisfying direct-seeding requirements. Seeding can be done any time that field conditions permit from late fall to early spring — roughly October through April in the North, with a somewhat shorter spring season in the South. Fall sowing generally is best because it allows the seed to afterripen naturally on the ground and germinate as soon as the weather is favorable in the spring. With spring sowing, seeds that require afterripening must have been previously stratified at near freez- ing temperatures for one to three months. When no positive rodent-con- trol measures are planned, spring sow- ing sometimes is advisable because of the shorter period during which the seeds are exposed to the foraging of the animals. All experience indicates that direct seeding with most species in the west- ern forest regions is futile without some form of rodent control. Effective con- trol measures are of two types : Hard- ware cloth covers placed over the seed- ed spots, and poisoning the area before seeding. Covers or "screens" of hardware cloth (3 or 4 meshes to the inch) are effective but relatively costly and in- convenient. They are made usually in a conical or dome shape to permit nest- ing for carrying and storage. At pre- war prices, covers 6 inches in diameter could be made for about 4 cents each, and with reasonable care were expect- ed to serve about 10 seasons. Thus, where seeding might be done year after year, the prorated cost per spot for screens could be reduced to less than one-half cent. Even at that rate, the cost runs around $5 an acre of 1,000 to 1,200 spots; to this must be added the labor cost of placing them on the spots, lifting them later, and storage. Obvi- ously, seeding with screens offers little chance for reducing reforestation costs below those that are needed for plant- ing. Their use clearly is out of the question for a private landowner with a small, one-season job. The prepoisoning for rodents, be- fore seeding, seems to offer the best promise of effective control at reason- able cost. Experimental trials of this method, as developed at the Northern Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Ex- periment Station in cooperation with the Fish and Wildlife Service, were in- terrupted by the war and have not been resumed there. However, the prepoi- soning technique has been employed successfully since the war in the Pacific Northwest. The procedure at the Northern Rocky Mountain Station was to place about a tablespoon of poisoned bait (hulled sunflower seed treated with thallium sulfate) at 20-foot intervals over the seeding area a week before sowing the seed. Four experimental field trials of 10 to 50 acres each were made on cut-over and burned forest land in the western white pine type, seeding with western white pine. After 5 years, from 67 to 79 percent of the seeded spots on these areas were stocked. Subsequently a 97-acre tract was seeded as a reforestation job by GCG labor without the painstaking care exercised in the earlier experi- ments. After 5 years this tract showed 62 percent of its spots stocked. Some of the spot failures here were attributed to too-deep coverage of the seeds by care- less workmen rather than to rodents. Other tests showed that treating the tree seeds with poison failed to give adequate rodent control where the area had not been prepoisoned. When pre- poisoning was used, treating the seed did not increase the stocking enough to justify the added costs. Cost of the bait used in the prepoi- soning was about 25 cents an acre, and the labor required to spread it was about 2 man-hours. Direct Seeding of Trees 139 Repellents for rodent and bird con- trol have been tried, applied both on the seed and on or around the seeded spots. No substance thus far tested has given effective control. Species with relatively small seed sometimes can be direct-seeded success- fully even in areas of high rodent pres- sure, without specific control measures. Apparently the animals simply do not find all the seed in these instances. In tests with western redcedar and Engel- mann spruce, seeded without protec- tion at the Northern Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, most of the spots showed some germi- nation, and where sites were favorable and ground cover fairly open, 64 to 97 percent of the spots were stocked 5 years later. Where failures occurred, they were generally attributable to drought or overgrowth by other plants, rather than to damage by rodents. In the Eastern States, direct seeding often can be done without special treatments to control rodents. Mice, which here are the most common of- fenders, typically are most numerous in heavier types of cover where seeding generally would be inadvisable because of plant competition. Choicer seeding areas, like recently cultivated fields or fresh burns with scant cover, harbor relatively few mice, and seedings on them usually will not be seriously mo- lested. In moderately heavy cover where furrowing or clearing of spots normally would be required in prep- aration for seeding, it has been found helpful to do this work several weeks in advance of sowing. The animals in- vestigate immediately; if they find nothing of interest they apparently pass by the spots or furrows thereafter without close examination. Thus a de- layed sowing may largely escape mo- lestation. In some localities where studies have been made, mouse populations are known to fluctuate from high to low on about a 4-year cycle. Probably this is true of mouse populations generally. Obviously, seedings made during the low of a cycle will be less likely to be seriously molested. Information on mouse cycles can be obtained from the Fish and Wildlife Service or, in some States, from the State biologist or State forester. Prepoisoning entire seeding areas as has been done in the northern Rocky Mountain region is not generally rec- ommended in the East because of the denser human population and greater danger of accidental consumption of the poisons by domestic livestock, pets, desirable forms of wildlife, or unsus- pecting people. Some States prohibit such poisoning by law, or control it by requiring the landowner to show cause for use of poison and obtain a permit from State or local authorities. In the Southern and the Gulf Coast States, trials of direct seeding mostly have been unsuccessful because of dep- redations by birds. No effective con- trols short of the costly screening method have been found, and seeding, therefore, is not now generally advo- cated in that region. Ground preparation of some sort usually is required for success in seed- ing unless the existing plant cover is sparse and open. Where they are fea- sible, furrows plowed on the contour are probably the cheapest effective procedure. Spacing between furrows should be 6 to 8 feet, the depth should be no greater than is required for good turning action by the plow, the furrow slices should all be thrown down slope, and the work preferably should be done several weeks before seeding. Where plowing cannot be done, seed spots 1 to 2 feet in diameter are prepared by scalping off the vege- tation with a mattock or hazel hoe. Deep digging of the spots to loosen the soil is not necessary. Where the cover is sufficiently open to allow location of seed spots at satisfactory spacing on bare soil between clumps of vegetation, ground preparation may be omitted. The omission should be recognized, however, as an acceptable increase in risk taken for the sake of lower labor costs. In seeding new burns without fur- 140 rowing or scalping, ashes should be raked or brushed aside before sowing. Fresh ashes in contact with the seed have been found to inhibit root growth and may cause many seedlings to fail immediately after germination. Rates of sowing should be governed by percentages of viable seed, which for most tree seed runs far below 100 percent. On large operations that in- volve considerable investment, seed quality should be ascertained by germi- nation tests. For the small operator such tests often are inconvenient to make, especially with the species whose seed require cold stratification. A reasonably dependable substitute is to determine the percentage of soundness by cutting each seed in a sample with a knife or mashing with a hammer. For the sowing operation, the fast- est and cheapest hand method on clean ground or after furrowing is to use a garden-type mechanical seeder, which a man can push along without undue effort. Relatively small-seeded spe- cies like pines should be sown to aver- age two to three sound seeds to the lineal foot of row. Covering may be done by use of the shoe attachment furnished with most seeders, or by a brush drag drawn along the furrow after the seed are dropped. With fall sowing in furrows, covering often is not necessary, as the seed will be cov- ered anyhow by rain and frost action. However, immediate covering may be of some value in concealing the seed from birds and rodents. Guard care- fully against excessive coverage; small seeds, like pine and spruce, should not be planted more than a quarter inch deep. In the spot seeding of small seeds, sow about 10 sound ones on a spot. Covering may be accomplished by light raking or, better, by sowing in two or three little trenches made with the fin- ger, a pointed stick, or any convenient small tool. Fill the trenches level over the seeds with soil and firm gently with the hand or foot. Recently a tool has been designed for spot seeding consisting of a blade Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 for scarifying the soil, a seed chamber, and a spring mechanism which can be adjusted to deliver a definite amount of seed. On areas requiring little or no preparation of the spots, it is re- ported that one man with this tool can seed 2 to 3 acres a day. The tool is not at present available on the market, but construction is fairly simple. Speci- fications can be obtained from the Oregon State Department of Forestry, at Salem. Though application of supplemen- tal treatments means more labor time and shrinkage or elimination of any cost differential in favor of seeding, extra treatments or refinements in tech- nique are in some situations almost prerequisite to success. Mulching, for instance, will markedly increase the amount of successful germination in regions such as the southern Piedmont, where hot, dry conditions often develop during the early spring. Especially on the heavy soils that have little natural cover to shade the surface and retard drying, mulch is practically a require- ment in that region. On such sites, mulch also greatly reduces losses from frost heaving. Costs for mulching vary greatly according to availability of suit- able material. On grassy fields where material can be raked directly into the furrows or on to the seed spots, costs usually will not be prohibitive. Hauling mulch to the seeding site involves greater expense, but may be feasible if pine litter or other material can be picked up easily in the vicinity. Seed should not be covered with soil if mulch is used, as that covers them too deep; when used, the mulch must be spread lightly with all entangled mats and chunks broken apart. Inexperienced labor almost invariably tends to spread mulch too thickly; ideally, it should nowhere exceed one-half inch when settled. Another instance of need for special treatment occurs when seeding open- ings among the hardwood trees and sprouts where considerable leaf litter is cast each fall. Experience with spot seeding in situations of this sort at the Direct Seeding of Trees 141 Central States Forest Experiment Sta- tion has shown the necessity for raising each spot an inch or so above the sur- rounding level to escape the lodging of leaves and smothering of the young plants. With spots properly located away from the natural obstacles where litter collects, this slight elevation causes most leaves to slide off or be carried on by the next gust of wind. Where screen covers are used, they should be placed on the spots immedi- ately as sown; delay of a few hours or overnight may be too late. Though they may be lifted anytime after ger- mination is completed, screens usually are left in place until fall or the follow- ing spring. Leaving them through the first summer is desirable in that they cast a light shade which measurably reduces soil temperatures and evapora- tion, and thereby tends to increase seedling growth. Nut seeds, such as walnuts or acorns, produce a more robust seedling from the start than smaller seeds like pine or the yellow-poplar. Early mortality is lower, and, consequently, fewer seeds need to be sown. The usual practice with good-quality nuts is to sow two to the seed spot, placing them several inches apart so that, if both grow, one can be removed later without injuring the other. In furrows, single nuts are planted at intervals of 2 to 3 feet. Depth of planting should be 1 to 2 inches, or about twice the thickness of the seed. Inasmuch as nut seeds are especially subject to rodent depredations, spring seeding, with its much shorter period of exposure, often is preferable to fall seeding. However, nuts held over- winter require careful storage. For most species they should be stratified in moist sand or peat moss either in a refrigerated room or in an outdoor pit on a well-drained site. Pits should be deep enough to prevent solid, win- ter-long freezing. Germination will start in pits as soon as ground tempera- tures begin to rise in March or early April, at which time the nuts should be removed and planted without de- lay. Acorns of the white oak group require no afterripening and may be held overwinter without stratification in an unheated cave or humid, cold room. The foregoing discussion has dealt only with hand methods, sometimes aided by common machines, such as plows and mechanical seeders. Those are the methods on which we can pass some measure of judgment based on results, but even here the background of experiment and experience is too scant to warrant final conclusions. Fur- thermore, these methods have all em- bodied the idea of spot or row seeding often with more or less ground prepa- ration. Broadcast seeding, after nu- merous unsuccessful trials on the na- tional forests 35 to 40 years ago, was abandoned as a futile effort. NOW, HOWEVER, A NEW TECHNIQUE is stirring the imagination of many for- esters— seeding from airplanes. With the great impetus given to aviation by the war, and the increasing awareness of our dwindling timber resource ac- centuated by the war, it was natural that the idea of rapid reforestation by airplane should emerge and demand trial. The airplane has been adapted with phenomenal success to the dis- persal of insecticides and fungicides over field, orchard, and forest. It has been used successfully in the West to seed herbaceous species for watershed protection after fires, to seed rice fields, and has found some use in range re- seeding. Why not use airplanes to reseed the forest? Several tests of airplane seeding of forest trees are now under way. One of the first was 600 acres seeded in the spring of 1946 by the Oregon State Board of Forestry. The Crown Zeller- bach Corporation in Oregon seeded 1,100 acres by air in 1947, and 2,600 acres more in 1948, the latter by heli- copter. The Central States Forest Ex- periment Station tried airplane seeding of trees in 1948 on spoils left after strip mining bituminous coal, and the Northeastern Forest Experiment Sta- 142 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 studies in the Lake States, Hardy L. Shirley expressed the prevailing phi- losophy regarding broadcast seeding in these words: "There seems to be no more certain way of wasting a large amount of seed and accomplishing nothing than to broadcast it on unpre- tion seeded about 2,500 acres in Maine on land burned-over in the fall of 1947. The Department of Lands and Forests of Ontario, Canada, also has been ex- perimenting with airplane seeding. The degree of success to follow from these experiments remains to be deter- nothing than to broadcast it on mined Preliminary inspections of the pared soil in the Lake States." area seeded in Maine indicate a poor Though Shirley restricted his state- ment to the Lake States, it would have catch of seedlings there. Of the other areas mentioned, reports on degree of stocking have been received only for the 1946 seeding in Oregon. On a re- cently burned part of that area which was seeded to Douglas-fir and Port- Orford-cedar (*4 pound of seed of each an acre), examination of 166 4- milacre circular line plots in the fall of 1947 showed 52 percent of the plots stocked. Plots of this size (about 14.9 feet in diameter) give perhaps an un- duly favorable picture of stocking den- sity. When tallied by milacre plots, the percent of stocked plots on the same area was only 22. Though this amount of seedling catch leaves much to be de- sired, the Oregon investigators feel the results are satisfactory and plan to continue their airplane seeding. At this early stage in developments, the ultimate usefulness of the airplane in forest seeding cannot be foretold. Rapid coverage of ground is its chief attraction. Compared to 1, or at best, 2 or 3 acres a man-day by hand methods, or even several times those amounts by use of simple machines like garden seeders, the ability of the plane to spread seed on 100 acres in a matter of minutes opens vistas of reforestation that heretofore have been only conser- vationists' dreams. And the cost factor is favorable; present indications are that airplane seeding can be done for from $3 to $6 an acre — cheaper than the most efficient hand or simple ma- chine methods. The airplane method, however, has several shortcomings, chief of which is that it represents a return to broad- cast seeding — a procedure that has been rather thoroughly tried in the past and found wanting. In 1937, after extensive seeding found ready acceptance among forest- ers had it been broadened to include the entire country. Practically all for- est-seeding experience supported it. In view of this bit of history, what is the outlook for airplane seeding, which is nothing more than the adaptation of a new machine to a discarded method? Airplane seeding offers promise of limited successful use because of two developments in the last decade : ( 1 ) A greater appreciation among forest- ers of the importance of proper site selection for direct seeding; and (2) with special reference to the West, the development of practicable methods of rodent control by mass prepoisoning prior to seeding. Suitable sites for airplane seeding will be those which, in addition to meeting other requirements, have un- dergone recent denudation, either by large, hot fires or disturbances of the soil. There the seed will find the min- eral soil that many species, especially the conifers, require for effective estab- lishment of seedlings, the young plants will encounter a minimum of compe- tition, and animal population will be at low ebb. The main problem is to get the seeds planted, that is, covered suffi- ciently to promote germination. To ac- complish that, the seed is dispersed in the winter, preferably on soft snow, so that it will become embedded before germination time by the physical action of melting down of the snow, frost movements, and spring rains. As the natural plant cover returns to an area following denudation, the area rapidly declines as a broadcast seeding site. Some measure of ground preparation becomes increasingly necessary, and sooner or later a stage is reached where Direct Seeding of Trees 143 again broadcasting would waste seed. Seeding from the air involves the same basic procedures as spreading in- secticides and fungicides, except that flight strips must be narrower because seeds fall more sharply than mists or dusts. On the experiment in Maine, flight strips were 50 feet wide, with the plane flying 50 to 75 feet above the treetops. Ground crews must precede the plane to erect flags and wind-socks at corners and along boundaries as guides for the pilot. Distributing de- vices are whatever an ingenious me- chanic can devise to fit the plane and the job. On the Maine job the plane used was a converted N3N Navy train- ing biplane with equipment originally designed for spreading poisoned bran grasshopper bait. The hopper held about 1 7 bushels. Material flowed from the bottom of the hopper through a slot into a pan under the fuselage from which it was blown out by the slip stream through four fanwise diverging channels. Agitators in the hopper were operated by a small gear box and shaft mounted on one wing and driven by wind vanes. With this distributing ap- paratus, the flow of pure pine seed could not be regulated satisfactorily; consequently, the seed was mixed with sawdust. By trial and error, propor- tions of 1 2 of sawdust to 1 of seed and 6 of sawdust to 1 of seed, by volume, were found to give the 2 desired den- sity rates of approximately 4,000 and 8,000 seeds an acre. These rather low rates were necessitated by the limited amount of seed available. Only white pine was sown ; original plans called for red pine also, but seed could not be had. These details on the Maine seeding are cited merely as one example. With other kinds of seed and distributing equipment, the procedures might vary considerably. The Ontario investi- gators, for instance, devised a mecha- nism for distributing undiluted seed through the camera hatch of a Cessna Crane plane. They also have worked with coated or pelleted seed, which increases seed weight by about six times, thus causing the seed to strike the ground with greater force and embed themselves to some degree in the surface soil or litter. The partial embedding, plus the coating of diato- maceous earth and the fly ash, provide more or less coverage for the seed and thereby promote better germination and higher survival. Fungicides, ferti- lizers, and rodent repellents have been incorporated into the seed coatings, but with no significant benefits except possibly from fungicides in reducing losses from damping-off. As FOR COSTS : That direct seeding can be done at lower cost than plant- 144 ing has been amply demonstrated by experiments and early administrative experience — the latter mostly prior to 1913 — on the western national forests. Most of those pre-1913 seedings failed, however, which points up the highly significant fact that lower operating costs an acre mean little unless per- centages of successful stocking by seed- ing and by planting are consistently about the same, or, if not, that the costs for seeding are enough lower to compensate for the larger margin of failures. We have no cost records for the more recently developed seeding tech- niques that are sufficiently compre- hensive in acreage and years to pro- vide real comparisons with planting in terms of successfully stocked acres. We have only the evidence from rela- tively small-scale experimental trials which strongly indicates, but does not conclusively demonstrate, that seeding can be done on selected sites in various sections of the country at lower, or at least no higher, costs per successfully stocked acre than planting. In the northern Rocky Mountain tests before the war, seeding western white pine, exclusive of poisoning, cost approximately the same as planting 2-0 stock (about 1 man-day of labor plus $3.34 for seed or $3.60 for stock for an acre of 800 spots), and $3.86 less than for 2-2 stock, which is the grade usually recommended for plant- ing in that region. Prepoisoning, which required 2 man-hours and 25 cents for bait an acre, brought seeding charges slightly above those for planting 2—0 stock, but still well below those for 2-2 stock. On suitable sites, fully as good stocking usually was achieved with seeding as with planting. The cost for ponderosa pine seed, for 2-0 seedlings, and for the usually preferred 1-2 trans- plants were $3.64, $3.20, and $5.60, re- spectively. Though this leaves a margin in favor of seeding as compared with transplant stock, it is an appreciably narrower margin than for white pine. Seeding costs for Engelmann spruce and western redcedar, on the other Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 hand, run far below planting costs be- cause with these species nursery stock is rather expensive to produce, whereas seed costs are low on an acre basis be- cause of the large number of seed to the pound. C. S. Schopmeyer and A. E. Helmers estimate costs for seed well under 50 cents, while the nursery stock would cost at least $7 or $8 an acre. Tests in Oregon, using the seeding tool mentioned on a preceding page, show that under favorable conditions of weather, terrain, and accessibility, burned-over Douglas-fir land can be prepoisoned for rodents and then spot- seeded at 1946 wage rates for about $6 an acre, approximately $4 of which is for labor. With less favorable con- ditions, costs will run from $7 to $8 an acre. No direct comparisons with planting have been reported ; however, seeding (mostly with Douglas-fir) has reportedly given good results on north- ern slopes and some fair catches on southern slopes. Planting the same type of terrain undoubtedly would cost at least twice as much — perhaps more. In the sand plains of the Lake States, on old fields in Ohio and the Atlantic Piedmont region, and on depleted for- est areas in the Missouri Ozarks, suc- cessful seeding of pines has been done for approximately half the usual costs for planting — in round numbers, about $5 versus $10 an acre or per 1,000 spots. Those are the prewar figures ; at present wage rates the costs would be higher but the relationships probably would be about the same. No rodent- control measures were employed. The above costs were based on use of a mechanical seeder in furrows at the Lake States and Piedmont locations, and spot seeding in Ohio and the Ozarks. Spot seeding in the Piedmont, using mulch over the spots, cost about the same as planting. Planting costs are based on local practices, typically 1-0 or 2-0 stock, the species being principally the jack pine in the Lake States, loblolly pine in the Piedmont, and shortleaf pine in Ohio and the Ozarks. In all probability, seeding can be done throughout much of the east- Direct Seeding of Trees ern forest region by similar methods and at about the same relative costs as in those experiments. The approxi- mately 50-percent lower operating costs for seeding appear adequate to compensate for the greater risks in- volved, and indicate that the method might well be more widely used as a supplement to planting. Costs for airplane seeding will not mean much until more evidence is available on the degree of success to be expected. If a fair percentage of air- plane seedings do succeed, the cost as- pects of the method are especially at- tractive. The previously cited job in Maine was done for about $3.50 an acre. This figure does not include any rental or depreciation charge for the plane; however, a private concern of- fered to do the flying for 50 cents an acre. The Oregon State Board of Forestry reports costs of $5.13 an acre for their 1946 job, which costs included prepoisoning for rodent control and some snag felling. On the latter job, mixtures of Douglas-fir, Port-Orford- cedar, western hemlock, and Sitka spruce seed were used at the rate of one-half pound an acre. Flying costs will be influenced appre- ciably by size and shape of the seeding areas. Situations that permit flight strips of a mile or more will go much faster than those where strips are short- er, thus requiring more time to be spent in turns. Probably the helicopter will prove to be better suited and more economical than the conventional-type planes for working smaller tracts. RECOMMENDATIONS: Since direct seeding, even though it has several ad- vantages over planting, has the major drawback of generally being more sub- ject to failure, one may ask where or under what circumstances it can be used to best advantage. The statements to follow refer to the tested hand methods or simple machine methods. No recommendations regard- ing airplane seeding are warranted now, except that developments be watched with a critical but open mind. 802062° — 49 11 145 First, seeding can be advocated in those localities and on those classes of sites where experiments have shown that it has a good chance to succeed. Among these are cut-over and burned moist slopes and benches in the north- ern Rocky Mountain white pine type; the similar areas in the northwestern Douglas-fir region; the low-lying sand plains in the Lake States; the better old-field sites in the East Central States and Atlantic Piedmont ; the better cut- over forest sites in the Missouri Ozarks. Its use might well be extended, on a small scale at first, to other sections or localities having conditions similar to any of the above areas. No curtailment of planting in favor of seeding is pro- posed; rather the planting should be pushed with full vigor during the proper season, but sites deemed suit- able for seeding should be bypassed. Then as conditions permit at other times, seed the selected areas. Second, seeding can be advocated on certain classes of sites, notably very stony areas, where good planting is difficult, expensive, or impossible. Third, seeding is admirably suited for filling in fail spots in natural repro- duction or plantations and other small or out-of-the-way places that hardly would justify taking in a planting crew. Such places can be seeded during the off season for planting by a few men at relatively small expense. If the seedings are successful, the gain is definitely worth while ; if they fail, little is lost. Fourth, seeding can be suggested for special consideration in the establish- ment of any species that is difficult to handle or tends to react unfavorably to the usual nursery and transplanting procedures. For instance, some strong- ly taprooted nut species, like black wal- nut, preferably should be direct seeded where the method is at all feasible. Finally, seeding appeals to many farmers for starting or restocking a few acres of wood lot, partly because it can be done intermittently at odd times, partly because many men derive satis- faction in growing their trees from seed of their own collection from a favor- I46 Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 able source, while saving the price of W. E. McQuiLKiN is a forester at nursery stock in the process. Establish- the Northeastern Forest Experiment ing a wood lot is an excellent project Station. From 1938 to 1942 he was en- for farm boys and many, like their gaged in direct-seeding studies at the fathers, derive satisfaction and good Southeastern Forest Experiment Sta- experience by starting with seed collec- tion. Dr. McQuilkin is a graduate of tion rather than purchased nursery Doane College and the Universities of stock Nebraska and Pennsylvania. CROSSES AMONG THE WHITE PINES ATTEMPTED BETWEEN 1939 AND 1948 AT THE INSTITUTE OF FOREST GENETICS, PLACERVILLE, CALIF.1 Pollen parent S * * 5 ^ R sjilillli, sill Jits 111 S«drarWN>>^; > r> tf>.iRfaL.*Sfi& WINDBREAKS AND SHELTERBELTS JOSEPH H. STOECKELER, ROSS A. WILLIAMS In an effort to determine the value of adequate windbreaks on American farms, 508 farmers in South Dakota and Nebraska were asked for their ppinions. They placed the annual sav- ings in their fuel bill alone at $15.85. In another measure of the value, the Lake States Forest Experiment Station conducted an experiment at Holdrege, Nebr. Exact fuel requirements were recorded in identical test houses. One was protected from winds; the other was exposed to the full sweep of the wind. From the experimental data it was possible to calculate the savings to be expected under various prevailing conditions, if a constant house tem- perature of 70° F. were maintained. The amount of fuel used was reduced by 22.9 percent. Also the average of the savings for houses protected on the north in Hol- drege and three other localities in the Great Plains — Huron, S. Dak., Dodge City, Kans., and Fargo, N. Dak. — was 20.2 percent. Assuming a 10-ton an- nual consumption of coal, this repre- sents a saving of 2 tons of coal a year. Under good protection, on three sides of a house, the fuel saving may run as high as 30 percent. Dairymen, livestock feeders, and breeders have rather positive ideas of how the protection afforded by trees reduces their feed bills and increases their calf crops. Eighty-six livestock feeders in Nebraska and South Dakota placed this average annual saving at more than $800 ; 62 livestock breeders reported that their savings amounted to more than $500 annually; 53 dairy- men placed their savings at $600. Further study of the subject was made at the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station at Havre. Two herds of cattle were wintered on the same rations — one in the protection of trees and shrubs, the other in an open lot with some protection from a shed. The tree-protected animals gained 34.9 more pounds each during a mild winter, and lost 10.6 pounds less dur- ing a severe winter, than the unpro- tected herd. Another experiment conducted by V. I. Clark, superintendent of the ex- periment station at Ardmore, S. Dak., involved the weighing of two herds of cattle in different pastures — one pro- tected by the natural tree and shrub growth along a stream, the other with- out protection. They were re weighed after a 3-day blizzard. The animals that had some protection each lost an average of 30 pounds less than those in the exposed pasture. Farm families depend upon gardens for much of their subsistence, and most of them are aware of the influence of a windbreak in increasing the quality and quantity of vegetables and fruit from gardens and orchards. In the opinions of farmers interviewed, the increase was $67.15 on 323 farms in Nebraska and $84.43 on 260 farms in South Dakota. A few farmers believed the windbreaks did not increase the production of their gardens. W. P. Baird, horticulturist in charge of fruit and vegetable investigations at the Northern Great Plains Field Sta- tion at Mandan, N. Dak., says that "a windbreak is on duty protecting the fruit gardens at all seasons of the year, and it is almost useless to consider growing fruit on the Plains without such protection." So far we have discussed windbreaks, which are the shorter and more blocky plantings about farmsteads. Much like them, but more extensive, are the shel- terbelts, a term used to denote com- paratively narrow strip plantings — sometimes single rows of trees — that are designed to protect fields. EXPERIENCE with systematic plant- ings of shelterbelts to protect fields goes 192 back to 1789, when a group of German Mennonites, who emigrated to the Russian Steppes, began the shelterbelts that since have been extended to thou- sands of miles. The term "shelterbelt" was used as early as 1833, so it is appar- ent that some thought for controlling wind erosion by use of trees was in existence over a century ago. Since the days of the shelterbelt project, initiated in the Great Plains some 14 years ago, the term has become part of the every- day language of farmers on the Plains. Few tree planters were among the earliest settlers of the United States. They came when the westward migra- tion started to the prairies of Illinois and the Great Plains; those pioneers realized that it was going to take more than a sod house to give them the pro- tection to which they had been accus- tomed in the wooded East. It was not surprising, therefore, that a plantation of trees often shared with the garden the first patch of sod that was bro- ken. Wildings collected along nearby streams comprised their planting stock. We have records of some of these plant- ings in Nebraska Territory as early as 1854; many are still alive, monuments to the courage of the pioneers and evi- dence of the desirability of using hardy, native planting stock. Later immi- grants from Europe often brought tree seeds with them from their old homes. The passage of the Homestead Law in 1862 brought more settlers to the Great Plains and the need for more tree planting. Kansas was the first, in 1865, to provide a tree-bounty law in efforts to encourage more planting. This was followed in 1869 by Nebraska and the Dakota Territory which passed tax-exemption laws that favored tree planting. J. Sterling Morton, third Secretary of Agriculture, founded Ar- bor Day and saw its first official cele- bration in his home State of Nebraska in 1872. It was primarily through his encouragement that the Timber Cul- ture Act was passed by Congress in 1873. Although it helped to stimulate tree planting, probably fewer than one- third of the trees established during Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 the time the act was in force can be attributed directly to it. It has been the history of tree plant- ing throughout the world that the establishment of windbreaks and shel- terbelts has not progressed fast enough to keep pace with the needs without some assistance by the Government. The thousands of miles of shelterbelts that now protect millions of acres of farm lands in Russia; the mile after mile of tree strips in Jutland, without which farming would be impossible; similar planting in Hungary; the 18,- 510 miles of tree belts planted in the Great Plains shelterbelt from North Dakota to Texas ; and the 211 million trees planted to shelterbelts and wind- breaks in the Prairie Provinces of Can- ada— all owe their success to sound Government policies put into effect through well-administered and Gov- ernment-assisted projects. There was a period in the United States after the repeal of the Timber Culture Act in 1891 when little public encouragement was given to tree plant- ers. A renewal of interest was shown in 1904 with the passage of the Kincaid Act and later, in 1916, by the inclusion of the demonstrational tree planting in the program of the Northern Great Plains Field Station near Mandan, N. Dak. The available records through Jan- uary 1, 1948, indicate that some 123,191 miles of windbreaks and shel- terbelts have been planted since the middle of the past century. Of 96,596 miles planted through private initia- tive, 39,400 are accounted for by sin- gle row Osage-orange hedges planted between 1865 and 1939 by farmers of Kansas, encouraged by a State bounty. The shelterbelt project, sometimes referred to as the Prairie States For- estry Project, was established in 1934, a time of serious drought, dust storms, and depression. Its purpose was to plant badly needed shelterbelts and at the same time provide work for people in the drought-stricken Great Plains. In the Great Plains between 1935 and 1942, 18,510 miles of field shelter- Windbreaks and Shelterbelts 193 belts, not counting those on farmsteads, were planted by the Forest Service. The Soil Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture (to which the work was transferred in 1942) planted 8,363 miles between 1934 and 1949 in its program on soil conserva- tion districts. The Wisconsin State Conservation Department furnished stock and, with the Extension Service, was responsible for establishing 5,942 miles of shelterbelts. In California, the fruit-tree growers planted 2,000 miles of belts to protect citrus orchards and vineyards. In Indiana, truck garden- ers have planted 100 miles on muck land. Many more miles of shelterbelts for which no published records are available probably have been planted in other States. THE FARM PLANTINGS before 1935 did not include the large numbers that could also be classified as shelterbelts, but landowners who were fortunate enough to have them in the droughty 1930's had proof of their benefits. Pioneer planters of shelterbelts and windbreaks in the Great Plains had little knowledge of how to make trees live and only a meager knowledge of the growth habits of the trees they had to use. It is surprising, in view of those handicaps, that even moderate success was attained. Progressive farmers and orchardists plant shelterbelts for two primary pur- poses— to control soil blowing and to protect crops. Some southern Great Plains cotton planters find it neces- sary to replant two and three times on the unprotected fields. Sugar-beet farmers on sandy, irrigated fields in the West frequently have a crop cut off by drifting sand as it emerges from the ground. The small-grain and corn farmers have had similar experiences. From the time that crops are well estab- lished until they are ready for harvest, they are constantly subjected to dam- age or to destruction by soil drifting, blow-down, firing by hot winds, loss of soil moisture, or damage from frost and sleet. Orchards are subjected to 802062 ° — 49 14 the same damages, but the greatest benefits are realized from protecting the trees during the pollination stage and preventing wind damage to the ripening fruit. Besides, properly located and ar- ranged shelterbelts can do much to beautify the landscape and act as snow fences in winter, thus helping to keep open highways and rural roads. Thomas T. Wilson, of the Manitoba Department of Public Works, said that planted snow traps can be consider- ably cheaper than the usual slat-wire snow fence. His data, based on 201.6 miles of caragana hedge, indicates a prorated cost per mile for a year of about $100, assuming an average effec- tive life of 25 years for the planting. Prorated costs of slat-wire snow fences were about $225 per mile for a year, assuming an average life of 20 years for this type of fence. Hence, the cost of the planted hedges is less than half that of slat-wire snow fence. The com- parison, of course, does not consider the possible rental cost of the land the caragana hedge may occupy, but in places where a 200-foot right-of-way is owned, this question is resolved. THE EFFECTS ON FIELD CROPS are less distinct. A survey among Nebraska farmers showed that 29 farmers rated high the value of field shelterbelts, although 18 had been unable to ob- serve benefits. The average estimated gain in production amounted to $43 a year. In South Dakota, 27 farmers said the crop gain was $60 a year per farm. A mistake made by some observers is to note only that corn or small grains growing at the edge of a field protected by the belt is usually inferior to that growing a few rods out in the field, where, in fact, the greatest benefit nearly always occurs. A fair compari- son can be made only between both of these zones and the distant part of the field that has no protection. But a large number of systematic measure- ments throughout entire fields has shown that sound comparison could easily lead to differences of opinion, 194 because the ground near the belt may be substantially better or poorer than that far out in the field. A farmer with a shelterbelt 40 years old may not re- member how the different parts of the field varied in productivity before there was a shelterbelt there. This variability of production within fields has made so difficult the determi- nation of average shelterbelt gains in the fields measured from 1935 to 1941 by the Lake States Forest Experiment Station that the entire mass of data is being restudied. Predictions as to what will be shown by analyses not pre- viously tried may be erroneous. In general, however, it appears that a field protected by a single-row shel- terbelt, equivalent to the Osage-orange hedge so common in Nebraska and Kansas, will show a net gain in yield equivalent to the crop on an area as long as the belt and as wide as its height, after allowance for shading and sapping. Any belt of greater width will be profitable for protective purposes alone, then, provided its width between the outside stems does not exceed its height. While it seems apparent that wider belts add somewhat to the benefits, it is probable that the narrow belt yields the greatest return on the land oc- cupied, if the value of the timber products is low. Benefits arise from several different causes, and in con- sequence are unlikely to be the same in all directions from north-south and east-west belts. Areas west of belts pos- sibly benefit less than those in other directions; in northern parts of the Plains, where the snowfall is heavier, greater benefits apparently are pro- duced than in the central or southern areas. Winter grains and other early crops may benefit more from the snow held on the field, near the belt, than from other causes, while corn possibly bene- fits most by protection from hot, drying winds. The final results may be some- what different from these predictions, and in any case they apply only in the area from the Dakotas to Kansas, and Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 not to the drier portions of those States or to better- watered regions. Except for 1936, when only a few measurements were made, the period does not include any years of serious drought. OTHER CROPS besides wheat and corn show good response to shelterbelt protection. An investigation of eight cottonfields in western Oklahoma and northern Texas showed an increase of 17.4 percent above normal between 0 and 5H, and 7.9 percent increase be- tween 5H and 10H (with H represent- ing a horizontal distance of one tree height from the edge of the belt) . The normal yield of cotton grown beyond the zone of tree protection was 288.6 pounds of lint to the acre. In California, one- and two-row eucalyptus windbreaks are said to be effective in protecting citrus fruits from bruising and dropping for a total dis- tance of 5 to 7 times the average height of the trees. The trees easily attain heights of 60 to 80 feet within 10 to 20 years after planting. H. E. Wahlberg, of Orange County, Calif., reports returns from 20 citrus groves grown under windbreak pro- tection as averaging $445.48 an acre. On 20 unprotected citrus groves, the return was only $271.34 an acre. Ac- cording to those figures, a grower could use 1 acre of trees on a 10-acre plot for windbreak purposes and still get $1,295.92 more return on the remain- ing 9 acres than on the unprotected 10. Dale Bumstead, an orchardist near Phoenix, Ariz., reported that shelter- belts of eucalyptus are important in reducing cullage in his citrus fruit. His 1946 crop had a cullage of 18.5 per- cent, and cullage averaged 19 percent for a 3-year period. The citrus industry reports that the average cullage is about 50 percent. Dr. Arvil L. Stark, secretary of the Utah Horticultural Society, is author- ity for the statement that fruit will not set on the windward side of trees when windy conditions prevail, because bees will not work in the wind. Shelterbelts, by reducing winds, thus can create Windbreaks and Shelterbelts Board barrier, 33 percent solid 16 feet high >ISTANCE LEEWARD IN TREE-HEIGHT L Wind velocity at instrument stations 16 inches above the ground in 15-mile-per-hour wind blowing at right angles to three types of windbreaks: (1) A 16-foot high board fence of 33 percent density; (2) a dense belt of green ash, 290 feet wide; (3) a thin, rather open cotton wood belt, 165 feet wide. The velocities are given in percentages of wind velocities in an open field nearby. more favorable conditions in orchards for pollination by bees. Another benefit of windbreaks was cited by F. L. Overly, superintendent of the Tree Fruit Branch Experiment Station near Wenatchee, Wash. He pointed out that spraying for insect control results in more even and com- plete coverage in protected areas be- cause of lower wind velocities. More- over, protected orchard trees do not develop as much lean or become as lop- sided as those in exposed areas. ANYONE who has stood in the pro- tection of a belt of trees on a windy day has observed that the wind was considerably reduced near the trees. How much is this reduction in wind velocity, and how far does it extend? The zone of influence is most easily shown graphically. The chart shows what this effect is for a 15-mile-an- hour wind for several different types of barriers. In this study, distances were expressed in terms of windbreak heights, in order to provide a con- venient comparison of zones of influ- ence for the tree belts of different heights; for instance, the term 3H refers to a horizontal distance equal to three times the height of a tree belt. It is seen that the wind velocity near a dense wide belt of ash may be re- duced to as low as 30 percent of that in the open; for a thin cottonwood belt, it is about 66 percent of normal velocity; for a board barrier, it is about 58 percent. All three windbreaks show some effect out to about 30 times their height, but the effect beyond 20H is rather minor. The results are substantiated by studies made in other parts of the United States. Pioneer tree planters, especially in Nebraska, planted east-west shelter- belts for protection of fields against south winds. It has often been reported that such protection may reduce the drying power of winds, and may at times prevent the firing of crops when the temperature of southwesterly winds is excessive. 196 Yearboo\ of Agriculture 1949 Observation by Alba Briggs in July 1939, in York County and adjoining areas in Nebraska, showed a markedly beneficial effect in reducing the firing of corn — the drying up of foliage in hot, windy weather. ^ Benefits were greatest on the north side of belts and to some extent on the east side. Ob- servations on 8 fields showed no dam- age out to 11 to 40 tree heights, with an average of 23 times the height of the trees. Tree heights ranged from 18 to 50 feet and averaged about 35 feet. On the south side of Osage-orange hedges of 18- to 20-foot height, accentuated damage to the corn was observed out to 5 tree heights. On the west side, the adverse effect extended from 30 to 40 feet due to firing and sapping. These observations were not carried through to assess values in terms of actual final crop yields, but they show a similarity to many of the yield measurements. An 8-year-old shelterbelt near Nor- folk, Nebr., played an important part in helping its owner, Ernest Fuhram, to win the 1947 corn-yield contest for his county. His 10-acre test plot made 106 bushels of corn an acre. Mr. Fuhram said, " I had 90 acres of corn north of the shelterbelt, including the 10-acre test plot, and it was quite evident that the protection the trees gave the field made a lot of difference last year. The best corn was near the shelterbelt and the yield tapered off as the distance from the trees was increased." In irrigated areas, shelterbelts can be of considerable value in reducing water loss from evaporation. From Scotts Bluff County, Nebr., it is reported that in growing alfalfa an irrigated field protected by shelterbelts required one less irrigation a season than unpro- tected fields on nearby farms. Tree belts trap snow and hold it on agricultural land, especially in the northern and central Great Plains. Hence, some measure of moisture con- servation is attained, because in un- protected areas much of the snow is blown into gulches, low spots, and road ditches, where it is of no direct benefit to the crop. Good agronomic prac- tices, such as leaving tall stubble over winter, standing strips of cornstalks, or unmowed sweetclover, can also retain much of the snow on the land. A com- bination of shelterbelt planting and strip cropping is undoubtedly the best. In a number of soil-moisture sam- plings made in the spring of 1936, there was about 4 percent more avail- able moisture (or 2.5 inches of water) in the top 4 feet of soil between the tree belts and a point four times the average tree height to leeward. This additional moisture, largely accumu- lated from snowdrifts trapped by the belts, may at times be the difference between a fair crop and a complete crop failure. IN DEVELOPING A SHELTERBELT, the present-day tree planter can progress with a great deal of assurance, especi- ally if he will seek the assistance of his local State or Federal forester, county agent, or district conservationist. Although many details involved in the successful establishment of a wind- break or shelterbelt must be worked out to meet local needs, a number of fundamental principles contribute to success, irrespective of the locality or conditions under which windbreaks or shelterbelts may be planted. Careful preparation of the site, good planting with hardy stock, and thor- ough cultivation are three factors that go hand in hand. When all three are well done, the results are sometimes spectacular, but one cannot slight one of them and hope to make up for it by intensive application of the others. Good site preparation means thor- ough tillage and, if the soil is weedy or dry, summer fallowing for a season. Some sites call for subsoiling, others terracing, contour planting, or, in the drier regions, diking and building of water-diversion structures. It is extremely important that the planting stock be grown from seed pro- duced in the general locality in which the trees are to be planted. This is one of the principal contributing fac- tors to the unusual success of the shel- Windbreaks and Shelterbelts 197 terbelt planted in the Great Plains during one of the Nation's most severe droughts. Although hand planting is still com- mon and will probably continue to be used for small and rough areas, most windbreaks and shelterbelts will be planted with machines in the future. One type of mechanical tree planter may be constructed by the farmer or his local blacksmith for as little as $175. Others, capable of planting as many as 1,000 trees an hour, are avail- able through purchase from manufac- turers, or loan by the soil conservation districts or other agencies. If hand planting is done, we recom- mend a long-handled, straight-shanked shovel, such as is common on farms in irrigated areas. The planting job is best if done on well-prepared, reason- ably moist ground. On sandy loam or heavy soils, a subsoiler run down the row before planting will loosen the soil and speed up planting. Trees are car- ried in a metal or wood carrying tray or in a large bucket, and kept covered with wet burlap and some shingle tow or moss. In using the shovel, the loose, dry soil is scraped off, and the shovel blade is sunk vertically to full depth with the concave side toward the planter; the handle is pushed forward to break out the soil and the shovel pulled toward the planter with the handle inclined slightly toward the planter; the back- wall, away from the planter, is made vertical by a second cut and the shovel again drawn back and held to keep the soil from rolling into the hole; a tree is inserted with roots dangling down- ward, the hole is then half filled and tamped with the heel, then completely filled and tamped again. One man can plant from 50 to 120 trees an hour by this method, depending on the condi- tion of the soil. In moist soil, planting can also be done in deep, freshly opened furrows. In this method, the tree is held against the vertical side of the furrow without curling the roots and enough soil is scraped with the foot against the roots to hold the tree in place. Then another furrow is plowed against the trees and the soil packed in with the foot or by running the tractor tires over the sec- ond furrow-slice and very close to the trees. A crew of one with a tractor, as- sisted by two helpers, can plant about 350 to 500 trees an hour. Planting by machine saves labor and time. The planting machines consist of a tractor-drawn trenching device which is mounted on a unicarrier or chassis and which opens a narrow V- shaped trench about 12 inches deep, 4 inches wide on top, and about 1/2 inches wide at the bottom. Two men usually ride the machine and place the trees in the open trench, which is then mechanically closed and firmed by packing wheels — all in the same oper- ation. A production of 1,000 to 1,200 trees an hour is generally attained by such machines. There is a wide range of climate, elevation, and soils in various parts of the United States where windbreaks and shelterbelts are desirable. These factors govern the choice of trees and shrubs selected for planting. Some of the better species mentioned here are used in areas where this type of tree planting is desirable. The most promising species for the Great Plains include the Chinese elm, green ash, hackberry, honeylocust, cot- tonwood, white and golden willow, the American elm, boxelder, chokecherry, Tatarian honeysuckle, caragana, east- ern and Rocky Mountain redcedar, and ponderosa pine. The adaptability of these and other species in the vari- ous Prairie and Plains States is set forth in tables in the last section of this book. For northwestern United States, in- cluding Idaho and the dry-farming areas of eastern Washington and Ore- gon, the species that have given best results in farm windbreaks and shelter- belts are green ash, black locust, honey- locust, the Chinese elm, caragana, the boxelder, ponderosa pine, Austrian pine, and Colorado blue spruce. On the sites with better moisture conditions, as in low spots or irrigated areas, the 198 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 golden willow, silver poplar, and the native cottonwoods do well. In the Corn Belt region of north- central United States, the trees that have proved adaptable are green ash, American elm, black locust, honey- locust, hardy catalpa, black walnut, the Russian-olive, redbud, honeysuckle, Norway spruce, white spruce, Black Hills spruce, red pine, and white pine. In areas with considerable moisture, the golden willow, green willow, and native cottonwoods are recommended. In southwestern United States, the citrus-growing sections of Arizona, New Mexico, and California, eucalyp- tus (sometimes known as bluegum) has been used most satisfactorily to pro- tect citrus groves. In California, Mon- terey cypress has been used to some extent, while in Arizona and New Mexico, the Arizona cypress is planted occasionally with success. In the New England States, New York, and Pennsylvania, the planting is usually confined to the farmstead windbreaks, and conifers are favored, including Norway and white spruce, white pine, and red pine. In the southeastern part of the United States from Georgia westward to eastern Texas, there is occasionally an area of sandy soil that requires pro- tection from wind erosion. Under such conditions the native pine species, especially loblolly pine, makes a satis- factory quick-growing shelterbelt. Good composition in a shelterbelt, like good structural engineering in a bridge or barn, improves its appear- ance and increases its effectiveness. For an all-purpose principal shelter- belt in the drier parts of the United States, one of the most important re- quirements for good composition is a tight row of shrubs on the windward side. Shrubs should be combined with conifers, low, medium, and tall trees to produce a compact barrier. Five rows represent the minimum that should be used when maximum pro- tection is needed; seven rows are better. The protection afforded by the prin- cipal shelterbelt may be carried entirely across the farm with one-, two-, and three-row supplemental belts at in- tervals of 10 rods to 20 rods or more, depending upon the protection that is needed. In the citrus-growing sections of California and the Southwest, one- or two-row plantings of eucalyptus or cedar give good results. In areas of better rainfall or where experience has shown that narrow belts will survive (for example, on muck soils of In- diana) single-row plantings of willow are satisfactory. On the sandy soils of central Wis- consin, three-row belts, preferably of red and jack pine, are recommended. THOROUGH CULTIVATION is necessary during the first 3 to 5 years of the life of the plantation. No amount of care- ful site preparation and good planting will compensate for neglect. In most cases, the regular farm equipment can be used in caring for the belts. If the equipment is too wide, some modifica- tion can be made by the farmer or his local blacksmith. Usually a spacing of 12 feet between rows will require a cultivation period of 5 years or more, depending on how fast the trees grow. A closer spacing will considerably shorten this period. As soon as the Windbreaks and Shelterbelts crowns of the trees come together enough to shade out grass and weeds, cultivation can be discontinued, except in dry areas where rainfall is so scant that continued cultivation is necessary. Two GREAT ENEMIES of trees are fire and livestock. When fire occurs, it is usually sudden and its destruction is complete ; it brings to naught the years of care. The damage caused by live- stock is as sure as fire in destroying eventually the windbreak or shelter- belt. Browsing of shrubs and the lower branches of trees and young reproduc- tion opens up the stand to the drying effect of the winds, allows the snow to blow through, and generally reduces the effectiveness of the planting. Con- stant trampling by stock so compacts the soil that it puddles and seals the surface, and a smaller portion of the precipitation reaches the tree roots; moreover, the trampling may injure the roots or result in breakage or other damage to the stem of the tree. Tree plantings, if adequately pro- tected, do not demand frequent atten- tion, but the comparatively simple measures that are needed do require timely application. Pruning of shelterbelts should ordi- narily be confined to the removal of 199 dead or diseased trees or broken limbs. Some thinning may be desirable in thickly planted stands or other special circumstances. After a planting has reached ma- turity and small openings begin to ap- pear in the crowns, underplanting is important and will fill in the gaps. Usually only very tolerant trees, such as redcedar, will succeed among the older trees. JOSEPH H. STOEGKELER is in charge of the Northern Lakes Forest Research Center at Rhinelander, Wis., a branch of the Lake States Forest Experiment Station. He has been engaged in re- search in the Forest Service since 1931. From 1935 to 1942, when the Prairie States Forestry Project was pushing extensive shelterbelt planting in the Great Plains, he participated in the in- vestigations that provided the tech- nical standards for that project. Ross A. WILLIAMS has been chief of the Division of Forestry for the Northern Great Plains Region of the Soil Conservation Service at Lincoln, Nebr., since 1935. Previously he served with the Forest Service and taught at the Ranger School of the New York State College of Forestry and at Mon- tana State University. HEELING IN Dig V-shaped trench in moist shady place 3 Cover roots with loose moist soil and water well CARRYING PLANTING STOCK Open bundles spread out evenly 4 Complete filling in soi and firm with feet Keep roots covered with water, removing one plant at a time as planting progresses 200 GROWING BETTER TIMBER ARTHUR KOEHLER The man who grows trees for timber will do well to remember that as the twig is bent the tree is inclined. He will find that he can guide natural processes and improve on them. With a purpose like the one watchful parents and teachers have with young people, he can straighten out deficiencies in tree growth by his proper management of young stands of timber, which, if left to follow their bent, make inferior wood. He knows less about the possibilities of improving on nature in growing timber than he does about agricultural crops. But because many of the pres- ent second-growth stands still are in the formative stage and all future stands will be so, his opportunities for improving the quality of the wood in such stands are many. As a rule, second- growth forests (that is, young forests that develop after the old, virgin growth is removed) are smaller when they are cut, have more taper, produce a smaller proportion of knot-free wood, furnish little quarter-sawed lumber, and their individual boards vary more in width and density than old-growth timber. Furthermore, although intensive cul- tural methods to improve the quality of the crop may not be so well justified for forest as for agricultural products, the difference in value between timber of poor quality and timber of good quality is so large that net profit and the usefulness of forest products can be enhanced by judicious timber-growing practices. The first question is: What quality of timber are we going to want when the crop is mature in 25 to 100 years? Sawlogs and veneer logs generally will be the chief products, in volume and value, of commercial forests for generations to come, because timber, lumber, and veneer have certain out- standing characteristics unequaled by other materials — comparatively low cost of manufacture, ease of working, ease of fastening with nails, screws, and glues, light weight coupled with ade- quate strength in appropriate sizes for many uses. It is likely that coarse-fiber products (insulating boards, sheathing boards, hard boards, and papers for fiberboard-box manufacture) will find a wider future use than now ; for them, however, we should be able to get a large part of the raw material from thinnings, forest residues, low-quality wood, secondary species, and offal from the major wood-utilization processes. Timber, ties, poles, and most lumber and veneer products will still require natural wood of good quality. What kind of trees do we want for timbers, lumber, and veneer? IN THE FIRST PLACE,, they must have adequate size in order to be converted and used profitably. In the future, that size probably will be somewhere be- tween 12 and 24 inches in diameter. It may not be profitable to grow trees 4 feet in diameter on a commercial basis because it takes too long. But size is only one consideration. Fully as important are the form of the tree trunk and the defects and quality of the clear wood that it contains. A valuable quality in trees for saw- logs and veneer is straightness and up- rightness of the trunk. Crookedness in logs reduces the amount of lumber and the maximum size of timbers that can be cut from them and also causes warp- ing of sawed products in drying, dif- ficulty in getting a smooth surface, and, because of the cross grain that ac- companies crookedness — low strength. Leaning tree trunks usually are curved up or down. They also produce abnormal wood — in softwoods, on the lower side, where it is known as com- pression wood; in hardwoods, on the upper side, where it is known as tension wood. M. Y. Pillow, in his investiga- Growing Better Timber tions at the Forest Products Labora- tory, found that both types of abnormal wood shrink excessively and unevenly along the grain in drying, so that large and small pieces alike are crooked, and that they have unreliable strength properties. Compression wood becomes more pronounced the farther the tree trunk leans and the faster it grows. In rapidly growing, second-growth soft- wood stands it is especially important to eliminate trees that lean 5° or more. Less is known about tension wood in hardwoods. It is not practical to straighten small trees that are crooked or leaning. De- formed and inclined trees should be re- moved while young; they will not pro- duce high-grade wood. Excessive taper also is objectionable, for obvious reasons, in logs for veneer, electric-wire poles, piling, railway ties, and fence posts. Taper is governed by the ratio of diameter to height growth. ANNUAL GROWTH in height is de- termined principally by the quality of the site, that is, climatic and soil con- ditions. The density of the stand in- fluences the height growth only slightly. Growth in diameter is determined by the quality of the site and the density of the stand. On a given site the ratio of diameter to height growth, or the amount of taper, is determined by the growing space of a tree. The faster trees grow in diameter, the more taper they will have. Open-grown trees have too much taper for many uses. As will be seen later, growing space also in- fluences the size and persistence of the lower limbs, hence taper also is an in- dex of the character of the hidden knots in a tree trunk; that is, the greater the taper, the larger the knots. Even when trees grow straight and vertical, the grain in them — that is, the direction of the fibers — often is not parallel with the axis of the stem. Various types of distortions of the fibers, some of them detrimental and some advantageous, may occur. Spiral grain, which is an inclined growth of 201 the fibers that gives the trunks a twisted appearance, may occur in individual trees of any species. The twist may be to the right or to the left; usually it is more pronounced in wood the farther it is from the center of the trunk. This is a point in favor of second-growth, because the trees are smaller when harvested than are old-growth trees and consequently the maximum slope of spiral grain should average less in second-growth timber. SPIRAL GRAIN is consistently objec- tionable. It causes poles, timbers, ties, and lumber to twist during drying. It has a weakening effect when the slope is greater than 1 in 20. It causes chip- ping and roughness when lumber is planed against the grain. We do not know the cause of spiral grain, but we do know that it is not caused by actual twisting of the tree trunk by the wind or otherwise. Opin- ions differ as to whether spiral grain is due to heredity or environment. It seems to be more severe in trees that grow slowly under adverse conditions, as at timber line; it may be that slow growth brings out more strongly any hereditary tendencies toward spiral grain that may be present. To BE ON THE SAFE SIDE, Seed for forest planting should not be collected from trees that have spiral grain. Young trees with spiral grain should be removed from a forest as soon as con- venient after they are discovered. In trees with stringy outer bark, such as the cedars, cypress, sequoias, and wil- lows, the direction of the grain in the wood can be gaged by the direction of the fibers in the bark or by bark ridges. Even in such trees as pine, Douglas-fir, white oak, elm, ash, and the basswood, which have scaly bark with pro- nounced fissures and ridges after they have passed the young stage, spiral grain can be detected by the direction of the ridges in the bark. In many kinds of young trees with smooth bark, un- fortunately, spiral grain cannot be de- tected by any simple means. 202 INTERLOCKED GRAIN, that is, spiral grain that reverses in direction from right to left and back every few years, is hereditary, because it occurs almost universally in certain species, notably sweetgum, black tupelo, and many of the tropical species. It produces a beautiful ribbon figure in quarter- sawed lumber and quarter-sliced ve- neer, especially in species in which the wood has a high natural luster, such as mahogany, Philippine lauan, and Afri- can sapele. But it also causes lumber, especially plain-sawed boards, to warp in drying, and makes planing difficult, because the knives must cut against the grain in part of the board no mat- ter which way it is planed. Wood with interlocked grain is difficult to split, although for driveway planking and large rollers, such as those used for house moving, that is an advantage. Other types of distorted grain that occur in occasional trees are wavy, curly, and bird's-eye grain, all of which are considered ornamental and in- crease the value of the trees in which they are found. Unfortunately, they cannot be detected easily without mu- tilating the young trees, although a limited amount of research indicates that, if the outer bark is removed over a small area of the stem, the pattern of the grain is revealed by the fibers in the inner bark, which follow the same course as the wood fibers. Cut- ting into but not through the inner bark in spots does not damage the tree. The profits from growing trees cer- tainly could be increased if wood of desirable types of figure could be pro- duced at will. Apparently successful experiments are being made in Fin- land in growing figured birch. If, as in the case of walnut, a delicious nut with a thin shell could be produced in addition to figured wood, there need be little question as to whether the financial outcome of growing such timber would be plus or minus. Prob- lems of that kind require a great deal of special study for a long period, but, like all research, it need not be re- peated once it is done thoroughly. Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 KNOTS, the most common defects in lumber, are the bases of live and dead branches imbedded in the grow- ing tree trunk. They affect the appear- ance, smoothness, strength, tightness, finishing, and other properties of lum- ber and veneer. Lumber without knots is worth three or four times as much as knotty lumber, except where the knots are such that they are consid- ered ornamental. The parts of knots that are produced by limbs while green, known as intergrown knots, are not so detrimental as those produced by limbs that persist after death, which often are discolored, even partly de- cayed, and loose. The development of knots in trees can be reduced in two ways. One way is to maintain stand conditions crowded enough while the trees are young that the lower branches will die and break off while they and the tree trunk are still small in diameter. In such trees the knots in the lower part of the trunk, especially the intergrown parts, as a rule will be shorter. The dead branches often persist for an extraordinarily long time in some species, notably eastern and western white pines, sugar pine, red pine, pon- derosa pine, Douglas-fir, and Engel- mann spruce. They may hang on after death for 50 to 150 years or more be- fore they break off, leaving longer dead knots than intergrown knots in the lower portion of tree trunks from stands that are fairly well-stocked. In such species, practically no knot-free lumber can be produced naturally in a commercially reasonable length of time, 75 to 125 years. A better way to produce knot-free lumber is to prune young timber trees. Whether it pays to prune forest trees depends on the market value of differ- ent grades of lumber of a particular species when the wood is harvested and on the original cost of pruning and the number of years over which the cost must be carried. But because the dif- ference in value of knot-free and knot- ty lumber from virgin timber is large and unpruned second-growth timber Growing Better Timber 203 will have less knot-free lumber than old-growth timber, it is reasonable to expect that clear, second-growth lum- ber will be at a high premium. If forest trees are pruned, the stand can be kept more open without danger of the trees becoming too limby, and hence individual trees will grow faster and produce merchantable timber in a shorter time. Less is known about the advisability of pruning hardwood trees. Decay seems to enter the trees through the cut branches more readily, especially in some species, or new sprouts may de- velop along the trunk. More research is needed on this subject, but for both softwoods and hardwoods the trees should be pruned while small because the cost of pruning is less, small branch stubs will heal over more rapidly, small knots do not degrade lumber so much as large knots, and more knot-free lum- ber will be produced. Pruning is of most value for trees that are left to grow to sawlog size. Although pruning of trees grown for poles and pulpwood also would be advantageous from a utility standpoint, its over-all economic benefits are more questionable. An interesting result of the study of the knots in Douglas-fir at the Forest Products Laboratory was that the trees growing on one of the poorer sites in Oregon, where growth in height and diameter was at a comparatively slow rate, had smaller, albeit more numer- ous, knots than trees growing on one of the better sites. Because size of knots is a more important factor than num- ber in the commercial grading of com- mon lumber, the poorer site produced a higher grade of lumber on the aver- age than did the better site. On the other hand, in the manufacture of pon- derosa pine box veneer and shocks, some mills make a practice of cutting out clear bolts between knot whorls. In that case, trees from the better sites, which grow faster in height and there- fore have a longer distance between knot whorls, have the advantage over trees from poor sites. The apparent inconsistency that bet- ter wood sometimes is produced on the poorer sites is explained by the fact that sites are classified on the basis of the volume of wood they can produce per acre per year, regardless of quality. Even in straight, vertical, straight- grained trees, the quality of the clear wood of each species may vary consid- erably, in accordance with the condi- tions under which the trees grew. SLOWNESS OR RAPIDITY of growth of a tree influences greatly the properties and usefulness of the wood produced by it. In general, when softwood trees grow rapidly or slowly they produce lighter and weaker wood than when the rate of growth is more moderate. This does not necessarily mean inferior wood, because wood of light weight may have advantages where strength is not essential. Hardwood trees also usually produce light and weak wood when growing slowly, but rapid growth, as a general rule, results in heavier and stronger wood than does a more mod- erate growth. In second-growth timber that has come up on cut-over or burned-over lands and in most plantations, the trees grow rapidly while young because they have abundant growing space. Later, as they become larger and crowd each other, they slow down. Consequently, the annual rings of growth are wide at the center and narrow near the bark. Such uneven rate of growth is objec- tionable from several standpoints, especially for lumber from small trees in which the narrow and wide-ringed parts cannot be easily segregated on account of their small size. The inner wide-ringed wood and the outer nar- row-ringed wood may differ in density and strength. When used for flooring, they wear unevenly; they have differ- ent machining and gluing properties; even their pulping characteristics are different. Wood of rapid growth in some of the pines shrinks excessively along the grain. The result is crooking of lumber and dimension stock when it is com- bined with wood of slower growth. 204 That, however, does not seem to be the case in Douglas-fir, much of which is wide-ringed at the center because of having come up in the open after fire, storm, or cutting. Benson H. Paul, who is working at the Forest Products Laboratory on the relation of growth conditions to wood quality, found that a reduction in growth is particularly objectionable in hardwoods used for purposes where strength is essential, as with hickory and ash for tool handles. If the rate of growth is slowed down from, say, 5 to 17 rings an inch from youth to ma- turity, the outer, slowly grown part is apt to be exceptionally low in tough- ness— in fact, more so than if the rate of growth had not been rapid in youth. A tree of more uniform rate of growth is more desirable for most lum- ber uses than one that shows wide variation in width of annual rings. Old-growth Appalachian oak and yellow-poplar have a reputation for being soft-textured because of their slow or moderate growth rates in dense stands and under soil and climatic con- ditions not so conducive for rapid growth as in the Mississippi Delta. The indications are that second-growth oak and yellow-poplar from the same region, because of their more rapid growth, will not be so soft-textured. Some species of trees, when grown in swamps that are under water much of the year, as in the lower Mississippi Valley, usually have enlarged butts that extend 6 to 10 feet above ground and contain wood that is much softer than the normal wood higher in the trunk. This swell-butted material is of inferior quality, but it occupies a rela- tively large percentage of the volume of the trunk in water tupelo, ash, and baldcypress. On the other hand, some species of oaks and cedar elm, which grow well under the same conditions, do not produce swelled butts having lightweight wood. This is an important point to consider in reforesting such bottom lands. Observations on pines growing in the sands of western Florida and Ne- Yearboo\ of Agriculture 1949 braska show that strong, dense wood will not be produced in trees that have inadequate soil moisture during the summer when the strength-giving sum- mer wood is formed. The light wood produced in trees growing under such conditions has advantages, however, for uses that do not require high strength because the wood is easily handled, easily worked, and does not shrink and swell so much as denser wood of the same species. It is import- ant to know, however, that dense and strong yellow pine cannot be produced under adverse growing conditions in summer. Experience and laboratory tests have shown large variations in wood quality in each species of timber. Considering the differences that may occur even in the same tree, it is evident that en- vironment is responsible for much of the variation. HEREDITY also has an important role. There are indications that straight- ness of trunk, limbiness, straight grain, figured wood, and rapid growth are hereditary, as well as resistance to dis- ease, cold, and drought. Therefore, in order to get the largest return from timber growing, seed trees should be selected with an eye to quality; young trees of inferior quality should be elim- inated early in a growing stand, and trees retained for the final crop should be given cultural treatment that will insure wood of desirable characteristics as far as is economically feasible. A compromise must usually be made between quantity and quality. The highest returns often are not obtained by growing trees either as quickly as possible in fairly open stands or at a slow and uniform rate in dense stands to produce wood of better quality. The peak in profits usually lies somewhere between the two extremes of growth. Nor may it be economical to elimi- nate all the defective trees and plant pedigreed seedlings in their place. Quality, however, should always be kept in mind in managing forests for wood production. Growing Better Timber 205 To SUMMARIZE : The owner or man- ager of a tract of young timber can do certain things to improve its value and usefulness when merchantable, but obviously it is not practical to culti- vate, fertilize, irrigate, and graft for- est trees, as is done with horticultural and agricultural crops. A forester can control several fac- tors, by means of which he can straighten out his forest so that it will produce greater returns than if left alone. The more important of these factors are: 1 . Choice of species. The growth of the more desirable species can be en- couraged by planting them and elimi- nating the less desirable ones. The choice must be based on what will grow well in the area concerned and what the probable future value will be for the kind, quantity, and quality of timber he expects to produce. The usefulness of a species should not be based entirely on the reputation of the old-growth timber, because second- growth may be materially different in some respects. 2. Density of stand. By maintaining fully stocked stands as far as possible, the maximum volume of wood will be produced on an acre each year, but the forester still has some leeway in the matter. In a moderately dense stand, there will be fewer trees to the acre, but the trees will grow faster and mature earlier than in a dense stand. The wood, however, may be of poorer or better quality, depending on the kind and the purpose for which it is to be used. Ash wood grown for handles, for example, will be stronger the more open the stand, but oak grown for fur- niture will be softer and more stable in the denser stands. 3. Improvement cutting. The poor and defective trees should be cut as soon as they interfere with the growth of trees of better form and values. 4. Tree injuries. Injuries to trees by fire, disease, insects, man, and beast should be kept at a minimum. 5. Pruning. The crop trees should be pruned while young. As the old-growth timber becomes scarcer and the second-growth occu- pies more and more land and as people invest more money in forest land with the expectation of reaping profits some years hence, the incentive to grow bet- ter timber will increase. It is too bad that so little is known as yet as to the effect different sites and different types of forest management have on the quality of the wood in different species. But some progress is being made. Un- like agricultural crops, it often takes many years to get usable results in ex- perimenting with forest trees. Foresters are asking for information we should have started 20 years ago to get. One thing is sure : The best kind of timber that it is economically practical to produce in second-growth stands will not be had unless man tends the forests properly, just as he has learned to do with his fields and gardens. ARTHUR KOEHLER was graduated from the University of Michigan for- estry school in 1911. He has the master of science degree from the University of Wisconsin. He has carried on re- search in wood structure and identifi- cation of wood at the Forest Products Laboratory since 1911, and was in charge of the Division of Silvicultural Relations from 1927 to 1948. 206 THE JOB OF PLANTING TREES: A SURVEY PHILIP C. WAKELEY, G. WILLARD JONES The planting of forests has been go- ing on for a long time in Europe, India, South Africa, Australia, and New Zea- land. In the United States, the first few scattered plantations were started 60 to 70 years ago in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania. The first large plantings date from about 1900, but for a generation thereafter planting went slowly. By the end of 1934, the total planted area was only about 2l/$ million acres. The establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Prairie States Forestry Project, and the Soil Conser- vation Service and the expansion of the national forest and State nursery and planting programs extended public and farm planting from 1935 on, ex- cept during the war years. By the end of 1948, nearly 5 million acres had been planted successfully in the United States — 46 percent of it by farmers and private landowners, 7 per- cent by industrial organizations, 19 percent by States, counties, and mu- nicipalities, and 28 percent by Federal agencies. Planting has been most exten- sive in the Lake States, the South, New York, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Kansas. Only Rhode Is- land, Delaware, Arizona, Nevada, and Wyoming — which are either small or relatively dry-climate States — report fewer than 10,000 acres each as suc- cessfully planted. In 1948 the demand on State and industrial nurseries ex- ceeded all records. Many individuals have been work- ing on seed, nursery, and planting problems: T. E. Maki, a forester, per- fected a method of testing pine cones for ripeness by floating them in oil, thus saving thousands of dollars formerly wasted on immature cones. Raymond G. Rietz, a heating engineer, designed cone-drying kilns and worked out safe kiln schedules for extracting pine seed from the cones. Lela V. Barton, a botanist, made important discoveries having to do with storing tree seed and increasing and speeding up its germi- nation in the nursery. S. A. Wilde, a soil scientist, developed special fer- tilizer and compost treatments for for- est nurseries in the Lake States. Carl Hartley, a forest pathologist, developed methods for preventing nursery seed- lings from damping-off. Joseph H. Stoeckeler, E. J. Eliason, and Floyd M. Cossitt, foresters, evolved a highly economical way to weed seedbeds of pine by spraying them with dry-clean- ing fluid. The planting bar most widely used in the South was designed by three for- esters, a ranger, a tool-company offi- cial, and a boy in the Civilian Con- servation Corps. Professional foresters, implement manufacturers, and State forestry and pulp-company technicians have developed practicable tree-plant- ing machines. Hundreds of others also have made contributions. The techniques of planting are still advancing rapidly. Today persons who want to grow trees have a better chance of success than ever before. Successful planting depends on sound information, good judgment, and careful work. Indeed, a conspicu- ous aspect of planting in America has been the outstanding success of many beginners who have observed local conditions carefully, compared in- formation and suggestions from sev- eral sources, and intelligently chosen methods to fit their particular needs. A FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE is that, on any given site, native species do better than those brought in from an- other country or region. When species are planted out of their natural range, they are more susceptible to disease, insects, and damage from frost and ice than are native species. Douglas-fir, when planted in northwestern Oregon The Job of Planting Trees: A Survey 207 where it is native, for example, attains 18 inches in diameter and 50 to 60 feet in height in 35 years. In the Lake States, it does not grow nearly so high. Special purposes sometimes justify exceptions to the rule of native species. Scotch pine, which is native to west- ern Europe, can be planted confidently in Indiana or Ohio for Christmas trees, and white spruce makes a good orna- mental or windbreak in North Dakota. The species planted vary with re- gions. On the national forests, for ex- ample, slash and longleaf pines are most widely planted in the Gulf States ; loblolly pine in the Central Atlantic Coast States; shortleaf pine in the Ozarks; red, white, and jack pines and white spruce in the Lake States and the Northeast; Douglas-fir, Port-Orford- cedar, and ponderosa pine in the Pa- cific Northwest; ponderosa pine and the western white pine in the Rocky Mountains; and ponderosa pine and Jeffrey pine in California. The same species are generally planted on similar State, municipal, and private lands. In the Great Plains region, eastern redcedar and Rocky Mountain juniper are the favored conifers. The boxelder, green ash, American elm, hackberry, the black locust, Siberian elm, honey- locust, and catalpa are the most-fa- vored hardwoods. In the Northeast, eastern white pine and red pine are favored species, sup- plemented by some Scotch pine, Nor- way spruce, white spruce, and jack pine, and small quantities of Euro- pean larch and several hardwoods. People often ask why conifers are usually planted on worn-out and aban- doned farm land that once supported fine hardwood forests. The answer is that cropping and fires have destroyed the humus that covered the old forest floor, lowered soil fertility and mois- ture-holding capacity, and compacted the subsoil. Hence, it is usually neces- sary to make the first crop conifers, which build up the soil until the native hardwoods gradually reestablish them- selves, often from seeds brought in by birds, rodents, or the wind. MOST PLANTATIONS are made with nursery-grown seedlings. The rapid first-year growth of southern pines makes it possible to use seedlings 10 to 15 months old and as they come from the beds in which they were sown. Hardwoods are also planted as 1 -year- old seedlings, especially in the Central States and the Great Plains. Use of such young stock helps keep down the planting costs. Jack pine 2 years in the nursery bed is favored in the Lake States and 2-year-old Douglas-fir and Port-Or- ford-cedar in Oregon. Most other conifers are transplanted at least once before they leave the nurs- ery. Transplanting is the most expen- sive of all nursery operations, but it greatly improves hardiness and root system of the seedling and thus gives it a better chance to survive when planted out. The digging, packing, and transport- ing of wilding seedlings usually in- volves considerable expense, quite often more than the cost of an equal number of nursery-grown seedlings. The mor- tality sustained in transplanted wild- ings is quite frequently severe. For those reasons, we do not recommend the use of wildings for planting. Expe- rience has proved that the premium stock produced under controlled nurs- ery conditions to meet approved speci- fications is usually less expensive than seedlings secured from areas near to the plantation. To give planted trees their best chance to live and grow, some kind of tilling is usually needed to remove sod and brush from the planting site. The several kinds include scalping the spots at proper intervals with a mattock, plowing shallow furrows 6 to 8 feet apart, or using a heavy disk to eliminate brush and churn up and ex- pose mineral soil. On the Great Plains, thorough summer fallowing of the soil has been found necessary before plant- ing of shelterbelt trees. In planting for erosion control, gully banks must some- times be plowed in, gully channels dammed, and slopes mulched. Open 208 sand plains, however, and much of the cut-over longleaf pine lands require no preparation; on other longleaf pine lands a single burn a year before plant- ing may be enough. Tilling is important, particularly when planting wild lands in the north where the planting sites are usually overgrown with heavy sod and dense brush. By removing this vegetation, competition for the young trees for moisture, light, and soil nutrients is greatly reduced. The cost of prepar- ing the site will vary with density of the vegetation and the kind of tilling that is done. For large plantations double-buster plows drawn by crawler- type tractors are frequently used. Fur- rows in which the trees are to be planted are plowed at intervals to give desired spacing of the trees. This type of site preparation is efficient and eco- nomical. Heavy tractor-drawn disks have proved to be effective in prepar- ing difficult sites of heavy brush, but the cost is correspondingly greater. For small or wood-lot plantations, scalping spots with a mattock or grub hoe, al- though laborious, is more practical than plowing or disking because it does not require heavy and expensive equip- ment. The most frequently used hand planting tool is probably the grub hoe or mattock. On some sites it is used to make a slit just large enough for the roots. Where transplants or especially well-rooted seedlings are used, how- ever, it is usually better (even though slower and more expensive) to dig a hole in which the roots can be well spread. Throughout most of the South where the soil is sandy loam and relatively free from stones and where slit plant- ing is successful, a planting bar with a 10-inch wedge-shaped blade is used for 1 -year-old stock. The same is true for seedling stock in parts of the Lake States. Technique with these bars was brought to a high peak of efficiency by the Civilian Conservation Corps plant- ing crews. Crack planting teams had no trouble in setting 300 trees a man- Yearbool( of Agriculture 1949 hour; even average crews set about 160 a man-hour. A man planting in holes with a mattock does well to plant 65 to 80 trees an hour. Planting machines have now been improved and are in use to reduce costs, labor, and time. Two or three men (one on the tractor and one on the planter, or two alternating as planter and follow-up man to replant trees set too high) can set 1,250 to 1,750 trees an hour. Different ma- chines have been developed for the sand plains of the Lake States and the bunchgrass-covered, shallow, sandy loams with stiff subsoils of the southern pine region. Some of the machines work well in fairly heavy brush. None has yet been adapted to hilly or rocky land, however, or to areas cluttered with logs and tops. Machine planting is becoming pop- ular in the Lake States region among farmers who have small fields which they desire to plant to a productive crop. The areas usually include worn- out fields that have been cropped for many years and require a minimum of tilling to place them in shape for plant- ing trees. Planting by machine is a rela- tively simple operation. It involves making a deep narrow slit in the soil in which the tree is inserted as the ma- chine moves forward. The opening is closed and the soil firmly packed around the roots of the tree by small rolling packing wheels, which follow closely behind the trencher. How closely to space the trees de- pends on the purpose of the plantation. The closer the spacing, the more trees are needed to the acre and the more they cost to produce, transport, and plant. Closely spaced trees must be thinned early, or they will crowd each other severely and fall off in growth rate. These facts have led to the use of wide spacings, with trees 8, 10, 16, or even 20 feet apart each way. Trees so spaced reach merchantable size at the earliest possible age, although their quality and their total volume per acre in the early years are often low. On the other hand, closely spaced The Job of Planting Trees: A Survey 209 trees use the ground more fully during the early years of the plantation, stop erosion sooner, produce more wood on an acre, allow higher mortality with- out the need of replanting, shed their lower branches sooner, and permit a wider choice of trees in thinning. Many costs of growing timber, such as fire protection and taxes, are incurred by the acre, but practically all profits accrue by the tree. Therefore, within limits, the more trees to the acre the better. A spacing of 6 by 6 feet (1,210 trees an acre) has always been popular. Spacings of 5 by 6, 5 by 5 ( 1,742 trees an acre), and 4 by 6 are increasing in use, especially with larger markets for small products and the development of machine planting. At these spacings, trees generally grow well until some can be thinned out and sold for pulp- wood, fence posts, or small poles, or used for fuel. The rest are left to grow until they again become crowded, when more are sold. Except for special purposes, however, spacings closer than 4 by 6 feet cannot be recommended. Costs are too high, and growth may fall off too soon. SOME OF THE EARLIER plantations are now old enough to show that planted forests are economically sound. Earnings of $24.60 an acre are re- ported from thinnings on a 30-year- old red pine plantation established in northern Wisconsin by the State in 1913. The sale of Christmas trees from thinnings in 6- to 9-year-old red and jack pine plantations in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan brought an average of $80 an acre — and as high as $122 an acre (200 trees an acre at 61 cents each) . A paper company in Wisconsin has planted 18,000 acres, and each year plants several thousand acres more. Seven other forest industries in Wis- consin had planted 18,700,000 trees on 18,600 acres, as of April 22, 1947, and had dedicated 300,625 acres to perma- nent forests. In the Pacific Northwest, extensive planted areas are already un- 802062°— 49 15 der management in a tree-farm move- ment, which is growing rapidly. About 75 million acres of forest land in the United States were classified in 1946 as poorly stocked seedling or sapling areas, or as deforested. Forest restoration on such idle lands com- monly requires planting, although under fire protection a portion will gradually restock naturally. Several million acres more of partly stocked land will give larger and quicker re- turns if interplanted ; additional mil- lions of acres of submarginal farm land should be planted to trees. How much of this area Government agencies, industry, and farm and other private owners will manage to plant is hard to predict. Certain it is that the job needs to be tackled on a far larger scale than in the past. One goal might be for small owners to do their part of the job by planting a billion trees a year, or 20 million acres in 20 years ; planting on large pri- vate holdings and on public lands might add 10 million acres to this goal. We believe, however, that the goal might well be much higher — 90 million to 100 million. However we gage the job ahead, it represents a tremendous undertaking, neither technically simple nor cheap. It is, however, a constructive effort, one in which many individuals can contribute to the lightening of the gen- eral load at profit to themselves. PHILIP C. WAKELEY, a native of New Jersey, has degrees in forestry from Cornell University. He has been employed by the Southern Forest Ex- periment Station since 1924, and has been in charge of seed, nursery, and planting research. He has written sev- eral technical publications on aspects of forest regeneration. G. WILLARD JONES, a forester in the Forest Service, is in charge of reforesta- tion in the Lake States region. For the past 32 years he has been engaged in nursery production and field- planting work in the Northern Rocky Mountain and Lake States regions. 210 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 *-* o r** S 3^ .0 I S & "S I c r 1 • j ountai ountai tj New England. . Middle Atlantic Lake States . . . Central States . Plain* ft ' , 1. ;:< South Atlantic. 4- rt 1 J i± e 1 1 : n>- ^ ^ i ^n 4-> 1 South Rocky M Pacific Northwe California. . § 2 | 1 ft c O N S 8 'B 2 '* s -s I M|| "I" 211 PLANTING A SMALL SOUTHERN WOODLAND W. R. HINE The man who wants to plant a small woodland in the South should first make up his mind on several points. Growing timber is a long-time project. It requires good judgment in weighing the several factors. It requires careful long-range planning and a disposition to abide by decisions made. It is well to reach sound conclusions at the start. Wise land management dictates that each field should be devoted to the pur- pose for which it is best suited. Land suited to the production of food crops normally should be used for such crops. Similarly, pasture land should be de- voted to growing livestock, and land that is better suited to growing trees, including worn-out and eroded land, might properly be devoted to growing a timber crop. Common sense suggests that plant- ing be done only on land that will not restock satisfactorily within a reason- able time. Many forest acres, though bare of seed trees, will reseed naturally from the surrounding woods, and the young trees will grow if protected from fire, trampling, or grazing as may be necessary. A good stand of loblolly pine, for example, will adequately reseed the surrounding area to a distance of 400 feet or more. Many landowners have planted, only to find in 3 to 5 years that seedlings from nearby trees restocked the area, rendering planting unneces- sary. Potential forest land that is not re- stocking to trees adequately or in a reasonable length of time should be planted. Adequate stocking means at least 500 commercially valuable seed- lings, fairly well distributed per acre. Young trees in stands with fewer than 500 an acre at the start often grow up excessively limby and produce only low-grade products. Poorly stocked stands grow less volume for a given area than well-stocked stands. A rea- sonable length of time to wait for natural reseeding depends on the cost of planting and the value of the an- nual growth of forest products. If, for example, it costs $8 to plant an acre of loblolly pine, which will grow at the rate of 1 % cords an acre a year, worth, say, $3 a cord, then an owner would be better off financially if he planted in preference to waiting more than 3 years for nature to reseed. An owner will want to consider what kind of trees to plant and this involves a number of factors. A point of first importance will be the market value of products grown. While nearly any sound tree of good form is marketable when timber is in urgent demand, some species are diffi- cult to market when demand falls off. Pines are generally in demand. They are closely utilized, bring good prices, and grow more volume per acre than hardwoods. Slash pine and longleaf pine, in addition to their general use- fulness for wood products, also pro- duce turpentine and rosin. Hardwoods present more of a marketing problem. They are more limited in their useful- ness and hence may not sell so readily. Some species, as the hickories, are often difficult to market. An occasional spe- cies, such as blackjack oak, is seldom marketable at all. This difference in utility is the basis for one of the South' s most difficult forest-management prob- lems. Everywhere pines are cut heavily, and the less productive, less valuable hardwoods are left in possession of the soil. Most planters prefer pine or other softwoods. Some owners may plant for a special product, as fence posts. For that pur- pose they want such durable species as black locust, or redcedar, Osage- orange, or catalpa. The ability of a species to ward off the hazards of a locality is a point for consideration in selection. Fire has been the scourge of southern forests. 212 Longleaf pine develops a skirt of needles, which protects the bud and growing tissue inside the bark. Long- leaf will survive fires that kill other pines and hardwoods. Shortleaf has the rare quality among pines of being able to sprout after its top has been killed back by fire. SEEDLING DISEASES are also impor- tant. Longleaf is highly susceptible to brown spot needle disease (Scirrhia acicola), which in some localities may prevent seedlings from attaining height growth. Slash pine or loblolly pine may be substituted. Each within its range, and on the suitable sites, will grow up without any serious interference from brown spot. Shortleaf pine in the west- ern Gulf States is severely stunted by the LeConte sawfly (Neodipnon Le- Contei), but loblolly is relatively un- injured by this insect. Shortleaf pine suffers heavy losses over part of its range from a disease called littleleaf. Loblolly, on similar sites, is relatively free of this disease. Longleaf may prove an even better substitute. A longleaf plantation may be wiped out by native hogs which graze on the roots. While other pines may be killed by hog grazing, the damage is not usually serious. Hardwood seedlings may be injured by grazing and tram- pling by cattle. Pine seedlings suffer less than hardwoods, but neither will sur- vive heavy grazing. TREES FOR PLANTING should be native to the locality. Exotic trees or strains of trees from distant sources have no place in the small woodland until proved by public agencies. Species from distant sources almost invariably prove less successful than local trees. For example, slash pine is an excellent species in its native range along the Coastal Plain of the South- eastern States, but it suffers breakage from snow and ice when planted north of its range. Strains of loblolly pine planted 100 or more miles from the parent trees sometimes suffer a higher rate of infection with stem canker Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 (Cronartium fusiform) than the local trees that belong to the same species. Species should be adapted to soil and moisture conditions of the area to be planted. Longleaf pine will grow on the most difficult dry, deep sandy ridges within the natural range and make excellent timber. Loblolly pine on the same site is often so heavily infected with stem canker that the trees must be salvaged early for pulp- wood or be lost through decay and death. Some pine will serve for almost any dry, eroded, or less fertile area. Loblolly pine, within its natural range, is especially effective in reclaiming eroded soils and gradually rebuilding them. Pines grow well in good soil, too. Hardwoods generally require the more fertile, well-watered soils with good drainage. Black locust, for exam- ple, will grow rapidly on good, well- watered soils, but will fail completely on poor soil or dry sites. Commercially valuable hardwoods, such as white oak, walnut, black cherry, and yellow- poplar, likewise require soils equal in fertility to those on good agricultural lands, but occasionally a landowner has an odd corner of such land that will make a better return with a crop of good hardwood trees than with an- nual crops. The discussion thus far suggests that the tree planter will encounter many problems on which he may need the counsel of an expert. Each plant- ing area presents its own special set of conditions and problems. Many of them require decisions on a technical basis. Technical help is available for those who wish it. The State forester, the local forester for any public agency, or the county agent will gladly give advice on request. The forester will go over the property with the owner and discuss whatever questions may arise. He will explain why species succeed or fail under varying condi- tions. He will discuss the relative values of different species and present facts on rate of timber growth, markets, and cash returns. The owner may then weigh the facts he has obtained from Planting a Small Southern Woodland 213 his own observations, from the for- ester, and from others, and reach his own conclusions. SPACING s vary from as close as 3 by 3 feet to 10 by 10 feet, and even wider. Narrower spacings, say 5 by 5 feet and closer, are usually intended for erosion-control purposes or Christmas- tree culture. The primary objective is to get the ground protected from rain and washing as soon as practicable. Intermediate spacings, 6 by 6 feet to 8 by 8 feet, are primarily for timber production. Wide spacings, 10 by 10 feet and wider, are sometimes used for the pro- duction of naval stores. Close spacings grow more wood per unit of area than wide spacings because trees use the soil moisture and sunlight more completely. C. H. Coulter, the State forester of Florida, reported a growth of 34.8 cords to the acre on a 13 -year-old slash pine plantation spaced 8 by 8 feet, and 20.2 cords for one planted 12 by 12. Closely planted trees, however, must be kept thinned so as to retain a third or more of the length of the stem in green crown; otherwise, the produc- tion of wood will slow down. Many planters who desire to grow wood prod- ucts space the trees so that the first thinning will be made when a sub- stantial proportion of the trees reach the size for the product desired. Thus an owner in the South who plans to make his first thinning for a pulpwood market might plant on a 6- by 6-foot spacing or thereabouts. His first thin- ning would be made at the end of 15 to 25 years, depending on the soil. Men of the Forest Service planted 2 acres on an abandoned field on the Apalachicola National Forest in Flor- ida on a 6- by 6-foot spacing using 3- year-old wild slash pine seedlings. Pulp- wood was the first in the series of expected products. Exceptionally rapid growth made it necessary to thin the planted stand 11 years after planting. The cut on a selective basis removed 16 cords an acre and left 22 cords an acre. Numerous plantings at that spacing have been thinned profitably at 15 and 20 years of age. An owner who plans to make his first thinning for saw timber would choose a wider spacing, say 8 by 8 feet, and expect to thin at 30 to 40 years. The first sawlogs from planted stands in the South have not yet been cut, although Jim Fowler, M. L. Shaw, and others have some trees of sawlog size in stands 20 years of age. A naval stores operator who plants slash or longleaf pine might prefer a wide spacing so as to produce long, large, green crowns for the maximum production of gum. C. W. Sinclair, of Madison County, Fla., was able to turpentine 90 trees an acre, all 9 inches or larger in diameter, at 13 years on a 12- by 18-foot spacing. Most foresters recommend a moderately close spacing to assure fairly complete utilization of the site and also to assure the natural pruning of branches. The products such as pulpwood, naval stores, poles, and sawlogs would be harvested as they became available. PLANTING ON LANDS that have been cultivated is usually done without special preparation of the planting site. Plantings on cut-over forest land may likewise be made without prior prep- aration of the site, other than perhaps burning off the accumulated grass, weeds, and brush. Removal of such trash exposes the bare soil and makes the planting operations more conven- ient. Competition for the young trees is reduced, and the fire hazard is tem- porarily eliminated. Loosening the soil in cut-over forest land likewise aids seedling growth. Seedlings almost in- variably grow better in loosened soil — as evidenced by their growth along road banks. Mr. Coulter found that seedlings on an old field grew substan- tially better than trees on adjacent un- broken forest soil. Earl Porter, of the International Paper Co., found that woods soils, broken with a heavy harrow 3 months before planting, pro- duced trees that at the end of 4/2 years 214 were 70 percent taller than those on soils not harrowed. At least three ways of planting de- serve consideration. They are direct seeding, planting with wild seedlings, and planting with nursery seedlings. It is possible to reforest by sowing or planting seed directly on prepared ground, and there are examples of satisfactory stands obtained by this method. T. J. Fountain, of Taylor County, Ga., prepared a 100-acre field as if he were going to plant water- melons. He sowed it to longleaf pine seed. Each seed was planted by hand, deep enough to cover the seed, but with the wing sticking out in the breeze. Contrary to the customary habit of waiting several years before starting height growth, many of Mr. Foun- tain's longleaf seedlings grew several inches the first season. He now has a near-perfect 15-year-old longleaf stand with trees 35 feet tall and 6 to 7 inches in diameter at breast height. On the other hand, many capable people have failed in their efforts to obtain a stand by direct seeding. Until sure-fire meth- ods for successful direct seeding are worked out, it is cheaper in the long run to plant high-grade, nursery-grown seedlings. Plantings may be made with wild seedlings, which grow naturally in old fields or along road banks or borrow pits. Wild seedlings 6 inches to 12 inches tall can be lifted and trans- planted during the dormant season — late fall and winter. One notable planting with wild stock was made in 1928 by M. L. Shaw, on worn-out farm land in Clinch County, Ga. With help from his father and hired hands, he planted 72 acres with wild slash pine seedlings dug up in the forest. He used a 10 by 10 spacing. He replanted the fail places in 1929 and 1930. His pines, thinned for pulpwood in 1942, yielded 8.6 cords an acre, or $20 an acre, at the end of 14 years. In 1947, he started turpen- tining 5,000 trees on a selective basis, chipping only crowded trees and those of poor form. He cut the turpentined Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 trees in 1948, and they yielded 500 cords of pulpwood. Prior to the cut- ting in 1948, the stand had 28 cords to the acre and about 275 trees 7 to 13 inches in diameter. Total growth for 20 years was 36 cords an acre. The land, originally worth $2 an acre, has already produced $44 worth of pulp- wood and now has a well-stocked stand of saw-timber trees. The wild seedlings are recommended only in exceptional cases. They are rarely available close by in the quan- tity needed and of the right size for transplanting. They are generally not so well developed in root and top as nursery-grown stock, and hence would not be so uniformly successful where equivalent care was given. Expert and careful handling is required in lifting and transporting wild seedlings. The cost might easily exceed the cost of nursery-grown stock, and an inex- perienced planter might have greater losses with wild stock than with nurs- ery-grown stock. Nevertheless, if a man knows how to handle wild seedlings and takes all the necessary care, they should prove satisfactory. Planting should be done in the dor- mant season, after the hardwood leaves drop in the fall and before new growth shows in the spring. Trees should not be planted in frozen ground. Seed- lings showing new growth are likely to fail under ordinary handling. Of course, it is possible with small seed- lings, excellent care, and plenty of rain, to transplant at any season of the year when the ground is not frozen. The solution for most small-wood- land owners is to purchase nursery- grown seedlings from a State forest- tree nursery. Any publicly employed forester, State or Federal, or any county agent will assist a landowner to place his order and get any information he may need about planting. Trees from the State nursery are grown to the size that gives the best success when trans- planted, and only healthy, vigorous, well-developed trees are sold. Trees come properly wrapped and ready for planting. If the trees are handled care- Planting a Small Southern Woodland 215 fully and planted properly, according to directions received with the seed- lings, an owner should be rewarded with a successful plantation, provided rainfall is adequate. Woodland owners will do well to order their seedlings well in advance of the time of planting. State forest nurs- eries strive to raise enough seedlings to supply the demand. Sound public financing suggests that they plan to grow no more than they sell. In the South, about 20 months elapses from the time plans are laid and seed col- lected until the seedlings are lifted from the nursery. Seedlings may not be held over in southern nurseries through a second growing season because they become too large for economical trans- planting. The State can therefore do a better job of nursery-production plan- ning if orders are placed about 1/2 years ahead of the date when the owner wishes to plant. Of course, the State may be able to fill small orders placed only a few months ahead of the date of planting. Planning ahead is sound business for the planter also. It enables him to take proper care of the seedlings, make ade- quate preparation of the planting site, and arrange for the necessary labor. Seedlings should be planted prompt- ly after receipt from the nursery. If planting is necessarily delayed for a day or two, seedlings may be stored in a cool, dry place in the package as re- ceived from the State nursery. If seed- lings are received unwrapped, as in a truckload shipment, or if the delay in planting may extend to several days, seedlings should be heeled-in. The heel-in site should be cool, well- drained, and shaded from the sun. Trees are heeled-in in long trenches. The trench made with a shovel or spade is dug deep enough to accom- modate the full length of the tree roots. One side of the trench, the upper side, if on an incline, is sloped. Trees are spaced out on the sloped side thinly so that some roots of each tree touch the slope. Loose dirt is shoveled over the roots, all of which should be cov- ered. Soil is then firmed lightly and the trees are watered. Trees are lifted from the heel-in bed as needed ; the remain- ing trees are kept well watered until planted. Tree roots must be kept moist and sheltered from the sun and the wind. Seedlings are transported in a bucket or another watertight container. Wet moss or sawdust should cover the roots at all times, and the trees should be taken from the container one at a time as needed and promptly planted. TOOLS USED IN HAND PLANTING are simple and inexpensive. The mattock and spade are still used where the soil is thin; with them, special care is necessary to provide enough dirt to cover the roots properly. Newer tools have been designed for use where the soil is loose and deep. One, the planting dibble, is a long, wedge-shaped bar that is fastened to a handle. It is used to make a slit in the ground deep enough to take the roots without doubling them back. The seedling is placed in the hole. Its roots are spread as much as possible to in- sure individual contact with the soil. The tree is set in the soil at the ap- proximate depth that it grew in the nursery. After proper setting, the seed- ling is firmed in, and the hole closed with the same tool. Distance between rows is measured off and the end of the row is marked with a flag as a guide to the planter. Spacing along the rows is measured by pacing. For larger plantations, planting ma- chines drawn by tractors are now used. One type of planting machine opens a narrow slit in the soil with a trencher plow. The slit is held open by two parallel iron runners long enough to permit the insertion of a seedling. After that, the slit is closed and firmed about the seedling roots by two rolling wheels, which press the soil from either side. Other types work similarly with slight variations. Planting costs may vary, and average estimates have little value for a given prospective planting. 2l6 Pine seedlings from State nurseries in the South cost $2 to $3.50 a thou- sand; hardwoods cost $3 to $10. Else- where seedlings may sell for as much as $25 or more, depending on the cost of production. Costs for planting in the field like- wise vary with wage scales and the ease or difficulty of planting. Planting pine seedlings on average abandoned fields or on cut-over forests with reasonably loose soil should require approximately 1 1/2 man-days an acre. This estimate is based on planting 908 trees on a 6- by 8-foot spacing and assumes plant- ing at the rate of 600 seedlings per man-day, which is not difficult for ex- perienced planters. Planting with the recently developed planting machines is much faster. Two men with a track-type tractor and a planting machine can plant, in clay soils and light oak stands, 12,000 to 15,000 trees in an 8-hour day. In sandy soils, a farm-type wheel tractor and machine can do as well. The same number of seedlings an acre can be planted by machine at one-third to one-half the cost of hand planting. Although planting by hand will con- tinue to be more practical for most small owners for some time to come, custom-machine planting is already available. In some localities public- spirited citizens or institutions will lend planting machines free to planters. Machines offer important possibilities for an expanded program of planting. SATISFACTORY SURVIVAL and growth in planted stands are relatively easy to obtain if good judgment is used in the selection of species and areas to be planted and if proper care is given in planting and protecting the plantation. Thousands of farmers who had never planted trees before have obtained a satisfactory survival. Donald Brewster, a consulting forester, reported success- ful survival of 91 percent of 1.4 million slash pine trees from the Florida State Nursery that farmers planted during a 10-year period. General observations over the South indicate that this is not Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 too high to expect for slash, loblolly, and the shortleaf pines if due care is exercised. But planting as a business venture is not without its hazards. An extended period of dry weather in the first year of planting may kill the seedlings be- fore they become established. Such losses are not uncommon, particularly west of the Mississippi River. It may be repeated that little can be done about the weather, but the woodland owner with many acres to plant can arrange to spread the job over several years. The loss for a dry year will thus not be so great as if he had planted the entire area in that one year. A more serious threat to plantations is fire. Most planted trees are easily killed by fire in their early years. Even longleaf pine may be killed by repeated severe fires. Many owners burn over the planting site before planting. This eliminates the accumulated fuel and the chances for a serious fire at least until the following fall. The careful owner will plow firebreaks 6 feet or wider, cleared of all inflammable ma- terial down into the bare soil, around the plantation. If the plantation is large, it should be broken up into blocks of 20 or 40 acres with additional firebreaks. Some owners burn their southern pine plantations as an insur- ance against disastrous losses. Burning must be done under carefully con- trolled conditions or the fire set by the owner may be as disastrous as wildfire. If trees are killed by fire before they reach merchantable size, there is, of course, nothing to salvage. However, Mrs. Hugh Mayes, of Leon County, Fla., had a severe fire in a 53-acre field of 10-year-old slash pine. About one- half the trees were killed. She sold the fire-killed pine trees as pulpwood for enough to pay all planting and carry- ing costs. The remaining trees, though temporarily slowed down in growth, recovered in 3 or 4 years and are now growing nicely. Grazing by domestic stock provides a definite hazard to planted trees. Cat- tle graze closely such hardwood trees Planting a Small Southern Woodland 217 as white oak, yellow-poplar, and ash, which are frequently used in plantings. Trampling by cattle packs clay soils and makes both seedling survival and growth difficult. Cattle often ride down young trees to graze on them or brush off the flies. Light grazing by cattle in pine stands may not do great harm, but it will not help the plantation. Sheep seriously interfere with the growth of young longleaf seedlings by nipping the buds. Hogs will destroy a plantation of longleaf by grazing the roots. The plantation should be pro- tected, as necessary, from livestock by fencing. Planted trees are susceptible to the same diseases and attacks by insects as are trees in natural stands of the same species. Longleaf pine that is held back from making height growth by brown spot may be released by careful burn- ing. The flames check the spread of the disease for a year or two, allowing the longleaf pine to make height growth and get above the zone of dangerous infection. Loblolly pine and slash pine are especially susceptible to stem can- ker. Careful culling of seedlings at the nurseries has greatly reduced the chances that the planter will receive infected trees. However, infection may occur on the growing tips of trees of any size when the pollen is flying in the spring. About the only known prac- tical remedy in planted stands is to thin out the infected trees. They are easily recognized by the masses of orange spots in the spring and by the swollen, distorted trunk and limbs. Thinning is usually delayed until the cut products may be used on the place or sold. Hardwood trees are subject to various rots which enter from an in- jury, as from fire or logging damage. Diseased trees should be removed. Pine plantations suffer somewhat from insect attacks. Occasionally these are serious, but, over the South as a whole, insects do relatively little dam- age to plantations. This is probably be- cause the trees in plantations are usu- ally well spaced, affording each room for healthy development. Some loss to plantations results from the southern pine beetles. Losses oc- cur when the trees are severely injured as by lightning, fire, or extended dry weather. Pink pitch tubes building up on the bark, small black beetles work- ing in the cambium layer just under the bark, and yellowing or browning needles in the dying trees give warn- ing of the presence of the southern pine beetle. The remedy is to remove and utilize or burn the trees that show evidence of beetle activity. Rain in normal quantity will restore the ability of the trees to drown out the insects with resin if the insect damage has not progressed too far. It also serves to check the spread of infestations. The LeConte sawfly sometimes strips needles from the young pines. Dam- age is especially severe in southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana, where shortleaf trees may be held back for several years. Many trees are killed. The tip moth (Rhyacionia frustrates) damages both shortleaf and loblolly by tunnelling in and killing the young, tender growing tips. It is hardly practical to attempt to kill the insects in small plantations. DDT would probably prove effective if it could be applied economically. The extent and severity of attacks vary from year to year, and in time the stands grow to a height ( usually about 7 feet) above which injury from either insect is of little consequence. Planters attempt to minimize the possibility of loss by using two or more species. The severity of attack usually varies with different species and hence two species assure a better chance of success. Close spacing allows for some loss of trees. PLANTINGS BY THE SMALL OWNERS have been fairly successful despite nat- ural hazards and normal run of human failings. Coulter, who kept careful records for 15 years on plantings with seedlings from the Florida State Nurs- ery, reports 80 percent of all plant- ings successful. Other State foresters throughout the country report success 2l8 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 in 75 percent of all plantings under the Federal-State cooperative program. Mrs. A. M. E. Brown, of Columbia County, Fla., was 56 years old in 1930 when she planted her first pine trees. Her 42-acre field had failed repeatedly when it was planted to the usual crops of cotton and corn. The county agent suggested she try a tree crop, and the forester from the State forester's office recommended slash pine, native to her farm. When Mrs. Brown reached 70 years of age and the trees were 14 years old, she had one-third of them cut for pulpwood. The trees had grown at the rate of 2 cords an acre a year. Receipts from the sale of pulpwood repaid all expenditures on the plantation and gave her a net return of $900. The plantation is ready for a second thin- ning in 1949, with an expected yield of another 10 cords an acre. Mrs. Brown and her 42 acres of planted woodland are important be- cause they are representative of 1,600,- 000 woodland owners throughout the South and the 122,000,000 acres that they own; their average holding is 74 acres of woodland. Among these small ownerships are some 20 million acres in need of planting, or roughly 1 1 per- cent of the total commercial forest area. Another example is James Fowler, a farmer in Treutlen County, Ga., who has "culled" his farm lands for more than 20 years. As parts of his fields failed to produce satisfactory crops under cultivation, he planted them to trees. He had 5,200 acres in planted stands in 1949. He began turpentining in 1937, when his earliest planted trees were 11 years old. Those trees, with the first turpentine faces worked out, now have the second or back face in operation. He has 150,000 planted pine trees that are being worked for turpen- tine and 300,000 more of proper size. Distribution of planting stock to small owners by State forest nurseries has increased from 630,000 seedlings in 1926 to 96 million in 1947. A grand total of approximately 800,000 acres has been successfully planted by south- ern small-woodland owners in the past two decades. Many thousands of own- ers have proved to themselves and their neighbors that tree planting is prac- tical and profitable. Many more land- owners are interested and ready to plant when the seedlings are available. The two State forest-tree nurseries in Georgia grew 18 million trees in 1947; the landowners applied for 34 million seedlings. The South is making but little actual headway on its goal of replanting the millions of acres in small private wood- lands that need replanting. In 1947, some 40,000 acres in farm and other small holdings were planted. At any such rate, hundreds of years will be required to plant the idle or partially restocked potentially productive forest land of the South. As a matter of fact, to the area that needs replanting, many thousand acres are added each year through erosion and soil depletion in crop and pasture lands and through overcutting and fire in forest lands. Congress recognized the importance of the problem when it passed the Clarke-McNary Act and the Norris- Doxey Act, which provide for Federal assistance to State forestry agencies in the production and distribution to farm-woodland owners of forest-tree planting stock. All Southern States co- operate in this work with the Federal Government. The total annual Fed- eral appropriation to twelve Southern States under the two acts for produc- tion and distribution of planting stock amounts to $33,600. The program is supervised in each State by the State forest service. The States produce seed- lings and sell them to woodland owners at the approximate cost of production. State workers also furnish advice on planting. While the Federal participa- tion is limited to farmers, the States serve farm and nonfarm, large and small owner alike, assuming the extra cost for nonfarmers from State funds. W. R. HINE is in charge of the Divi- sion of Information and Education of the Southern Region of the Forest Service. HOW TO CARE FOR YOUR SMALL FOREST M. M. BRYAN To care for your small forest, know first your goal. A good small forest has needles, leaves, twigs, and small branches on the ground, a mat that absorbs water and keeps the soil from washing away. Under the litter is a layer of humus, usually dark-colored and rich looking. A good woodland has no damaged and diseased trees. Poorly formed and overripe trees have been cut out, so that good ones have room to grow. Remaining are well-formed trees that are suited to the locality, the soil, and the climate, and that will make high- quality products. The forest floor has little sunlight: If all trees are the same age, grass and young trees cannot grow under them because there is no sunlight; in a mixed-age forest, there will be little trees just sprouting, seedlings of vari- ous sizes, and large, mature, or nearly mature, trees. If your forest is in the West or South, it may be more open, and may even have some grass or plants under the trees. The good forest has enough good trees, neither too many nor too few. If your goal is to grow Christmas trees, the ground will be covered. If you are a turpentine farmer, a few hundred trees per acre are right. No matter what forest product is being grown, the crowns of the trees will be full and healthy; about a third of the total height of each tree will have branches and leaves. If the trees are all about the same age, the canopy will be closed in the form of a ceiling. If the trees are of all ages, there will be no continuous ceiling of foliage. Trees close together usually grow tall and straight. They are trying to get light. Lack of sunlight on the lower branches causes them to die and break off. Thus, a healthy tree prunes itself and produces clean and straight logs, without too much difference in size between the butt and the top of the last log. Wildfire and grazing animals have no place in a good forest. In some western and southern forests, a little grazing is possible. Hogs are kept out. Several rules of good management will help you grow good trees. 1. Make improvement cuttings; re- move the undesirable trees so that the better ones can grow faster. Usually several improvement cuttings are made before the final product is harvested. Often the products removed will pay: Fuel wood can be cut from the poorer trees, railroad ties from short, forked trees, and even some sawlogs for home use. The good trees that are left are called the crop trees. If each acre is adequately covered or fully stocked with the better hard- wood trees, the forest should grow from J/2 to 1 cord of wood a year on each acre. In the small forest of good pine, growth will average from 1 to 2 cords an acre a year — perhaps more in the South, 2. Thinnings should be made when- ever the tops of the trees become crowded or when many dying branches appear — an indication that the trees want more room to grow. Often young seedlings become crowded; when they are thinned, firewood, pulpwood, bean and tobacco poles, and fence posts can be removed. In a few years another thinning can be made to yield mine timbers, small poles, pulpwood, rail- road ties, more fence posts, and a few sawlogs. Weed trees should be cut. Blackgum, chokecherry, scrub oak, or other less valuable trees may crowd out better trees. Thinning also removes the excess of young trees; often the unwanted small trees can be cut about halfway down and the tops bent over. They continue to live and, by shading the ground, 22O make the better trees grow tall and straight. When to thin is important. Usually thinning is needed : (a) In young, fully stocked stands when about 15 to 20 years old; (b) in the young stands that have stopped growing or become stagnated ; (c) when the crowns of young trees are crowded and many dead branches occur; (d) when an interval of 5 to 1 years has passed between thinnings and the trees again crowd each other. How to thin is sometimes more diffi- cult than knowing when to thin. A single thinning should not remove more than one-quarter of the volume in a stand. Yellow-poplar, cottonwood, sweet- gum, loblolly pine, slash pine, and any fast-growing trees can be thinned more heavily than trees such as white oak, basswood, and ash. For southern pines and hardwoods the rule of thumb called D+6 is often used. For example, the diameter at breast height of one healthy tree is 10 inches and the diameter of the other healthy tree is 6 inches. Added together and divided by 2, the average diameter of the two crop trees is 8 inches; 8 inches considered as 8 feet, plus 6, equals 14 feet, the proper spacing be- tween crop trees of this size. In the West, the rule D + 4 can be used for spacing crop trees of pon- derosa pine. Other species may require different spacing and local advice may be needed in such cases. Good sense is needed in thinning the small forest. Following a rule may result in thinning a clump of 6 to 10 good trees to only 2 or 3, when actually it might be better to cut only 2 or 3 trees, which will give the clump plenty of room to grow. When a fast-growing young tree is directly under a mature tree that is soon to be cut, the young tree should be left for a future cutting. Consider each tree individually and determine its chances of growing into good timber. Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 3. Liberation and salvage cuttings are part of the care. Wolf trees — large, branchy individuals with spreading crowns — often keep down the more desirable little trees that should be growing for the future. Forked, knotty, crooked, and other poorly formed trees also take up space needed by better seedlings and saplings. Diseased, rot- ting, as well as insect-infested trees will probably die before they can be cut into fuel wood or fence posts; they should be removed by poisoning or by girdling with an ax. The undesirable hardwood trees and sprouts can be poisoned successfully with Animate ( the trade name for am- monium sulfamate) . This poison can be applied close to the base of the tree. Chip out small cups in the tree trunk with an ax at 6-inch intervals around the tree. Place 2 level tablespoonfuls of Ammate crystals in each cup for trees 4 inches in diameter and over. For trees under 4 inches in diameter, 1 tablespoonful a cut is enough. Leave the trees to die; they should not be girdled or cut down because sprouting might occur. After a year, it is gen- erally safe to cut the tree down if you want to. Use the poison in late sum- mer or early fall. A 32.5-percent water solution of Ammate sprayed on green leaves will kill small trees and sprouts of undesirable species, such as black- jack oak. Other poisons, obtainable from seed houses, are used for killing undesirable trees and shrubs like the persimmon, blackgum, and sweetgum. Vines growing on trees kill them by shading or bending. Protect the crop trees by cutting the vines off at the ground. Usually it is best to make a libera- tion cutting in early summer; sprouts from fresh stumps are less likely to ap- pear then ; and, it is easier to see which trees to cut. Salvage cutting means removing the overripe trees that are growing too slowly to be profitable. Overripe trees are usually recognized by their light- colored bark, flattened crowns, and How to Care for Your Small Forest 221 thin foliage. They should be cut and made into useful products before they are attacked by insects, disease, or are otherwise damaged. The thrifty, fast- growing trees that are damaged by fire, insects, disease, winds, or lightning should be salvaged while the wood is still usable. 4. Pruning the trees frequently in- creases their value. In considering whether to prune, you should determine whether or not better prices will be received for the product to be harvested. Local advice may be helpful and certainly is needed if any question arises as to the best time for pruning and how to go about it. Prune only the vigorous and healthy crop trees. Select about 200 to 225 such trees on each acre. Prune trees the first time when they are from 4 to 6 inches in diameter. Cuts heal rapidly on these young trees and the knots will be small. Prune in early spring just before the growing season begins. Make clean cuts close to the trunk of the tree. A long stub may rot and later cause the tree to decay or be at- tacked by insects. At any one pruning, remove no more than the lower third of the branches that make up the live crown of the tree. Removal of too many live limbs will slow down the growth of the tree for several years. After the trees have grown larger, another pruning up to 16 feet in height or for two clear logs may be desirable. The best tool to use is a pruning saw with a 12- to 18-inch blade, 3/2 to 5/2 points to the inch. A ladder and hand saw can be used for the high branches. Some prefer a pruning saw fastened to a long pole. Do not use an ax. Work safely; a falling limb is dan- gerous ; ladders should be firmly placed against the tree. HARVEST CUTTINGS are made to get cash from sales of products or to get material for home use. The way harvest cuttings are made determines whether the small forest is to provide continuous crops of trees, either annually or at intervals of 5, 10, 15 years or longer. There are four types of harvest cut- tings. 1. Clear cutting is the removal of everything of any value. The small forest should not be cut in the way unless it is being cleared for pasture or crops. Many years will elapse before clear-cut land will pro- vide cash returns or a crop of timber that can provide products for home needs. Sometimes undesirable trees seed in on the cleared land and the next crop of trees is less salable or has no value at all. Often the cleared wood- land must be planted — usually a costly matter. Generally, the long-time cash income from woodland that has been clear-cut will be smaller than under any other method. Some species of trees that grow in even-aged stands are best harvested by clear cutting. The area can then be replanted with the same type of trees that were cut and a new stand obtained. Local advice should be sought be- fore clear cutting a small forest of a particular species. 2. The seed-tree method is adapt- able to certain even-aged small forests. By this method, at least 10 healthy, vigorous trees that average 10 to 12 inches in diameter at breast height should be left on each acre. The only advantage of seed-tree cutting over clear cutting is that the area may not need to be planted. If this method is used, it is usually best to leave the seed trees in groups. Often strips of trees are left standing to provide seed. Cutting in strips, however, is usually practiced in large forest areas. 3. The diameter-limit method is often used in the harvest cutting. All trees above a certain diameter at breast height, 10 to 12 inches in pine and 16 to 18 inches in hardwood, may be cut. This method has the fault that all the poorly formed, weak, diseased, and slow-growing trees under the desired 222 diameter limit are left in the woods to take up room. Also, all healthy, fast- growing trees above the diameter limit are cut at a time when they are produc- ing the greatest amount of high-quality wood. The method should be used only when the owner of the small forest has little time to spend in supervising the harvest of his forest. These three methods — clear cutting, seed-tree cutting, and diameter-limit cutting — are of little use in the man- agement of the small forest. They may be recommended for particular for- ests, but generally they will ruin the productive capacity of the small forest for many years. 4. Selective cutting, the best meth- od of harvesting woodland products in a mixed-aged forest, is a combina- tion of stand-improvement cutting and harvest cutting; it has many advan- tages also in even-aged stands. Selective cutting should be made whenever there are trees that are ready for harvest. The following are guides to help the owner in the selection of trees for cutting: (a) Gut the mature trees; they are ripe and have stopped growing. (b) Select the less desirable species and any damaged, crooked, limby, or diseased trees; this gives the better trees more room to develop. (c) If there are too many young, healthy trees in parts of the small forest, cut several of them so that the others can grow faster. All trees selected for cutting should be marked: Paint is the best; it is easy to see; it can be removed in case of an error; it does not injure the tree. (An ax or hatchet blaze may cause blue stain or open the tree to insect attack.) An old paint brush on a long stick makes the marking easy. Medium-blue, yellow, and white paint show up well in the woods. Whitewash can also be used, but both whitewash and paint should be worked into the bark so that the mark will remain on the tree for the longest possible time. Often an old sock filled with lime will make a good Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 mark if the cutting is to follow in a short time. If paint is used in a spray gun, it should be thinned with kero- sene. It is often economical to use sur- plus paint that collects around the farm for marking timber. Put at least two marks on each tree to be cut. One should be at breast height and the other just above the ground line ; the mark on the stump is used to check the cutting after it has been completed. Put both marks on the same side of the tree and mark the trees on the side where the cutters or buyers usually enter the forest — it saves time that would be spent running around hunting the marked trees. A defective or cull tree should be marked differently from the trees to be cut for salable products. An X mark or two dots or some other symbol will in- dicate that it is to be cut for fuel wood, just girdled, or poisoned and left there to die. The young, thrifty, straight, vigorous, full-crowned crop trees to be left for a future cut should have no marks at all on them. An owner of a small woodland who is practicing selective cutting for the first time may find it difficult at first to mark the trees to be cut. A careful study of individual trees, advice or as- sistance from the local forester, and practice will make the job progressively easier. PERPETUATION OF THE SMALL FOR- EST is usually taken care of by nature if the owner protects it from fire, graz- ing, and other damage. If the trees are of mixed age, the older ones produce seed and the spaces opened up by selective cutting will be covered in a few years with small seed- lings. Trees that are all the same age and about the same size can be harvested in a series of three cuttings. The first cutting will take out the larger trees, the ones that are mature and ready for harvest, and any others that need to be cut. Open spaces occur where the trees have been removed; the material on the forest floor rots How to Care for Your Small forest 223 faster and the mineral soil is some- times exposed. The remaining crop trees, the larger ones, develop larger crowns and produce more seed. The second cutting removes a few more trees during the winter and just after a heavy seed crop. The open spaces seed in with a heavy crop of seedlings, and the forest is on its way to adequate restocking. Both of the cuttings should be light enough so that grass and weeds will not come in on the open spaces. After the seedlings become estab- lished and can get along without the protection of the older trees, the last of the old trees can be cut. This method of harvesting an even- aged small forest takes advantage of natural seeding and should result in a crop of young trees of the species de- sired. There are particular kinds of trees in even-aged stands that can best be harvested by the seed-tree method. If yours is an even-aged forest, and a local forester advises clear cutting so that the species you have can again be grown in the area, 2 or 3 years can be saved by replanting the cut-over area with trees from the State nursery. Often a small forest that has been heavily burned or pastured will reseed itself if livestock and fire are kept out after the young seedlings start growing. If the ground has been packed or is covered with a heavy sod, hogs may be turned in before the seeds fall. The hogs will root up the ground and pre- pare a seedbed. After the seeds fall or are blown in on the area, all grazing should be restricted until the young seedlings become well established. The small forest can sometimes be perpetuated from sprouts from unin- jured clean stumps that remain after cutting. Most of the hardwoods, except basswood, do not sprout satisfactorily after the tree has reached 60 years. Most of the cone-bearing trees do not sprout; exceptions are young shortleaf and pitch pines. Trees cut during win- ter or early in the spring usually pro- duce the best sprouts, and there is less likelihood of any injury the following winter. Sprouts from trees that have been cut in the summer often are killed by the next winter's frost. WHERE TO PLANT TREES is import- ant. Planting is often desirable as a means for perpetuating small forests or of starting a new forest, and trees of a useful variety successfully started on the right land are almost sure to re- turn a profit. 1. Plant trees on land that has little or no other use on the farm. Areas that are too small for growing crops are often used to grow a few trees that will be valuable for home use. 2. Understocked or sick forest areas that are not reseeding naturally can be planted. 3. Small forests that have been cut over and that are not reseeding satis- factorily should be planted. 4. If land has been cut up or ruined by erosion, the forest-tree seedlings will often hold it in place and produce a valuable crop in years to come. 5. If a small forest is filled with trees of no value, such as scrub oak or other worthless varieties, it can be torn up with land-clearing equipment and planted with trees that will have a future value. 6. Often the worn-out, rocky, or hilly land on a farm can be planted to trees, not only for the protection they afford the land, but to provide a home for wildlife, to beautify the farm, and to grow a few fence posts or timbers for home use. It is well to remember that land that has been abandoned or considered use- less will often grow a crop of trees. WHAT TO PLANT: Look around the community or general area where your land is located ; see what kinds of trees are growing best and plant that type on your land. It is also good business to plant species of trees that grow fast and develop salable products in a few years; however, a fast-growing tree that will not produce a salable product should not be planted. 224 Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 Hardwoods usually require better soils than conifers. Hardwoods need plenty of water and if the soil is of a type that absorbs water readily so the tree roots can get it without difficulty, a hardwood plantation is usually suc- cessful. Hardwoods grow best in a deep, loose, crumbly type of soil, where the roots have plenty of room to develop and where the subsoil is of the type that permits good root development. Conifers often will grow in soils that are unsuitable for the hardwoods and where the available water is less than that required by hardwood seedlings. Generally they will grow even if not cultivated after planting. The roots are often shorter — another reason for better survival. For these reasons coni- fers are often the best species for worn- out, heavily gullied fields, abandoned pastures that are to be converted to woodland, the sandy areas, and areas where the soil is heavy or has a tend- ency to be cloddy or has a hardpan underneath. Some general suggestions on the im- portant species to plant if your land is in the South: 1. White pine at most elevations in the mountains. 2. Loblolly pine on most soils at lower elevations. 3. Shortleaf pine in the same areas as loblolly pine, except on drier soils. 4. Slash pine on the sandy loam soils with plenty of moisture. Longleaf pine grows best on dry, sandy soil, on sandy ridges, and on sandy loam soils. 5. Walnut on good soils and on rich bottoms. Other hardwoods, such as the locusts, that are planted for fence posts grew best if planted on the better soils. 6. Yellow-poplar on good soils. In parts of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, particularly the Pied- mont area, Virginia pine is sometimes planted on the poorest soils. Loblolly pine, shortleaf pine, and redcedar are also desirable species to plant on poor to moderate soils. In the Southern Appalachian Moun- tain region, these species can be planted : 1. Virginia pine, redcedar, short- leaf pine, and pitch pine on poor soils. 2. White pine on moderate soils. 3. White ash, yellow-poplar, and the black locust on still better soils. 4. Black walnut on the best land. A number of different species should be considered if you live in the Central States : 1. Jack pine on the poorest soils. Shortleaf and pitch pine can also be planted on some of the worst loca- tions. On medium soils, Norway spruce, red pine, white pine, red oak, cotton- wood, and white ash will grow. 2. Black walnut and yellow-poplar on the best land, and black locust on land not quite so good. If you land is in the Lake States or New England, the following species are often planted : 1. Jack pine or Scotch pine on the worst land. 2. White spruce, Norway spruce, and white pine on fairly good soil. 3. Yellow-poplar, white ash, red and white oak are suitable for the best soils. Seedlings generally are more satis- factory than seed for starting a plan- tation or in regenerating forest areas. Birds and rodents often cause a direct seeding of conifers to fail. Tree seeds do not germinate in extremely dry years. A few of the pines will grow from seed if they are planted within their natural ranges. Walnut, oak, hickory, and other nut trees are often started from seed. The nuts should be planted in holes and covered firmly with soil to a depth of about the width of the seed. Walnuts, hickory nuts, and acorns can be planted in the spring after the ground has become soft enough to work or after the frost has disappeared. Generally, it is better to plant these seeds in the fall, even though there is a danger that hogs or rodents will dig them up for food during the winter. In small plantings it is unwise to broadcast tree seed. Instead, a number of seeds can be planted in a small spot that has been cleaned of grass or other litter. Ten to fifteen seeds can be dis- tributed over this small area and then How to Care for Your Small Forest 225 covered with about one-eighth inch of soil. The cleared patches for seeding can be 4 to 6 inches in size. If there is danger of erosion, a light mulch can be placed over the seeded spots, in which case the seeds do not need to be covered with soil. Seeds of pine should be sown in the fall for best results. IN PLANTING THE SEEDLINGS, these points may be helpful: 1. Seedlings planted in the fall be- fore frost usually get a good start. If there is danger of frost-heaving, the seedlings may be planted in the spring just after the frost is out of the ground. 2. Seedlings should not be planted if they are still growing, that is, late in the spring or in summer. 3. Some State nurseries send out trees for planting that have been kept dormant in cold storage. If this prac- tice has proved successful in your locality, you can plant seedlings at times when other work is not pressing. 4. Seedlings are planted, as a rule, with the spacing of 6 by 6 feet or 8 by 8 feet. Some seedlings that tolerate shade do best if planted close together. Others require more room. Approxi- mately 1,000 trees to the acre is a satis- factory stocking once the plantation has become established. 5. Trees that grow rapidly can be spaced more widely than slow-growing species. If the soil is poor, more trees can be planted to allow for loss. 6. Sometimes the tree seedlings are planted in furrows to conserve moisture and prevent erosion. The number of trees to the acre for specific spacings is: 5 by 5 feet, 1,742 trees; 6 by 6 feet, 1,210 trees; 6 by 8 feet, 908 trees; 8 by 8 feet, 680 trees. Often it is desirable to plant several species in the same plantation to in- sure against damage by insects or disease, against failure of one species on the particular soil, and against the possibility that one species will grow into a crop of no value. Trees that stand much shade can be grown with those that require much sunlight. 802062' It is not advisable to plant any fast- growing seedlings in a mixture that grows slowly. Seedlings for planting on the farm and in the small forest can be obtained from the State forest-tree nurseries, which sell tree seedlings at cost or less ; county agents and local foresters have the order blanks. Orders for the seed- lings should be placed early. Ordinarily it is not wise to plant tree seedlings that have been obtained from great distances. Many seedlings die because they are improperly handled after they have been received from the nursery. If the time, labor, and money in- vested in planting seedlings are not to be lost: 1. Keep the tree seedlings moist, particularly the roots. 2. Keep in the shade until planted. 3. A cool, well- ventilated place for storage is important. 4. Place the roots of the seedlings in moist soil or sand if planting is delayed for several days. Of the several methods of planting, the one most suitable for the particular soil or area involved should be deter- mined before the seedlings are taken from the heel-in bed or from their place of storage. Slit planting means placing the seedling in the soil in a slit that has been made by a grub hoe, mattock, or spade. Planting bars, a special tool for making the slits, work well in light or medium soils where there is little debris or other trash on the land. On rocky or trashy land, a hole can be dug and the tree seedling planted J4 to 1/2 inch deeper than it grew in the nursery. Usually there is a mark on the stem that shows how deep it grew. The roots should be carefully placed so that they are not bent or crowded. If the hole is shallow and the seedling roots are doubled back or restricted in any way, the seedling might die. The soil should be firmly packed around the roots of the seed- ling— not too tightly but enough to remove the air pockets. 226 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 Where the soil is dry, watering often means the difference between success or failure of a planting. Tree-planting machines are avail- able in many States. In some localities they can be rented from the State for- estry agencies or private owners; in other places they are available on loan from soil conservation districts, or other local organizations. It is often profitable to cultivate tree seedlings, particularly for the first 2 or 3 years after planting. Seeds and grass often kill hardwood seedlings and, in the Plain States (on the prairies), the shelterbelts or wind- breaks must be cultivated to insure their establishment. Some pines, nota- bly slash and loblolly, however, react unfavorably to cultivation and are more subject to disease if cultivated. THE ENEMIES OF THE SMALL FOREST are many. Some of them can be highly destructive. A wildfire, in a few minutes, can destroy the work of a lifetime in build- ing up a stand of valuable timber; each year owners of small forests lose more than 15 million dollars because of fire. Most of these fires are man-made. Get in touch with the nearest for- ester promptly if there is any indication that insects or disease are in your forest. Improvement cuttings, the re- moval of infested trees when a selective cutting is made, and the application of the best principles of forest manage- ment are enough in most cases to keep the small forest in a healthy condition and prevent serious damage, unless a general epidemic hits the locality. About grazing the small-forest, the owner should remember: 1. High-quality timber should be grown on land maintained for that purpose. 2. Good cattle and good pasture go together. A fence between the forest land and the pasture land insures that neither the trees nor the cattle will suffer from interference by the other. Many well-managed small forests are damaged during a logging opera- tion— the falling trees may be thrown against the crop trees or careless skid- ding may tear the bark from their trunks. The skid trails should be carefully located. A skid trail or road running up and down hill in a small forest often develops into a large gully and pours water into fields below. With some species, a border of trees should be left around the small forest after a cutting operation to protect it from heavy winds. Often crop trees are exposed to ex- cessive breakage from ice and snow — a sign that cutting has been too heavy and that trees should be left in clumps until they become wind-firm or are removed. AN ACCURATE MEASUREMENT of the timber one has for sale must be made before a profitable sale can be made. Knowing how much one has to sell from the small forest is just as im- portant as knowing what to sell. The owner should know the general specifications of the different timber products so that the returns from one product can be compared with the value of another. Integrated use assures greater re- turns. Each tree should be carefully considered and cut into products that will bring the greatest return. A ma- ture tree might yield two valuable saw- logs from the butt, several cross ties above that part cut for sawlogs, some pulpwood from the larger limbs, and firewood from the top. Nothing is wasted if this integrated utilization method is used in sizing up each tree before it is cut. It may be more profitable for the owner to do his own cutting when integrated utilization is involved, be- cause many timber operators do not handle more than one product at a single cutting. Some advantages of integrated uti- lization are: •1. Care can be exercised so that each tree will be cut properly. 2. The owner or his employees can How to Care for Your Small Forest 227 closely supervise the cutting operation. 3. Each tree can be sized up before it is cut and the particular products can be determined. 4. The numerous products which result from integrated cutting will re- turn greater profits. Pulpwood can be sold to pulpwood contractors, sawlogs to a local sawmill, and, in many locali- ties, fuel wood brings a good price. 5. The owner can make several cuttings, taking out specific products each time. Poles and piling can be re- moved from the pine forest, after which sawlogs can be cut. The last cutting can consist of pulpwood from the tops and smaller trees that are marked. The same is true if hardwoods are being cut. Sawlogs or veneer bolts come first, cross ties next, and perhaps a sizable cutting of fuel wood from the tops. If repeated cuttings are being made, care should be exercised or the small forest may be cut too heavily. Also, the high-quality products may be creamed off and the value of the forest for future harvests greatly reduced. The various products cut from the small forest are measured differently. Firewood is usually sold by the cord or rick. Pulpwood is measured in cords, pens, or units. Poles, piling, and mine timbers are measured by the running foot of length. Fence posts, ties, and small poles are sold by the piece or unit. Sawlogs are sold by board feet meas- ure. A piece of lumber 1 inch thick, 12 inches wide, and 12 inches long is a board foot (a square foot of lumber 1 inch thick) . MEASURING THE BOARD-FOOT con- tent of a log is not difficult : 1 . Secure a log-scale stick from your county agent or local forester. This stick has the board-foot contents of various sized logs marked upon it. By holding the stick at the small end of the log across the average diameter, the contents can be read direct. If a log-scale stick is not available, three steps can be followed in measur- ing a log: (a) Using a ruler or a yardstick, measure the average diameter of the log inside the bark at the small end. If the log is not round, measure the shortest and the longest diameter, add them together, and divide by two; this will give the average for the log being measured. (b) Measure the length of the log to the nearest foot. Allow 2 or 3 inches for trimming off the battered ends at the time it is sawed into some product. (<;) From a log-scale table, deter- mine the board feet in a log of the diameter and length that you have measured. Three tables are in wide use for de- termining the scale of logs. The Doyle (which is used almost exclusively, par- ticularly in the South), the Interna- tional, and the Scribner decimal G. It is best to scale logs from the small forest according to whichever rule is legal in your State or has been gen- erally accepted by buyer and seller. If many small logs are to be sold, the International scale is considered the most accurate. The Doyle rule gives too low a measurement for logs under 28 inches in diameter. The Scribner decimal G rule is used in national for- ests and in many localities throughout the country. If the logs have many defects, some deduction should be made from the scale. Common defects are rot, cat faces, ingrown bark, worm holes, check, shake, and pitch ring. Also, crooked or twisted logs resulting from spiral grain reduce the value of logs intended for high-quality lumber. First-grade logs have few or no defects; the number and kind of defects and the size of the log determine the other grades. An owner can learn a great deal by watch- ing logs being sawed up at the mill. Certain defects or flaws soon become apparent. In scaling, then, he can esti- mate how much wood is wasted by the defect and deduct it from the board feet shown in the log table. As yet there are no uniform log 228 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 grade rules; grading methods or sys- tems are different throughout the country. Individual mills often have grading rules of their own. Prices, of course, depend on grades, and a top- grade sawlog always has a higher value than a lower-grade log. Selling logs by grade is more profit- able than selling them ungraded, but grading is so difficult for some prod- ucts, particularly sawlogs, that advice of a forester is generally necessary if ad- vantage is to be taken of this practice. ESTIMATING STANDING TIMBER re- quires training and practice. It is easier to find the board feet in a sawlog than in a tree before it is cut. If the small- woodland owner is going to sell his trees on the stump or ask for bids for his standing timber, he must measure the trees to determine how much he has to sell. The owner should also have a measurement of his trees for compari- son with the measurement that a timber operator or timber buyer may have made at some different time. The chances of losing money on a timber sale are much less if the owner makes his own estimate of the amount and kind of products he has to sell. Three steps to follow in measuring a tree are : 1. With home-made calipers, a carpenter's square, or a yardstick, measure the diameter of the tree in inches at breast height — 4/2 feet above the ground. 2. Stand back from the tree and esti- mate how many usable 16-foot logs can be cut from it. A pole 1 7 feet high (having a 1-foot allowance for stump height) will be helpful in deciding the number of 16-foot logs. 3. Using the tree-scale tables, find the volume of the tree in board feet. If the tree is 18 inches in diameter and 2/> merchantable logs can be cut from it, there will be 206 board feet in the tree by the Doyle rule, or 292 board feet by the International rule. As in scaling logs, the Doyle rule gives a lower volume than the International. These tables are made up from aver- ages from the actual measurements of many trees. The local forester can ad- vise the landowner on the proper table to use in his area and will have copies of it. (See also pages 851-853.) Tree-measuring sticks may also be available from the county agent, the local forester, or the State extension forester. The tree-measurement stick will save time, and the volume of the tree in board feet according to the number of 16-foot usable logs can be read direct. On the small forests of 50 to 100 acres, all the trees that are to be sold should be counted and marked. As the trees are marked and counted, the volume of every tenth tree should be measured. After all the trees have been counted, add the volume of all the trees that have been measured, multiply this total volume by 10, and you will have the estimated volume of your entire stand. If the woodland is small, the best way to get a good estimate of the volume of the standing trees is to measure every tree. The sum of these measurements is the estimate of the number of board feet in that part of the stand that is to be cut, or in the entire forest if all of the trees are measured. In the larger forests, one can esti- mate the volume of the entire stand by measuring only sample plots. It is important in making such an estimate to obtain a fair sampling, or the sam- ples should represent the average in the best or worst part of the woodland. Usually samples of a quarter or a fifth of an acre in size are easier to work with. Sometimes 1-acre plots are used (1 acre is a 208-foot square). One- quarter of an acre is a 104-foot square, or 118 feet in diameter, if round. Round plots are easier to measure and to use in timber estimating than square plots. Time will be saved if the trees are marked for cutting at the same time they are measured for board-feet con- tent. Foresters sometimes recommend How to Care for Your Small Forest 229 a timber cruise, which provides vol- ume, growth data, and other informa- tion that is used in preparing a plan for the small forest. Pulpwood is measured differently from sawlogs or standing trees. The local pulpwood buyer, county agent, or local forester will have specifications or know where to get them. Since dif- ferent mills have different require- ments as to length, it is always wise to get complete information before cut- ting begins or a sale is made. PULPWOOD MAY BE SOLD from your small woodland in a number of ways : 1. Pulpwood trees can be sold on the stump and harvested by local con- tractors or agents of a company. 2. The owner can cut the pulpwood and sell it to the same individuals. 3. Pulpwood also can be cut by the owner, and hauled and loaded on the railroad car for shipment to the pulp mill. In this way, the pulpwood is measured on the car after it is de- livered to the plant. Some owners cut and deliver pulpwood to the railroad siding, where it is measured while still on the truck or after it is piled. The standard cord is the most com- mon unit of measurement for pulp- wood, but it is also measured in pens or units. A standard cord is a stack of pulpwood 4 feet high, 4 feet wide, and 8 feet long. It equals 128 cubic feet. It contains about 90 cubic feet of solid wood and bark, the remainder of the stack being air spaces. Freshly cut pulpwood is often piled 3 to 4 inches higher than the required 4 feet to al- low for shrinkage when the wood dries. Pens are hollow cribs of pulpwood about 6 feet high. The unit is often called the long cord, and results from the practice of many mills wanting wood in lengths varying from 4^4 feet up to 8 feet. A stack of pulpwood, in any of these lengths, 4 feet high and 8 feet across the front is called a unit. In any one unit the sticks should all be the same length. Since the units are made up of longer sticks than the 4-foot wood in a standard cord, the units contain a greater volume of solid wood. A standard cord of 4-foot pulpwood con- tains 90 cubic feet of solid wood; a unit of 5-foot pulpwood contains 113 cubic feet of solid wood. A unit of 6- foot pulpwood contains 136 cubic feet of solid wood. You should be familiar with these various units of measure for pulpwood so that you do not by mistake sell a unit of wood for the price of a stand- ard cord. Often you will lose if you sell your pulpwood in pens, because the pens are usually built up with sticks of pulpwood of varying sizes. Buyers gen- erally require five pens of wood for a standard cord or one unit. Five pens of pulpwood that have been cut 4 feet long and in which the sticks are all 6 inches in diameter will equal a stand- ard cord, or approximately one unit of 5 -foot wood. But five pens of pulp- wood 12 inches in diameter equals 2 cords or 2 units. A woodland owner in this second case will lose a cord or a unit of wood if the buyer takes five pens. Always measure pulpwood in cords or units, and sell it in the same way. SOME OF THE OTHER PRODUCTS that the small-forest owner can sell are: Railroad ties. — Because most ties are now treated with chemicals to pre- vent decay, practically all tree species in the small forest can be cut for ties. Poles and piling are cut from south- ern pines, eastern white-cedar, Doug- las-fir, and oak. Usually only the best trees will yield high-grade poles and piling. Specifications vary, and nothing should be cut until the owner knows what sizes he can sell and how to cut them. The local buyer or forester will have this information. Veneer logs are used to make crates, boxes, and baskets, and the fancy veneer logs or bolts are used in making fine furniture. Black walnut, basswood, black cherry, the yellow birch, maple, yellow-poplar, the sycamore, sweetgum, blackgum, tupelo, beech, elm, and cot- 230 tonwood in the small forest often yield veneer logs. Specifications differ for the individual plants and no cutting should be done until the specifications are known. Valuable timber can be wasted and left in the woods by im- proper cutting of this product. Mine timbers include props, lagging caps, sills, and ties. Specifications differ for each and it is best to see the buyer before cutting any type of mine timbers. Bolts and billets are short lengths of logs used for making handles, spokes, cooperage, excelsior, woodenware, and many other small products. Ash, hick- ory, beech, birch, maple, and oak are used for ax, hammer, hoe, rake, and shovel handles. Aspen, cottonwood, basswood, willow, yellow-poplar, and southern pines are used for excelsior. Whiskey barrel staves are made from white oak bolts. Other barrels are made from staves of ash, beech, birch, maple, basswood, elm, and sweetgum. Each plant has its own specifications. The forest owner should find out what the plant will buy and how the product is measured — whether in cords, board measure, pieces, or the running foot. Fuel wood has value for home use because a standard cord of longleaf pine, hickory, oak, beech, rock elm, hard maple, the black locust, or sweet birch, if dry, will give as much heat as 200 gallons of fuel oil or a ton of the best coal. The heavier woods will weigh about 2 tons a cord. Two cords of the lighter woods (the white pine, spruce, cedar, redwood, poplar, cy- press, basswood) will give as much heat as a ton of hard coal. Heat value is in- creased if the fuel wood has been cut early and allowed to dry. Fuel wood can be cut from trees that are unsuit- able for any other use and from limbs of trees that have been removed for other purposes. SELL YOUR FOREST PRODUCTS FOR A PROFIT. That is the reward for good forest management. Each time the management practices are improved on the small forest, each Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 time a better method of selling is prac- ticed, the owner receives more cash. FOUR PRINCIPLES to help in making profitable sales are: 1. Sell only measured amounts of timber. Other products from farm and industry are sold by exact measure- ment : Bushels of corn, pounds of beef, tons of coal, and gallons of oil. When the forest owner sells his timber on the stump for a lump sum to the first buyer who comes along with an offer, the sale usually returns a large profit to the buyer. Intelligent selling is based on know- ing what one has to sell, both as to the amount and quality. It requires thought, care, and experience. Advice from a forester may be needed until the woodland owner is confident he can go it alone. 2. Harvest your own timber if it is possible. If cutting and selling the converted products such as sawlogs, pulpwood, veneer logs, poles, and so forth, is a possibility, a little rough figuring will determine whether or not it will be profitable : (a) Estimate the sale value of the timber on the stump. (b) Determine harvesting costs — cutting, logging, hauling the product to market, and so on. The purchase of saws, tools, miscellaneous supplies, a truck, and other operating equipment, loss by depreciation, and the wages of hired help and labor all are harvesting costs. (c) Estimate the sale value of the forest products you plan to cut. (d) From the sale value, subtract the stumpage value and the harvesting costs. (e) What remains is the owner's wages and profit. Generally there is a profit in har- vesting one's own timber. Also, greater care can be exercised in protecting the remaining crop trees from damage. 3. Find the most profitable market, both for sale of the trees on the stump and the converted products. How to Care for Your Small Forest 231 A little effort often uncovers numer- ous outlets for forest products: (a) Ask your neighbors; they may have just made a sale. (b) The county agent often will know. (c) The local forester will have a list of markets and prices and often knows of markets elsewhere. (d) Look for advertisements in your local paper or get a copy of a lumber trade journal. (e) You may run an advertisement locally or in a metropolitan paper or trade journal. (/) Write several of the wood-using industries. They furnish specifications and prices, and often their buyer will call if requested. Fuel wood is needed by packing houses, bakeries, lime-kilns, brickmak- ers, and tobacco growers. Highway departments use piling, bridge timbers, and posts. Railroads need ties and heavy timbers. Mining companies and telegraph companies want poles. Paper companies buy pulp wood. Veneer logs, sawlogs, and bolts and billets can be sold to woodworking plants. Plants that make wine and whiskey barrels are ever on the lookout for high-grade white oak. 4. Marketing converted products brings the greatest profit. Long, high-quality logs can be sold to mills that cut large timbers on spe- cial order. Lower-quality, short logs can be taken to a small mill that cuts lumber. Good white oak often will produce valuable stave bolts from the butt cuts, while the rest of the tree can be sold as sawlogs. Large, high-grade logs of other species such as sweetgum, yellow-poplar, walnut, and so on, can be sold separately as veneer logs for a high price. Tall, straight trees can be cut into poles or piling and sold at a premium. Always before creaming-off the best trees in a small forest for the products that bring the highest prices, be sure you can sell for a fair price the less valuable trees that need to be cut. Often a small forest is high-graded and then no one will buy the lower-quality timber that remains. The owner of a small forest who sells converted products must use skill and care in turning them out. All profit may be lost if many logs, poles, posts, timbers, or piling are rejected by the buyer. If the owner does the cutting him- self, greater care can be exercised. If a contractor is hired to do the work, the owner should personally supervise the cutting operation. GETTING BIDS ON STANDING TIMBER or converted forest products is good business. The points to tell the prospective bidder about your standing timber are: The location and size of the wood- land in acres. The estimated amount for sale in board feet, cords, or other measure- ments. The kinds of trees for sale. The quality of the timber and its size range in diameter and height. Whether logging will be hard or easy due to rough ground, hills, or deep ravines. Accessibility to roads, railroads, and paved highways. Whether the trees are old growth or second growth. Whether the trees are forest grown or came in on old fields. Prospective bidders on products you have cut will want to know: Kind of product. Amount for sale, such as number of cross ties, poles, posts, and so on. Quality of the converted products. Grade — if possible. Lengths, and other sizes needed to explain the product. Location of products. Kinds of timber in the products: Hickory, walnut, oak. General items to include in all let- ters asking for bids, on stumpage or converted products, are: Owner's name and address. Conditions of sale as to payment, and so on. 232 Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 When the timber or converted prod- ucts may be examined. The right to reject any and all bids. Generally the highest bid is the one to accept, but if the market is distant and transportation costs high, a lower bid from a nearer market may be more profitable. Grading rules must be con- sidered. Also, liberal scaling under a low-value rule may offset high prices under a precise rule. The reliability of the buyer must be considered. SALES CONTRACTS are good insur- ance. A written agreement setting forth details of a sale of stumpage or con- verted products, signed by the buyer and the seller, will avoid misunder- standing. In every agreement covering the sale of stumpage, either verbal or written, the following items should be specified precisely: Description of the sale area. Estimate of amount of timber to be cut. Kind of trees and approximate sizes. Sale price and provisions for pay- ment before and during cutting. Guarantee of title to timber. What trees are to be cut — those marked with paint or blazed, the diameter limit, and so on. Definition of merchantable trees. Time limit sale is to run ; when cut- ting and removal of timber will stop. Place and method of measuring — log rule to use. Protection of forest from fire and logging damage. Right of entrance and exit to the forest. Payment of taxes. Method for settlement of any dis- agreements that may arise. A performance bond, particularly in larger sales. When converted products are sold, all agreements, written or oral, should state the method of measuring and grading, quantity to be delivered, mer- chantability limits, rate of delivery to a specified point such as a railroad siding, loaded on car, and so on, time limit for delivery or to fulfill contract, and the time and method of payment. A timber-sale agreement takes little time and effort and will result in ac- cord between buyer and seller. Future sales are easier where past sales have been satisfactory to both parties. M. M. BRYAN grew up in Pennsyl- vania, where his grandfather and his great-grandfather had been active in logging, lumbering, and sawmilling. He is a graduate in forestry of Pennsyl- vania State College. His work in the Forest Service has included timber- stand-improvement work, timber sur- veys on the national forests, land acquisition, assignments as ranger and forest supervisor, flood-control surveys, and State and private forestry. He now is chief of the Woodland Management Section in the Division of Cooperative Forest Management. Much of the in- formation in this article is based on a bulletin, Managing the Small Forest, by Mr. Bryan and other men in the Department of Agriculture. Direction of fall Saw cut Undercut Wed9 This diagram illustrates the felling of a tree. Two cuts are made on opposite sides of the tree; the undercut guides the direc- tion of fall. (See page 241.) The drawings on the following pages show some of the methods and tools used in forest operations. How to Care for Your Small Forest 233 DIBBLE PLANTING Dibble or planting bar Insert dibble and push for- ward to upright position. Insert dibble 2 inches from plant — pull back .to firm soil at bottom of roots. ••-': "• , : Fill in last hole by scrap- ing soil with shoe. Root collar Remove dibble and place seedling with root collar at ground level. li|:||S^::::~ Push dibble forward to firm soil at top of roots. Pack soil firmly around seedling. MATTOCK PLANTING Insert mattock — lift handle and pull back. Fill in around seedling by scraping soil with shoe. Root collar Place seedling at correct depth, packing roots with moist soil. 0 Pack soil firmly around seedling. Yearboof^ of Agriculture 1949 HOW THiNNiNG UNDESIRABLE TREES IMPROVES THE FOREST Prune ' to about of total How to Care for Your Small Forest Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 237 HARVESTING THE SMALL FOREST ARTHUR M. SOWDER Harvesting the woodland crop, or logging, is the last stage in the pro- duction of the crop. It is like the final step in producing potatoes or doing farm chores, such as milking. A farmer does not sell his potatoes while they are in the ground or the milk while it is in the cow. By doing his own harvest- ing or chores, he is selling his services. In the South, for instance, about one-half the value of some harvested forest products, such as sawlogs, is rep- resented by the standing tree — hence one-half comes about through logging and hauling. In other words, harvest- ing doubles the sawlog returns from the woodlands. Owners of small woods who do their own logging are apt to practice good forestry. When one does his own log- ging according to a sound plan, he will exercise more care to get better utili- zation, avoid damage to future crop trees, leave the area in better shape for forthcoming operations, and — more than likely — protect his woodland from fire, insects, and diseases. Logging generally can be done in slack seasons. Often it is a welcome change from other farm work. It can fit in nicely with a balanced farm pro- gram. Usually winter is the best season for the woods work : Snow, frost, and frozen ground facilitate skidding and hauling, although they increase the ac- cident rate and, for products that must be peeled, cold is a handicap. Logging is hard work, but it is sur- prising how some jobs can be made easier by planning, how quickly experi- ence makes one more efficient in the use of tools and equipment, and how much effort is saved by keeping tools sharp. In fact, farmers often say that after a day or two in the woods they enjoy the work. The hardest part is to get started — and, after starting, to remember that experienced woods workers usually take breathers, or rest periods, equal to 5 percent of the work- day. Before he starts his tree harvest, the owner should know the outlets for the crop. If they are to be marketed, the products should be contracted for by written agreement. It is worth while to inquire about the products in demand, and study the logging of those products as to quantity and quality, with the equipment available. Also, before start- ing, it is well to mark the trees to be cut with paint, crayon, or lime spots. In marking, the owner should bear in mind that it usually costs more per cord or per thousand board feet to log small trees than it does large ones, but in time the owner will learn which are the profitable tree sizes and species and how long it takes trees to grow to a profitable logging size. It is a good idea likewise to consult a local forester or the county agent. They will know local conditions and markets and be able to advise on the practicability of doing the logging one's self or letting it out on contract. If any help is to be hired, they can give good advice on the going wages, the phases of the work that have been declared too hazardous for under-age workers, and the workmen's compensation requirements. Mechanical equipment, such as power saws, wood splitters, and tree planters, has helped make some of the work easier. As with other types of farm work, scarcity of help has led to increased mechanization in woodland operations in order to maintain production. In logging, however, mechanization has not materially lowered the production costs on the smaller operations. Many small operators have aban- doned the use of the power chain saw, because they have found it more ex- pensive than hand tools. The two-man gas saw is too costly to use on inter- mittent, low-production jobs in the 238 Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 small timber. To be economical, it requires enough timber to keep a crew of three to five men busy. One-man power chain saws, now on the market, promise to be better suited to use on small jobs in small timber. If one owner of a small woodland cannot afford to buy mechanized equipment, he might go in with other owners and purchase it jointly. Or, equipment is available sometimes on a custom basis, the same as threshing machines and corn pickers. Another possibility is to trade labor or arrange through a service type of log- ging ring, operated on a fee basis not unlike the spray rings employed in horticulture, for some of the work. But even with ordinary tools, the work is made easier by using one's head, keeping the tools sharp and in safe working condition, planning the log- ging work and lay-out, and taking ad- vantage of gravity. Three steps are involved in log- ging, but the ways of doing the work in the suggested steps will vary ac- cording to the woodland and the prod- uct harvested. The steps are : 1. Felling (or falling) the tree and preparing the products, which in- cludes : a. Limbing the tree; b. Bucking it into product size; c. Peeling, splitting, and hewing the products, when required ; d. Slash disposal, if necessary. The essential tools and equipment for this step are: Fiberboard safety helmet. Ax. Saw. Wedge. Hammer. Measuring stick. Coal oil. Saw file. Whetstone. The optional tools are: Peavey, or cant hook. Log jack. Pulp hook. Peeling tools. Tie-making tools. Wood splitters. 2. Skidding products from stump to skidway, landing, or assembly point. The essential tools and equipment are: Skidding chain. Peavey. Power (animal or machine). Rigging. Ax. The optional tools and equipment are: Tongs or grapple hooks. Skid sled. Skid pan, etc. Extra rigging. Wagon. Log cart. 3. Loading the products on wagon or truck (and perhaps unloading at the destination). The essential tools and equipment are: Peavey, or cant hook. Cross-haul line. Pole skids. Power (animal or machine). Rigging. Wagon or truck or sled. The optional tools and equipment are: Loader or jammer. Pulp hook. Block and tackle. One should be careful, so as to avoid accidents. The most common accidents in the woods are due to axes, saws, suspended broken branches, and being on the downhill side of rolling logs. Even in lifting there is a right and wrong way. Properly done, the arms and back are kept straight and the legs bent, so that the lifting is done with the leg muscles. Wherever possible, di- rect lifting should be avoided and use made of a peavey or pole. A fiberboard safety helmet, a part of the essential equipment, protects the head from fall- ing limbs, or, in woods language, the widow makers. THE AX is probably the most impor- tant of all logging tools. It is in use about one-half of the woodsman's working time. For that reason, if any Harvesting the Small Forest 239 choice is possible, one should give care- ful consideration to its selection — to fit the ax to the work contemplated. Of a hundred patterns and sizes, a few pointers to consider are : The wider blades are better suited for softwoods ( the evergreens ) and the narrower blades for hardwoods. The handle should be of straight grain, smooth, free of defects, and lined up in the same plane as the cutting edge of the head, with the head well down on the shoulder. Rough handles raise blisters. The weight, single or double bit, and hang will vary according to preference and use. An ax weighing from 3 to 4 pounds is about the right weight. Properly forged and tempered steel axheads are usually found in the better axes. For productive and safe work, the ax should be kept sharp. The user must have good footing with a firm grip on the handle. Room is needed to swing the ax. The most common obstructions, low limbs and brush, should be re- moved. The ax should be carried at one's side, with the hand just behind the axhead. One-fourth of the accidents in the woods are attributed to ax cuts. A single-bitted ax is somewhat less dan- gerous to use than a double-bitted one. The ax should be kept in a safe place when not in use — such as standing against a tree or stump, with the han- dle up. It is unwise to use the side of an ax for a sledge hammer in wedg- ing; a sledge hammer or mall should be used for wedging. A SAW is used about a third of a woodsman's working time. The one- and two-man crosscut saws in 5y2- to 6-foot lengths are the most common. The bow saw, 3 to 4 feet long, with a tapered saw blade held under ten- sion, and easily operated by one man, is well adapted for timber up to a foot in diameter, such as pulpwood, fuel wood, fence posts, poles, and the smaller sawlogs. A smaller bow saw is handy for sev- ering limbs, treetops, and working in post-size material. For large timber, the length of the saw should be about twice the diam- eter of the largest material to be cut, so that one can use long, straight strokes and bring out the accumulated sawdust in the gullets. The tooth pattern varies with the species of wood to be cut and condi- tion of the wood, its seasoning, whether it is frozen, and so on. A narrow, curved crosscut saw is better suited to wedging in smaller timber than the wide, straight-backed type. A properly sharpened saw makes shavings, not sawdust. As with the ax, there is no substitute for practice, either in using the saw or in fitting it. It is best to carry the crosscut saw with only one handle attached. The blade should be over the shoulder with the teeth out. One should be sure no one is following close behind. If nec- essary to carry the saw at one's side, the teeth should be kept up so the saw can be thrown aside in case of a fall. The bow saw can be slung over the shoulder, teeth to the rear. Either type can be protected by a piece of garden or fire hose, slit lengthwise, and tied over the teeth. Burlap offers some pro- tection. The saw should be kept in a safe place when it is not in use. Saw- tooth injuries are usually serious. Power saws are finding a place in larger operations and on a custom basis on small jobs. Plans for home-made types of crosscut power saws suitable for bucking logs will be sent by the De- partment of Agriculture on request. METAL WEDGES, preferably of un- tempered steel, are useful for falling, bucking, and splitting. They should be driven with a sledge hammer or mall, not with the side of an ax. They are of various sizes and shapes. They are cumbersome to carry around and easily misplaced, but are indispensable. A wedge with a badly mushroomed head is dangerous, because metal frag- ments may fly off when it is struck. Steel wedges are not recommended 240 yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 for use with a power saw — rather, wooden or specially made wedges of soft metals, aluminum or magnesium. Wedges made of shock-resistant, sea- soned woods, such as ash, beech, birch, dogwood, gum, hickory, ironwood, maple, oak, or persimmon, are satis- factory and often can be made lo- cally— even on the logging job. Satis- factory dimensions of wedges are 4 inches wide and 7 inches long, with a thickness and taper comparable to that of metal wedges. Explosive wedges sometimes are very helpful for splitting large logs, but only an experienced person should use them. A hammer weighing 4 or 5 pounds is recommended for driving wedges. A large nail driven into the eye of the hammerhead, and sharpened spikelike, permits the hammer to be stuck into a log, so that one can keep track of it. For pitchy woods, such as pine and spruce, coal oil is essential for cleaning the saw blade to prevent sticking. It is best applied from a flat bottle, a size convenient to carry in a trouser pocket. Another essential tool is an 8-foot, straight, measuring stick made from a board or a sapling, with 1-foot mark- ings plainly indicated. It saves time in measuring off the proper lengths of felled trees. A hook on one end facili- tates its use. The specified trimming allowance ( 3 or 4 inches for most saw- logs) may be added by eye, but one should be careful not to cut off the end of the measuring stick when making a mark with the ax. An inch or two short may place the log into the next shorter length class, thus wasting wood and lowering the selling price. A good file with a handle is easy to carry in the woods and can be used to sharpen tools during rest periods. Some woodsmen prefer to use a whetstone for sharpening their axes. THE OPTIONAL EQUIPMENT includes the peavey, or cant hook, which is cum- bersome to carry about the woods but is helpful in rolling or prying logs, ties, and bolts, and in bucking, skidding, loading, and unloading. It takes no special skill to use the peavey for prying, but there is a knack in using it for loading, unloading, and rolling logs. The beginner should first learn to use the peavey from behind the log or bolt. A log jack — an adaptation of the cant hook — is a tool used in raising the log being sawed a few inches off the ground so as to avoid sawing into the ground, or to keep the saw from binding. A handy tool for getting hold of short bolts or pulpwood is the pulp hook, which resembles the common hay hook. Injuries while using the pulp hook usually come from missing the wood and striking the leg instead. A half dozen hand tools and several types of machines for removing the bark of forest products are on the mar- ket. The common hand tools are tim- ber shaves, peeling spuds, a garden spade, or merely an automobile spring leaf. The type to be used depends chiefly on the size of timber, the species, and the season of the year. For peeling timber the size of pulpwood and posts, a support, or shaving "horse," can be conveniently made. There are several mechanical peel- ing machines. Some shave the bark off with revolving cutter heads; others knock the bark off with a fast-revolv- ing, short-chain length or hammers. The broadax is of standard design. It is used in hewing building logs and ties. Skill in handling it comes through practice. It is heavy and hazardous to use. Farm-made machines for splitting wood have proved successful in the Lake States and North Central States. There are two general types. One uses a fly wheel, 3 or 4 feet in diameter, to which a splitting wedge is attached. The other has a wedge welded to a moving piston head. The first seems to be the more versatile; splitting a cord of stove wood an hour with it is not unusual. More than 300 machines of this type are in use by farmers in North Dakota. So much for the kinds of tools and Harvesting the Small Forest equipment used in the first step of log- ging— felling the trees. Some sugges- tions about the operation follow. FELLING TREES is hazardous and dif- ficult. More men lose their lives while felling trees than on any other woods job, because tree fallers have a tend- ency to take chances instead of pre- cautions. A beginner would profit by working with an experienced faller. The tools best adapted to a particu- lar felling job depend on the species, size, and character of the timber. A two-man crew works to good advan- tage for timber of average size. In felling, a common logging waste occurs by leaving high stumps, for usu- ally the best grade of lumber is cut from the stump portion of the tree. Low stumps save wood and mean less ob- structions in the skidding operations to follow. For trees up to 20 inches in diameter, stump heights should be kept to 8 inches or less, and 12 inches for larger trees. To determine the direction of fall for a tree, one must consider the lean of the tree; wind movement; slope of the ground, and subsequent skidding; openings on the ground ; possible dam- age to other trees, including future crops ; soundness of the tree at the cut ; and the ground cover (rocks and logs) . Felling should be done with a thought to skidding. The object is to fell the tree without breaking it or damaging other trees and to drop it in a spot from where it can be easily skidded. Brush and limbs that interfere with use of the tools should be removed first. A quick get-away route should be determined before the tree starts to fall. Trees dropped uphill on steep slopes are especially dangerous, for they are apt to slide. IN FELLING, two cuts are made on opposite sides of the tree, the undercut and the main saw cut. The undercut is made with a saw on the side the tree will fall, and into about one-third the diameter. A wedge-shaped section is then chopped out to form the under- 802062°— 49 17 241 cut. Properly done, the undercut guides the direction of fall. The main saw cut is then made on the opposite side of the tree, slightly above the base of the undercut. When the saw begins to bind, it is time to use a wedge. Be- fore the final cut is completed, sound plenty of warning to all in the vicinity by yelling "t-i-m-b-e-r." Sometimes a 15- to 20-foot pry pole (never an ax) against the tree is an aid in felling it. As the tree starts to the ground, with- draw the saw and quickly move to a safe distance; stand facing the falling tree and watch the top, preferably from behind a large tree. Do not try to carry tools, but be on the lookout for widow makers. Trees with unbalanced crowns, with excessive lean and defec- tive trunks, and so on, often give diffi- culty and occasionally get hung up in neighboring trees. Then one must use his ingenuity to free them and, in doing so, the utmost in care and alertness is demanded. LIMBING AND BUCKING is done when the tree is down. To facilitate handling and skidding, the limbs should be cut flush with the stem. Limbing is done mostly with an ax; that, too, can be a dangerous job if the ax is used improperly. As a precaution against injury when swinging an ax, overhead branches should be removed. The chopper should work with his feet on the ground (not standing on a log or limb) and cut the branches on the opposite side, thus swinging the ax away from the body. Bucking — that is, cutting up — the tree is an exacting job. In bucking, the logger largely determines the grade of each product by separating the high- value sections from those of low value. Proper bucking permits cutting out defects, eliminating crooked portions, and the like. The entire merchantable tree length should be considered and measured carefully, and allowances made for any necessary trimming. Bucking trees into sawlogs and ve- neer logs is more difficult and more involved than making pulpwood or 242 fuel wood. Bucking usually requires from one-tenth to one-fifth of a log- ger's time. In the woods, the under limbs often are left on to furnish support in buck- ing. Blocking may be necessary to prop ends of the logs to avoid pinching the saw or to keep the wood from splitting. Such a prop is called a "dutchman." Sometimes sawing is done on the un- der side to avoid pinching the saw. A peavey, or log jack, comes in handy to put the pieces into sawing positions. Working alone, the bucker should work on the upper side of logs, or block them to prevent rolling. When the main tree stem is to be made into a variety of products (saw- logs, pulpwood, piling, fuel wood, and posts) according to the utilization and markets, the terms "integrated log- ging" or "integrated utilization" are used. That is often accomplished by skidding the entire merchantable length to the skidway, landing, or assembly point, and doing the bucking there. It is helpful to have the stem off the ground during bucking; that is done at the skidway or the landing by rolling the material on skid poles. If the log has to be peeled, the bark is most easily removed in spring and early summer, immediately after fell- ing. Some of the products from which bark is removed are fence posts, poles, piling, ties, building logs, and, some- times, pulpwood. The type of peeling tool to be used depends on the species of wood, size of timber, and season of year. Some of the peeling machines now available are rather costly and are not adapted to small jobs. Occasionally peeling is done to recover the bark for industrial uses. Splitting is usually necessary for fuel wood, stave bolts, large fence posts, and the like. Splitting mauls, wedges, and hammers are used. For stove- length fuel wood, portable splitting machines, previously mentioned, are efficient. Outlets and markets for prod- ucts to be split should be well known or contracted for before performing the work. Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 Railroad ties made in the woods are usually fashioned with a broadax and cut to specification. The slash — limbs, tops, and debris — accumulated from the felling and limb- ing operations may have to be gotten out of the way of the skidding opera- tions. They should be left so as not to be a serious fire hazard or a handicap to the remaining trees or seedlings. In general, slash should be chopped to lie flat on the ground so it will decay more rapidly. Under certain condi- tions, it should be piled and burned. THE SKIDDING EQUIPMENT needed to move products from the stump to an assembly point depends on the size, length of product, skidding distance, lay of the land, soil conditions, season of year, and how the logs were felled. Animals or machines supply the draft power needed to move the prod- ucts from the stump to skidding termi- nal— skidway, landing, or the assembly point. Often a horse or a mule can handle small products economically over short distances of several hundred feet. Large material and longer hauls require a team or tractor. A peavey, to pry and lift log ends and roll the products at the skidway, landing, or assembly point, makes the lifting work easier. A 12- to 15-foot skidding chain or wire-rope choker (with a slip hook to circle and hold the log and attach the free end to the rigging of the draft power) makes up the necessary skid- ding outfit. Log tongs and grapple hooks can be considered optional. Extra items, which it may pay to buy, include various skidding aids such as skidding pans, the yarding sleds, wheeled bummers, the logging scoots, wagons, and log carts. SKIDDING, OR YARDING, is the first movement of products from the stump. Usually they are dragged over the ground to the skidway, landing, or as- sembly point. It pays to give considerable thought to skidding in order to do the job eco- Harvesting the Small Forest 243 nomically and with little damage to the future woods crop. Careful plan- ning means less delay. Under normal operations it has been estimated that delay time takes up 40 percent of the working day. Poorly constructed skid roads account for 15 percent of this. Battered rocks, mud holes, as well as broomed stumps are unnecessary ob- structions in the skid trail. Obviously skid trails should be wide enough for the draft power and products to clear on curves. Strategic location of skid- way sites and skidway construction also are important to loading and hauling. Dragging over the ground is called ground skidding. Teamsters should always work on the uphill side of the log and never attempt to ride a log being skidded. There is danger of being struck or crushed by the logs as they are dragged through the woods. The danger is greatest when curves and roughness of the skid trail may cause the logs to roll or swing unexpectedly. For pulpwood, posts, and fuel wood (where roads are suitable), it is often practicable to load right on the means of final transportation and eliminate the skidway stop. This is called "hot" logging. For ground skidding small logs and poles, where a single horse or mule with harness and rigging is the draft power, a skidding chain with a slip hook is about all that is needed. For large tim- ber that requires a team of horses or tractor, some additional equipment is needed: Skidding tongs, grab chains or "dogs," and a hammer to drive the "dogs" or hooks into the wood and re- move them at the destination. Pulling logs by the small ends and beveling or nosing them with an ax helps in skidding. Maintaining skid trails and roads in good shape usually reduces skidding costs. Especially for animal skidding the trails should be arranged to take advantage of gentle slopes. Large logs that slide too fast can be snubbed by wrapping chains around them. The construction of the skidding ter- minals, the skidways, rollways, and landings, affects the output of skidding and later loading out of the products. At least two long, straight logs or skids, strong enough to support the logs, poles, and piling, are necessary. They are slightly inclined to make the roll- ing toward the loading point easy. When it is necessary, the logs, poles, and other products can be piled or decked on skidways by using skid poles and peaveys. Care must be taken to pre- vent the pieces from rolling and in- juring the workers. If the volume of timber, ground con- ditions, and skidding distance warrant, equipment might well be provided for raising the front end of the log off the ground. A sled, known as the go-devil, or even a wooden crotch, is used for the purpose. They can be made in the workshop. Another handy device to prevent logs from nosing in the ground is a pan, which can be made of boiler plate. The front end of the log rests on the pan. Yarding sleds, drays, logging scoots, log carts, and wheeled bum- mers are other types of equipment for more distant skidding to keep the front ends of logs off the ground. Plans for making all these can be had from the Department of Agriculture. Equip- ment for skidding large timber over greater distances usually includes fac- tory-made mechanical or hydraulic log carts, arches, and logging sulkies; all of them require the high-powered tractors. The jeep has also been put into service for logging small tracts. A logger in Indiana put an A-frame arch skidding-unit trailer mounted on dual wheels on his jeep, attached a crosscut- saw rack on the left rear fender, and installed a rack for a power chain saw over the right front fender. Some savings in logging costs are realized by skidding long logs, even the entire tree length to a merchantable top. That requires rather straight skid trails, more power, and generally uni- form ground conditions. At the skid- way, roadside, or mill, the long pieces are cut into proper lengths more ad- vantageously and economically than 244 in the woods. Also, power saws are more effective under such situations. FOR LOADING AND UNLOADING, the third step, the essential tools and equipment include the peavey, cross- haul line, pole skids, draft power, rig- ging, and the conveyance. The draft power, animal or machine, has been mentioned; so has the peavey. A cross-haul line is a %-inch chain, or chain and cable combination, 30 to 40 feet long, usually crotched and with grab hooks in the free ends. Pole skids are made on the job from pole-size material. Loading requires little more in the way of tools and equipment than is necessary for skidding. Loaders or jammers are of various designs, some of which can be made in the home workshop. Plans for a simple one, easily moved, call for a substan- tial skid base and an A-frame boom structure of timbers, the necessary cable, blocks, guy lines, and hooks. Three methods are economically suited for loading out skidways of logs, poles, piling, and comparable round material on small jobs. They are roll- ing by hand, cross hauling, and moving with loader or jammer. The latter two require draft power. A loading crew usually consists of two or three men. The simplest loading possible is from a skidway so located as to permit gravity loading onto the conveyance. Two skid poles, readily fashioned on the job, are set to permit rolling the round pieces onto the truck, wagon, or sled. Round pieces, if they are not too large, can also be rolled up by hand on skids from the ground level, but the job is easier with draft power and cross-haul line. The A-frame jammer is worth mak- ing if there is much loading out to be done from the ground level. With this method there is less chance that rolling logs will injure workmen. Conveyor-type loaders, not unlike those built to raise bales of hay from the ground to a wagon, can be used to good advantage for small forest prod- ucts. Load capacity is reduced if pieces Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 are not piled on the vehicle. Special types of loaders have been made to handle products in bundles or pack- ages. Such package loading of pulp- wood has cut down loading costs on larger operations. The loaders are op- erated by a hydraulic lift arrangement, or the package is raised by a crane. Unloading is usually done likewise. Special loading devices have been made according to the products, such as end loading of a truck for long poles and piling. Other types of loaders and unloaders, using booms and cranes, both swing and fixed, are designed for handling large volumes. Wagons, trucks, and sleds, depend- ing on available equipment and season of year, are the usual types of convey- ances for moving timber. Trucks are generally used for long distances. The average wagon is not built to trans- port heavy logs, nor for distances greater than a quarter-mile. A tractor- trailer combination, such as might be available on some farms, is satisfactory. The load must be properly blocked, balanced, and securely wrapped with chains to keep it intact during transit. It is not unusual for an owner of a small woodland tract to sell his forest products at the skidway or roadside and thus eliminate the loading and hauling. It hardly pays to buy special equipment and conveyances for the purpose, and the ordinary vehicles found on the farm are usually too light for sawlogs, poles, and piling. As men- tioned, many products, such as pulp- wood, fuel wood, distillation wood, fence posts, and stave bolts are loaded by hand at the stump or landing. This limits the size of the sticks. A pulp hook is an aid to loading such small pieces. Most unloading of short pieces is still done by hand. A dump truck sometimes is used. Sawlogs, poles, and piling are often removed from convey- ances by quick release devices so that the load readily rolls off. ARTHUR M. SOWDER is an extension forester in the Department of Agricul- ture. If)] 3TJV Christmas Trees THE TRADITION ARTHUR M. SOWDER TRIMMED Christmas trees were first used in the United States ap- parently during the American Revolu- tion, when Hessian soldiers softened their homesickness with them. In a de- scription of Christmas festivities at Fort Dearborn, 111., in 1804 mention is made of a Christmas tree. The idea and the tradition spread widely through the young land: We read that people in Cambridge, Mass., put up Christmas trees in 1832; in Philadelphia, 2 years later; Cincinnati, in 1835; Rochester, N. Y., 1840; Rich- mond and Williamsburg, in Virginia, 1846; Wooster, Ohio, 1847; and Cleve- land, 1851. At first, the trimmings, if any, con- sisted mostly of small tufts of cotton and strings of popcorn and cranberries. Other decorations were flowers, repli- cas of foodstuffs, paper ornamentSj and the like — no factory-made orna- The illustration above, drawn from a photo- graph, shows an aspect of the Christmas- tree harvest. ments, tinsel, electric lights, or baubles. Some historians trace the custom of lighting the Christmas tree to Martin Luther ( 1483-1546) . The story is told that he was strolling through the coun- tryside alone one Christmas Eve under a brilliant starlit sky, and his thoughts turned to the nativity of the Christ Child. He was awed by the beauty of the heavens and the wintry landscape : The blue light on the low hills outside Weimar, and on the evergreens, the snow flakes sparkling in the moonlight. Returning home, he told his family about it and attempted to reproduce the glory of the outdoors. To a small evergreen tree he attached some lighted candles so as to portray the reflection of the starry heaven. Apparently candles did not come into wide use at once. Mention of the Christmas-tree custom in Strasbourg a century later did not include lights. In fact, at first, the use of lights on a tree was considered ridiculous and re- ferred to as "child's play." For two centuries following Luther, the Christ- 245 246 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 mas-tree custom appears to have been confined to the Rhine River district. From 1700 on, when the lights were accepted as part of the decorations, the Christmas tree was well on its way to becoming an accepted custom in Germany, and during the Revolution the tradition of the Christmas tree bridged the Atlantic. Finland is said to have accepted the custom in about 1800, Denmark 1810, Sweden 1820, and Norway about 1830. From the Scandinavian coun- tries the custom spread to France and England about 1840. Records show that 35,000 Christmas trees were sold in Paris in 1890. Some persons trace the origin of the Christmas tree to an earlier period. Even before the Christian era, trees and boughs were used for ceremonials. Egyptians, when they observed the winter solstice, brought green date palms into their homes as a symbol of "life triumphant over death." When the Romans observed the feast of Sat- urn, a part of the ceremony was to raise an evergreen bough. The early Scandi- navians are said to have done homage to the fir tree. To the Druids, sprigs of evergreen in the house meant eternal life; to the Norsemen, they symbolized the revival of the sun god Balder. To the superstitious, the branches of ever- greens placed over the door would keep out witches, ghosts, and the evil spirits. This does not mean that our present Christmas-tree custom might perforce have evolved from paganism, any more than did some of the present-day use of greenery in rituals. Trees and branches can be made purposeful as well as symbolic. The decorated Christmas tree has become an accepted tradition during yuletide, and Christmas would be incomplete without it. Through the years the tradition has become so well established that two- thirds of all American homes now fol- low the custom. The Christmas tree is a symbol of a living Christmas spirit and brings into our lives the fragrance and freshness of the forest. Just how Christmas-tree decorations other than lights developed is vague. It may be that tufts of cotton and strings of popcorn were used on the branches as a substitute for snow in the manner Martin Luther used can- dles to represent lights on the snow- flecked evergreens. Fruit, such as apples, was easy to attach to the trees and provided color, as did strings of cranberries. Pictures or models of f ood- stufls, such as hams and bacons, were once used as substitutes for the real items too heavy for slender branches. The suggestion has been made that the idea of decorating trees is an out- growth of a practice adopted by early dwellers of the forest. Certain food- stuffs were hung in trees to get them out of reach of prowling animals. On the other hand, trees were worshiped by many, and gifts of food were often hung in the branches as offerings or sacrifices to the deities. Such giving was a Christian trait; thus the gifts were hung in "Christian trees" — or Christmas trees. The fir seems to be the tree most commonly mentioned in reviewing the evolution of the Christmas tree. The fact that the twigs of the balsam fir resemble crosses more than do other evergreens may have had something to do with it. On the other hand, it may be that the word "fir" was used to designate a number of evergreens before botanical nomenclature was well known, for even today many peo- ple, unable to identify the various ever- greens, speak of them as "firs." Also, it seems that extracts from the fir, especially balsam fir, were used for medicinal purposes; probably for that reason it was widely sought after and used. Certainly the perfume of the balsam is one of its outstanding fea- tures. At any rate, if the fir tree pre- dominated as the early Christmas tree, then our forefathers selected wisely, for the fir is the favorite of today. Many people are troubled about cutting evergreens for Christmas trees. President Theodore Roosevelt, as a conservationist, felt so keenly about the The Tradition 247 matter, for example, that he used to forbid their use in the White House. He called it wasteful. One year, however, his sons Archie and Quentin smuggled one in and set it up in Archie's room. The President's friend and advisor on conservation measures, Gifford Pin- chot, assured him that the supervised and proper harvesting of Christmas trees was good for the forests. From then on the White House had a tree. Those who object to the cutting of Christmas trees might well remember that forestry looks not only to the per- petuation but also to the wise use of woodlands. By careful selection of trees to be cut, it is possible to obtain evergreen trees without harming the forest — often, indeed, with positive benefit to it, just as it is possible to thin out stands of young trees for fuel and obtain faster growth and greater returns in saw timber from the remain- ing trees. Actually, if properly di- rected, there is no reason why the joy associated with the Christmas ever- green may not be a means of arousing in the minds of children an apprecia- tion of the beauty and usefulness of trees; and keen appreciation of the beauty and usefulness of trees is a long step toward the will to plant and care for them. LIVING CHRISTMAS TREES, fittingly decorated and lighted, can become the center of outdoor community interest and seasonal celebrations. Smaller spruces, firs, or hemlocks planted in tubs or similar containers make excel- lent living Christmas trees for homes. They especially appeal to children and, because they remain alive, keep the fire hazard to a minimum. Then the plant- ing of the live Christmas tree near the home on New Year's Day (if weather and soil permit) serves as a fitting cere- mony to end the holiday week. If kept watered and reasonable care is taken in transplanting, the tree is almost sure to grow. In fact, the same tree may be used for two or more successive Christmases before it grows too large to be easily handled. WHEN ITS PURPOSE is SERVED, the tree should be disposed of properly. A Twelfth Night ceremony, in which the Christmas trees, wreaths, and boughs are collected from the several homes and burned in a blaze of glory, is ob- served in some American cities — a fit- ting end for a tree of tradition and sentiment and much better than dis- carding it on a backyard trash heap. The basis for the custom may derive from the time when the early Chris- tians celebrated the feast of the Nativity of Christ for 12 days, placing special emphasis on the last or Twelfth Day. The community burning of the trees, which appears to have originated in Germany, was instituted to com- memorate the light of the Star of Beth- lehem, which guided the Three Wise Men to where the infant Christ lay in the manger. Through the centuries various peoples have observed the cus- tom in various ways; often rites to in- sure better crops were involved. ARTHUR M. SOWDER, after gradua- tion from the University of Idaho., School of Forestry, was employed as a logging engineer and logging-camp foreman. Before joining the Depart- ment of Agriculture as an extension forester, he taught forestry subjects, including logging, at the University of Idaho. 248 CHRISTMAS TREES— THE INDUSTRY ARTHUR M. SOWDER Nearly all species of evergreens are used for Christmas trees. Availability, cost, and sentiment are among the points that most people have in mind when they buy Christmas trees. Other attributes that make a tree desirable are its retention of needles or foliage after it is cut, especially when it is placed indoors ; its pyramidal, compact shape; ample nonprickly, deep-green foliage ; limb strength sufficient to sup- port the ornaments and electric lights; pliable branches (so that they can be tied compactly for shipment) ; and fragrance. The States bordering Canada, ex- cept North Dakota, produce most of our Christmas trees. Recent estimates of the cut of the Christmas trees in 1 1 Northeastern and Middle Atlantic States were 6,428,000; 3 Lake States, 5,200,000; the 5 Central States, 207,500; 14 Southern States, 3,163,500; 4 Prairie States, 5,000; 6 southern Rocky Mountain States, 150,- 000; 5 Pacific Coast and Northwest States, 6,296,400— a total of 21,450,- 400 trees. Montana, the only State to report production figures over a period of years, in one season shipped trees to 3 1 States, among them Illinois, 545,000 trees; Iowa, 285,000; Kansas, 180,000; Missouri, 175,000; Texas, 150,000; Nebraska, 145,000; Minnesota, 135,- 000; Oklahoma, 110,000; Washington, 100,000; California, 90,000; New York and Maryland, 5,000 each. Even Cuba received a supply of Montana-grown evergreens. Under normal conditions, Montana can probably maintain an an- nual output of 3 million trees, which it reached in 1943, 1946, and 1948. Most of the 21,450,400 trees har- vested came from privately owned lands. About 13 percent were cut from public lands— Federal, State, and county. Of the 87 percent from private lands, the numbers of trees from farm woodland and from nonfarm or indus- trial lands are about equally divided. In Montana, during a recent year, 83 percent of the trees were cut from pri- vately owned woodlands, 10 percent from Federal lands, and 7 percent from State lands. In the Northeastern States, most of the trees are taken from nat- urally forested areas or from pasture lands upon which the trees encroached. Of the 13 percent from public lands, about 1 million trees come from na- tional forests, 1.5 million from State and county lands, and a small number from other Federal lands. Established plantations yield approximately 1.5 million trees a year. More than 5 million trees are im- ported annually. In 1947, the figure was 6,808,158 trees, valued at $1,- 909,167. Nearly all of the trees are shipped in from Canada, but a few have been imported from Newfound- land, Labrador, and the Dominican Republic. Some tree dealers in the United States own or lease forested areas in Canada for cutting Christmas trees. Thus the total number of Christmas trees distributed in the United States is about 28 million. About half the trees are shipped by rail and half by highway. A few are moved over water — even fewer are shipped by air. The most common size of tree is 5 to 7 feet, for homes; but the trees range from a foot or two, for tables, to those 20 feet or more tall, which are used in schools, churches, business houses, hotels, and so on. One of the largest Christmas trees ever brought in from the forest was placed in Persh- ing Square in Los Angeles for Christ- mas 1948. It was a 67-year-old white fir that measured 96 feet, 2 inches tall. Trees 30 to 70 feet high can be "made" by attaching short sections of water pipes, spoke fashion, to a tele- Christmas Trees — The Industry 249 phone pole and fitting small trees into the pipes. The pipes are welded to heavy metal bands ; the bands, in turn, are bolted to the pole at intervals. Supply and demand, the species, and the degree to which the trees possess the desired characteristics determine prices. On the basis of prices reported in various sections of the country, the trees produced in a recent year would make a 20- to 50-million dollar indus- try, according to whether values are based on the wholesale or retail prices quoted. An estimate of 6 million dol- lars has been placed on the value of the trees at the roadside or the railroad siding. A carload of trees on a rail siding in Montana represents an estimated 80 to 100 man-hours of work. The 3 months before Christmas are the busy ones in the industry. In sum- mer and early fall, the trees are lo- cated, the contracts are let, the mar- kets canvassed to obtain estimates on demand, woods labor hired, and plans laid for transportation. The trees later are selected, cut, moved to the woods concentration yard, and then sorted, graded, often tagged, bundled, butt- trimmed, hauled to a shipping center, and then transported to markets. A typical large operation will find the harvesting crews in the woods by October, and occasionally even earlier. Ax, hatchet, or pruning saw are the common tools used to sever the stems. The trees are carried or dragged by hand (or occasionally hauled by horse or tractor) to the concentration yard in the woods. One man can cut and yard about 200 trees a day. A wooden frame is used to hold the trees while they are tied into bundles to aid shipping and to prevent excessive drying. A bundle may contain 10 or 12 trees of 4 feet or less, or one large tree. In the rack, the butt ends of the trees are squared to present a neat appearance, facilitate handling, and make the ends ready for use in stands. After cutting and before leaving the woods, the trees are kept as cool and damp as possible, but they must be hauled out before deep snow becomes a handicap. An operator in Minnesota harvests almost the year around by placing the trees in cold storage as soon as possible after cutting and processing. From the concentration yards, the bundles of trees are loaded on trucks or sleds for their journey from the woods to the rail- or truck-shipping points. The trees shipped by rail are usually loaded into boxcars or flat cars. A carload varies from 1,000 to 4,000 trees. A 3-ton truck can haul from 500 to 1,200 trees. Farmers contribute trees and labor to the industry. In Montana, the sale of wild-grown Christmas trees adds nearly a million dollars annually to the farm income. Farmers favor this forest crop because of the good re- turns for their labor, short rotation, low capital investment, and the fact that the harvest season interferes little with other farming activities. Farmers who cannot market their own trees often sell them to contractors at road- side or rail siding. Several Christmas-tree companies handle most of the cut and distribu- tion of Christmas trees. Company rep- resentatives contract with woodland owners or growers for roadside or rail- road-siding delivery. Problems of marketing include the impermanence of some operators and trespass by irresponsible persons who, in years when the venture looks profit- able, remove trees without permission. Some States now have rigid trespass laws. Another problem: Christmas trees sometimes are not cut according to good forest practices. Indiscriminate cutting leaves trees of poor quality. In some States an effort has been made to develop standardized grade classifications with graduated prices. Careful grading could result in utiliz- ing trees that are not perfectly sym- metrical. For example, a tree to be placed against a wall or in a corner need not be full on all sides. Trees cut from national forests may bear a tag with the following state- ment: "This tree brings a Christmas message from the great outdoors. Its 250 Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 THE ESTIMATED ANNUAL PRODUCTION OF CHRISTMAS TREES BY SPECIES, UNITED STATES Estimated Percentage Species production of total Number Percent Balsam fir 6,435,000 30 Douglas-fir 5, 830, 500 27 Black spruce 2, 363, ooo II Redcedar 2, 128, 545 10 I, 990, 200 5 Scotch pine 806, 925 3 Southern pine 652, 550 3 Red spruce 594, 160 3 Virginia pine 370,000 2 White fir 335-000 2 303.400 I Red fir 165,000 C) Red pine 156,000 (0 Alpine fir 148.450 0) White pine 45.640 (') 34, 980 0) Arizona cypress 19, 980 (0 Jack pine 15,000 0) Colorado blue spruce . . . 9.540 (0 3.150 (0 Hemlock 1, 600 0) Juniper 810 (0 Engelmann spruce 300 (0 Miscellaneous pines .... 8,670 0) Not identified 32,000 0) Total.. 21, 4^0,400 i Less than I percent. cutting was not destructive but gave needed room for neighboring trees to grow faster and better. It was cut under the supervision of the U. S. For- est Service on the — National Forest." Many Christmas-tree growers and producers attach tags to trees to indi- cate species and height class. This is a means also of identifying the places where the trees were grown and can be an aid in stamping out trespass and theft. Minnesota requires that a ven- der's tag be attached to every Christ- mas tree sold in the State. Because the trees begin to lose mois- ture as soon as they are cut, no more time than necessary should elapse be- tween cutting and use to avoid dis- coloring and falling of the needles. As soon as a tree is obtained, it should be stored in a cool, shady place with the butt end placed in water and the branches sprinkled daily. A fresh diag- onal butt cut about an inch above the original cut will aid the absorption of water. It is surprising how much mois- ture an evergreen will absorb when the butt is placed in water. As the moisture evaporates through the foliage, the air becomes redolent of the forest. ( Lighted candles or other open flames should never be used on or about Christmas trees. All possible precau- tions against fire are necessary, includ- ing the checking of electric lights and connections and avoiding combustible decorations and flammable reflectors for the colored lights. Overloading the electric circuits and accumulations of wrapping paper under the tree are other common fire hazards.) Outdoor living Christmas trees are becoming increasingly popular for one can use such an evergreen as part of the home landscaping. Some commu- nities encourage outdoor tree decora- tions by providing prizes for the best-decorated home tree. Probably the best-known outdoor living Christmas tree is the one lighted and dedicated annually by the President in Wash- ington. This Christmas Eve program was first begun in 1923, and a living tree has been used since 1924. Throngs gather around an evergreen on the White House lawn to participate. In the years in which there appears to be a surplus of Christmas trees on some markets of the country, the ques- tion is raised whether the tradition is not a wasteful one. It would be de- sirable to balance supply with demand, but that is difficult. In this respect the marketing of Christmas trees shares the same hazards as many other semi- perishable commodities. Some of the larger dealers, when they find one city market oversupplied, quickly reship The Farmer and Christmas Trees 251 quantities to other markets reported in short supply. A fully stocked timber stand may mature less than 100 trees an acre, all that are left of an original stand of 5,000 to 10,000 seedlings established by nature. These surplus seedlings are desirable to provide competition for the final crop trees. Such competition is nature's way of pruning side limbs and ultimately growing high-quality lumber, for knots in lumber are caused by limbs. A reasonably well-stocked stand of young Christmas trees estab- lished by nature can produce, under management, at least 50 trees an acre annually. Many young forest stands are so thick that thinnings are neces- sary to assure satisfactory growth of timber. Thinnings release the final crop of trees so they can make their best growth. Actually a properly super- vised harvest of Christmas trees proves beneficial to the remaining stand. Evergreens on the poorer forest soils grow more slowly. This slow growth usually produces good-quality Christ- mas trees — trees that are denser and more symmetrical. On many forested areas, the Christmas-tree crop is the only practicable one. On some such areas the trees grow satisfactorily for 15 to 25 years, then stagnate and, if they are not cut for Christmas trees, they likely will not be utilized at all. On certain State lands in Minnesota, up to 750,000 trees are cut annually under such a management plan. Even though some trees grow larger than the usual Christmas-tree sizes, the utilization can be complete. For example, this is how a Michigan Christmas-tree grower markets trees a foot or more in diameter. The tops provide a well-shaped Christmas tree, often with a good cluster of cones, and such trees command a premium on the market. The main stem or trunk of the tree is made into a building log or timber, with the smaller cuts suitable for building rafters. The green foliage of the side limbs is tied into bundles and provides material for wreaths. Thus, usually the entire tree is utilized. On some operations the main stem may go into pulpwood. THE FARMER AND CHRISTMAS TREES ARTHUR M. SOWDER Many farmers are finding that Christmas trees are a profitable crop. A Christmas-tree plantation fits in well with good land utilization and aids in the conservation of soil and moisture — a good way to salvage an eroded hill- side or gully or to make use of rocky land or an idle corner. Some planta- tions are only part of an acre in size. Most of the Christmas trees used in the United States are cut from areas where the trees have grown naturally. However, the number of trees har- vested from plantations is increasing annually. About 100,000 acres of plan- tations are now devoted to growing Christmas trees in this country. Two- thirds of the acreage is owned by farmers. Pennsylvania has nearly 40,- 000 acres in Christmas-tree production. Each plantation-grown tree can be given plenty of space to grow into a symmetrical tree, in contrast to un- cared for wild trees in crowded or dense stands. However, merely plant- ing the tree and expecting to return in a few years and reap a harvest cannot be depended upon. A well-shaped tree, grown under adequate spacing condi- tions, with uniform distance between whorls or branches and fully shaped, will command the best price. Christmas trees respond to intensive manage- ment. Returns can normally be ex- pected in 8 to 10 years after planting. Things to consider in selecting a Christmas-tree planting site are value of the land, soil and climate, location 252 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 of site with respect to market centers, accessibility, and the existing vegeta- tive cover. A PROSPECTIVE GROWER of Christmas trees should give careful considera- tion to the selection of species. While most evergreens are used for Christmas trees, yet some command better mar- ket prices than others. There appears to be no best all-around Christmas tree. Desirable characteristics are : 1. Retention of needles between the time of cutting and through the Christ- mas holidays. 2. Full, symmetrical shape. 3. Limb strength adequate to sup- port ornaments and electric lights. 4. Sufficient nonprickly foliage with a healthy green color. 5. Fragrant odor. 6. Pliable branches that are not too brittle so they can be tied compactly for shipment, yet regain their shape when released. Desirable species to be considered for farm plantings are : Norway spruce (Picea excelsa), Douglas-fir (Pseudot- suga taxifolia) , Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris) , the balsam fir (Abies bal- samea), white spruce (Picea glauca), red pine (Pinus resinosa) , eastern red- cedar (Juniperus virginiana) , the Col- orado blue spruce (Picea pungens), grand fir (Abies concolor) , and Fraser fir (Abies fraseri). First consideration should be given, however, to matching the species with the local climate and planting site — that is, soil, moisture, slope, and ex- posure. In the selection of species, a good guide is to observe what ever- greens are growing satisfactorily in the vicinity of the proposed planting. Low ground could well be a frost pocket and may prove detrimental to new growth. Well-drained and relatively poor soils are satisfactory, provided they are not too thin. The soil should not be the best nor yet the poorest. Good soil may make the trees grow tall and spindly. Evergreens generally are not adapted to alkali soils. Avoid wet, heavy clays, coarse sands, and gravel. Christmas trees can be a profit- able poor-field crop. If soil prepara- tion is necessary, it should be done well in advance of planting. THE PLANTING STOCK can usually be obtained from public and private nurseries, and names and addresses can be had from the Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington 25, D. C. Only good, healthy, graded seed- lings and transplants are worth plant- ing. Transplants may cost more but should reach marketable size a year or so earlier. The growing of planting stock from seed is not an easy under- taking and means a year or two of waiting. Some farmers obtain seedlings and line them out in transplant rows near the planting site for a year or two. Where wild evergreen seedlings, such as balsam fir, are available, they can often be used for planting stock. Many Christmas-tree growers pre- fer a 4- by 4-foot spacing — that is, 4 feet between trees in the row and 4 feet between rows. It is practicable to plant evergreens with a 3- by 3-foot spacing with the expectation of removing every other one as the trees develop. The tree sizes most in demand by the Christmas trade are those 6 to 8 feet high; that size is best grown when the trees have been thinned to about a 6-foot spacing. Number of trees re- Spacing in feet quired per acre 3 by 3 4,840 4 by 4 2, 720 5 by 5 1, 740 6 by 6 1,210 7 by 7 890 8 by 8 680 If the growing of Christmas trees is to be tied in with the production of wood products such as fence posts, pulpwood, or sawlogs, then wider spac- ing is necessary as the trees develop. PLANTING MAY BE DONE in the spring or fall when the trees are dor- mant. Spring planting is usually more successful — just as soon as the frost is The 'Farmer and Christmas Trees 253 out of the ground and before growth starts. In handling the small trees, the roots should never be allowed to dry out. The package of trees should be soaked with water as soon as received and the trees planted as soon as possible. If the trees are not planted promptly, they may be stored for a day or two in a cool, damp place with the package wety soaked with water. If it is necessary to delay planting as much as 10 days, the small trees should be heeled-in by lin- ing them out in a cool, moist, shady place; one should make sure the roots are thoroughly watered. Two-man crews (or a man and a strong boy) are satisfactory for plant- ing Christmas trees — one man digs the hole, preferably with a mattock or grub hoe, and fills in the soil, while the other carries the planting stock in a bucket of water and inserts the tree. It pays to use extra care in planting to insure a good stand and thus avoid replanting. If some woody vegetation — such as brush — covers the planting site, it is imperative that it be removed before planting. The small trees should be set the same depth as they grew in the nursery with the roots well spread out in the planting holes. The roots should never be allowed to dry out, hence moist soil should be firmly packed about the roots at the time of plant- ing. Air pockets about the roots should be avoided and firming the soil with the heel will prevent this. An 80-percent survival is considered satisfactory. It may be necessary to re- place any small trees that do not sur- vive the first year or two. Where dif- ferent species are planted on an area, it is not desirable to alternate rows by species ; it is better to plant each species in a group or block. Weeds, grass, and brush should not be allowed to handicap the small trees. In areas of limited rainfall during the growing season, two or three cultiva- tions each summer may be necessary to eliminate competition of weeds and grasses. Weed growth around the trees may keep the lower branches from de- veloping. Later on, weed removal by mowing is usually adequate and will not disturb the lateral tree roots near the surface. Pruning Christmas trees to shape them is usually time well spent. It en- hances the value of the trees and re- duces the number of cull trees. Some growers plan to prune each tree several times before it is harvested. One man can prune about 50 trees an hour. A few pruning suggestions are: 1 . Keep terminal growth to about a foot per year. 2. Keep the lower and the lateral branches pruned so that the tree will grow to a conical and uniform shape. 3. Begin pruning a tree just as soon as the leader develops a length out of proportion to the laterals, which may be when it is 2 or 3 years old. 4. For pines, pruning must be done in early summer. For short-needled evergreens, such as spruces and firs, pruning may be done at any time. 5. Sharp pruning shears do the best job. 6. Pruning usually should not be done the year that the tree is to be harvested. A grower of Christmas trees is con- fronted with many hazards. Probably the greatest is fire — and most fires are due to carelessness. Other handicaps are tree and insect diseases; rodents and rabbits; brush and hardwood seedlings; adverse weather, such as drought, unseasonable frosts, hail, heavy snow, and wind; animals (both domestic and wild — by browsing, trampling, and occasionally rubbing) ; and thievery. AMONG THE MANY RECORDS of suc- cessful Christmas-tree enterprises is one from a grower in Ohio who planted 12,000 trees on 4 acres in 1927. Nine years later he began harvesting the crop. At the end of another 9 years he had cut 2,000 trees and received $1,200 for the stumpage, thus aver- aging 60 cents a tree, or $300 an acre. He reported that the Christmas trees alone yielded slightly more than 7-per- 254 cent compound interest net, and that he has left a good stand of potential saw timber. An annual average harvest of 600 trees from a 15-acre tract in New York State over a 15-year period has grossed the owner a total of $7,000 on a com- bination retail and wholesale basis. This grower estimates it costs him 30 cents per tree to plant, prune, harvest, and market, or a total of $2,700, leav- ing a net return of $4,300. Evergreen trees are often planted primarily for soil protection, the re- turns from Christmas trees being in- cidental. In Ottawa County, Mich., for example, the sandy soil supported a fine stand of virgin pine timber in the 1880's. Logging operations and subsequent fires denuded the soil, and the sand started blowing to adjacent croplands. The county agricultural agent encouraged the farmers to plant trees to keep the sandy soil in place. Scotch pine, white spruce, and Nor- way spruce seedlings were supplied to farm cooperators at low cost and were planted at the rate of about 1,200 trees to the acre. In 4 to 8 years the trees found a ready market as Christmas trees. In one year, the farmers realized more than $50,000 from the sale of 70,000 evergreens. The next year more than 200,000 trees were removed, and the farmers received more than $100,- 000 for them. The 1948 returns totaled nearly $300,000. A dense growth of trees was left to prevent soil blowing, and more Christmas trees are in pros- pect. Later, as the trees grow larger, a pulpwood harvest will be made, the treetops to be sold for Christmas deco- rations. Still later as the remaining trees reach pulpwood and sawlog size, they will be converted into lumber. A FAIRLY NEW PRACTICE in ChriSt- mas-tree farming, especially with the well-managed plantations, is stump culture. In general, this method is prac- ticable before the stems get too large (up to 6 inches stump diameter) or trees become too old (up to 15 or 50 years) . When Christmas trees are sev- of Agriculture 1949 ered above live-branch whorls, the uppermost remaining limbs, or newly developed adventitious buds, form new leaders. Eliminating all but one, two, or possibly three such leaders, after at least one year's growth, may cause those left to grow into satisfactory Christmas trees called turn-ups. The root system of such a stump tree is usually ade- quate to produce suitable trees in a shorter period than the original crop tree. However, when trees are growing too close together, the understory trees may undergo severe root and crown competition from these stump trees, which then become wolf trees. Usually four or five individual trees can be grown in the space occupied by one such stump or wolf tree. Stump culture is best adapted for trees grow- ing in openings. Careful pruning at- tention must be given to the trees pro- duced through this rather exacting practice. The appearance of a Christmas tree on the market is important. Best prices are paid for well-shaped, freshly cut trees. When cut, the butt should be trimmed off neatly. Many people like to obtain a freshly cut tree and like to make their own selection from among growing trees. This is an advantage for Christmas-tree plantations established close to market centers. A curved pruning saw has been found to be an efficient tool for cutting Christmas trees. Trees not harvested one year can be held over to the next or left to grow into larger trees for forest products. A grower should not harvest large quantities of Christmas trees unless a market is assured; even better, the trees should be sold under written contract. Cooperative harvest- ing and marketing offers good possi- bilities. Branches trimmed to shape up harvested trees as well as those from culled trees usually find a ready market as wreaths or table and mantle decora- tions. ARTHUR M. SOWDER is an extension forester in the Department of Agricul- ture. •J *JSfit fan- Company Forests LARGE PRIVATE HOLDINGS IN THE NORTH HARDY L. SHIRLEY T7ORESTRY on large private prop- JD erties has made gratifying progress in the Northern States during the past two decades. The effect is becoming visible in the woods and mill, in the factory and office. Companies have doubled and trebled the number of foresters they employ; foresters them- selves have risen to positions in which their opinions count on policies govern- ing forest-land acquisitions, cutting practices, sustained-yield operations, wood processing, and the long-term plans for future timber supplies. Change is entering the woods in other ways. The old-time lumberjack is slowly giving way to the mechani- cally skilled timber worker who can handle power chain saws, power skid- ders, bulldozers, mechanical loaders, trailer trucks, and new road-building equipment. The trained personnel now have demanded improved logging Pictured above: Single tong loading with a mobile crane in the west coast fir region. camps and better living standards for woods workers. Officials of companies that follow good practices on their own land have sought to spread good forest practices to all timberlands that fur- nish products to their mills. The reasons for the better forestry are many. Outstanding has been the wartime shortages of saw timber, pulp- wood, mine timbers, and other prod- ucts. More important is the growing realization that intelligently applied forestry pays. Pulp companies particu- larly have been quick to react to their changed situation. Canada has placed restrictions on the export of pulpwood to the United States in order to safe- guard supplies for her own mills. In New York State alone from 1917 to 1940 a total of 69 pulp- and paper-man- ufacturing plants closed. Twenty-one new high-capacity mills were estab- lished during the period to increase paper capacity from 5,022 to 6,487 tons a day, but pulp capacity declined. A 255 256 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 net decrease of 39 paper mills and 56 pulp mills occurred. The New York State Department of Commerce at- tributes this decline primarily to the scarcity and high price of pulpwood. Pulpwood is now being transported long distances. Some mills in the Lake States haul spruce from Colorado and Montana, Pennsylvania mills haul from New Brunswick and Virginia, and New York mills from Ontario, northern New Hampshire, and the Maritime Provinces of Canada. A mill in the southern White Mountains of New Hampshire recently purchased pulp lands along the northern bound- ary of Maine where the wood must be floated down the St. John River to a railhead, then hauled some 375 miles to their mill. Coal-mining companies also are concerned. To insure a per- manent supply of mine timbers, com- panies are acquiring and managing forest land. Spool manufacturers, ve- neer makers, roofing-felt companies, as well as lumber companies, likewise are seeking dependable supplies of timber. The beginnings of large-scale pri- vate forestry in the North date back more than 100 years to the large in- dividual and family holdings built up as permanent timberland investment properties in Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and other Northern States. Management plans were seldom pre- pared, but agents for the owners sold cutting rights, collected the money, and distributed it among the several owners. Forestry entered the operation only in that the land was held perma- nently for timber crops rather than abandoned or sold after the first har- vest; a few individual owners actually insisted on applying minimum-diam- eter cutting limits. Other private forestry programs have been functioning for two decades or even more in the North. Outstand- ing successes and some discouraging failures have occurred. Obstacles that caused abandonment of past forestry programs still persist to plague future forest enterprise. The good and the bad must both be weighed before future trends can be predicted with assurance. Much cause for optimism exists, but only a good beginning has been made. Scarcity is a dominant factor in spur- ring forestry action. So far, however, effort has been concentrated more on acquiring extensive holdings than on building up high-yielding capacity on the land. A few intensively managed properties are yielding timber volume and dollar profits at two to five times the average return per acre. The North, as considered here, in- cludes all States north of the southern boundaries of Maryland, West Vir- ginia, Kentucky, and Missouri, and east of the western boundaries of Iowa and Minnesota. My discussion is con- fined primarily to large timberland holdings, those of 50,000 acres or more, but a few smaller holdings are men- tioned to show important develop- ments in private forestry. All types of ownerships are included — whether the land is held by milling companies for their supplies, by investors, or by those interested in subsurface rights. OWNERSHIP of large forest holdings in the North is distributed among in- dividual owners, families, investment companies, pulp and paper compa- nies, lumber companies, mining com- panies, and some others. The large private holdings are con- centrated in Maine, which has 31 owners who control more than half the total area in large holdings in the North. Protection of forests against fire is good in almost all cases. The exceptions are the forests owned by coal-mining companies, where hazards are high, local interest low, and public cooperation in fire protection meager. The degree of protection attained, however, is determined more by the work of the State fire-control organi- zations than by special effort of indi- vidual owners. The companies that have their own fire-control organiza- tions are the exception in the North. The cutting practices currently ap- plied over most of the large holdings leave much to be desired. Many prop- Large Private Holdings in the North 257 erties that are operated on essentially a sustained-yield basis have cutting standards best designated as "chopper's choice." Some companies attempt to apply diameter limits and a few mark trees before cutting. Where only exten- sive management is practiced, marking of individual trees is not always essen- tial— particularly in areas and stands that are subject to windthrow and among tree species, such as aspen and jack pine, that have relatively short lives. Yellow birch, although subject neither to windfall nor early decadence in a closed forest, declines in vigor on areas selectively logged. Over much of northern Maine, where roads are lack- ing, hardwoods are still unmerchant- able. Serious losses are occurring from birch dieback and beech scale. The death of old trees will, however, release spruce and balsam fir that will produce a valuable crop. CASE STUDIES of a few owners will be presented. Those selected are not the only ones with good forestry pro- grams, nor have they necessarily the best programs. Some were selected be- cause they have some distinctive fea- ture in their program. Information has been gained from published articles, letters, interviews with company for- esters, and conversations with other persons familiar with the programs. The first group of examples includes the individual, family, and investment holdings. That type of large forest holdings is found primarily in the unorganized towns of Maine, where the remoteness and lack of transportation restrict op- erations to extensive, rather than inten- sive, forestry. The Coe and Pingree estate, built up in the late nineteenth century, at one time included more than a million acres. The founder, David Pingree, in- sisted on restricted cutting of spruce to trees 14 inches in diameter and larger. The practice was abandoned soon after the turn of the century, when pulp- wood cutting came to the fore. The heirs still own a large area of the land. Management practices today are on an extensive basis, but the property con- tinues to yield periodically a substan- tial income to its owners. Gifford Pinchot and Henry S. Graves, among the first Americans to be trained scientifically as foresters, drew up management plans in 1898 for Nehasane Park and the Whitney Pre- serve, two Adirondack properties that were held primarily for recreation. The owners, however, early became interested in scientific forestry as a means of making the properties self- supporting. Careful timber estimates were made, type maps were prepared, and con- tracts for cutting spruce trees to a 10- inch diameter limit were drawn up. The white pine, considered overma- ture, and cherry were cut without re- strictions. Other hardwoods were not merchantable. Yield studies indicated that a cut of the same intensity could be had again at the end of 36 years. Nehasane Park was logged first in 1898 and 1899 and again in 1915 to 1930. A third cutting is now under way. It is difficult to make an accurate com- parison between actual yields and an- ticipated yields. In the first place, the management plan as prepared by Mr. Graves was not fully carried out. The cutting intervals were shorter than he had expected and the diameter limits were lowered. Furthermore, defective hardwoods were not removed and they expanded following the removal of merchantable trees. The volume of softwood and the quality of hardwood declined because of logging practices. Operations on the Whitney Preserve have always been somewhat more con- servative, and the forest is somewhat better in quality. On the whole, both properties have fared better than aver- age Adirondack land. Gutting policies have varied with markets, however, and the economic requirements of the owners more than they have with the silvicultural requirements of the for- est. Neither property can be considered an ideal example of applied forest management, but the properties have 802062° — 49- -18 in 258 returned substantial incomes past and give every promise of con- tinuing to do so in the years ahead. Because much of the hardwood timber is now merchantable for pulpwopd and because prices of timber have in- creased decidedly during the 50 years, today's cash income from the property equals that of the past, even though the volumes being harvested now are considerably less. Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 the hazards, makes it possible for the group owners to enjoy income at short in- tervals, and enables them to draw up satisfactory contracts with companies interested in purchasing timber. On the other hand, as the equity of each indi- vidual diminishes because of increase number of heirs, interest likewise THE DEAD RIVER co. and the East- ern Corp., manufacturers of paper, re- cently concluded a 10-year renewable management agreement on a sizable acreage of land. It requires diameter cutting limits as follows: Balsam fir, 6 inches; spruce and hemlock, 10 inches; pine, 10 inches for pulpwood and 12 inches for sawlogs. Large pine and large hardwoods suitable for saw timber, veneer, and novelties are re- served by the Dead River Co. Cutting may not exceed three-fourths of the calculated growth over any 5-year pe- riod. Areas are selected for cutting with regard to maturity, protection of for- ests against fire, insects, and disease, and in a manner that will insure rea- sonable silvicultural control. Past man- agement of the Dead River Co. hold- ings has been conservative, so that the properties cut over now contain more timber than when acquired. The properties are to be developed intensively by building all-year gravel roads and encouraging industries that are necessary to get high returns from the properties. Complete utilization from the land is possible through mar- kets for all commercial species that are growing on the land. A FEW OTHER estate and investment holdings have access to diversified mar- kets and the benefits of management by a trained forester. They are the ex- ception rather than the rule. The gen- eral practice when the original owner died has been to divide the equity but leave the physical property intact. Divided ownership spreads the risk from fire, insect damage, and other in diminishes. Diffused ownership makes agreement on one single-management policy difficult. In the long run, indi- vidual heirs interested in the greatest current income or interested in liqui- dating the property tend to make their weight count at the expense of those willing to manage the land as a long- time investment property. Group owners have been obliged to place management responsibilities on a single individual who acted as agent for all. These agents were often lawyers, retired judges, real estate dealers, or individual members of the family, most of whom had no knowledge of forestry. Consequently, sales and cutting prac- tices were left largely to the discretion of the buyer of timber. Before 1900, these were mostly lumbermen inter- ested in spruce saw timber; cutting was therefore confined to saw-timber trees. Thereafter, extensive pulp opera- tions brought progressively more dras- tic cuttings. The removal of softwood without cutting hardwoods has led to serious deterioration. Investment prop- erties have been particularly suscep- tible to such deterioration because they lay in the unorganized towns of Maine, where few roads have been built. Only timber that could be driven down the streams was merchantable. Family-type holdings are gradually being acquired by pulp companies. A few of the larger holdings may per- sist for some decades to come, but they will be the exception rather than the rule. Stability of long-term manage- ment objectives appears to be out of the question for most such properties. Owners generally are unwilling to de- velop the properties intensively by building roads, erecting homes for for- est workers, and encouraging such industries as are necessary to get high Large Private Holdings in the North 259 returns from the timber property. That may be due in part to reluctance to see organized towns develop that will un- doubtedly increase the tax rate on the forest holdings. Special taxes have been levied in the unorganized towns to pro- vide good protection against fire, but many owners have resisted attempts to open up the land for development. As interest in forestry began to de- velop in the early 1900's, men with training in forestry offered their serv- ices to the owners on a consulting basis. A few firms of consulting foresters are well established and deal chiefly with family-type holdings. They have un- doubtedly been a stabilizing influence in this type of ownership. Family and investment holdings also played a considerable role in forest his- tory in the Lake States, but there the speculators, lumber companies, and others who were interested more in short- than long-term management gained control. Because fires and other hazards were greater, and agricultural values more promising in the Lake States than in the Northeast, perma- nent holdings of the land for forest pro- duction was given little consideration. Throughout the other Northern States, permanent holdings of timberland in large blocks on strictly an investment basis was essentially unknown. LUMBER COMPANIES are one of the less important groups of large tim- berland holders in the North. The practice in the past was chiefly to cut the land clean of all timber of mer- chantable size and to sell the land to others, or allow it to revert to the pub- lic for taxes. Some areas stripped for saw timber were cut over immediately thereafter for pulpwood and chemical wood. Such a practice in western Pennsylvania caused extensive decline in forest productivity — especially if fire followed. Aspen, pin cherry, and gray birch that seeded in after fire pro- duced no real values. Scrub oak was even less useful. All hindered valuable seedlings. On areas having poor air drainage, there developed permanent frost pockets covered with grass, ferns, or low brush. Lumber companies, by and large, and certain other timber industries, have an indifferent record. When con- ditions are favorable, they may initiate progressive forestry measures, only to drop them later. Two large lumber companies recently dropped their pro- grams entirely. Others that adopted selective cutting are not on the sus- tained-yield basis. In some companies, which do have good programs, only one or two persons in the management are convinced of its necessity. Indiffer- ence, conviction that forestry will not pay, even spirited opposition to selec- tive logging for saw timber and veneer are still reported to be widespread in the industry. An outstanding exception among the northern lumber companies is the Goodman Lumber Company, of Good- man, Wis. Organized about 1906, the company for 20 years made little effort to practice forestry. By 1920 it became evident that the land was not well suited to agriculture and the enact- ment of the Wisconsin Forest Crop Law, substituting a 10-percent sever- ance tax for the annual property tax, turned Mr. Goodman's attention to forestry. State protection of forest land against fire also improved. The company began its first cycle of selective cutting in 1927. Cutting was restricted to 35 to 55 percent of the merchantable volume; trees of me- dium size, but still capable of vigorous growth, were left. This first cycle of selective cutting was completed in 1944. Plans for the second cutting cycle were outlined by Robert Martin in an article published in the Journal of Forestry in 1945. The interval be- tween cuts is being reduced from 1 7 to 10 years. The volume to be removed in the second cycle will be 10 to 20 per- cent, or a minimum of 2,000 board feet. An extensive road system and improved utilization has made this possible. Sustained yield is now the rule. Lands cut over in 1927 and later are increasing in the volume of prod- 260 ucts that can be harvested for chemi- cal wood, pulpwood, veneer bolts, and sawlogs. Today, after 37 years of operation, timber reserves are substantially equal to the initial forest capital with which the company was launched. With re- striction of sawlogs cut, the company erected a wood-chemical plant, veneer mill, shingle mill, and pulp mill for roofing felt to use the wood in defec- tive trees, treetops, and young trees cut in thinnings. In this way the work vol- ume has been maintained. The better grades of lumber are kiln-dried for special uses. Timber growth and yield is now de- termined on the basis of tree-vigor classes. Integrated utilization and mar- keting have been so coordinated that tree marking for best silviculture is identical with tree marking for finan- cial return. Officials of the company are convinced that by selective cutting and integrated utilization, the income from operations during the past 20 years has been as high as the income would have been from the liquidation cutting. The property now, however, is valuable as a going enterprise and can continue indefinitely to yield cur- rent high returns in terms of output. Employment, good will, and the tax base also are permanent. Much more efficient utilization has doubled the number of man-hours of work per unit of timber cut. The com- pany is today a good example of inte- grated utilization for a relatively small operation. The company built a town with stores, schools, churches, and homes for its employees. A modern village with desirable living conditions is important, because skilled workers in forests and conversion plants are essential for the success of integrated utilization and good forestry practice. Good forest management has also de- veloped on the farm woodlands adja- cent to Goodman, because the owners are assured a continuing, nearby mar- ket for their forest products. A few other lumber companies have tried to follow a forestry program. Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 The VonPlaten-Fox Go. of northern Michigan is one. Its ownership is less concentrated, and some difficulties have been encountered in getting all owners to subscribe to a long-term manage- ment program. The Patten Timber Company and the Ford Motor Company in Michi- gan and the Roddis Lumber and Ve- neer Company of Wisconsin also have been practicing selective cutting. Although it is not strictly a lumber company, the Draper Corporation, manufacturers of spools and textile machinery, have acquired substantial areas of forest land and are engaged in organizing it for sustained-yield for- estry. Because many of the company's products are made from wood turn- ings, it is possible for them to use timber in relatively small sizes. Their program is still new, but promises to be one of the more intensive forestry efforts in the North. MINING COMPANIES of necessity own considerable areas of forest land to control subsurface rights. The average company, however, owns considerably fewer than 50,000 acres, and pays little attention ordinarily to the timber the land supports. Timbers are essential for deep-mining operations, but most companies have chosen to buy from others the timber they need for mine ties, props, lagging, and other pur- poses, rather than to grow it on com- pany lands. As local props become scarce, however, companies turn their attention to their own forest lands. Some employ foresters and have started forestry programs. A few have had programs of sorts under way for 30 or 40 years, but have not followed them with vigor or steadfastness of purpose. One West Virginia company that has a large holding of coal land now has a broad forestry program. Timber is being leased separately from coal. Diameter limits for cutting are speci- fied and are varied to favor the species that are best for mine props and lum- ber. Close utilization and concentra- Large Private Holdings in the North 261 tion on defective materials is favored. The company's forester estimates that the program now under way will dou- ble the yield of timber on lands to which it applies. Land covered by old leases remain unaffected. Other coal companies likewise have forestry programs, some of which have been under way for 5 years or more. Some include good cutting practices. Others have had desultory programs with little net results to show for their operations. The common picture is in- difference toward surface values on the part of both companies and miners. Fires have been frequent and disas- trous, and much of the land supports meager growth. Copper- and iron-mining companies in the Lake States have forestry pro- grams. One, the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company, first became interested some 25 years ago and has gradually im- proved its practice since. The Cop- per Ranger Company in Michigan and the Oliver Iron Mining Company in Minnesota have adopted progressive programs. Although they do not manage forest land as such and are not strictly mining companies, oil and natural gas com- panies influence forest practice in re- gions where they operate wells. Sub- surface rights have been leased over extensive forest areas. Those rights permit the companies to enter the land, erect equipment, drill wells, and operate pumping stations and pipe lines. Timber is cleared from the vicin- ity of wells. In western Pennsylvania, where wells have long been operated, a system known as "five spotting" has been in use. Four wells are drilled in a square, with a fifth in the center. Water is pumped down the corner wells to help force oil from the center one. In many fields a regular pattern of wells occupies the land to the serious detriment of forestry operations. Both public and private forestry is impeded by "five spotting" on forest land. WOOD-CHEMICAL COMPANIES have had an unstable record. Started at the turn of the century primarily to manu- facture charcoal, wood alcohol, and acetic acid, they grew to substantial importance during the First World War. They operated in New York, western Pennsylvania, the Lake States, the Appalachians, and other regions. New processes for making synthetic methanol and acetic acid and a declin- ing demand for charcoal brought on hard times. During the late 1920's and 1930's, plant after plant dropped out. The few that remained enjoyed a new prosperity during the Second World War, but now are again on the decline. With such a background, it is small wonder that wood-chemical companies have shown little interest in forestry. Certain companies, however, have been outstanding. One owns about enough land to supply its needs. It cuts over the property at about 30-year in- tervals and removes all material of chemical-wood size. Reproduction is prompt, and operations are essentially on a sustaining basis. The forest pro- duces only chemical wood, most of it from sprout growth. A second company, affiliated with a large chemical concern, employs for- esters and operates essentially on a sustained-yield program. A vigorous research program has uncovered a number of derivatives from the crude wood tar that remains after removing wood alcohol and acetic acid. The out- look for the company's future forestry program is bright. Less promising is the outlook for a group of companies in western Pennsylvania, few of which have ever had a forestry program. In fact, the majority own no land and purchase chemical wood from jobbers and individual operators. The Gray Chemical Company oper- ated on a different pattern. Land suf- ficient to supply half the company's needs was acquired. Additional wood was purchased from local farmers and other landowners; the company was careful to provide them a steady mar- ket for their wood. A permanent labor force was built up of independent farmers, company loggers, and others 262 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 who regularly cut timber for company use. The company bought run-down farms and fixed up homes for cutters and truckers who supplied wood for the plant. A sawmill was purchased to break down trunks from decadent trees into sizes suitable for use in the com- pany retorts. Good logs were sawed into lumber. Research to diversify products was sponsored. Activated car- bon and other high-priced products stabilized company income. Company lands were initially clear- cut at about 40 years of age. The prac- tice was changed to partial cutting so as to increase yield and to favor saw timber that might further lend stabil- ity to operations. Stockholdings were distributed among company officials and others in an effort to build up community interest in the operation. During the peak of wartime activities, outside interests purchased the plant and five others in the vicinity. The new management has dropped the com- pany's forestry program. AMONG THE RAILWAY COMPANIES, the Pennsylvania Railroad owns a sub- stantial area of forest land in Pennsyl- vania, from which it obtains water for its engines. Lands to be cut are desig- nated by the company forester and cut on a diameter-limit basis. Manage- ment is conservative. The Western Maryland Railway has cooperated with the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company in sponsor- ing a program of conservative selective cutting on company lands. The objec- tive has been to increase returns from the timber, which is sold to the West Virginia Company, and to increase stability of employment for local resi- dents. The companies join forces to convince local cutters that they can prolong their jobs by following good forestry practices. The program has been successful. A few other railways, notably the New York Central and the Norfolk & Western Railway, engage in forest- land management through subsidiary coal companies. PULP AND PAPER COMPANIES lead all others in forestry in the North. They control the largest area of land, em- ploy the most foresters, and have the greatest financial stake in sustained- yield forestry. Their programs date from the turn of the century. Exten- sive forestry has characterized opera- tions in remote areas of northern Maine, the Adirondacks, and the Lake States. Intensive forestry programs exist on some accessible lands. George Amidon, of the Minnesota and Ontario Paper Company, at the 1947 meeting of the Society of Ameri- can Foresters, reported substantial progress in forestry by the pulpwood industry in the Lake States, where there are 112 pulp and paper mills. Foresters were employed by 35 per- cent of the mills in 1937 and by 59 percent in 1947; 27 foresters were em- ployed in 1937 and 130 in 1947. The total land owned was about a million acres in 1937 and 1,900,000 acres in 1947. Most of the mills reported that they are attempting to manage their lands on a sustained-yield basis. The pulpwood cut from the lands aver- ages only one-twelfth of a cord annu- ally. In time this might be increased to a third, or even one-half cord as the lands are restored to high produc- tivity. About a third of the mills have planting programs under way that will help restore the lands. The mills are also carrying on other activities, such as research on little-used species, co- operation with State and Federal Gov- ernments in forest protection, and demonstrations of good forest prac- tices among small owners. The Great Northern Paper Com- pany, in Maine, which began acquir- ing lands before 1900, has followed an extensive forestry program, which has involved special improvements along streams to facilitate driving and long cutting cycles on essentially a sus- tained-yield basis. Only spruce and fir have been cut on the remote lands. The company, experienced in river driving, probably drives more pulp- wood than any other in the country. Large Private Holdings in the North 263 The Brown Company owns large areas of land in the United States and Canada. Past operations, on an exten- sive basis, resembled those of other owners of remote areas. In 1940 or so, the company became concerned about its future timber supply. An aerial photo survey was made of its own lands and of other lands tributary to the mills at Berlin, N. H. Reassured by the results, the company built a new sul- fate mill. Additional foresters were employed in the woodlands depart- ment, and mechanical skidders, log- ging arches, portable cut-off saws and pulpwood loaders, bulldozers, as well as mechanical road-building equip- ment were introduced. New portable camps were erected to provide greater comfort for loggers. The company is committed to long- term sustained-yield operations. Im- proved cutting practices are being in- troduced. Foresters in key positions in the company have a high degree of authority over the timber-management policies. The Brown Company cooper- ates with other companies in the area in an effort to build up an over-all sustained-yield program that embraces all companies that purchase timber in the same area. The Hollingsworth and Whitney Company owns large areas of land in Maine. A forestry program has been under way for a number of years. Re- cently the company made an aerial sur- vey of its lands as a basis for a broad management plan. Forestry practices are being improved on present hold- ings and additional land is being ac- quired. By talks and motion pictures at schools and granges, good forestry is promoted among farmers and other small-woodland owners. More than 20 years ago, the Oxford Paper Company was sponsor of a tree- breeding program to develop rapidly growing aspen hybrids for book paper. Fast-growing hybrids were produced, but the company learned that it could use native hardwoods in place of aspen. Pulp and paper and other northern companies have shown an interest in the aspen hybrids, however, and have set out plantations. The Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Com- pany, the Consolidated Water Power and Paper Company, and other firms in the vicinity of Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., have active forestry programs. The Nekoosa-Edwards program, which dates from 1926, has featured plantings on abandoned farm land. The company operates its own nursery, in which operations are highly mecha- nized. Field planting by machine has reduced costs by one-half and has in- creased survival of seedlings. Every year for 20 years some planting has been done by the company. The planted area totals 1 7,000 acres, and is an outstanding venture in forest plant- ing. The company's cutting practices are on a conservative basis. The com- pany owns about 110,000 acres and is acquiring more land so that mill needs can be met entirely from its own hold- ings. Its own fire-control organization includes tank trucks, tool caches, and trained fire fighters. Fire losses since 1926 have been restricted to 137 acres. The Consolidated Water Power and Paper Company owns and manages 160,000 acres. In the past 15 years it has planted 7,000 acres of open land, with varying success, and now has un- der way experiments with direct seed- ing. The company prefers to buy well- stocked lands and follows a diversified plan in procurement of raw material. Part of the needs is met from company lands, part from county forests and national forests, and part from local farmers and other owners of pulpwood. The Finch-Pruyn Company in New York has pioneered in forestry in the Adirondacks. Spruce and fir are cut on company land and driven down the Hudson River to the company's mill at Glens Falls. The land has been under forest management for 37 years; the sustained-yield cutting budget was based on a growth rate of two-tenths cord an acre a year. For a long time, all trees to be cut were marked under the supervision of foresters, spruce to a variable limit of 8 to 9 inches in 264 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 diameter and balsam fir to a limit of 6 to 7 inches. Marking was abandoned during the war because their young foresters left for military service. The control of cut- ting was taken over by the operating superintendent and his staff. Since the war, the forestry and operating divi- sions have been closely integrated, and foresters are gradually replacing the old-style operators. Despite a consider- able forestry effort, the company has found that growth has not come up to expectations; the average rate is esti- mated at just under one-tenth cord an acre a year. To arrest further liquida- tion of their own growing stock, the firm now buys pulpwood from other owners. Growth on special company study plots has averaged about one- half cord a year; that fact emphasizes the importance of proper stocking. Thought is now being given to meth- ods to correct the slow recovery of ma- ture stands following cutting and meas- ures to improve rate of growth. The New York and Pennsylvania Company, Inc., manufacturers of pulp and paper, and its subsidiary, the Arm- strong Forest Company, for more than 50 years have managed their timber- lands in Pennsylvania for continued growth of pulpwood. The first com- pany forester was employed in 1907. Pulpwood has been produced with an eye always on the maintenance of for- est growth. The company's forestry program includes planting of bare lands, an intensively developed pri- mary and secondary road system to make possible frequent light cuts, in- tegrated utilization of pulpwood and saw timber, a system of permanent cutting plots to furnish guides to better practice, a training program for wood cutters to improve the quality of their work, efforts to devise new logging techniques and equipment, and other activities deemed valuable in improv- ing the output from company lands. The West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company obtains the bulk of the wood used at its mills in New York, Pennsyl- vania, Maryland, and Virginia from farmers and other suppliers over wide areas. Recognizing that the mills can- not continue to produce and meet their heavy expenses unless the wood supply is secure, the company for many years has taken an active interest in protec- tion of the forests from fire and has lent support to the efforts of public agencies to reduce the number and size of fires in the woods. The next natural step is to encourage improve- ment of woodlands through applica- tion of forestry principles by those who supply the wood. The company nat- urally wants to see the cutters handle the woodlands so they will produce year after year, with steady em- ployment for themselves and their equipment. At some of the mills the company has distributed booklets that explain details of economical and safe production, care of roads, and simple methods of getting improved growth on the forest land. Since a profitable market is furnished for large quantities of wood that has no value for lumber, progress is being made toward estab- lishment of full production on the areas where wood is being cut. The Eastern Pulpwood Company has acquired large areas of forest land in Maine and New Brunswick. Origi- nally the land was held as a timber re- serve, while pulpwood was procured from outside sources. Company lands are now being cut on a conservative basis with sustained yield in mind. Balsam fir is cut to a lower diameter than spruce in an effort to reduce dam- age from spruce budworm, at present a serious threat to Maine softwoods. The International Paper Company owns more than a million acres, ac- quired mostly about 1898, in New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Timber cut from the lands has furnished a large part of the com- pany's pulp requirements; the rest comes from open-market purchases and from Canada. When a timber in- ventory and growth studies on the American holdings are completed, the company plans to draw up a manage- ment system to guide operations for Large Private Holdings in the North 265 many years to come. Lack of complete information on the company's forest capital and particularly on growth rate has precluded certainty as to sustained yield. A special feature of the program is the Phillips Brook management area in northern New Hampshire — a 23,000- acre tract in a single-stream valley, on which an intensive forestry pilot oper- ation is under way. From the demon- stration area, on which every effort is being made to employ the best for- estry practices, company officials hope to glean information to guide their own work and other forestry work in the Northeast. Of special interest are the companies that make pulp for roofing felt, floor coverings, and wall boards. They be- came important users of wood pulp only after the other pulp and paper companies were well established. Be- cause they can pulp small-sized wood with the bark on, they have a competi- tive advantage over companies that re- quire peeled wood. Nevertheless, some of them have started a land-acquisition program. Their activities increase the opportunities for integrated utilization in the territory tributary to their mills. Forestry programs are also under way on lands controlled by the Kim- berley-Clark Corporation, Tomahawk Kraft Company, Mosinee Paper Com- pany, Minnesota and Ontario Paper Company, Northwest Paper Company, the Mead Corporation, St. Regis Pa- per Company, Penobscot Development Company, and others. In fact, interest in management for continuous pro- duction is characteristic of most pulp and paper companies, regardless of whether they own and operate their own land or purchase timber from other owners. PROFESSIONAL FORESTERS own and operate a few fair-sized forest proper- ties. The Luther forest in New York State and the Watson forest property in Michigan are examples. The Luther property was acquired some 50 years ago by retaining lands after lumbering and by buying and planting abandoned farm land. Grad- ually, more than 6,000 acres were ac- quired. Bare land that made up half the area has been planted to pine, spruce, and other species. Some of the original lots have been logged three times, and the plantations have come into yield. The operation is probably the most intensive to be found on any medium- to large-sized forest property in the United States. Present opera- tions are confined entirely to thinning plantations; some plantations have been thinned twice, and several have already returned in income far more than their original costs. A few show handsome profits above original costs, yet are just now entering the period of most rapid growth. All timber har- vesting has paid its way. Some trees have been cut for fuel wood, some for pulpwood, some for lumber that has been sawed on the property, and a sub- stantial amount has been sold in ran- dom lengths for cooperage. The present owner, the son of the original owner, feels that he could not manage his property successfully with- out carrying on his own logging and marketing operations. Most of the tim- ber he sells now and most of what he has sold in the past would have no stumpage value. It gains in value only as he finds an outlet for wood that will bring him a return above harvesting costs. The work is well organized, properly mechanized, and provides year-round employment for about 10 men. The property is a successful ex- ample of a profitable private forest that was started on bare land. The owner has kept a careful record of ex- penses and knows that the property is yielding him a fair interest on his in- vestment above all expenditures and is accumulating forest capital that will make his future harvests progressively more valuable. The Watson property, of 26,000 acres in upper Michigan, has been gradually built up over 25 years. Started originally as a partnership, it is now in the hands of one owner. 266 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 Most of it was cut-over land acquired from the county tax sales and outright purchases from lumber companies and others after it had been logged off. Swamp and swamp-border types pre- dominate, running heavily to balsam fir, spruce, northern white-cedar, and aspen. To provide ample permanent employment for his 50 workmen while growing stock is being built up, stump- age is purchased from other land- owners. A special effort is made to provide continuous yearlong employ- ment by purchasing both upland and lowland and by having a good distribu- tion of types and size classes. Current cutting is estimated to be about 25 percent less than the growth. The example of these men should be of particular value to others inter- ested in family or corporate holdings. Both have found it necessary to do their own logging. Both recognize that permanent markets are essential for continued operations. Both believe in relatively intensive forestry. Both won- der how they can maintain continuity of management beyond their own life- times. Inheritance taxes alone can de- stroy each property by wiping out working capital or forcing heavy cuts that upset sustained-yield operations and the year-round business that de- pends thereon. Dispersal of the prop- erty among heirs might prove equally disastrous. Their practice of accumu- lating capital in growing stock on the ground makes both operations highly vulnerable to inheritance taxes and division. Both are examples of the premise that foresters are exception- ally well equipped to own and man- age timberland. Foresters differ from most other owners of forest lands in their attitude toward capital investment. Foresters recognize that their investment can usually be built up most readily by cut- ting less than current growth and by saving the best-formed and most vigor- ous trees as growing stock. In this way yield per acre increases in volume and value without increasing the outlay for roads, protection, and maintenance. Other investors, not realizing the effi- ciency of such a program, are more likely to cut heavily and to invest their extra earnings in additional land and thus assume all the burdens that go with care of the land. Only foresters, in my opinion, seem to appreciate the need to balance purchases of new land against increased efforts on existing holdings. Several other foresters are managing their own timberlands. Areas of 1,000 to 10,000 acres are owned by Ned Bryant, Harry Clark, John Kiernan, Sterling Wagner, and several others. The Wagner property is of special in- terest in that it combines saw-timber, fuel-wood, and mine-prop operations with a resort business in the forest. OWNERSHIP of large forest proper- ties in the North has changed appreci- ably during the past two decades. Pulp and paper companies are the strongest and most stable owners. The large in- vestments in pulp and paper mills can be liquidated only over long periods of time and make necessary a con- tinuous supply of timber. Many of the companies are enlarging their hold- ings. Others are attempting to stimu- late good forest practices on the part of private owners who control land tributary to their mills. BECAUSE FEW LUMBER COMPANIES were responsible owners of forest land in the past, few are important timber owners today. Lumber companies face several difficulties. They have last call on the timber. Fuel wood, chemi- cal wood, pulpwood, mine timbers, posts, poles, ties, and many other prod- ucts can all be cut from trees before they reach saw-timber size. Though the sawlogs bring a higher price than the smaller material, many owners sell when their timber first becomes mar- ketable. Moreover, less than half the merchantable material harvestable throughout a rotation is likely to be of sawlog size. Unless a lumber company operates subsidiary plants to process small material, as the Goodman Lum- Large Private Holdings in the North 267 her Company has done, or develops an outside market, it does not enjoy the full fruits of the land. Integrated use, rather than single use, is essential for efficient management. Sawmill operations in the North are mostly small enterprises, often con- ducted by men of limited experience in the lumber business. Few large saw- timber tracts now exist. Small-saw- mill operators have neither the capital nor stability to engage in long-time forestry ventures. Furthermore, the lumber market fluctuates violently in price levels. Sawmill men are particu- larly vulnerable to business declines in periods of depression. Bulkiness and weight of the product further militates against building up a stable, long-term enterprise in a region of small land holdings and heavily exploited forests. The lumber companies that I men- tioned earlier that do have good for- estry programs are exceptional rather than characteristic of the industry in general. It will be a long time before lumber companies as such become an important factor in forest-land man- agement in the North. The wood-chemical companies have shown a high degree of variability with the changing times. I believe they can- not be looked to as important timber- land owners of the future. Few of them have shown the foresight to man- age their forest properties for inte- grated yield of the forest products. Mining companies, utility compa- nies, and water companies in the long run should become stable owners and operators of forest land. They are obliged to own the land anyhow, they enjoy an income from their mining or other operations, and there is little reason, economic or otherwise, for them not to do a good job of forest management. That many of them have failed to do so in the past is attributed primarily to lack of interest rather than lack of financial ability. Individual family ownerships and investment owners as a group tend to relinquish their property to pulp com- panies and others that have a greater stake in yield from forest lands. They are subjected to the vicissitudes of in- heritance taxes, property taxes unad- justed to yield from the land, and to division of equity upon the death of the original owner. It seems almost impossible to expect, under the exist- ing laws and economic forces, that any form of individual ownership can en- joy stability beyond the life of the owner. Without this stability it is im- possible to maintain a permanently pro- ductive forest property. Properties owned by individual for- esters are new and, indeed, promising. But they are subject to the weaknesses of any other type of individual owner- ship. They are subject to overextension of credit and other financial difficulties that may force liquidation, and they are likely to be dismembered as a re- sult of inheritance taxes or division of property after the original owner dies. No type of private ownership in the United States at present is such that it guarantees permanently good forest practice on the land. Pulp companies, lumber companies, individual private owners, mining companies, and others have all started forestry programs and abandoned them later because of var- ious circumstances. No private for- estry program in the North can be considered permanent under existing economic conditions. The stronger cor- porations, on the whole, seem to be more responsible owners and the ones that are gradually getting control of more and more forest lands. Present economic trends point to an increasing concentration of timberland owner- ship in the hands of a few large com- panies and public agencies. A CITIZEN may rightly ask how ef- fectively the large private forest hold- ings meet the public interest in good protection of the land against fire, in- sects, and disease outbreaks, protect the watershed values, insure sustained yield and a steady employment, open lands to recreational use by the public, and spread economic opportunity. The points are taken up one by one. 268 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 Large private-forest holders in the North appreciate the importance of good fire control and support State efforts to this end. A few have their own fire-control organizations. The critical 1947 fire season in Maine caused staggering losses in organized towns in southern Maine, where pro- tection was under the supervision of local fire wardens. Lacking specific authority, and without time to organize the towns, the forest commissioner could give only limited help. When an appeal was made to him, he augmented local forces and helped bring in Fed- eral aid. At the same time, the State organization protected all unorganized towns in northern Maine and losses were insignificant. Large landowners who had insisted on a good protective system deserve some of the credit for the efficient performance where the State was free to act. Control of forest-insect pests and diseases has been largely a public func- tion, but private landowners have cooperated by making their lands available for experimental use and by supporting public agencies in their control program. The large forest holdings furnish relatively good watershed and soil pro- tection. Throughout the North, fire control is one of the most effective methods of reducing flood runoff and protecting the soil. Local damage due to heavy cutting, downhill skidding, and mountain roads has resulted in erosion and some watershed deteriora- tion, but that is a local rather than widespread condition. More critical is clear cutting that results in serious frost damage. Such damage is not uncommon in the Alle- gheny plateau, sections of the Adiron- dacks, and other regions where clear cutting may expose land surfaces that are subject to poor air drainage. Once all the timber cover is removed, a frost pocket develops that may persist for decades before a forest cover can be reestablished. Weather records taken in frost pockets show that they are defi- nitely cooler than surrounding lands on TOTAL AREA OF LARGE FOREST HOLDINGS IN THE NORTH AND AVERAGE PERCENT- AGE OF FOREST LAND BURNED EACH YEAR, BY STATES, 1941-45. DATA ARE BASED ON REAPPRAISAL OF THE FOREST SITUATION, 1946 Total Land in forest area large burned State holdings annually Acres Percent Kentucky 197, 033 1. 20 Maine 8,618,092 .10 Michigan 2,371,353 .10 Minnesota 335, 128 . 2O Missouri 319,000 2. IO New Hampshire 484,689 .24 New York 888,310 .20 Pennsylvania 104, 407 . 49 Vermont 278, 254 . 05 West Virginia 445,672 1.40 Wisconsin 579, 743 . 06 Total. 14,621,681 clear nights when heat loss through earth radiation is rapid. A number of large holdings are op- erated on an extensive sustained-yield basis. Sustained yield often is followed where cutting standards are far from the best that might be used, although companies that practice poor silvicul- ture obviously are obliged to own and protect more land than they otherwise would require. Community sustained yield is a strong objective of pulp and paper companies that must protect large investments. It is also the ob- jective of the Goodman Lumber Company, the Luther and Watson managements, and the Western Mary- land Railway. Relatively little progress has been made, however, toward building up community, county, and State sus- tained-yield forestry throughout the North. Beginnings are being made in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Wis- consin. Industries have taken the lead over public agencies in sponsoring such programs. Integrated sustained use of all products of the forest should be the objective, and vastly greater Large Private Holdings in the North 269 public leadership should be directed toward that end. Most large private holdings in the North are open to public fishing, hunt- ing, trapping, and camping. A property in the Pocono region of Pennsylvania is operated jointly for timber, fishing, hunting, and recreation. The owner of the 2,500-acre property has fenced it against trespass; he stocks the streams for fishing, and furnishes special hunt- ing privileges to guests at his lodge. He operates his own sawmill and cuts enough timber to supply the needs of his resort and offers some timber for sale. It is one of the few forests oper- ated by a forester to return income from each resource the property af- fords. A similar property in the Gat- skills is managed as a recreational area tributary to a large resort hotel. The timber is cut on a sustained-yield basis and the wood used primarily for fuel for the furnaces and fireplaces of the hotel. Some of the owners in the Adiron- dacks are leasing hunting and trapping rights to game clubs and other sports- men. The public generally opposes restrictions on hunting on large pri- vate properties lest the poor man be excluded. Many large companies ap- preciate that viewpoint, and have al- lowed use of their lands for recreation. Many require permits so they can reg- ulate use to some extent, but most impose no restrictions. Perhaps, as pressure of population and hunting in- crease, more and more owners of large holdings will lease hunting and trap- ping rights. Cherished by all Americans is the belief that our country is a land in which the energetic man with limited resources can build his own independ- ent business enterprise. The rise of giant corporations in recent decades has restricted the fields of endeavor open to small business. The forest- products industries have occupied a big position in our small-business economy in the past. Has concentration of forest ownership in the North adversely af- fected opportunities for small business? Pulp and paper companies, to be sure, have acquired large holdings, but of the 1 70 million acres of commercial forest land in the North, large ownerships control but 15 million acres, 9 percent. Ample opportunity still exists for anyone so minded to acquire and man- age his own forest property, provided he have modest capital resources at his command. To the extent that large holdings stabilize industries and mar- ket outlets, the small owner is favorably served by their existence. Moreover, the policies of many large holders is to encourage good practice on the nearby lands. Large owners, as a rule, seek full development and use of their property, thereby expanding rather than restricting economic opportunity. Of course, to the extent that they con- done poor cutting practices in their own lands and on the lands of others that they operate, resources to support additional forest industries are thereby diminished. SPECIAL PROBLEMS beset private owners of forests — taxes, fluctuating or inadequate markets, and depleted forests, among them. The general property tax unques- tionably works heavy hardship on some owners. Sometimes taxes are so high they absorb all income from the property in the form of timber growth. Rarely is the property tax adjusted to the income that might be expected from the land. Paul E. Malone, in a study of forest taxation in Hancock County, Maine, found that small prop- erties tend to be taxed at a higher rate an acre than large properties; improve- ments on the land show a low rate of increase in tax with increase in value; assessment practices and local tax rates vary widely so that little relationship exists between timber yield and the tax. In three towns in Hancock County, Maine, taxes per acre varied thus: Area 1 to 9 More than acres 1}000 acres Amherst $0. 10 $0. 09 Eastbrook .21 .11 Franklin .49 .08 270 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 CHARACTER OF TIMBER CUTTING PRACTICES ON LARGE PRIVATE HOLDINGS IN THE NORTH. DATA ARE BASED ON REAPPRAISAL OF THE FOREST SITUATION, 1946 Acreage in properties being cut under practices that Ownership class Land owned Good Fair Poor Acres Percent Percent Percent Family and investment Pulp companies Lumber, veneer, and cooperage companies Mining companies (coal) Mining companies (iron) Other.. Total 14, 685, 681 3,444.047 7.625,932 2,015,315 10 9 8 74 76 23 6 i6 15 69 Q4. 932, 682 114,000 5 64 IOO 62 29 Few assessors make any attempt to adjust the assessment with changes in soil productivity or changes in the de- gree of timber stocking. These two differences alone determine whether a property can return income. In all or- ganized towns of Maine, property taxes on forest land are considered to be so high as to preclude large timber hold- ings. Consequently, few of the large timberland holders own any appreci- able acreage in the organized towns. Several States, among them Minne- sota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and New York, have adopted forest-crop laws that enable the landowner to defer the major part of his current tax and to pay the rest by yield tax when the tim- ber is harvested. The total land area in the North under such classification probably does not exceed a million acres. In New York, only two large properties, the Luther property and the Fisher property, are under the yield-tax law. The Goodman property is a large one in Wisconsin under such a law. The fact that these laws have not been more widely used is an in- dication that many owners do not find the forest property tax too burdensome. The laws may act as a deterrent to ex- cessive valuation by assessment officers. The inheritance tax is a handicap to individual owners, especially when most of their capital is tied up in the standing timber on their land. When a private-forest owner builds up a val- uable sustained-yield property, he nat- urally would like to have the property continued and would like his heirs to enjoy the benefits from it. An inherit- ance tax, which must be met in a single payment, can wreck such holdings. Distributing the period over which such payments may be made to 10 years or longer would enable a large number of such properties to be main- tained. State and Federal Govern- ments might well give consideration as to how this particular problem can be met. The Federal income-tax law defi- nitely favors the forest owner by mak- ing it possible for him to list timber harvested as a long-term capital gain. In this way his tax on timber growth need never exceed 25 percent however high his tax may be on current income. Few timberland owners appear to ap- preciate the investment opportunities such a tax law affords. Another handicap is the relative lack of skilled woods workers, particularly workmen who will cut conservatively. Operators have sometimes been ob- liged to abandon conservative cutting methods because the wood choppers refused to cut trees on a selective basis. Cutters have refused to cut selectively (even though their own income on a piece-work basis would be higher if they did so) until they were given con- vincing demonstrations. Intensive training is needed to increase the Large Private Holdings in the North 271 worker's efficiency and his safety. The accident rate in logging and lumber- ing is high, but good safety programs and proper training can reduce the rate. Training in safety will pay worker and operator. In certain States, notably New York, workmen's compensation insurance is considered a serious deterrent to good forest practices. The rate is about 14 percent of the pay roll; for those that have a serious accident, it is 37 per- cent. Obviously, operators who are obliged to pay that big a part of their pay roll in insurance are under an ex- treme handicap in all their work. Re- cently several adjustments have been made to reduce the burden, but cor- rection can come only with accident reduction. Poor growing stock is an outstanding difficulty. It takes time to convert a forest that has been repeatedly high- graded into a valuable timber-produc- ing property. Weed species, defective or valueless trees, and worthless shrubs prevent the establishment of good sec- ond-growth timber on many areas. Even where second growth is well es- tablished, the merchantable stands are often too scattered to permit building up a property that can be managed efficiently. Until well-organized timber properties have a value considerably above their liquidation value, few land- owners will make the effort required to build up high-yielding, well-managed forest properties. Only a few people seem to have the necessary vision and patience to invest their capital in build- ing up such valuable forests. Perhaps the greatest obstacle facing the private timberland owner in the North is disorganized and fluctuating markets. The statement appears para- doxical, because the North consumes far more wood than it grows. But tim- ber depletion has led to a scarcity of dependable wood processors. Many owners are serviced only by small, in- efficient, portable mill owners. Lack- ing experience and capital, they saw boards varying in thickness, realize a poor-grade outturn, improperly pile and season the lumber, and fail to get top prices. They are obliged therefore to buy their logs and stumpage cheaply. Trade channels also are poorly devel- oped. From New York, small-dimen- sion beech is shipped to Wisconsin for processing, and to Massachusetts for furniture squares, wood turnings, and cooperage. Yet New York imports a large amount of wood, and has local use for all that can be grown. Many owners have felt that they must acquire their own processing plants if they are to have a ready market for all prod- ucts of the forest. This is true of at least one of the investment properties in Maine, the Luther forest holding, and others. A NUMBER OF COOPERATIVES have been organized to improve markets. Outstanding is the Otsego Forest Prod- ucts Cooperative Association, which handles logging, milling, seasoning, fin- ishing, and lumber sales, and thereby gains the advantages that accrue from converting stumpage into more readily marketable commodities. A steady market has been maintained during periods when local sawmills hesitated to purchase timber. Other associations, organized on the cooperative principle but with more restricted fields of op- eration, service timberland owners of the section. Their influence on markets is only local, however, and for the North as a whole is minor. They do indicate one possible means of offset- ting uncertain markets, nevertheless. Two other types of associations have been formed to meet the specific marketing difficulties of private tim- berland owners. Gonnwood, with head- quarters in New Haven, Conn., was organized to promote forestry by aid- ing owners in harvesting, marketing, and processing forest products. Any producer of forest products who makes sales through the corporation is a par- ticipating member, and those who have subscribed for stock are voting members. Each voting member has one vote. After setting aside legal re- serves, dividends on stock may be up 272 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 to 6 percent and the remainder of the surplus, if any, is distributed on the basis of patronage. The corporation has successfully developed new mar- kets for Connecticut forest products and thereby has helped owners to sell timber. The company employs its own forester and manager. The manage- ment hopes to obtain exclusive con- tracts with good market outlets, so that it can be in a position to demand good forest practices from persons who use its services. Sustained yield is ad- vocated. In 1947, the corporation handled more than $70,000 worth of business for its members. THE NEW ENGLAND FORESTRY FOUNDATION, with headquarters in Boston, represents another effort to get private forests under management. It is a nonprofit corporation set up to give complete forestry service to woodland owners at cost. Work is conducted through management centers, each in charge of a trained forester. Forestry, crews are organized and trained to work as private operators under con- tract on the lands of its clients. These crews, called forestry companies, do all kinds of silvicultural work as well as logging. All operations are under the direct supervision of a management forester. The foundation now has six man- agement centers in three States, eight full-time foresters, and three crews. It has more than 70,000 acres under management, which contain well above a million dollars worth of stumpage. The organization is still in the forma- tive stage, and must raise funds pri- vately for training foresters and for the overhead of organizing centers. It estimates that it will be completely self-supporting when it has 20 or 25 centers. Both organizations and several co- operatives have tried to fill the gap that exists between what is feasible to do on the land and what operators are willing to do. None is organized primarily to make money for the stock- holders or for timber processors; their task, rather, is to promote good mar- kets and, through them, good forestry. THE TREE-FARM MOVEMENT, under the leadership of the American Forest Products Industries and the State for- estry organizations, is getting started. Wisconsin has seven tree farms that cover 420,476 acres. Called industrial forests, they include some of the best and most intensively managed forests in the country. Among them are those of the Goodman Lumber Company, Nekoosa-Edwards Company, and the National Container Corporation. Agencies in Michigan and Minne- sota are interested in joining this tree- growing endeavor. In the Central States, Ohio has eight tree farms that total 1,563 acres. In Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and In- diana, arrangements are being made to undertake the program. In the East, Pennsylvania (with 11 units and 1,563 acres) and New Jersey (with 7 units and 9,151 acres) have tree farms in operation. West Virginia and Massachusetts started tree-farm projects in 1948. SEVERAL ADVANTAGES can be listed as reasons why the northern section offers opportunities for forestry: 1. The wide variety of species that possess high technical qualities, among them the valuable hardwoods like yel- low birch, black cherry, black walnut, white ash, yellow-poplar, sugar maple. 2. Some of the best softwood trees to be found anywhere in the United States — white pine, white spruce, red spruce, black spruce, red pine, and the less- valuable but prolific jack pine, Virginia pine, shortleaf pine, balsam fir, and hemlock. 3. An intensively industrialized sec- tion, which offers potential markets for all types and sizes of forest products. 4. A climate conducive to good for- est management, and fire-control or- ganizations that have good records. 5. Accessible forest land. Except in northern Maine and the Adirondacks, most of the northern forest land has Large Private Holdings in the North good primary and secondary roads; a high percentage of the timber that is grown can be marketed. 6. Land values in keeping with pro- ductivity. Probably forest land is as reasonably priced now in the North as in any other section of the country; it is possible therefore for owners seri- ously interested in undertaking inten- sive forestry to purchase forest lands at prices that are not excessive, in view of the income that may be expected. 7. Manageable insect and disease problems. The North has had several devastating attacks by forest-insect pests and diseases — the chestnut blight, the spruce budworm, larch sawfly, Le- Conte sawfly, forest tent caterpillar, white pine blister rust, gypsy moth, beech scale, birch dieback, white-pine weevil, and others. Only the chestnut blight has eliminated a species, and even in that case forest recovery was rapid through quick expansion of asso- ciated forest trees. Modern control techniques and good management can keep losses moderate, and easy access permits salvaging of damaged timber. 8. Forests that respond rapidly to good management. Only foresters of long experience in managing a specific forest area can fully appreciate the point. An outstanding example is the Pack Demonstration Forest at War- rensburg, N. Y. — a property built up of abandoned farms. For more than 20 years the forest has largely paid its own way through receipts from timber harvested and processed. Capital val- ues in terms of stumpage meanwhile have been accruing annually at the rate of $2 an acre. The property now supports one family for each 200 acres of land, with only one-half the growth being harvested. Agriculture in much of New York can do little better. 9. High prices for timber. On record are prices for ash and oak stumpage as high as $35 and $65 a thousand board feet; white oak of stave quality has brought $100. The ordinary run of timber in the North normally sells for higher prices than comparable quali- ties in the West and South. 802062°— 49 19 273 THE OUTLOOK for private forestry in the North appears bright, considering the progress of the past 10 or 15 years. Forest lands are gradually being con- solidated into stronger and more per- manent hands. Pulp and paper com- panies particularly are taking over large areas of the valuable timber- growing land tributary to their mills. A few progressive lumber companies and some private foresters and invest- ors have undertaken intensive forestry programs on lands they hold. Fores- ters are achieving places of high prominence in the timber-operating companies of the North and they are encouraging their companies to prac- tice good forestry on the land they own and on lands near their operations. Difficulties exist, to be sure. Progress has not all been permanent. Com- panies and private individuals that started out bravely on a good forest program have abandoned it for one reason or another and have reverted to the indifferent practices of the past. The number of new operators that are taking up forestry, however, exceeds those that are dropping out. The movement is in the right direction. High-quality timber is scarce through- out the North. Operators pay high prices for it. The increased importance of veneers, wood turnings, and other novelty products that bring high prices and yet can be made from timber in relatively small sizes has improved po- tential market outlets for managed forests. Markets for pole-sized timber such as would be taken out in thin- nings and for low-grade hardwoods that should be removed in improve- ment cuttings remain spotty. Until these can be stabilized in each im- portant timber-producing locality, for- estry is not on a secure basis. The trends in forest-land ownership may or may not be considered desir- able. Gradually forest land is drifting into the hands of large owners, pri- marily pulp and paper companies. A large volume of timber still exists in the hands of farmers and other small owners. These lands are mostly too 274 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 scattered for a large holder to consoli- date them for profitable management. Disorganized markets, difficulties in selling to responsible operators, heavy taxes, and workmen's compensation in- surance militate against a small tim- berland owner in the North. Equally difficult is the lack of good-quality growing stock on the land. The public has already taken many steps to encourage better forest prac- tice in the North. Good fire control, forest tax laws, service to private own- ers in forest management and market- ing have been introduced by many States. These have been supplemented by the educational and service pro- grams promoted by the Federal Gov- ernment through State foresters and extension foresters. Research aimed at helping private owners is being ex- tended and broadened. Yet the public needs to go further than it has to en- courage full development. A few pioneers, such as Luther and Watson, are doing outstanding work. More should be encouraged and the difficulties that beset them minimized. It is most important that outstand- ing leaders in the North recognize the problems they must face. They are tak- ing progressive steps to meet them. The progressive thinking that has led to State forest practice acts, to State aid in management and marketing, and to starting organizations such as Conn- wood, the New England Forestry Foun- dation, and programs of experimental and demonstration forests is perhaps the best guarantee of a bright future for private forestry in the North. HARDY L. SHIRLEY is assistant dean, the New York State College of For- estry at Syracuse University. The following furnished material for his article: Herman Work and W. R. Gingerich, West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company; James G. McClellan, American Forest Products Industries, Inc.; Harris A. Reynolds, New Eng- land Forestry Foundation; Ralph C. Hawley, Connwood, Inc.; Russell Wat- son, Manistique, Mich.; F. G. Kilp, Nekoosa-Edwards Paper Company; Karl A. Swenning, Hollingsworth and Whitney Company; C. S. Herr, Brown Company; William Hilton, Great Northern Paper Company; Robert Lyman, formerly with the Gray Chemi- cal Company; George T. Carlisle, Prentiss and Carlisle Company, Inc.; George C. Sawyer, Houlton, Maine; David H. Hanaburgh, consulting for- ester, Buchanan, N. Y.; Lyman A. Bee- man, Finch Pruyn Paper Company; C. O. Brown, International Paper Company; L. ]. Freedman, Penobscot Development Company; R. B. Good- man, Goodman Lumber Company; D. B. Demeritt, Dead River Company; E. O. Ehrhart, Armstrong Forest Com- pany; T. F. Luther, The Luther For- est; D. B. Bonebreak, Pocahontas Land Corporation; E. B. Moore, New Jersey Department of Conservation; Harold Round, Pennsylvania Railroad; A. A. Maxwell, Ruberoid Company; George Amidon, Minnesota and Ontario Paper Company; and E. B. Hurst, Consoli- dated Water Power and Paper Co. A blazed tree on an old military trail in Coeur d'Alene National Forest, Idaho. 275 PRIVATE FORESTRY IN THE WEST CHAS. L. TEBBE, H. J. ANDREWS One-third of all existing saw timber in the United States is in the western half of Oregon and Washington. The entire West, with only one-fourth of the commercial forest land, supports two-thirds of the saw-timber volume. Some of the implications are at once apparent. First of all is the growing dependence on the West for national requirements of forest products. Western lumber production has increased nearly 50 percent since 1938. The number of sawmills has more than doubled. Pulp- mill capacities are being expanded. Hitherto inaccessible areas are being operated. The country is getting its quality products in increasing amount from the virgin old-growth timber of the West. Heretofore the East has provided the bulk of the national production ( 55 to 60 percent since 1929) , but it has done that at the expense of its growing stock, and the size of the timber harvested has steadily declined. The cutting and management prac- tices used in harvesting the old-growth timber in the West must be such as to insure that a new crop of trees will be grown to replace the old forest after it is cut. Responsibility for continued pro- ductivity is shared by Federal, State, and county governments and private owners, because all of them own or con- trol timberland. Nearly 40 percent of western commercial forest land and timber, however, is in private hands. Generally speaking, this includes the best and most accessible timber and the most productive sites. It is also the scene of the greatest logging activity. About 72 percent of the 14 billion feet produced in the West in 1946 came from private lands. The kind of for- estry practiced there during the initial cutting will determine in large meas- ure the character, the scale, and the value of the contribution western tim- berlands can make in the future. THE FIRST MAJOR REQUIREMENT that must be met if we are to achieve sustained yield is to have a sufficient quantity of merchantable second- growth timber available to fill our needs by the time the virgin forests have been cut. That means we must keep the cut-over lands fully produc- tive and budget the cut of old growth so that the timber supply in an area will not be exhausted before a new crop of trees has grown to usable size. If it takes 100 years for trees to at- tain sawlog size, it is obvious that an owner must not remove more than one- hundredth of his timber inventory each year; otherwise there will come a time when sustained yield will be dis- rupted. For example, if he clear-cuts his entire forest property at the rate of one-fiftieth of his supply, at the end of 50 years he will have no trees older than 50 years; if he uses the individ- ual-tree selection system, the reserved trees will have to be cut before they have had time to put on enough growth to offset the amount cut. Each year the owner will be decreasing his capital instead of operating on the interest. Gutting practices that will maintain productivity of forest land are a second prerequisite to sustained yield and to stabilized industry and communities. Many years of research and experience have defined cutting practices for most timber types. They are relatively easy to put into practice, especially in the well-stocked stands in the West. A little effort before logging and during log- ging will save more young trees and insure more prompt regeneration than will many times the effort expended in planting or other rehabilitation meas- ures taken after a destructive logging operation. 276 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 Finally, if we are going to grow trees and manage forests, we must protect them from fire, insects, disease. Of the three requirements, volume control, to insure continuity of pro- duction, is now the greatest problem. In large measure the pattern is already set, for, despite the shorter history and large timber inventory of the West, the forest-products industry here is by no means in its infancy. Development of private lands has been rapid. The largest sawmills in the world are here. In Oregon and Washington, 1,200 sawmills annually produce as much lumber as do 37,000 sawmills in the East and South. Amortization of large-plant investments usually neces- sitates a large annual production. Even where this is not the case, a mill that is designed to turn out 100, 200, or 300 thousand feet of lumber each day cannot be operated economically on much less. When a plant or group of plants is once installed, therefore, tim- ber requirements become inflexible, except within narrow limits. If the ag- gregate plant capacity is not geared to the capacity of the tributary land to grow timber, an excessive rate of cutting, ultimate timber shortage, and curtailed production are inevitable. Excess installed capacity was the fault most commonly committed in the early days by many of the older plants. More important for the future is the character of plant installation now being made in hitherto undeveloped areas, in southwest Oregon and north- west California, for example. If, somehow, the lessons learned from experience were brought to bear on the pattern of mill installation in the new areas, volume control, sustained yield, and stabilized communities and pay rolls would be assured. But that does not appear to be in prospect. We are in a fair way to repeat the mistake that led to transitory sawmills elsewhere. An illustration is in Lane County, Oreg., where the wealth of timber was so great that the sustained-yield ca- pacity was estimated a few years ago at 832 million board feet annually. In 1938 some 86 sawmills consumed about 376 million board feet of logs, a moderate cut in view of the allowable cut under sustained yield. By 1943 the number of plants had increased to 128, and they consumed 879 million board feet of logs, somewhat more than the sustained-yield limitations. In 1944 the cut was 875 million feet; in 1946, 204 mills cut 955 million feet of timber. In other areas also the pressures to overdevelop are tremendous. Commu- nities want to grow; usually they wel- come all mills that can possibly get a foothold in the territory. Nearly al- ways small holdings are available for purchase, and afford new operators a chance to start. New plants go up m the expectation of getting more private and Government timber, and before long the cutting exceeds the sustained- yield capacity. In the absence of control over the volume of timber cut, everything pos- sible should be done to minimize the shock of the impending timber short- age and to shorten its duration. Every- thing depends then on keeping lands fully productive and on adopting good practices in cutting and utilization. Of the 12 Western States, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and New Mexico have regulatory laws govern- ing cutting practices on private lands. The laws vary in regard to forestry re- quirements and administration. They are more effective in some States than in others, and within States the require- ments in some timber types are more satisfactory from the standpoint of as- suring continued productivity than in other timber types. They establish minimum requirements — a floor below which operators may not go. They do not assure sustained yield. It takes vol- ume control as well as good cutting practices to do that. A maximum for- est productivity can only result from more intensive practices, which de- pend, to a large extent, on individual private initiative. Notable progress has been made, but universal adoption of the best cutting practices is hampered by several factors. Private Forestry in the West 277 Probably the basic explanation is no different here than it is elsewhere — the adoption of forestry practices means a break with the traditional way of doing things. But a few factors are peculiar to the West: Western forest properties are characteristically moun- tainous and relatively inaccessible, larger, uninhabited, and valuable chiefly for growing trees. Usually the properties are owned by the opera- tors— mill operators or logging con- tractors. The timber in the virgin forest is large, heavy equipment is required, and roads that cost $20,000 or more a mile sometimes must be built and maintained to move the timber. Such are the factors that have discour- aged frequent returns to an area to make successive light cuts, to salvage dying trees, to recover the values in trees left for seed. The tendency has been to remove all possible value and volume at the time of the first cut (in order to reduce the fixed per-acre cost to a minimum) and be done with the area indefinitely. Another difficulty stems from the fact that most operators do not own sufficient timber for the plants whose amortization and inflexible log require- ments dictate high-level production. They cannot or will not curtail the cut sufficiently to prolong their life until their own and the neighboring cut-over lands produce another forest of usable size. If that were done, then the proper cutting practices, the leaving of enough reserve stands, and other forestry measures would be matters of immedi- ate self-interest. A survey in 1945 attempted to ap- praise the treatment that was accorded all forest land then being operated. If it were repeated now, it would doubt- less show improvement, but in 1945 the results left little doubt as to the urgency of the need for better forestry prac- tices. Five ratings were used: High order, good, fair, poor, and destruc- tive. In each instance, the basis of rat- ings was productivity of the land after cutting. A high-order rating required the best type of cutting to assure quan- tity and quality yields consistent with the full productive capacity of the land. A destructive rating was applied to land without timber values and with- out means for natural reproduction. The cutting practices on all western private timberlands rated good and better on 5 percent of the 28,340,000 acres; fair on 34 percent; poor on 50 percent ; and destructive on 1 1 percent. Under the rating system that was used, the 39 percent of operating area rated at least fair was a measure of definite accomplishment. It indicated that much of the area received forestry treatment about as intensive as was practicable, considering current eco- nomic feasibility. But because the criterion was productivity of the land after cutting, regardless of economic or other conditions, the fact that 61 percent of the cutting was in poor or destructive classifications was indica- tive of the job ahead. SIGNS OF PROGRESS, however, are at hand. Western operators have dealt successfully with the problems of har- vesting big timber in inaccessible coun- try far from market. They have forged ahead in the development of superb plants and facilities. Logging tractors, heavy-duty logging trucks, and road- building machinery have set the pace for other sections of the country. In the mills that account for most of the production, precision equipment and perfection of manufacturing processes produce products of high quality. Efficiency of operation enables west- ern operators to compete in eastern markets despite the higher wage and freight rates. Also, there is a growing conscious- ness of the need for forestry and of the opportunities in that field. Only a few years ago forestry and its termi- nology were the stock in trade of a few professional foresters. Now nearly every logger knows about forestry. In 1947 some 212 foresters were em- ployed by the private timber companies in the Douglas-fir region; 44 private consulting forestry firms employed 75 278 Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 foresters, who worked with companies sibilities is the integration of the forest- that did not have their own profes- products industry— the installation of a variety of wood-using plants in con- junction with the ordinary single-pur- sawmill. The availability of not have their own sional help; more than 130 foresters were employed by the lumber industry in California, and a smaller but growing number of foresters worked in Idaho and other Western States. Another indicator of better days ahead is the belated but nonetheless remarkable increase in many parts of the West in the selling price of young timber and reproducing lands. Only a few years ago such land was accorded little or no value. Hundreds of thou- sands of acres of it reverted to the States and counties for taxes. Whether bare or well stocked with reproduction or poles, it all brought the same price, practically nothing. So, owners were denied the incentive they might have had to keep their lands productive. Now that has changed. Many a tract that was abandoned for taxes has since been bought back (frequently by the original owner) for $4 to $12 or more an acre. Protection against fire is being im- proved through Federal, State, and private cooperation. Almost all pri- vate forest land in the Western States is now under protection. While serious losses continue to be sustained, size and frequency of fires have been reduced. Many lumber and pulp and paper companies are augmenting their hold- ings and are consolidating ownerships. They are buying virgin timber to pro- long their life in old-growth timber and delay the day of their dependence on second growth. They are buying second-growth timber and reproducing lands to increase ultimate growth and to improve their distribution of age classes. This large-scale purchase of reproducing land is one of the best in- dications of the serious intent of some operators to practice forestry and to stay in business permanently. A parallel movement is the growth and development of tree farming. The first tree farm was established in the West in 1941. It was the forerunner of what has become a national program. A new development with great pos- pose sawmill, me avaiiaointy 01 a sawmill to use sawlogs, a veneer plant for peeler logs, a pulp plant for pulp species, fiberboard mills, pressed-log plants, bark-conversion plants, and others to utilize waste, in an integrated type of industry, gives the forest man- ager an outlet for all that the forest grows. There is less compulsion to di- rect the plans and cutting of the woods department to conform to the par- ticular sizes, grades, and species of lum- ber that are in big demand at the time. The forest manager can cut the trees and the areas that need to be cut for silvicultural reasons. Each product of the forest is put to its highest use, with resultant wider margins and increased funds with which to intensify forest practices. In at least one instance both the raw material and the various utili- zation processes are in one ownership. In others a single timber property sup- plies plants of diversified ownership. GHAS. L. TEBBE is director of the Northern Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. He entered the Forest Service in 1934 and became assistant regional forester of the North Pacific Region in 1940. After gradua- tion in forestry from the University of California, he worked for a number of years in western forest industry and spent 2 years developing large forest properties in the Philippine Islands. H. J. ANDREWS has worked in the North Pacific Region of the Forest Service for 11 years, first as assistant regional forester and since 1943 as re- gional forester. He was in charge of forest surveys conducted by the Pacific Northwest Forest Experiment Station from 1930 to 1938. Mr. Andrews has been employed by lumber companies in the South, by the Michigan Depart- ment of Conservation, and as a mem- ber of the forest school faculties of the University of Michigan and Iowa State College. 279 FORESTRY ON LARGE OWNERSHIPS IN THE SOUTH J. HERBERT STONE, CHARLES F. EVANS, W. R. HINE In few places and in few times has interest in growing trees as a commer- cial crop been greater than it is now among the owners of large private for- ests in the South. The reasons for this upsurge are many. So are the evidences of it. Pulp companies, sawmill owners, investment corporations, and the larger woodland owners are aware that trees have great market value. Prices obtained are high and supplies are limited. Public forests have demonstrated over and over that timber is a crop that grows. Many for- est industries are placing their holdings under good forest management; in- stead of trying to sell cut-over land, they are buying additional areas of forest land; they are teaching forest management to their employees and to small owners from whom they buy for- est products. Businessmen in the other fields, educators, legislators, and lead- ers in thought and action generally are taking an interest in the movement; they also have learned that timber is one of the South's great resources. Between the Potomac and the Gulf of Mexico, from the Atlantic to the prairies of Texas and Oklahoma are 183 million acres of forest and potential forest land — 40 percent of the com- mercial forest land of the country. Soil and climate, except in limited areas, are favorable for tree growth. FOUR MAJOR TOPOGRAPHIC REGIONS are recognized: The mountains, the Piedmont, the Coastal Plains, and the Delta. In the mountains, the forests are made up principally of hardwood trees, oaks, yellow-poplar, cherry, and others. The white pine and hemlock occur, mixed with the better hard- woods in the moist coves. Spruce grows on some of the higher, colder ridges. Shortleaf pine and some other pines mix with the hardwood species on the lower mountain slopes. Rainfall ranges from 60 to 100 inches a year. The rough and steep topography makes for difficult and expensive logging. A substantial part of the mountain forest area is in public ownership, ac- quired for the purpose of controlling the rain and snow that fall on the head- waters of the navigable streams. Some large areas remain in private owner- ship. The rest is in small ownerships, strips of forest land running from the crop and pasture land in the valley up the slope to the ridge. Relatively slow growth and higher costs of logging make the mountain region a little less attractive to private forest enterprise than the other regions. The Piedmont forests are a mixture of southern pines and upland hard- woods. The more prolific light-seeded pines have reclaimed large areas aban- doned by agriculture. At one time or another, 90 percent of the Piedmont has been under cultivation. Hard- woods, however, come in under the pines, and often with or without the help of man, reclaim the area. Therein lies one of the most difficult problems. Rainfall in the Piedmont averages about 60 inches annually. The topog- raphy is rolling; logging is relatively easy and inexpensive. The heavy rain- fall, frequently in severe downpours, and an credible soil, require especial care in locating log and skid roads and drainage to avoid soil depletion and damage to the water resource. Forest holdings in the Piedmont are mostly small and held as part of the farm. On the Coastal Plains, forests are predominantly pine, including the long- leaf, slash, loblolly, and shortleaf. Also included are the bottom-land hard- woods along the many rivers and the cypress and tupelo in the swamps. Rainfall is heavy — usually averag- ing about 60 inches along the Gulf coast but dropping off gradually from 280 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 the Mississippi westward to the treeless prairies. Logging is relatively easy and inexpensive, except in the swamps and deeper river bottoms and except dur- ing periods of prolonged rain. Tree growth is generally rapid. The large private holdings of the South are mostly located in the Coastal Plains along the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, and in the rolling uplands of Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. A warm climate, abund- ant rainfall, and a long growing season assure excellent conditions for both the establishment and growth of trees. Most soils are reasonably well drained and can store water and plant nutri- ents. Throughout the region, trees are the paying crop for 57 percent of the land. With proper attention, this could be one of the most productive timber regions anywhere. The Delta province is that area of fertile flood plain lying along the Mississippi River and stretching from southern Missouri to the Gulf. It em- braces about 32 million acres. The forest is composed largely of hardwood species and growth is rapid. Annual floods are the rule in this area, but the water does not remain on the land long enough to affect adversely growth or the regeneration. The con- dition of annual floods is, however, an obstacle to logging. The logging must be done in the summer and early fall. Some years this period is shortened materially by the summer rains. The heavy, large-sized timber that is ob- tained from the Delta forests requires a heavier and more expensive type of logging equipment than is ordinarily needed in the pine forests of the South. There are wide variations in the fertility of the Delta soils. Many of them, however, are quite fertile and clearing for agriculture has been going on in the past. There may be some ad- ditional clearing in the future for this purpose. However, it seems probable that 40 to 50 percent of the area will remain in forests. Ownerships are medium to large. There are a number of sawmills with ownerships in excess of 50,000 acres. Large farms or plan- tations are more typical of the area than small ownerships, and many of these plantations include forest areas in excess of 1,000 acres. The Delta is a productive timber area and tree crops can be made an increasingly important part of the local economy with good management. From the standpoint of forest prac- tices, it is an area where the forest is least understood by foresters, and yet forests can furnish substantial employ- ment and income to the people and forest products to the Nation. This source of employment looms more im- portant as the mechanization of cot- ton production on the farms increases. FOREST INDUSTRIES are second only to agriculture in their contribution to the economy of the South. With a product estimated to be worth more than 2 billion dollars annually, the in- dustry serves every citizen. It provides nearly every owner, large or small, with a market for forest products. Wood cutters, truck drivers, railroad men, sawmill hands, and many others earn wages handling forest products. The butcher, the banker, and the doc- tor serve the people who handle the forest products. In nearly every com- munity, operating units of the forest industry employ workers, buy prod- ucts, pay taxes. The contribution is so general and so long-continued that most people assume it will always be with us, not realizing that the timber resources on which this vast industry depends might play out. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, the South felt the effect of the Nation's expansion. Large mills were constructed. They mowed down the virgin timber on a liquidation basis. The financial arrangements of that day were predicated on the rapid and the complete removal of the standing trees; the concept of timber as a crop was neither understood nor accepted by the industry. Gradually, the original stands were cut over and, by 1935, the virgin timber had been cut. Forestry on Large Ownerships in the South 281 Hundreds of big mills had to quit. Smaller mills that cut smaller trees and required less volume a day took over. They cut the remnants and the second growth that had reached merchantable size since the first operation. In 1944, we still had 18,000 sawmills, which cut 12.6 billion board feet, or 38 percent of the country's lumber for that year. Most of them are quite small. Eighty- two percent of the mills produce less than 1 million board feet a year, 16 percent produce 1 to 5 million, 2 per- cent produce 5 million or more. The sawmill industry brings in l*/2 billion dollars of the South's total income. The gum naval stores is one of the oldest industries. At its peak in 1908—9, it produced nearly 2 million drums of gum rosin; in 1946—47, about a third that much was produced because other sources of turpentine and rosin had been developed through destructive distillation of longleaf pine stumps and the recovery from pulp-mill wastes. The pulp industry is our newest large forest industry. The first permanent pulp mill in the South was built by the Carolina Fibre Co. at Hartsville, S. C., in 1891. Growth of the industry was slow until the early 1930's but has been rapid for the past 15 years. Today, one-half the pulp and one-third of the paper of the United States is produced in the South. Some 50 mills utilize 8 million cords of wood annually. The industry is still expanding. Thus far, the industry has concen- trated on production of kraft paper. The difficulty of obtaining pulp and the pulpwood for the manufacture of paper for newsprint and other light- colored papers, however, is causing the industry to consider the South's possi- bilities in those fields also. The first newsprint mill in the South, built by the Southland Paper Co. at Lufkin, Tex., started production in 1940. A second mill was started in 1948. The pulp and paper industry has stimulated business in the South. Com- munities where pulp mills have been built have prospered. The industry has invested more than a billion dollars and manufactures products that add 500 million dollars to the income of the region. An estimated 100,000 persons are employed directly in the produc- tion, transportation, and manufacture of wood pulp. Many other products are obtained from the forests and form an important part of the raw material for the forest industry — poles, piling, cross ties, fence posts, fuel wood, pipe bowls, handles, and furniture among them. Each is im- portant : Fuel wood is the only heating material available to millions of south- erners, and is especially important to many tobacco farmers, who use it to cure tobacco. More oil is being used for heating, but the trend may be halted by limitations in the oil supply and through improvements in wood- burning equipment. Mines must have wood props. Electric companies must have wooden poles. Railroads must have wooden cross ties. Chemistry is transforming wood into clothing, cattle feed, plastics, and many other new products. All point up the fact that the welfare of the cities of the South is closely keyed to the proper manage- ment of the timber resource; more wood products mean more industry, more industry means more pay rolls, more pay rolls mean more business for the cities. FOREST LANDS in the South require protection from uncontrolled fire. They should be so managed that succeeding cuts of forest products will maintain and build up the growing stock of trees for the production of continuous crops of forest products. A survey in 1945, made by State and Federal foresters, shows how the forest lands are being protected and managed. On large own- erships (holdings of more than 5,000 acres ) , fire protection was rated as ade- quate on 38 percent and inadequate or nonexistent on the rest; cutting prac- tices were considered good on 32 per- cent, fair on 26 percent, and poor on 42 percent. On holdings of fewer than 5,000 acres, fire protection was rated as adequate on 42 percent and inade- 282 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 quate on the rest; cutting practices were good on 2 percent, only fair on 24 percent, and poor on 74 percent. Although large holdings as a rule are more exposed to fire and the fires that start there are not so easily controlled, the owners of large holdings are doing about as well as the owners of small holdings in controlling fires. Large holdings likewise show a substantially better job in harvesting practices than the small private holdings. Less than 25 years ago, thousands of forest fires annually burned millions of acres in the South. The risk of losing the accumulated growth of many years through a single fire kept prudent men from attempting to practice forest management. But with Federal and State help, under the Weeks Law and later under the Clarke-McNary Law, protection of the forest lands became feasible, and gradually the larger hold- ings were placed under organized pro- tection under State supervision. Today 80 percent of the larger holdings are under organized protection, although as yet not all are adequately protected. Many of the larger owners, recognizing the need for more intensive protection, have supplemented the States' efforts with extra men, tools, tractors, plows. Seventeen million acres of large pri- vate holdings were rated in 1944 as receiving adequate protection from forest fires. For areas in the loblolly- shortleaf-hardwood type, that means a burn of less than 1 percent annually over a 5-year period. While forest fires remain an ever-present threat, and continue to take a toll in wasted timber growth running into millions of dollars annually, the fire problem has been solved to the point where a large owner is reasonably sure that he can grow a paying forest crop, provided he pays the cost of protection, 5 to 10 cents an acre annually, and carries out the practices now recommended. One-third of the larger owners fol- lowed good cutting practices in 1944 — meaning that the owner selected the trees to be cut from his woods and left trees in adequate number to assure reasonable stocking and improved suc- ceeding stands. More than 3 million acres on large ownerships showed a high order of forest-management prac- tice. The Grossett Lumber Co., of Cros- sett, Ark., illustrates how many owner- ships follow sound cutting practices. The company is now cooperating with the Arkansas Forestry Commission in organized protection of its 500,000 acres under the Clarke-McNary Law. Besides the fire crews and equipment available throughout the regular State organization, the company provides extra crews and equipment, as needed, to the State's chief of fire control. The trees cut from the forest are closely utilized in an integrated set of plants that produce lumber, pulp, chemicals, and lesser products. Nonmerchantable trees are destroyed by girdling or poi- soning. Bare and nonrestocking lands are replanted to trees. Foresters direct all woods operations; a forester is in charge of each block of 50,000 acres. The more than 5 million acres that the pulp companies own in the South are under organized fire control ; more than three-fourths are being cut ac- cording to good or better cutting prac- tices, and the rest is cut so as to assure continuous crops of pulpwood. THE PULP AND PAPER INDUSTRY USCS less than 10 percent of the timber taken from the southern forests ; the demand for wood has already brought the sev- eral pulp companies in competition with each other and with other seg- ments of the forest industry. In order to assure adequate supplies of wood, all pulp companies have acquired a sub- stantial portion of the necessary forest acreage. Some are undoubtedly in a position to grow their needs ; others are not, and the pulp industry as a whole is not. Prices of forest lands have risen materially, and the remaining large blocks of forest land are strongly held. A large part of the forest land, par- ticularly that included in the 61 mil- lion acres of farm ownership, is not available for purchase. Forestry on Large Ownerships in the South 283 Several of the pulp companies are taking steps to bring all their acreage into full production. A new practice is to rid their lands of worthless trees by girdling in order to permit good young trees to grow. The process, which costs generally from $1 to $5 an acre, is less expensive than planting an equal area. The industry planted 19 million trees on fee lands in 1947-48, and furnished 7 million seedlings free to growers of pulpwood. Many companies are plant- ing their idle lands as fast as seedlings can be grown in their own or in State nurseries. An example is the Gaylord Container Corp., which has more than 50,000 acres in plantations. The pulp industry also encourages other private owners to put their forest lands under good management. For ex- ample, the Southern Kraft Division of the International Paper Co. employs in the South many foresters at the pres- ent time, some of whom supervise the cutting and forest-improvement opera- tions on company lands, while the others assist private owners from whom the company buys pulpwood. The Southern Pulpwood Conserva- tion Association, whose membership includes the leading pulp companies of the South, carries on a campaign to promote good forest practice by its member mills and by the owners from whom the industry buys wood. The association employs three foresters to advise and assist pulpwood contractors and small-woodland owners in better cutting practices. Member mills now employ 18 foresters to promote better practices in their own territory. The heavy demand for wood has worked in two ways. The favorable market for pulpwood, small sawlogs, and other small products has shortened the period an owner must wait for his returns and created a market for small trees. On the other hand, the market for such small material has led many owners to cut far more heavily than before. Where the owner does not cut conservatively, the net result is to re- duce his over-all return and to reduce the total volume of wood products. LARGE SAWMILL HOLDINGS are often under conservative forest management. About 90 percent of the holdings are under organized protection from forest fire and about one-half are managed according to good or better cutting practices. The Urania Lumber Co., which in the early 1900Js pioneered in the practice of forestry, has succeeded so well in its management that its mill, instead of cutting out as did many of its contemporaries, must be materially en- larged to harvest its current annual growth. Other examples from all over the South could be cited; altogether, some 8 million acres of forest lands in sawmill ownership were reported as under good or better management in 1945; on several million acres more, practices have improved since 1945. In the Delta hardwoods the Ander- son Tully Lumber Company of Mem- phis owns more than 200,000 acres on which good forestry is being practiced. The company is looking to sustained operation. But the sawmill industry as a whole is not so well off. On one-half of the sawmill ownership in 1945 cutting practice was fair or poor — an inade- quate stand, or perhaps only seedlings and seed trees were left. The sawmill industry draws on the entire South for its timber. The South was obliged to cut 24.9 percent more timber of saw- log size in 1944 than it grew in that year. Standing saw-timber resources have been declining for many years. The sawmill industry and other indus- tries that use trees 9 inches in diameter and larger at 4J/2 feet from the ground face a situation of declining timber supplies. Greater progress than we have thus far made is necessary if we are to continue to hold the industry on its present scale. The naval stores industry likewise is making progress in the practice of bet- ter forest management. Seventy-nine percent of the industry, based on num- ber of working faces, is cooperating under the Naval Stores Conservation Program, which requires conservative chipping practices. Many operators 284 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 have adopted even more progressive measures than are required in the pro- gram and are chipping only a part of the operable stand, leaving some trees to grow to an even larger, more profit- able size. Nonrestocking stands are now being planted. There is a growing recognition of the interdependence of one industry on an- other. Certain pulp companies sell trees of sawlog size to the lumber industry. The lumber industry and the naval stores industry sell thinning and tops to the pulp industry, and the naval stores industry has an opportunity to turpentine a portion of the trees used by both the sawmills and pulp mills prior to harvest. NONFOREST-INDUSTRY OWNERS hold about 40 percent of the forest land in large holdings ; they include investment holdings, mining companies, railroads, oil companies, game clubs, and indi- viduals. Timber growing is a secondary interest for most of them. Ownership there is more likely to change than where the land is held by forest in- dustries. As a result, policies affecting the timber resource vary greatly and, on the whole, the timber resource is less well protected and managed. Even in this group there is progress in forest management. The increasing value of stumpage has brought added returns and established higher values for land. The Tennessee Goal & Iron Co., recognizing an increased value for the mine props and other products used in its mining operations, has had its land under protection and manage- ment for a number of years. The At- lantic Coast Line Railroad recently placed 100,000 acres of land in south Florida under protection and good management. Game clubs have found that, through a reasonable compro- mise, timber can be grown and har- vested on lands devoted primarily to game. Investment companies have fre- quently found that the timber, long overlooked, has managed to produce a crop of real value, one that will re- quire consideration in the future policy of management. Several investment companies have made agreements pro- viding for orderly cutting. THE OUTLOOK for private forestry on large ownerships in the South is bright. Markets for forest products are strong and bid fair to continue so for some years. The South is entering a period of industrial expansion and needs much lumber for construction. The pulp industry, which already pro- duces half the Nation's pulp from southern trees, is still expanding. Makers of furniture also are moving into the South. Not only must the South supply its own needs, it must continue to supply forest products for other users. The South offers good prospects for timber growing as a business. A warm climate, long growing season, and ample rainfall assure excellent growth where soil and drainage are good. The species grown mostly are softwoods, which make up 90 percent of the wood in commerce. Logging is a relatively simple engineering operation and costs are low. The South has a good trans- portation system and the timber is readily accessible to world markets. SOME PROBLEMS must be faced. The first is fire, but we think the day of fire control throughout the South will not long be delayed. State legislatures are increasing the appropriations for the work. Three of 1 2 Southern States have authorized State-wide fire control. Another problem is regeneration of stands. Regeneration through natural seeding is generally well assured if ample seed trees of the right species are left, but over much of the loblolly- shortleaf-hardwood type, less desirable hardwoods often claim the soil after cutting, and tend to exclude the higher- yielding pines. That is especially true in the Piedmont area. Killing through girdling is a practical answer for a part of the region, but in some areas, the best answer has not yet been found. Meanwhile, good hardwoods make a desirable crop. Forestry on Large Ownerships in the South 285 Again, hogs or sheep destroy all re- production over large areas of longleaf pine lands. The problem has now been solved on some areas, with satis- factory returns to the owner, through fencing and planting. Some areas have been so severely cut over as to preclude restocking from the remaining trees. Artificial reforestation with machines now does a satisfactory job at a reasonable cost. Several large owners, as well as many smaller ones, who planted 15 and 20 years ago have already harvested thinnings enough to repay all costs to date and have excel- lent stands for future growth. Perhaps the most universal problem is to increase the stocking of high-qual- ity trees. The timber stands today are second-growth. They have sprung up untended. They are a mixture of trees of good form and trees of poor form; crowded trees and trees with too much space for proper development ; diseased or scarred trees and healthy, uninjured trees. The greatest single task is to im- prove those stands systematically. It will take several cuts over the years. More skilled forest managers are needed. They can help landowners to increase average rates of about 150 board feet an acre a year to 400 board feet an acre on good land. Skilled man- agement can be expected to increase the quality also. While the prospect for improved forest management on large private ownerships is bright, there is no basis for complacency. No large segment of the forest industry owns enough land to supply its own needs for forest prod- ucts. Currently, the South is cutting 25 percent more timber of sawlog size than is being grown. The sawmill in- dustry, with less than 10 percent of the forest land, cannot hope to produce more than a fraction of its timber re- quirements, even if all its holdings were under intensive management. While individual mills or companies may be able to grow their own needs, the forest industry as a whole is de- pendent on the 122 million acres in small private holdings. If the present trend of overcutting and deterioration continues, we may expect a pinching off of the industries using sawlog-size trees. It is possible that the same trend continued may cur- tail operations even for the industries using the smaller-sized trees. Certainly there will be much keener competition. Shortage of timber supplies and un- reasonably high prices for forest prod- ucts will lead to the use of substitutes. Both tend to reduce and curtail the forest industry and its services to the South and the Nation. Large ownerships can serve their own interests and the interests of the areas from which they draw forest products by placing their own holdings under high-order protection and man- agement. Through their work, they can lead others to an appreciation of good forest practices. Second, and per- haps of more significance, they should follow good forestry practices when cutting forest products from the lands of others. Finally, in the interest of as- suring ample supplies of wood as a basic raw material, large-forest owners should support programs of education and service that are designed to help the 1,500,000 owners of the small- woodland tracts on which the industry depends for 75 percent of its raw forest products. J. HERBERT STONE is regional for- ester in charge of Forest Service activ- ities, except research, in the Southern Region. He is a native of Connecticut and holds degrees in forestry from Yale University. CHARLES F. EVANS, a native of Wis- consin, is assistant regional forester in charge of cooperative forestry work in the Southern Region of the Forest Service. Mr. Evans holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin and Yale University. W. R. HINE is in charge of the Divi- sion of Information and Education of the Southern Region of the Forest Service. He is a native of New York and holds a degree in forestry from Cornell University. 286 NAVAL STORES: THE INDUSTRY JAY WARD Naval stores are the derivatives of the crude gum — oleoresin — that comes from living pine trees, pine stumps, and dead lightwood. Some are byprod- ucts from sulfate pulp mills. The term is limited generally to turpentine and rosin, but it can be said to cover pine tar, pine oil, and rosin oils. In the trade, the product from living pine trees is known as gum naval stores; the prod- uct from stumps, lightwood, and pulp mills is called wood naval stores. In Colonial days, gum was cooked down to a thick tar and used to preserve the ropes and calk the seams of the ships — and from that we got the name "naval stores" for the products used now in a hundred ways unconnected with ships. The gum naval stores industry, at its peak in 1908-9, produced 750,000 bar- rels (50 gallons each) of gum spirits of turpentine and 1,998,400 drums of gum rosin (520 pounds net weight each). The United States in normal times sup- plies the world with one-half its needs for turpentine and rosin. Since 1938, the production of gum naval stores has fallen off considerably. The industry in 1947-48 produced 294,028 barrels of turpentine and 828,128 drums of rosin, bringing a total return to the South of 39 million dollars. The naval stores industry is rooted in antiquity. It antedates the Christian era in the Mediterranean countries. Early historians wrote of the process then used: How the natives gathered the resins or gums of the trees in that region and cooked them in open pots until a thick pitch was left in the bot- tom; how they stretched fleecy sheep- skins over the tops of the pots to catch the oily vapors that arose from the boiling gum, and then wrung out the wet fleece to recover the oils ; and how the oils were used in many products, one of which was for varnish for mum- mies. Genesis records that Noah was commanded by the Lord : "Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch." When Columbus discovered Amer- ica, the center of production in Europe extended from Scandinavia through the Baltic countries. From them came quantities of tar and pitch for use by the fleets of wooden sailing vessels of all the European nations. King Phillip of Spain drew from this source for his Spanish Armada. Queen Elizabeth drew from it for her British fleet. One of the basic commodities sought by the Europeans in the New World was a source of naval stores for their ships. Turpentining is one of the oldest and most picturesque of American in- dustries. The production of tar, pitch, rosin, and turpentine started when the first settlers landed on the Atlan- tic coast. The report of Sir Walter Raleigh's first expedition to America in 1584 referred to "the great forests of pine of species unknown to Europe until found in the New World." The report of the second expedition men- tioned once again "the trees that yielded pitch, tar, rosin, and turpen- tine in great store." In 1608 eight Dutchmen were sent to Virginia to make pitch, tar, soap, and rosin. Two years earlier, in 1606, the French were drawing turpentine gum from the trees of Nova Scotia. In The Maine Woods, Thoreau told about the tar burners of New England. One of the earliest acts of the Pilgrim Fathers was to request in 1628 that "men skylful in the making of pitch" be sent to them from England. The Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Col- onies produced great quantities of tar and pitch from their beginning as colonies, as did all the other North Atlantic colonies from Maine to New Jersey. The first tar burners in New England and later on in North Caro- lina used the dead and down wood, or, Naval Stores: The Industry 287 the dead down lightwood, which they found in large quantities in the virgin forests all about them. Colonists began coming in large numbers to North Carolina about 1665, and tar burning, a practice which until then had been a New England monopoly, began to take hold quickly. The new settlers in North Carolina, moreover, soon discovered that the abundant growth of southern yellow, or longleaf, pine was a more prolific source of gum than the pitch pine of New England. By 1700 the production of naval stores was an important part of the economy of North Carolina. As in New England, gum, tar, and pitch became established as accepted media of exchange in the payment of rent and public dues. So important did England consider her source of naval stores in the Col- onies that bounties and premiums were paid to producers to stimulate production and improve the quality of the products. The bounties, which were designed to equalize the heavy freight costs across the Atlantic in competi- tion with the Scandinavian and other European producers, continued to be paid until the beginning of the Revolu- tionary War. In 1728 the British Navi- gation Acts prohibited the Colonies from shipping direct to any foreign country pitch, tar, and the crude gum, along with other specified commodi- ties. The laws required the routing of such commodities through English ports. Measures for the regulation of the industry and for the payment of bounties were introduced by the Royal Governor of North Carolina: In 1735, providing for inspection of the opera- tions; in 1736, prohibiting the en- croachment of tar burners on crown lands; and in 1764, regulating the quality and quantity of all tar, pitch, and turpentine barreled and sold, even requiring the producer's brand on all barrels. When the Colonies became a Nation that was trying to establish itself in world affairs and build up trade with other nations, naval stores had a signifi- cant role in merchant shipping. Naval stores served as a tribute with which we bought partial safety for our vessels on the seas, especially in the Barbary States of North Africa. In 1815 the States, with force, overcame the pirates of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers, and ceased paying the tribute. THE AREA OF PRODUCTION of gum naval stores has shifted through the years. The first change from New Eng- land southward came about when it was found that the longleaf pine trees were better yielders than the pitch pine of New England. In 1850, North Caro- lina and South Carolina accounted for more than 95 percent of the total American production. The Carolinas did not keep up this yield, and in 1947 they accounted for less than half of 1 percent of the total production. The shift was brought about by the clear cutting of the virgin stands in those States without leaving enough seed trees for reproduction. Such exploita- tion of the virgin forests continued southward and westward through all the South Atlantic and Gulf States into eastern Texas. As late as 1920, it was generally thought and officially predicted that within another 10 years gum produc- tion in this country would be practi- cally at an end. That belief, probably more than anything else, gave rise to the development of the wood naval stores industry. Nature, however, has confounded the experts ; instead of the failure of reforestation in the deep South, second-growth longleaf and slash pines have abounded to an extent that indicates that the production of gum naval stores can continue indefi- nitely. The major part of our pro- duction the past several years has come from about 150 counties in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Southern Georgia and northern Florida produce more than 90 percent of the total. During the seventeenth and eight- eenth centuries, the crude gum was gathered in the woods, shipped to the 288 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 eastern seaports of Wilmington, Phila- delphia, and New York, and forwarded to England for distillation. The tech- nique in the woods consisted in what is known as the "boxing" system. By that system, a cavity or "box" was cut into the base of the tree to catch and hold the crude gum as it flowed down the trunk of the tree after scarification or "chipping," which, then as now, was performed with a chipping tool or hack on each tree or "face" weekly from about March 15 until October or No- vember. The boxing type of operation continued until the early part of the twentieth century. It was then found that, because of the smaller diameter of the second-growth pines, some im- provements would have to be made. Experiments conducted in 1901 and 1902 by Dr. Charles H. Herty led to the adoption of the cup and gutter system, which is still being used. Ante- dating the work of Dr. Herty, W. W. Ashe conducted experiments at Bla- denboro, N. C., in 1894 in an effort to demonstrate the advantages of using cups and gutters over the practice of boxing the trees. The crude cast-iron retorts that were used in the early distillation process gave a poor quality of product because of the reaction from the iron and be- cause no water was added to the gum. About 1834 copper-pot stills were in- troduced. They were partly enclosed by brick work and the heat was applied directly from wood fires. Water was added to the gum; when heat was ap- plied a separation of the gum took place. The condensed vapors produced the turpentine, and the residue in the still produced rosin. The turpentine, combined with water, was drawn off from the still and was passed through a simple dehydrator that contained rock salt. After this separation, the tur- pentine was run into barrels or tank cars for shipment, or into large tanks for storage. The melted rosin was then drawn off from the base of the still and passed through the wire strainers and layers of cotton batting attached to the wire screen. The rosin, still hot, was packed in barrels or drums, or in thick paper bags for marketing. A naval stores experiment station under the supervision of the Depart- ment of Agriculture was established at Olustee, Fla., in 1932. The station has developed better gum-distillation methods and has done much to foster the establishment of large central dis- tillation plants, an idea that originated with McGarvey Gline, a former direc- tor of the Forest Products Laboratory. The first central plant was completed by the Glidden Co., in 1934, in Jack- sonville, Fla. In 1948 about 30 such plants, strategically located through the naval stores belt, processed more than 80 percent of all the gum. They have displaced all but about 100 of the small old-time backwoods fire stills, about 1,300 of which were scattered throughout the piney woods in 1933. CENTRAL DISTILLATION means a more uniform product, better packaging, and improved facilities for distribu- tion. The central plants, by providing a ready cash market, have opened the way for the smaller owner of timber to work his own timber rather than lease it to the old-time large commercial operators. The owner thus gets a better profit from this byproduct of his forest. Forest conservation is another result. The change to central distillation has had a part also in breaking down the old factorage system of financing. Because working out a turpentine place took many years, an operator rarely could get credit from the commercial banks. Usually the large amounts of money required to set up and maintain a commercial turpentine operation were supplied by a few large quasi- banking institutions known as factors, who extended credit for the payment of leases on turpentine timber (usually for a minimum of 4 years) , for the pur- chase of livestock, trucks, cups, tins, and for advances to pay wages. Most of the factors also operated wholesale grocery and supply depart- ments from which food, stock feed, clothing, and other supplies were fur- Naval Stores: The Industry 289 nished to the operator. In turn, the op- erator would set up his own commis- sary, from which he would dole out rations to his woods and still workers. The factors were protected by a blan- ket mortgage and usually by an insur- ance policy on the life of the operator. The operator had to deliver all the turpentine and rosin he produced to the factor as his selling agent. The de- liveries were usually made to a storage yard, where the operator would get a warehouse receipt to be turned over to the factor. Although the factor charged a liberal commission and initial storage and in- surance charges, his services as sales agent were often simply paper trans- actions. Under this system the factors had a controlling influence on the en- tire gum naval stores industry. Their profits were large, but the risks they took were great and many bad-debt losses were incurred. This feudalistic pattern of financing was bitterly criti- cized, but it seemed to be the only system that could be devised under the circumstances; without it, the industry hardly could have survived. Tar burning, which was practiced in New England, prevails in a few places in South Carolina, Florida, and Louisi- ana, the methods there being much the same as in Colonial times. Lightwood is stacked and covered with dirt (and sometimes with sheet iron) to make a kiln. A hole is dug in the firm ground, or, sometimes, a concrete base is pro- vided for catching the pine tar that flows from the slowly burning timbers. A residue of charcoal is left. The process has an improved, mod- ern counterpart in destructive distilla- tion, in which the wood — pine stumps and dead down lightwood — is placed in a retort. Heat applied to the retort gives both a light oil distillate and a heavy oil or pine tar oil distillate. The light oil distillate is refined to make DD wood turpentine, dipentene, and pine oil; the heavy oil distillate is re- fined to produce various types of oils to meet specific needs for insecticides, plasticizers, soaps, pharmaceuticals. 802062°— 49 20 In the steam-solvent process, the stumps are hogged, or ground, and placed in heated digesters. Live steam is introduced and the more volatile components are carried off and con- densed. Later they are refined by frac- tional distillation into steam-distilled wood turpentine and pine oil. The remaining shredded resinous wood is treated with a mineral-oil solvent, which dissolves the rosin and the high- boiling liquid products. The solution is clarified and the solvent is evapo- rated, leaving a residue of wood rosin. The extracted wood is used for fuel or paper pulp. A variation of the steam- solvent process consists of first extract- ing the turpentine, rosin, and pine oil with a suitable solvent, and then sepa- rating those products by fractional dis- tillation with steam. Sulfate wood turpentine is recovered by condensing the vapors that are re- leased from the pulping digesters in the production of pulp from pine wood by the sulfate process of making paper. The crude byproduct is heavily con- taminated with sulfur compounds, which are removed by chemical treat- ment and fractional distillation. The refined byproduct is marketed as sul- fate wood turpentine. The spent cook- ing liquor obtained in this method of making paper pulp, commonly called black liquor, is treated to recover a mixture of fatty and resin acids known as tall oil or liquid rosin. OF 10,000-ODD PRODUCERS of gum, more than 7,000 are small gum farmers who work less than one crop of turpen- tine faces on farm wood lots (a crop consists of 10,000 faces). Fewer than 2 percent are commercial operators who work more than 10 crops. In 1947 only 55 operated more than 20 crops. The old-time commercial operator worked leased timber almost exclu- sively; sometimes in the past a turpen- tining operation would be made up of leased timber from as many as 300 or 400 separate owners. Most of these larger producers' operations are now confined to large corporately owned 290 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 tracts. One of the largest of these tracts in the naval stores belt, for instance, is the Suwanee Forest of the Superior Pine Products Co., at Fargo, Ga. The tract contains 209,000 acres of timber, which has been efficiently managed for more than 20 years. The naval stores operations on the tract have been con- ducted by Harley Langdale, of Val- dosta, Ga. Besides this acreage, Judge Langdale works other leased lands and fee-owned lands, and is regarded as the largest producer of gum naval stores. More than 20 years ago the Sessoms Land & Lumber Co. acquired a tract of about 80,000 acres in Clinch and adjoining counties of Georgia. Among those who joined Alex K. Sessoms, of Cogdell, Ga., in establishing this tim- ber-management unit was Austin Gary of the Department of Agriculture, to whom goes great credit for developing good forestry practices in the naval stores belt. The tract has been operated for naval stores by three brothers, Rob- ert, Gordon, and Clarence Newton, who are the third generation of New- tons to engage in the industry, and who now operate three large units in Georgia and one in Mississippi. Another large holding is that of the Tennessee Coal & Iron Co. in southern Alabama. For several years it has been operated on a lease basis by the Stall- worth family of Mobile. Another firm that has managed ex- pertly large timber holdings is the Brunswick-Peninsula Corp., of Bruns- wick, Ga. It was founded by the late R. E. Benedict, a professional forester who had worked for the Forest Service and the Canadian Forestry Commis- sion, and M. L. Rue, who is now the head of the enterprise. They purchased 110,000 acres of timberland 25 years ago in Glynn, Wayne, Brantley, Ware, and Clinch Counties in Georgia with the main aim of producing naval stores. Among others who also have con- tributed toward improved conditions in the industry are W. B. Gillican, of Homerville, Ga., who, in a lifetime as- sociation with it, has exerted a whole- some influence on practically every phase of the industry; Turpentine and Rosin Factors, Inc., of Jacksonville, Fla., which for many years has been a large factorage house and which has since become a large distributor of tur- pentine in convenient and attractive containers; the factorage-dealer con- cerns of Taylor, Lowenstein & Co., of Mobile, Ala., and the Peninsula-Lur- ton Co., of Pensacola, Fla., which oper- ate central distillation plants; the Columbia Naval Stores Co., of Savan- nah, Ga., which for many years was a large dealer organization and now operates several central distillation plants; James Fowler, of Soperton, Ga., who started planting forest trees on his 14,000-acre cropland plantation in 1925 and is now a foremost individual planter of tree seedlings ; and the Gillis family, also of Soperton and among the pioneers in forest-tree planting. Each of the pulp mills established in the South in the past several years has acquired large tracts of timber to in- sure a continuing supply of pulpwood. The holdings range from 50,000 to 600,000 acres. It is believed that the firms plan to lease the properties to ex- perienced turpentine operators, who will manage them properly, before final harvesting. In that way the forests will serve the multiple purpose of providing naval stores, poles, piling, and lumber, besides pulpwood ; complete utilization of the timberlands will lessen the waste that would result from their use as a single-crop operation. The gum naval stores industry has always been generally classified as a low-wage industry. In public hearings in 1933 it was brought out that the average worker's income was less than $6 a week. As late as 1940, the average wage of chippers was $7.50 a week; in 1948 it was about $32. Besides the increase in earnings, im- provements have been made in the past several years in the living quarters fur- nished the turpentine woods workers. Instead of miserable cabins with only clapboard shutters for windows, many workers now live in better cabins that have glass windows and electricity. Naval Stores: The Forests 291 MANY OF THE IMPROVEMENTS in the methods of production, processing, and marketing gum naval stores have re- sulted from experimental and research work in the Department of Agriculture. Besides the ones I have mentioned, better chipping methods have come from demonstrations that the narrower and lighter streaks will produce just as much gum and will help conserve tim- ber. A method has been developed for the application of acid stimulants to freshly streaked turpentine faces to prolong the gum flow. With that de- velopment came a bark-chipping hack and a satisfactory device for the appli- cation of acid. Other experiments look to greater mechanization in turpentin- ing practices. Another project now in progress seeks to develop a high-yield- ing strain of turpentine pines. Under Federal-State cooperation, nurseries have been established to provide plant- ing stock; from the nurseries in the naval stores belt, many millions of seed- lings have been supplied to owners of turpentine timber. Interest is increasing in the establishment of planted turpen- tine orchards. JAY WARD, a native of Tennessee, came to the Department of Agricul- ture as a marketing specialist with the Agricultural Adjustment Administra- tion in 1933. From 1936 until his re- tirement in October 1948, he was in charge of the Naval Stores Conserva- tion Program, which was set up in 1936 under the Soil Conservation and Do- mestic Allotment Act and adminis- tered by the Forest Service. A graduate of Benton College of Law at St. Louis, he practiced law in Missouri and en- gaged in various business enterprises before entering the employ of the Fed- eral Government. NAVAL STORES: THE FORESTS CARL E. OSTROM, JOHN W. SQUIRES The naval stores belt extends across the Coastal Plain from the Savannah River to the Mississippi. It is a favored section for growing forest crops. Each acre of pineland can produce wood products, gum naval stores, and forage. Although the soils in most of the area are relatively poor for field crops, the long growing season insures growth of trees. The level topography makes al- most every acre of dry land accessible for the easy removal of products. Tree planting is cheaper and easier than elsewhere in the country. Forests occupy nearly three-fourths of the land area in the belt. Forest activities dominate the lives of scores of counties and towns, especially in the continuous forest areas of the "flat- woods," or lower Coastal Plain near the coast. Rail and road traffic runs heavily to pulpwood, logs, poles, gum barrels, rosin drums, and stump wood. Agricultural crops mostly are of minor importance. A large proportion of the rural people work in the woods, and get much of their fuel and meat from them. People in the area are especially aware of the importance of forests to the future of the South. Residents who have watched slash pine stands or plan- tations spring up under protection are convinced of the importance of pine forests to the future of their communi- ties. Nevertheless, it is quite clear that these pine forests are producing less than half as much as they could. It is obvious that doubling the size of the forest industries is the biggest thing that could happen in sections where forests already provide the greatest source of income. The first steps in doubling the forest production in the naval stores belt are the rather elementary ones of fire pro- tection and tree planting. The size of that task is shown in figures for Florida, Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 which contains half of the 44 million acres of forest land in the naval stores belt. In Florida, one-half of the land is still without fire protection and some 3 million acres are in need of planting. Fire protection and stocking are some- what better in the naval stores section of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Forest management in the region is of great complexity. The forester does not merely harvest ripe trees; he main- tains the flow of a wide variety of prod- ucts— naval stores, pulpwood, ties, logs, poles, piling, cattle. For localized areas in the southern pine region, particular- ly in the heavy rough of Florida, to get protection he usually must burn the underbrush every few years, and the burning, turpentining, timber cutting, and grazing all must be scheduled as to time and location so that the owner will realize the maximum net income from his forest property. FOREST MANAGEMENT in the area is still dominated by naval stores but less than before. The first efforts at turpen- tining second-growth trees several dec- ades ago were often ruinous. A descrip- tion of an operation in 1911 says that trees as small as 5 inches in diameter were turpentined, as many "faces" were placed on each tree as the space would allow and the faces were started high enough to avoid any bending over, and the wounds or "streaks" were an inch in depth and height. After 5 years about half the trees were dead. The timber was cut and the area was abandoned. Foresters and leaders of the naval stores industry, seriously alarmed over the threat to future timber supplies caused by the premature and careless turpentining, in 1924 sent a commis- sion to France and Spain to study the methods used there. This constructive attitude and tech- nical improvements developed by early research workers brought considerable progress in conservation. Substitution of the cup for the "box" chopped in the base of the tree reduced windthrow and damage to the trees by surface fires. It also reduced waste of gum and improved its quality. Conversion of the industry to more conservative chipping practices gave higher sustained pro- duction of gum, lowered mortality and windthrow, and increased the working life of the surviving trees. The practices were demonstrated on a large scale in national forests in Florida, where pro- visions written into the leases required producers to use methods that reduced damage to the trees and also gave the highest yields of gum over a period of several years. The Naval Stores Conservation Pro- gram established in 1936 provided for a conservation payment per face to pro- ducers who meet the standards of good practice established by foresters and representatives of the industry. It has been an effective instrument for the introduction of improved methods of turpentining, among them a provision to prohibit tapping of trees under 9 inches. Now only a small fraction of all trees tapped are smaller than the recommended size. The improvements in woods practice went a long way toward remedying unnecessary wastefulness and destruc- tion of individual trees. But one im- provement only paves the way for others. There remain at least two major opportunities for improvement in turpentining practices — raising the low output per man in harvesting of crude gum and better integration of turpentining with timber production through systems of selective cupping in place of the diameter-limit system. The output per man is considerably less than it was a century ago. In to- day's scattered stands, which average about 20 or 30 working trees to the acre, the turpentine laborer spends nearly two-thirds of his time walking from tree to tree and only one-third of his time in productive work. Each chipper now tends fewer faces than his predecessors did in the more fully stocked virgin forest. Furthermore, the average turpentined tree is only 10 or 11 inches in diameter; and the yield per tree is consequently much lower Naval Stores: The Forests 293 than from the larger, old-growth trees. During the decades in which pro- duction per tree, per acre, and per man were declining in the turpentine woods, efficiency in the use of labor and introduction of mechanical devices were advancing steadily in the indus- tries that compete with naval stores for markets and manpower. Those indus- tries captured more and more of the gum naval stores market. Gum naval stores producers were unable to keep enough workers in the woods to meet production goals during the war and the industry may continue to lose ground in the postwar competition unless improvements in technique and equipment are successful in raising the efficiency of production. Since most of the labor is expended in producing raw gum in the woods and little is needed in processing it, more efficient methods of gum extraction and harvesting are obviously needed. For example, it is necessary in the traditional methods of turpentining to visit each tree 40 times a season to produce a yield of 8 or 9 pounds of crude gum or oleoresin. Recent research has centered on sev- eral improvements that give promise of correcting as rapidly as possible the inefficiency of gum harvesting. APPLICATION OF ACID to the streak to stimulate the flow of gum is the most promising new technique that has been developed since the introduction of the cup several decades ago. Experiments at the Lake City Branch of the South- eastern Forest Experiment Station have demonstrated that streaks sprayed with sulfuric acid yield 50 to 100 per- cent more gum than untreated streaks. Treatment with sulfuric acid also ex- tends the normal period of gum flow after chipping. As a result, the streaks chipped every 2 weeks and sprayed with acid produce as much gum per season as untreated streaks applied at the usual weekly interval. Although the additional work of spraying acid slows down the chipper to about 90 percent of his usual speed, the longer chipping interval permits him to work up to 80 percent more timber with no sacrifice in yield per tree. In that way a chipper can increase his production for the season by 80 percent. If the interval of chipping and acid treatment is in- creased to 3 weeks, the yield per tree is somewhat less, but the greater number of trees that are worked under this sys- tem enables a chipper approximately to double his output of gum for the year. Chemical stimulation may also help to save a portion of the butt log for timber production. Doubling the cus- tomary chipping interval and applying acid provides approximately normal annual gum yields while proceeding only a little more than one-half as high up the tree. Or, in trees designated for thinning or harvest cutting, the usual total yield for the normal 5- or 6-year life of a face can be obtained in a shorter period of years by chipping at the customary interval but applying acid in addition. Although sulfuric acid has a greater effect on prolongation of gum flow than any chemical that has yet been tried, it is corrosive and must be handled with caution. Research men are bending every effort to find a gum- flow stimulant that will be nearly as easy to handle as water. A NEW SYSTEM OF CHIPPING involves cutting to the usual height of one-half inch but only to the depth of the outer surface of the wood. If acid is applied, the method gives just as much gum as does application of acid with the tra- ditional method of chipping one-half inch into the wood. The new technique of "bark chipping" is now in its fifth year of use by selected cooperators in the industry. It requires less physical effort than the standard method, is easier to teach to new workers, and leaves the butt of the tree in better con- dition for utilization. The spread of this new method depends on the ac- ceptance of chemical stimulation, for, without application of acid, the yield is less than for the traditional chipping. A new type of tool, or hack, has been developed for bark chipping. This new method of taking off only the bark pro- 294 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 vides an excellent opportunity for equipment research to develop a me- chanical hack. Although there is always room for improving the equipment used in bark chipping and acid treat- ment, the major drawback to use of the new techniques by untrained labor- ers is the shortage of men to show them how. Leaders of the industry are re- ceptive, but the solitary chipper in the turpentine woods is the man who must be trained in the new methods of work. RESEARCH ON THE EQUIPMENT and mechanization has been started in re- sponse to a plea from industry. The mechanization of competing industries, such as the harvesting of pulpwood and of pine stumps for wood naval stores, has left the gum naval stores industry behind. Except for the introduction of bark chipping and acid treatment, the hand methods used in producing crude gum have been unchanged for decades. The first step in the research was to meet the rather rigorous needs for a shatterproof, acidproof, one-hand spray device for applying sulfuric acid. This need appears to have been met for the present by the introduction of a sprayer having a bottle made of rub- berlike plastic. A simple squeeze on the bottle delivers a spray with a minimum of manipulation. Research has been started on a combined chipping and spraying device that will add further to the simplicity of acid treatment of the faces. The development of strains of pine of superior gum-yielding capacity, grown in adequately stocked planta- tions, is expected to bring the greatest improvement in the long run in effi- ciency of gum harvesting. The parallel between the possibilities of such planta- tions of southern pines and existing plantations of superior strains of rub- ber and fruit trees is evident. Research on the selection, vegetative propagation, and selective breeding of high-yielding naval stores pines was started several years ago. Select strains thus far isolated promise to provide at least two times the present yield per tree; they could be grown in planta- tions containing 200 or more workable trees to the acre in place of the present average of 20 or 30 faces to the acre in wild stands. Improvements in growth rate and other tree characteristics can also be expected from research in this field. In respect to the timber supplies and methods of processing and marketing, the industry is now in a favorable posi- tion to progress. The chief problems in the production phase are to raise the efficiency of gum harvesting by improvements of techniques, to grow adequately stocked forests, and to fit turpentining into its proper place in good forest management. PROGRESS IN TIMBER MANAGEMENT has been spotty. By far the largest part of the original 58 million acres in the naval stores belt was covered with stands of longleaf pine, intermingled with slash pine in the ponds and low places. After the exploitation of the old growth, new stands in the eastern part of the belt had a great deal more slash pine and will have more and more as fire protection is extended. On the driest soils, where longleaf pine oc- curred with low-quality oaks, the oaks are now taking over. The longleaf pine was culled out of these stands, and often did not reproduce itself. On the better soils in the western part, longleaf pine is most at home and will continue to be the major crop. The first logging, in the northeastern part of the belt, was not very close, and enough seed trees were usually left to provide for restocking. The western and southern parts were logged later with large equipment. They were cut much closer, were often burned, and vast areas did not reseed. They still present a tremendous planting job. However, it is the wise management of the crop of second growth that is the major topic of this discussion. Where fires are controlled and a seed source is present, slash pine seeds in at a surprisingly rapid rate. A dense young stand of slash pine usually benefits Naval Stores: The Forests 295 from early thinning when the trees are just an inch or two in diameter. If the stand is thinned to 600 to 800 trees an acre, the trees will reach cordwood size more rapidly, and entrance into the stand with trucks or pulpwood saws for thinning will be greatly facilitated. Thinning such stands mechanically with a heavy brush-cutting roller has been tried by the National Turpentine & Pulpwood Corp., of Jacksonville, Fla., but it is too early to assess the results. Longleaf pine ordinarily seeds in less densely than slash pine, and also shows more graduation in size of tree, so that early thinnings are usually unnecessary. When a good stand of turpentine pines gets to pulpwood size, the struggle for its diversion to one of many uses begins. In former days, when the aver- age stand was perhaps 20 turpentine trees to the acre and there was no mar- ket for thinnings, there was not much point in turpentining only selected trees. Hence the custom arose of tur- pentining all the trees that were large enough to provide a reasonable flow of gum. The custom was also due to the circumstance that most naval stores producers then owned their own tur- pentine stills, and were chiefly inter- ested in producing enough gum to keep these stills in operation. The whole pattern of forestry has changed since the diameter-limit sys- tem came to be the custom. We now have many plantations and dense nat- ural stands of slash pine. There will be many more in the future. We now have excellent markets for thinnings, so that there is no need to cut all or nothing. Furthermore, the recent conversion from hundreds of small direct-fire stills in the woods to a few dozen large central processing plants has provided a ready market for gum produced by independent operators and gum farm- ers. The latter usually own the land and have no compulsion to exploit their timber too heavily for naval stores. All of these changes have made the time ripe for greater emphasis on good timber-management practices in the naval stores region. The most essential change is to get away from the custom of turpentining every tree in the stand as soon as it reaches 9 inches in diam- eter. Any properly stocked naval stores stand will need thinning or other sil- vicultural treatment at various times if it is not to be liquidated at an early age. In any such treatment, the trees to be cut are determined on the basis of spacing, form, and size. Diameter- limit cupping overlooks spacing and form and selects on a basis of entirely inadequate information the trees to be cupped and cut. When a properly stocked naval stores forest is ready for cupping, a decision must be made on the type of management that will best suit the needs of the owner. The decision arrived at will depend on the owner's circumstances, but ordinarily he will be interested in maximum sustained in- come per acre from the integrated pro- duction of wood and gum. An improvement cut is the first step. If the trees to come out in the improve- ment cut have already been turpen- tined, the cut is made immediately, for these "worked-out" trees do not pay their way in timber growth and should be removed. If the improvement cut is in untur- pentined trees, and if there are enough of them per acre, those large enough should be turpentined before they are removed. Crooked, forked, and excess trees to be removed in a thinning will yield just as much gum as the best timber trees that will usually be re- served for later turpentining. Where the stand is in good condition the first cutting will be a thinning. The poorest quality trees in all crown classes are removed, plus the addi- tional trees that should come out to provide best spacing of the remaining stand. Since the trees (at least the larger ones) that are to come out in a thin- ning are ordinarily to be turpentined before removal, the selection of the trees must be done anywhere from 2 to 10 years in advance of the cutting. The 296 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 length of this period should depend on the time at which the stand will need thinning. If no thinning will be re- quired for 10 or 20 years, then two or even three faces can be worked one after another on each marked tree. On the other hand, if the stand is over- crowded and needs thinning soon, the trees can be turpentined heavily with the use of acid on one wide or two standard faces for 1 to 3 years before they are removed. The number of well- stocked natural and planted stands is increasing rapidly, and these new tech- niques for rapid turpentining in ad- vance of thinning in crowded stands should become increasingly applicable. The best guide to the need for thin- ning in a southern pine stand is the proportion of the total height of the tree that is occupied by live crown. The stand should be so managed as to keep this proportion between 30 and 40 percent for wood production and perhaps somewhat nearer 50 percent for maximum gum production. The optimum density to be main- tained under management in naval stores stands of different ages and on different soils has not yet been deter- mined. A rule of thumb for selecting trees for cupping 3 to 5 years in ad- vance of thinning is to leave between the reserved trees a space equal in feet to twice the average tree diameter in inches. Thus the space between an 8- and a 12-inch tree would be about 20 feet (10X2), which is also equal to the sum of the two diameters in inches. Where selective cupping results in tapping a smaller number of trees per acre, it results in some increase in cur- rent production costs. However, a stand that is dense enough for a thin- ning will ordinarily provide an accept- able number of trees for turpentining, just as it would for selective cutting. If a loss of efficiency is occasioned by wider spacing in a given selective cup- ping, it should be repaid with interest in the second cupping cycle, when the next trees to be tapped will be con- siderably larger in diameter. A 12-inch tree yields 50 percent more gum than a 9-inch tree, although the increased cost of turpentining per tree is negli- gible. On the Osceola National Forest northeastern Florida, the plan of n management calls for three successive cycles of turpentining before the stand is removed. In each cycle, those trees are turpentined which a forester has marked to come out in the next thin- ning or other cutting. In understocked stands, where thin- ning is not needed, the owner has a choice of deferring any turpentining until the trees are larger and denser, or cutting off the stand and replanting it, or marking it for a seed-tree cutting to get reproduction. The important pre- caution is that he should not simply cup every tree over 9 inches without know- ing what his next step in stand manage- ment is to be. The regeneration of the even-aged stands of slash pine is no problem as long as there is sufficient seed source. In longleaf pine, regeneration by natu- ral means is a good deal less certain. In Florida the preference is toward leav- ing longleaf seed trees in groups. Long- leaf pine seedlings need sizable open- ings wherein to become established. Repeated and untimely fires are the worst enemy of reproduction, and many areas with a seed source restock rapidly as soon as they are brought under protection. Other areas may have so much vegetative growth that reproduction is facilitated by using carefully controlled fire to burn off the accumulated "rough" in advance of seedfall. Improvements in planting machines and the shift to more intensive forestry will probably result in a great increase in forest planting in the naval stores belt. In the future the problem of "nonrestocking lands" ought to vanish. BURNING THE WOODS to improve the forage is common practice in the naval stores area. In the open-range sections, where the law allows unrestricted graz- ing of unfenced land, the landowner either has to burn his land or expect others to burn it for him. If the land Naval Stores: The Forests 297 does go unburned for 10 or 15 years, the accumulated herbaceous and the shrubby fuels, draped with large quan- tities of dead pine needles, make an extremely hot and destructive fire. The cheapest way to control this fire hazard is by carefully controlled or pre- scribed burning whenever it is needed. Such burning provides the necessary fire protection and forage and makes the area much more accessible and at- tractive to naval stores and timber operators. Deliberate burning is con- trary to everything that foresters taught in the recent past, but the prac- tice of prescribed burning has so many advantages in large portions of the re- gion that a whole technique for it has been perfected and put into use in the past few years, particularly in the na- tional forests of Florida in the flatwoods section. The technique is described in publications of the Southern Forest Ex- periment Station and in an article by John W. Squires in the Journal of Forestry for November 1947. The chief purposes of prescribed burning are usually to reduce the fire hazard or to prepare the seedbed for longleaf pine, but it has several other uses. It may control disease (such as brown spot needle blight in longleaf pine) , improve the range, or hold back undesirable vegetation. The first step is to examine the tract and decide which places are to be burned in a given year. The purpose and type of burn should be clearly de- fined in advance, and, on large areas, maps should be prepared of the part to be burned. On a large tract, the blocks to be burned must be selected in such a way as to protect other areas from wildfires coming in from the outside. The burning should be planned so that it provides fresh forage where it is most needed in range management. It must also be made to fit in as well as possible with current naval stores operation. Burning should be done just before the installation of new faces. Otherwise raking of the litter away from the tur- pentined trees is usually essential to prevent burning of inflammable faces. In slash pine areas particularly, it is important to postpone burning on reproducing areas until the young stand becomes well established. Even in larger stands, the interval between burns must be flexible if fire is to be integrated properly with other forest uses. Experience in the Florida flat- woods indicates that perhaps one- seventh of the gross acreage of a large tract will be burned in a given year. After the selection of areas to be burned, fire lines are plowed at inter- vals of about 600 or 700 feet at right angles to the particular wind direction that is preferred for burning. The fire is set with a drip torch on the down- wind side of the strip, so that the fire backs through the area against the wind. In Florida, the fires are usually set a day or two after a rain when there is a northerly wind of 3 to 10 miles an hour. Burning always does some damage. The proper technique of prescribed burning results in the lowest sum of costs plus damages. On large areas this sum should amount to about 21 cents an acre for one burn, or perhaps 3 cents an acre a year when prorated to the gross acreage of the property. Although the techniques of burning have been worked out, there is still much to be learned about fitting the burning into an integrated pattern of timber management, turpentining, and grazing. CATTLE GRAZING is more important in the rather open stands of the naval stores region than in any other forest region in the East. Florida, which con- tains most of the forest land in the naval stores region, has more beef cattle than any other southern State east of the Mississippi; many of the cattle graze on forest range. The cattle in- dustry in Florida returns 48 million dollars annually — more than the gum naval stores industry brings to the whole naval stores belt. It is recognized that cattle grazing ordinarily has no detrimental effects on timber production in the turpentine 298 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 belt, and actually is helpful in reducing the fire hazard. As a practical matter of fact, if an owner does not graze cattle on his own land in the open range country, someone else will. But despite the recognized place of grazing in the management of naval stores forests, a great deal remains to be learned about integrating grazing with other uses of the land. Present herd- management practice is rather primi- tive. The cattle are usually grazed yearlong on the forest range, whereas the forage in winter is not sufficiently nutritious to meet minimum needs of the animals. The results are small calf crops, low calf weights, and high death losses. Research has shown the nutritive value of the forest range at each season of the year, and has indicated the kind, amount, and timing of supplemental feeding that is necessary for good health of cattle on Coastal Plain ranges. Research has also shown that forest range cattle need yearlong mineral sup- plements, especially phosphorus. This is provided by a mixture of 2 parts steamed bonemeal to 1 part salt. Supplemental feeding may be pro- vided in the form of concentrates, such as cottonseed meal, or by making im- proved pasture available at seasons when the nutrient content of the native forage is low. Where feasible, good herd-manage- ment practices should be instituted to maintain the quality of the herd and to limit calving to the best time of the year. Cross fences are necessary for proper control of the herd and proper use of the range, but on poor land it may be difficult to demonstrate the soundness of such an investment. THE PRESSURE OF DIFFERENT USES on the forest land here has been heavy. A decade or two ago the mortality and loss of growth resulting from turpen- tining was as great as the total amount of the pine lumber harvested. In Florida if it had not been for repeated forest fires — usually associated with grazing — which killed out the young growth and perpetuated understocked stands, the State could be producing twice as much timber as it now does. In northeastern Florida, by far the best-timbered section of the State, the average growing stock is less than 5 cords an acre, and the growth is one- sixth cord an acre a year. The average saw-timber growth is 47 board feet an acre a year, and the saw-timber stand is being cut a good deal faster than it is growing. The various pressures on the land for wood, grass, and gum cannot simply be removed. They must be integrated in sound systems of forest-land manage- ment. Turpentining must be done with a view to stand improvement and tim- ber production. Grazing fires must be converted into systems of prescribed burning for forest protection. The whole complex must be worked into a management pattern that takes ad- vantage of those pressures on the land for profit. It is the multiple profit from wood, gum, and grass that Capt. I. F. Eld- redge, a forester, had in mind when he said: "Nowhere in the United States are silvicultural and economic condi- tions more favorable for intensive in- dustrial forestry management than in the naval stores belt of the Southeast." CARL E. OSTROM is in charge of the Lake City Branch of the Southeastern Forest Experiment Station. Since 1934 he has been employed at several of the regional forest experiment stations. His work has consisted of research in silvi- culture and regeneration in the North- east and the Northwest and research in naval stores production in the South- east. JOHN W. SQUIRES is supervisor of national forests in Mississippi. As a boy he lived in Louisiana, and later, in the employ of the Forest Service, he was stationed in Georgia, Florida, and Mis- sissippi. As supervisor of the national forests in Florida, he cooperated with the experiment station at Lake City on the correlation of prescribed burning, naval stores, and grazing activities. The National Forests THE PEOPLE'S PROPERTY C. M. GRANGER THE PEOPLE of the United States own 180 million acres in national forests. A third of the Nation's com- mercial timber, a sixth of its commer- cial timberland, a large part of the summer ranges for western livestock, and 70 percent of the big game of the West are on that land — and nearly all the important sources of western water and most of the recreation areas. There are national forests in 38 States, Alaska, and Puerto Rico; there are purchase units — the seeds of na- tional forests — in two other States. Within the outer boundaries of the for- ests are nearly 230 million acres, of which the Nation owns 180 million. The national forests are adminis- tered by the Forest Service under the general direction of the Secretary of Agriculture. Other bureaus in the De- partment of Agriculture and elsewhere in the Government furnish technical advice on special problems, such as the control of insects and tree diseases and forecasting of fire weather. The drawing at the top of this page shows the entrance to a national forest. Most of the national forest areas and resources are in the West, but the for- ests east of the Great Plains have great local and regional importance because of their resources and their value as demonstration areas for working out the solution to forest problems. The national forests came into be- ing in 1891 when the people of the United States decided to stop giving away the Nation's timberland as fast as they could and keep some of it per- manently as the people's forests, and Congress adopted an act that empow- ered the President to set aside forest reserves for the purpose of "securing favorable conditions of waterflows, and to furnish a continuous supply of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United States." Beginning with Benjamin Harrison, the various Presidents have established national forests by proclamation under the act, but most of the national forests were proclaimed by three Presidents — Harrison, Cleveland, and Theodore Roosevelt. The only large areas of public land 299 300 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 left in 1891 were in the West. But the value of permanent Federal forests was recognized in the East, so in 1911 the Weeks Law was enacted to authorize purchase by the Federal Government of lands necessary to the protection of the flow of navigable streams. The Clarke-McNary Act of 1924 enlarged the policy of the Weeks Law to include the purchase of lands on the watersheds of navigable streams for timber pro- duction. Under those acts, most of the national forests east of the Mississippi have been established. The national forests are truly na- tional in both purpose and value. Many States do not produce enough timber or the right kind for their own needs, and the national forests help to supply them. Water for irrigation, power, and domestic purposes in many cases is sup- plied by streams that rise far away in national forests in other States. The lamb chop served in Chicago may have come from Wyoming's high ranges in the national forests. Many people from the Midwestern Plains spend their va- cations in the cool national forests in the West. Twenty-five percent of the gross revenues from the sale of national forest timber and other commercial uses is paid to the States for distribu- tion to the counties in which the na- tional forests lie, to be used for roads and schools. The fund is a large part of the revenue of many counties. An- other 10 percent is made available to the Forest Service to pay part of the cost of building and maintaining roads and trails in the national forests. The forests yield a sizable income. For the fiscal year that ended in June 1948, it was more than 25 million dollars. The sum reflects the greater demand for timber from the national forests; in 1940 the income was $5,- 860,000. In that year, income was 48 percent of the fund appropriated for the protection and management of the national forests; in 1948 it was almost 100 percent. The national forests are forests in the larger sense. They are not just areas covered with trees; they are a com- posite of trees, brush, grass, water, wild- life, scenery. Each of these elements has its own value; together they give the forest a value much greater than that of a producer of wood. By direction of the Secretary of Ag- riculture, when the national forests were placed under his administration in 1905, "All land is to be devoted to its most productive use for the perma- nent good of the whole people, and not for the temporary benefit of indi- viduals or companies . . . and where conflicting interests must be reconciled the question will always be decided from the standpoint of the greatest good of the greatest number in the long run." The national forests are managed on the principle of multiple use, a simple enough concept that often is hard to apply because of the impact of one use on another and the striving of groups interested in one use to get pri- ority for that one use. The essence of multiple-use management is to make each area yield the maximum number of benefits and to fit each use to the other. Exclusive right-of-way is given to one use only when that use is clearly dominant. Thus, timber-cutting practices may have to be varied from those designed solely for wood production in order to increase water yield or stabilize water flows. Similar variations occur where recreation or scenic values are impor- tant. Some openings must be left or made in forests and forest plantations to benefit the wildlife. Grazing in the South may be fostered without hurting timber production by proper manage- ment. Grazing and wildlife use must here and there be adjusted to each other. And so on. Public understanding and support of the multiple-use plan of management has grown in late years. When some stockmen proposed that lands used for grazing in the national forests be sold to the holders of grazing permits, many people protested and gave vigor- ous endorsement of the multiple value of the national forests. The Peoples Property 301 No user of the national forest gets any vested right in the property. Each use has a limited duration. Privileges to use are just that — privileges, and not rights above those of all the people, who own the forests. The national forests, exclusive of those in Alaska and Puerto Rico, con- tain 518,417 million board feet of tim- ber, which is 32 percent of the Nation's total. The timber is managed on the basis of sustained yield — the cut is re- stricted to the sustained productive ca- pacity of the management unit. The system gives stability of supply of forest products, employment, and tax base, or its equivalent. The timber is sold to help supply the local, regional, and national needs. About 25,000 sales are made each year. They range from a few dollars' worth to large sales that involve 100 million board feet or more and are valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars. Tim- ber for domestic use is granted free in small quantities to certain classes of local users, including farmers. Many farmers make an off-season business of buying and cutting stumpage and sell- ing the products. Timber cutting is now proceeding at the rate of nearly 4 billion feet a year, an increase from about 1*4 billion in 1939. The national forests now supply 10 percent or more of the national lum- ber cut, plus large quantities of poles, posts, mining timbers, railroad ties, pulpwood, fuel wood, and Christmas trees. With the sharp reduction in private stumpage, the demand for national for- est timber is steadily increasing. The policy is to make it available just as fast as possible, subject to sustained- yield limitations. Needed are an ex- panded system of access roads, better timber inventories, management plans to insure orderly sustained-yield mar- keting. That achieved, it is estimated that the annual cut could be increased to about 6 billion board feet. As forest management becomes more intensive, including reforestation of about 3*4 million acres of burned areas and blank spots, the annual cut can be further in- creased. Of great potential importance is the national forest timber in southeastern Alaska — 78 billion board feet, mostly hemlock and spruce, which is partic- ularly suited to pulp and paper manu- facture. It will support a cut of about a billion board feet a year, which, if converted into newsprint, would supply about one-fourth of the Nation's needs. Encouraging indications are at hand that large-scale pulp operations in Alaska may soon be initiated under favorable long-term contracts. A pre- liminary award of one such contract has already been made. Puerto Rico has a small national forest. In that wood-hungry country, every tree in the national forest has great value, especially for charcoal, the universal fuel. The Sustained- Yield Unit Act of March 29, 1944, which provides for co- operative sustained-yield units, affords a means of combining the management of private and public timber under cer- tain conditions so as to insure good for- estry and sustained-yield practice on areas of private forests where short- term liquidation or inadequate supply for sustained yield would otherwise jeopardize community stability. We are giving effect to this law as fast as prac- ticable. One large unit has already been established under a 100-year coopera- tive agreement. About 100 applica- tions, formal and informal, were on file for processing in 1948. The existence of the national forests provides assurance of continuity of tim- ber supply in varying measure to many communities and consumers. National forest timber cannot fully replace dis- appearing or curtailed private supplies of stumpage, but in many situations it can greatly reduce the adverse conse- quences of private liquidation. NEARLY THE WHOLE irrigated agri- cultural system in the West depends on water from streams that rise in the na- tional forests, or from underground sources mainly fed from national forest 302 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 watersheds. Almost every city in the mountain and coastal West derives its water supply from those streams, either direct or through underground sources. All power developments are on streams that rise in the national forests. The national forests occupy less of the watershed area in the eastern half of the country, but do include some of the important watersheds. Mismanaged forest and range land can and does have large adverse effect on water flows in the form of floods, erosion, and diminished supply. Some of the largest reservoirs in the West are silting up at a rate that will seriously diminish their storage capacity in less than two generations. This silting is due in considerable part to misuse of range lands outside the national for- ests. The obvious serious consequences of forest and range denudation gives complete validity to conservation poli- cies in effect on the national forests — even if water alone were involved. SOME GRAZING of cattle, sheep, and horses is allowed on nearly every na- tional forest, but it is in the West that this resource and its use assumes major proportions. The national forest range is mostly summer range and comple- ments home ranches or ranges that pro- vide pasturages the rest of the year. Some southwest ranges are yearlong. National forest ranges in 1947 sup- ported 1,247,000 cattle and horses (mostly cattle) and 3,409,000 sheep. There were 21,798 paid permits and 6,762 free permits, the latter for small numbers of milk cows or horses needed for domestic purposes. The average paid permit in the western forests was for 67 head of cattle and horses; that for sheep, 1,073 head. Most permits run for 10 years. More than 800 local advisory boards, the representatives of permit holders, help fix policies and programs and give advice on range administration. As with timber, the policy is to man- age the ranges on a sustained-yield basis. Stocking must be adjusted to grazing capacity. Unfortunately many ranges are overstocked, for several rea- sons, in spite of substantial reductions over a long period. About half of the 10,000 range allotments require fur- ther adjustments. They range all the way from minor changes in methods of management to heavy reductions in the numbers of livestock and, in a few cases, total closure to grazing use. Before reductions are made, it is the policy to discuss the matter with the permit holder, give him a chance to ride the range with the forest officer, and, if the cut is heavy, to spread it over several years. Reliance is not placed on reductions alone to relieve the overgrazed ranges. Employed also is better management of the stock on the range, more range im- provements to facilitate management (fences, water developments, and the like), reseeding, and the reduction of rodent damage and poisonous weeds, which prevent full use of some ranges. The established fees for grazing use are based on a comparison of the value of national forest ranges with what stockmen pay for private and other publicly owned ranges, but with liberal discounts that bring the national forest fees well below those paid for other comparable ranges. Fees are adjusted each year according to the market price of livestock the preceding year in 11 Western States. In earlier years, the policy was to en- courage rather liberal redistribution of the grazing privilege to accommodate new applicants or increase the permits of those who were permitted num- bers too small to make anything like a stable enterprise. In the interest of sta- bility of established enterprise, the pol- icy has been modified so that for many years there has been little redistribu- tion, and none is contemplated during the 10-year permit period, that began in 1946, except such as may be possible through limited reductions in permits when an outfit sells out and the prefer- ence is transferred to a successor. WILDLIFE is regarded as one of the major resources of the national forests, The People's Property one that should be given the proper share of attention. In the West, this in- volves principally good management of game populations already existing; in the South, it is a matter of building up the resource. Unfortunately, in many places in the West and in the national forests in the Lake States, populations of deer and elk have outgrown their food supplies, and the first job is to reduce the num- bers to the carrying capacity of the range. Progress is being made as under- standing grows that wildlife must be managed much like any other crop. THE PRIMARY INTEREST of many mil- lions of people in the national forests is related to opportunities for recreation. So, more than 4,500 camps and pic- nic areas have been provided. Many places have been developed for swim- ming and boating. About 240 win- ter-sports areas have been fitted up. Resorts to accommodate transient vis- itors are permitted in many places. Organization camps to facilitate low- cost vacations are featured. About 12,- 000 summer homes are under permit. FOREST WILDERNESSES are an im- portant and unique feature of many national forests. Their purpose is to preserve wild land in its primitive con- dition, without roads or other man- made installations not absolutely essen- tial to their protection. The 77 wilderness areas range in size from 1,800,000 to 5,000 acres. Alto- gether they cover about 14 million acres. In them one can go afoot or on horseback, get far away from the usual evidences of civilization, and see coun- try as it was when the white man came. Interest in preserving the integrity of these wilderness areas has grown amazingly. For example: In 1940 a hearing was held on a proposal to make a reservoir (for irrigation) out of Lake Solitude in the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming. Few seemed to care that the proposed reservoir would destroy the beauty of Lake Solitude. The plan was deferred because of the war, but 303 was brought up again at another hear- ing in 1948. Then the preponderance of expressed sentiment favored leaving Lake Solitude in its primitive state as one of the outstanding features of the wilderness area. THE MISCELLANEOUS USES of the forests make an almost endless list. There are apiaries and fox farms ; arti- ficial fish ponds, where trout are raised for market; cabins for skiing clubs; mineral springs for the ailing; trappers' cabins; and branding corrals and counting pens used by the stockmen. Altogether, nearly 100 different sorts of uses are under permit — a total of 44,000 permits that cover more than 2 million acres and bring in around $700,000 each year to the Treasury. APPROPRIATIONS for the purchase of land for national forests have been made almost every year since the en- actment of the Weeks Law in 1911. Congress enacted a general forest-ex- change law, under which the Forest Service may acquire forest land within the forest boundaries by exchanging for it other national forest land or national forest timber. A number of other bills authorize the use of part of the receipts from the national forests to acquire land within the boundaries. This type of legislation, as with the forest-exchange acts, is based on a desire to consolidate in pub- lic ownership most of the privately owned land within the national forest boundaries. To further the acquisition of such land, some counties forego their share of the so-called 25-percent fund from the part of the receipts that is used to buy the land. Some com- munities in Utah have established and financed a special organization to buy certain private lands on their water- sheds and turn them over for adminis- tration as part of the national forests. The principal purpose of acquisition by these various means is to place in Government ownership — that is, own- ership by all citizens — the forest lands in or near the national forests that will 304 not be given suitable treatment in pri- vate ownership or that would otherwise best promote the public interest by be- ing publicly owned — vital watersheds, for instance, or lands needed to round out timber-management units. EFFECTIVE PROTECTION of the forests against fire, insects, and tree diseases is mandatory. To that end, a highly de- veloped fire-control organization in the national forests utilizes many devices to detect and suppress forest fires — airplanes, helicopters, parachutes, and many more that are less spectacular. We dare not sit back and feel secure because of them, however. Man-caused fires are the principal source of trou- ble for the whole country, and every citizen has a responsibility to help stamp out this kind of carelessness. It is the citizen's forests that burn. Tree- killing insects and diseases take a heavy toll of timber or young growth each year. Against them, too, we must or- ganize forces and campaigns ; they may strike here today and there tomorrow. To protect and use the national forests, a network of roads, trails, tele- phone lines, radio channels, fire lookout towers, and other physical improve- ments is necessary. Much of it has been installed, but more is needed — particu- larly the additional roads needed to open up the remaining large areas of inaccessible timber. When that is done, the rate of cutting on the forests could be increased at least 50 percent. Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 A bulwark behind the national for- ests, as with other forests, is research, which has pointed the way to the best forestry practices in all important as- pects of the undertaking. Research men in the Department of Agriculture and in other agencies of the Govern- ment have contributed fruitfully to the struggle to combat fires, insects, and diseases; to the techniques of manag- ing the timber as a crop and in utiliz- ing it most effectively; to the conserva- tive use and renewal of forest ranges; to the safeguarding of watersheds ; and in many other fields. Much remains to be done before we can feel that the national forests — this "everyman's empire" — are handled most frugally and most fruitfully. To say that is not an admission of failure ; it is a way of saying how great is the obligation to preserve, protect, and de- velop these properties that all Ameri- can citizens own. G. M. GRANGER is assistant chief of the Forest Service, in charge of national forest administration. He is a native of Michigan and a graduate in forestry of Michigan Agricultural College. He en- tered the Forest Service in 1907, and has served successively as forest assist- ant, deputy supervisor, and forest supervisor on national forests in Cali- fornia, Colorado, and Wyoming, as assistant regional forester in the Rocky Mountain Region, and as regional for- ester for the Pacific Northwest. APPALACHIAN COMEBACK M. A. MATTOON Like a strong backbone, the Appa- lachians extend southward from New England. They are America's oldest mountains, the home of sturdy people, the sites of some of the newer national forests. How the forests and the people are joined for mutual benefit is the theme of this article. People first saw the forests in the early days when Britain, Holland, France, and Spain were sending col- onists to our eastern seaboard, and in- trepid men like Spottswood, Boone, and Sevier, lured by tales of opportuni- ties in the great valley beyond the mountains, scaled the Blue Ridge and beheld range after range, hills and peaks, as far as eye could see. It was Appalachian Comeback^ 305 the domain of the Cherokee, the Sen- eca, the Gatawba. In the blue haze, the forest stretched unbroken, chiefly hardwood, with great expanses of oak, chestnut, yellow-poplar, cherry, beech, maple, ash, white pine, hemlock, and, at higher elevations, spruce, and fir. The forests were first used by the men who pushed on through the moun- tains and into the valley of the Ohio. As the little bands threaded the wilder- ness trails, some saw their opportunity en route and stayed behind. They made clearings in the rich bottom lands at the forks of streams and reared their families there. Later new homesteads were carved from the wilderness further "up the creek." The popula- tion grew, and people tended land, turned out stock, and hunted. Villages grew into towns that were built with wood from the forest. The great pop- lars, pines, and oaks within easy reach of mountain watercourses were rafted to distant sawmills for use by the grow- ing Nation outside this fastness. The big forest still stood in its silent grandeur, however; so far, there had been only a nibbling at its edges or a little hole here and there cleared for pasture or a deadening in which to grow corn for the family at the head of a creek. It was an immensely rich timber world that contained the finest hardwood that ever stood; a country of endless beauty, one in which its iso- lated folk passed on to their descend- ants of today words and songs little changed from those of Elizabethan England. During and after the Civil War, the railroads began to string the little vil- lages together. Railroads crept up the valleys slowly in search of the almost unlimited supplies of coal. Oil brought them into the Pennsylvania highlands. As the little balloon-stacked engines rocked over the slender rails, the whis- tle warned of approaching doom. With assured rail shipment to the outside, where an expanding Nation demanded and got what it needed, the stage was set for the coming of the big sawmills into the mountains. They came, slowly 802062° — 49 21 at first, and then with logging railroads of their own, like locusts. Handsome timber in increasing amounts fell to the ax, but there always seemed to be more. Sawmill towns sprang up in their temporary ugliness, thrived, and van- ished as the cutting moved on. Fire raged on the heels of loggers, and devastation over large areas seemed certain. When Europe burst into the horror of warfare in 1914, demands on the forest mounted and reconstruction saw no let-up. So the large sawmills, accompanied by many little sawmills, marched across the face of the remain- ing Appalachian wilderness, and its big timber disappeared. Today, after the Second World War, a host of little mills is picking up the scraps and eat- ing into thrifty young timber that will be needed in the future. And the people in this mountain country? Little farms are strung along the stream bottoms and at the heads of the creeks. But the country has changed and young folk like to hear tell of the days that were. Most recognize that an enormous forest restoration task is ahead. Not so many realize that it has already been started. SHORTLY AFTER THE TURN of the century, a few far-seeing men in New England and the South noticed the disappearing forests, the damage to soil and young timber from fire, the effect on stream flow and the purity of water supplies. They saw that those things were not good. After years of work with an apathetic public, success crowned their efforts, and in 1911 the Congress enacted legislation whereby it became possible for the Federal Gov- ernment to purchase areas of wild lands on the headwaters of the navigable rivers, and the chain of national forests in the Appalachians was born. Purchase of land has been going on through the years until now there are about 6 million acres in public owner- ship under well-organized protection against fire, and managed so that the remaining resources can be conserved, improved, and made to serve the needs 306 Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 of local people in greater abundance. This, of course, cannot be done in completeness overnight. It is a long- time task that carries over several gen- erations, because recovery of the dam- aged soil and the regrowth of the forest takes time. But there is much that skilled management can do to guide and aid nature in the restoration proc- ess, and even in its depleted condition the forest can contribute useful prod- ucts by the removal of trees which will improve growing conditions for those left to comprise the new forest. The guiding policy in the management of the timber resource on these national forests, then, is one of improvement, of rebuilding the growing stock, of at- taining a maximum production from the soil through wise use. When the white man first came to this country, the forest was in virgin condition. Decay and mortality in old trees offset growth. Immense wealth was stored in the old timber, but the forest produced little. A productive forest is a growing forest and one in which the trees should be used as they reach maturity. Now that the country is settled and demands for wood in- crease, the new forest must become a wood-producing factory instead of the immense storehouse of timber first seen by the pioneers. Forests are restored by growth. If depletion is to be gradually changed to full production, the drain upon the forest must be less than growth. In this process the national forest ranger is guided by the general concept that the trees that offer the best chance for rapid growth and high value shall be allowed to develop fully by removing those that are defective, of poor form, or with other undesirable qualities. Many species of trees grow in the Appalachian national forests, and it is interesting to trace the uses into which some of them are processed. The larger pines and hemlocks are turned into lumber that finds its way into farm-building construction and repair nearby. Tops and small trees go into pulpwood. Most of the chestnut is cut into cordwood and trucked to nearby mills that produce tanning ex- tract; the spent chips are made into paper. Hemlock and chestnut oak bark is also a tanning agent. Locust is made into fence posts and some is turned into insulator pins for tele- phone and telegraph lines. Choice ash goes into ball bats, snow shoes, tennis rackets, and tool handles. The oaks are widely used for flooring, general con- struction, and furniture. Especially choice logs of the yellow-poplar, oak, beech, birch, and maple are turned for veneer. Dimension stock in great variety is made from most hardwoods. The chief outlet for spruce and fir is in pulpwood. The raw materials for some of these products are sometimes shipped long distances, but usually the processing plants are within easy trucking dis- tance of the forest by reason of good highways and the development of the forest road system. Many local indus- tries derive a large part of their raw materials from the forests and, by and large, it is the people who live within them or nearby who furnish these raw materials. Because of early indiscriminate cut- ting and fire, the forest is not suited to large-scale harvesting operations today. The volume of timber to the acre is too light to support the heavy investments necessary to large enterprises. Mer- chantable timber is scattered and often composed of remnants inaccessible to the big logging jobs of the past. Much of the area is in young timber in the sapling stage or of pole size. Con- sequently, sales of timber involve relatively small amounts in each transaction and are directed toward utilizing the remnants of overmature, decadent, old growth for sawlogs and veneer stock or into thinning or im- provement-cutting operations in young timber for pulpwood, chemical wood, and other cordwood products. Success- ful management requires the execution of numerous small sales scattered over wide areas. Fortunately, this fits well into the pattern of local population, Appalachian Comeback^ 307 both as to location and financial ability. The result is a system of small sales to many people with limited resources who can and prefer to become timber operators, each in his own right rather than leave the home and work for someone else. Such opportunity is in harmony with the ingrown indepen- dence and self-sufficiency of mountain folk. Many of those who live on their native acres farm during the growing season and get out timber from the forests after the crops are in. Conse- quently, there is a growing clientele of farmer-loggers who readily augment their cash income by timber work and still stay near their own firesides. This interdependence is still further sealed by the fact that the protection of the forest from fire is not only the Government's business but the concern of local residents, and they automati- cally become the core of the fire-con- trol organization. This works for close relationship between the local forest ranger and the people in his district. It is interesting that these purchasers of timber return again and again, and on some ranger districts as many as 500 small sales of timber are made in a single year. Often the ranger has a sizable waiting list. There are 45 ranger districts in the 1 1 national forests in the Appalachians. The local small operator of national forest timber is not always a farmer. Many are in the wood-processing bus- iness as their major vocation. Some small lumber producers operate one or more small sawmills. Others log ties and mine timbers or cordwood for local markets on a year-round basis. Local residents get much of their fuel wood from dead material free of charge from the national forest. The district ranger knows from his inventory of the timber the areas that need treatment for improvement of the forest, either through the harvesting of mature and decadent trees or the thin- ning of young stands so as to increase growth. His yearly plan of work in- cludes the sale of the trees on such areas, and it is geared to the needs of his people. Within the allowable an- nual cut of his district, prescribed by the long-range timber-management plans and the limitations of the avail- able administrative time and money, the annual sales program forms a large part of his work. While he may have some large sales of timber to the larger operating companies, much of his time and effort is taken up with the making and administration of small sales. To ILLUSTRATE the handling of a sale and its place in the local economy, let us consider the case of the owner of a mountain farm that is near the Blue Ridge and almost surrounded by forest. The farmer and his boys had finished their fall work. He had a small sawmill, a tractor for power, and a truck. He needed lumber for repair of his buildings ; a neighbor had spoken about building a new barn, the big yard in town would take any lumber he could bring in, and a paper mill not far away was buying pulpwood. The farmer had a market for all wood he could harvest; he knew of a patch of old-growth timber a mile above his house on the national forest and of a young stand of pole-sized trees that would make pulpwood. He went to see the ranger, who con- sulted his maps and records, and then examined the timber. The ranger saw that some of the older trees were ready to be cut, and he laid out the boundary of the timber that could be sold. He selected the trees that should be cut and those that, by reason of thrift and quality, should be left for future growth. Those to be cut were marked, the volume of each was tallied, and the stumpage value was calculated, based on the difference between the sale value of the lumber and the cost of producing it, less a proper allow- ance to the farmer for profit and risk. Because the amount due the Gov- ernment was less than $500, no public advertisement was required, and the sale contract was drawn up at once. The farmer elected to pay for the trees in lump sum. He mailed his remittance 308 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 and soon after signed the contract. Matters were cleared so he and the boys could start logging. The timber would not run his mill all winter, but he could keep it busy with the logs his neighbors brought in from their own lands or had purchased from forest property, as he had. Also, the ranger had told him of a larger tract of tim- ber farther away; it would be adver- tised shortly, and the farmer planned to bid on that. The stand of pole-sized timber had been marked when the ranger was working in the neighborhood. The marking was designed to thin out the area and give the best trees a better chance to grow. He estimated that 100 cords could be cut. The farmer's boys wanted to do it, but the stumpage would cost them about $200. Because they did not have the money to pay for it all at once, they paid $50 when they signed the contract and arranged to pay the rest in installments when 25 cords were cut and stacked for measurement by the ranger. A hundred cords meant 50 trips for the farm truck to the paper mill, where they got about $15 a cord. SOMETIMES SUCH SALES to people in the locality are as small as a single tree, which can be split into shingles to cover a cow shed or a few stringers for a bridge. Sometimes the sales are for a few fence posts, sills, and various farm needs. Again, the sales might be up to 5 million board feet. For the seven Appalachian national forests from Virginia and Kentucky north, the average size of timber sales is fewer than 50,000 board feet and less than 60 acres in area. For a given volume of timber to be cut annually on a sustained-production basis, the cost of administration per thousand board feet is higher when many small transactions comprise the annual cutting budget. Nevertheless, the small sale in the Appalachians helps the local people and is useful in the im- provement of the forest itself. Much study has been given to techniques and methods of preparing and administer- ing this type of timber sale to insure good forestry practice at the least cost and still meet the obligations to local forest users. For example, the scaling of logs or the measurement of cordwood in small amounts as produced by many small operators scattered over a wide terri- tory, whenever the producer needs such service, takes a great deal of time and travel. Through training and practice, forest rangers can accurately measure the amounts of usable products in the standing tree and at the same time mark the trees to be cut. The necessity for scaling after cutting at frequent in- tervals is eliminated, and considerable time is saved. In such sales, the op- erator is purchasing the merchantable contents of a specified number of stand- ing trees estimated to contain a given number of thousands of board feet or cords of wood, as the case may be. Purchasers prefer the tree-measure- ment method for several reasons, chief among which is the elimination of op- erating delays caused by the inability of a busy forest officer to scale or measure just when the purchaser is ready to saw the logs or haul the wood. The ranger frequently checks the accuracy of his tree measurement by comparing his es- timate with the outturn from selected trees or with the purchaser's own meas- urement of what he has cut from a given sale. Timber may be paid for in install- ments in advance of cutting, a practice that is universal for larger sales in order to reduce the part of the purchaser's operating capital that is tied up in uncut stumpage. For small sales it is practical to require payment for stump- age in lump sum, thereby reducing the cost connected with securing large numbers of small payments and the accounting work connected with them. Sales on a lump-sum payment basis are increasing in number, but in making small sales the forest officer takes into account the prospective purchaser's ability to pay. Throughout the chain of Appalach- ian national forests, from Maine to The AuSable Cooperative 309 Georgia, between 50,000 and 10,000 of these small sales are made annually to local people. The total enterprise is far-reaching in its benefits. It will con- tinue through the years. The contri- butions to the well-being of many country people and to the stabilization of local industries and communities are substantial. By the same token, those people working with their Gov- ernment, but not for it, observe the gradual reclothing of the devastated slopes of their native mountains and the progress toward restoration of the basic resource that nature placed there in the beginning. They feel they have a part in the process. No other residents have a greater interest in the control of forest fires, in the rehabilitation of fish and game, or in other associated benefits of well-managed forest prop- erty than those who make all or a part of their living from the products harvested from it. M. A. MATTOON is the assistant regional forester in charge of timber, range, and wildlife management in the Eastern Region of the Forest Service. After 4 years as forester in the Pisgah National Forest in North Carolina, he was supervisor, successively, of the Cherokee National Forest in Tennes- see and Georgia; Pisgah National For- est; and White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire and Maine. THE AUSABLE COOPERATIVE JOHN E. FRANSON The Huron National Forest is in the east-central part of the Lower Michi- gan Peninsula. It embraces some of the land that grew the famous Michigan white pine. The present annual cut in the forest consists largely of jack pine in scattered blocks of poor stocking and quality. The best blocks of this re- maining timber were sold in the 1930's to large pulpwood operators. Between 1938 and 1940, several blocks of the remaining jack pine were advertised for sale on the Tawas District. But — for a significant reason that gives point to this article — no bids were received on those offers. In an effort to harvest the mature timber and to establish a group of local experienced cutters who would receive the benefit of part-time employment to supplement their farm income, men in the Department of Agriculture consid- ered the possibility of forming a co- operative. One was established in 1940, the AuSable Forest Products Associa- tion, a nonprofit organization, which was incorporated under the State laws as a timber-marketing cooperative and whose membership is restricted to resi- dents within or near the Huron Na- tional Forest. Before then, the timber had been sold by bid to contractors — the so- called "gyppo" operators. Those con- tractors had recruited transient labor, some with families, others single, who would move to the woods and there live in shacks or huts with poor sanita- tion and unsatisfactory social condi- tions. Wages paid to cutters were low ; failure of the contractor to live up to the usual codes of conduct made local laborers refuse to work at pulpwood cutting; and county officials held the operations to be liabilities because of the added drain on their meager re- sources. When the work was finished, some cutters and their families re- mained to become public charges. Worse, the sales to large operators ne- gated the previously favorable public relationship with local residents and authorities; the large advertised sales were more economical to administer, but citizens strongly objected to them and officials had to spend considerable time in attempting to justify them. For those reasons, and others, no 3io bids had been received on the Tawas Ranger District, even though the mini- mum stumpage was only 75 cents a standard cord. Prospective bidders stated the timber was too scattered, of poor form, and too difficult to haul be- cause of plantation furrows. Repeated sale offers brought no better response, but the job of disposing of 3,600 cords of jack pine a year remained. On the other hand, many men in the intermingled small farming communi- ties in the forest area needed more money. Also, to help them, work in the woods needed to be integrated with the spare time of the farm labor, rather than used at the will of the contractors. This need for employment was rec- ognized in the preliminary discussions, and it was thought a cooperative might be the solution: Individuals in a co- operative would not be too interested in the size of blocks of timber as long as a cord or two could be easily ricked together; a marketing agency could overcome the objections of the pulp companies, who would not deal with an operator who might have only 10 or 20 cords to sell, and wages would tend to be higher without a trader or con- tractor who would take his commis- sion and profits and reduce unfairly the margin for cutting and stumpage. A marketing cooperative, moreover, would employ local labor; stumpage would be at an appraised rate, and any money remaining after expenses would be returned to the cutters as patronage refunds; and the serious objections of local governing bodies would be elimi- nated. Three meetings were held in the communities to explain the workings of a cooperative and to determine the at- titudes on such an organization. The men who attended the meetings ex- pressed themselves in favor. The larger paper companies agreed to buy the out- put of the association. By-laws and arti- cles of incorporation were drafted and approved and recorded by the Michigan Corporation and Securities Commission. The Farm Security Ad- ministration (now the Farmers Home Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 Administration) of the Department of Agriculture approved a $3,000 unse- cured loan. Individuals then began cutting on a sale of $500 or less, the amount that is within the ranger's authorization. When one man's output was measured, the cooperative paid him the agreed price with money from the loan. The first year's cut amounted to 400 cords of peeled jack pine, valued at $3,200 on the railroad cars. The cut in the second year, which amounted to about $15,000, consisted of jack pine pulp and sawbolts and aspen pulpwood. The third year's oper- ation was reduced to about $1,000 because exceptionally heavy snow im- peded winter operations. The fourth year, however, 100 participating mem- bers sold timber worth $40,000. The first 3 years, the ranger was the elected secretary-treasurer of the cooperative, but when the volume of business reached $40,000, a part-time secretary-treasurer was hired by the board of directors to keep the accounts, bill freight cars, and do the general clerical work. The ranger still admin- istered sales, scaling, and hiring of truckers. In 1946, a full-time secretary- treasurer, experienced in woods work, was hired to handle administration. The cooperative now does an annual business of about $100,000, has retired the $3,000 loan, and has $20,000 in working capital of undeclared patron- age dividends. About 25 cutters and 6 truckers depend upon the cooperative for most of their livelihood. About 75 part-time cutters and truckers earn supplemental income. A comparison of wages indicates the cooperative pays the highest wage rate for comparable jobs in the vicinity, and about 25 per- cent higher rates than pulp contrac- tors. Deep snow, which once stopped work, is now plowed by county em- ployees and paid for by the association at standard wages. Stumpage rates and the value of the product both have in- creased. Bad social conditions in the woods have been eliminated; objec- tions and concern about conditions Evolution of Management on Chippewa have given way to cooperation among residents in other phases of forest ad- ministration, such as forest-fire control. Because most of the timber has been cut from national forest lands, encour- agement is given to adding output from privately owned wood lots and other timberlands. Because the contracts re- quire the use of good forest practices as a condition of marketing, productivity of the forested acreage is improving. A further requirement is that the par- ticipants cannot employ others to work for them; members of a family or neighbors, therefore, usually work to- gether on a partnership basis, and no- body can form a group of undesirable "gyppo" operators that could circum- vent the primary purpose. The area is fortunate in that the only equipment necessary for cutting is an ax and a buck saw. The AuSable Forest Products Asso- ciation has proved to be good business for its members, companies that buy its products, and the public agencies whose work it furthers. Similar coop- eratives possibly can be successful in places where the following conditions exist: The product to be harvested is of low value with little margin for profit and risk; the annual cut is rela- tively small, so that the total margin does not attract large operators; some agency is at hand to aid the organiza- tion during its formative years; local experienced wood cutters are avail- able; only a small investment per per- son is required; and a local individual or organization is willing to lend money under strict supervision at 5 or 6 per- cent interest. JOHN E. FRANSON is forest ranger on the Lower Michigan National For- est, with headquarters at East Tawas. EVOLUTION OF MANAGEMENT ON CHIPPEWA H. BASIL WALES The great pineries of the Lake States helped tremendously in the in- dustrial and agricultural development of the Midwest. But because sawmills were operated on the basis of cut-out- and-quit, timber was harvested with- out thought of the future ; stands were cut over and burned without giving heed to the new crop that otherwise would have followed. The sawmills on the pine stands in the Lake States were on their way out by 1900, with little prospects of future production of the prized pine construction lumber. The story of the Chippewa National Forest illustrates what could have been done throughout the Lake States to in- sure future productivity and how the crude measures to secure a new forest developed into extensive management and then intensive management. At the close of the nineteenth cen- tury some of the best pine timber that remained in the Lake States was on Indian reservations in Minnesota. Pres- sure by lumbermen for more timber to clear cut and the pressure by women's clubs and other organizations to save the timber by placing it in a national park finally led to a compromise. Con- fress instructed the Secretary of the nterior to sell timber on Indian reser- vations and hold the money for the benefit of the Indians. The Morris Act of 1902 included a feature unique among land laws in that 5 percent of the timber stand on certain lands in north-central Minne- sota was to be reserved from cutting and held for seed-tree purposes — as the pinelands were cut over, they were to be dedicated to forestry. Thus, one of the first large-scale efforts in forest management in this country was a har- vest of virgin white pine and red pine, with a provision for regeneration of the stand. Nearly 200,000 acres of such forestry lands were to be selected and 3I2 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 the timber sold. The law directed also that timber on the islands of Gass Lake and Leech Lake, and on Sugar Point and Pine Point that extend into Leech Lake, and on a unit equivalent to 10 sections of pine timber be reserved from sale. The law was amended in 1908 to create the Minnesota National Forest within definite boundaries, including the forestry lands and all other lands except individual Indian allotments (which had already been made) and swampland which was claimed by the State of Minnesota under the acts of 1850 and 1860. The amendment raised the seed-tree reservation on the pine areas remaining to be sold to 10 per- cent of the stand. Not all the land within the exterior boundaries of the Minnesota National Forest supported merchantable white pine and red pine. Areas of heavy soil carried mixed hardwoods — the sugar maple, basswood, yellow birch, oak, and others. There were also areas of aspen, with other species in mixture, and second-growth stands of jack pine and red pine. Those areas of second growth are probably explained in the accounts of aged Indians of the "fire of two summers," which burned in north- ern Minnesota and which, according to ring counts, occurred in the early 1860's. The second-growth pine was too small to be merchantable under the terms of the Interior Department sales ; other species were small and valueless, besides. Thus a new national forest was born. It was comprised of about 190,000 acres, which included some 10 sections of virgin white pine and red pine, about 3 townships of second growth (which followed the early fire), a township of hardwoods and other valueless species, and the cut-over land that had stand- ing seed trees among the stumps. EARLY RECORDS indicate that the seed trees were relatively wind-firm and stood up well despite some heavy winds. Post-logging decadence, in- duced by the sudden opening of the stand and consequent drying of the soil, was prominent and cumulative. In 1930, seed trees, particularly of white pine, had all but disappeared from many parts of the cut-over area. Red pine seed trees were more promi- nent, especially in the part of the forest that was cut over in the later years of the harvest, but decadence was evident among them, too. Nevertheless, the red pine trees showed good diame- ter growth. Many foresters have studied regen- eration of the pine stand following cutting. All seem to agree that about two-thirds of the reproduction was pres- ent as small seedlings when cutting was done. Good seed yields occurred in 1904, 1910, 1914, 1917, and in 1920 within the cutting period, and since then in 1924, 1927, 1930, 1937, and 1943. There has been considerable seed fall, but apparently the conditions were not right for the successful estab- lishment of pine. FOR THE SUCCESSFUL ESTABLISH- MENT of a new forest of red pine or white pine, a good seed fall, exposed mineral soil obtained by summer log- ging, and favorable weather conditions for a year or two following germination of the seed seem to be required. If the seed finds a favorable seedbed, a hot, dry sun may kill the tender seedlings. The establishment of grass, weeds, bracken, brush, or low-value hard- woods is another deterrent. Despite the adverse situations, pos- sibly one-third of the established red pine second growth has come in as a result of the preservation of seed trees. On good white pine sites, white pine reproduction often is conspicuously absent. That does not mean that seed- lings of white pine were not present at the time of logging or did not come in later, but, rather, that such seedlings generally could not survive. White pine sites are generally more moist and more fertile than those of red pine and hence are quickly reclothed by nature with dense competing vegetation. The white pine is relatively tolerant of shade, but Evolution of Management on Chippewa dense shade will kill the young seed- lings. White pine is a favorite food of the snowshoe hare, which builds up to tremendous populations at cyclic inter- vals. The hare is regarded as the final adverse factor in precluding the nat- ural regeneration of white pine over most of this particular project area. Under the terms of the timber-sale contract, slash had to be piled and burned. That was a new and rather onerous requirement to the purchasers, who had been accustomed to leaving slash as it fell. Much established re- production, therefore, was lost by the careless burning of slash. The burned places usually came back to weeds, grass, or aspen, although if jack pine trees remained in the stand, the heat of the fires caused the serotinous cones to open and disperse seed; consequently, jack pine became established to a con- siderable extent along with red pine. The seed-tree method of obtaining regeneration cannot be said to be fully successful. But that method — plus a reasonable success in fire protection and the fact that seedlings were al- ready established when the logging was done — brought in a substantial acre- age of second-growth red pine, consid- erable jack pine, and some white pine. UPON COMPLETION of the logging and milling, the sawmill at Cass Lake, which had bought most of the mer- chantable timber, blew its whistle for the last time — another big mill had exhausted its accessible timber supply, just as hundreds of other mills had done; it had cut-out-and-quit. That, however, was quite a differ- ent quitting. Not so much devastation was left behind. Slash had been dis- posed of to reduce the hazard of slash fires. Much of the area was covered with young seedlings. Other parts had reforested naturally to jack pine and aspen. There were older age classes of jack pine, aspen, and other hard- woods, even if nobody wanted to buy them. After all the merchantable pine had been cut in 1923, the forest was largely 313 on a custodial basis. Protection against fire was the main item, although the men in charge tried to develop new markets for the little-used aspen and the overmature jack pine. They estab- lished a forest-tree nursery that had an annual production of about a million 2-year seedlings, but planting was not eminently successful. A box mill came in to utilize jack pine lumber for box and crating production, but it did not last long. It was succeeded by a more adequately financed company, which produced box lumber for shipment to their main box plant at Cloquet, Minn. It put in a small box unit to fur- nish supplemental employment to a stranded people. A few other sales were made, and a couple of small port- able mills were brought in to work in the hardwoods. In cooperation with the University of Minnesota, the Lake States Forest Experiment Station was established in 1926 to investigate forestry problems in the Lake States. Raphael Zon, the di- rector, recognized the opportunity and the necessity of solving the problems connected with the reestablishment of a new forest. He established plots for the study of release and thinning and, in the older stands, plots for the study of growth and reproduction. SUCH WAS THE SITUATION in 1930 in the new national forest that now is called, through Presidential proclama- tion, the Chippewa National Forest. It had been discovered that aspen, which has no odor to taint food prod- ucts, was suitable for box lumber. The aspen that followed the fire of two summers had reached maturity, and a sale of some 40 million board feet, about two-thirds aspen, to be cut over a period of 12 years, was advertised. It was bid in at a dollar a thousand board feet; other species and products like- wise were priced low. The purchaser contracted to deliver at least 3 million feet of aspen to the box mill at Cass Lake each winter. Logging operations started in the fall with a crew large enough to deck the Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 minimum required delivery by the middle of February. Hauling started as soon as the ground was frozen solid. The product was delivered in 100-inch and 200-inch lengths. The long lengths were recut to 100 inches, and the bolts went up the bull chain through a circular saw, which split the logs in half. The halves were then sent through a horizontal band saw, which took off a board from the flat side. The slab was returned by mov- ing chains for additional runs through the band. The mill procedure is men- tioned because it is said to be the first mill built on that principle. The sale of aspen opened a new market for a previously unused species that forest devastation and fire had made available in large volume throughout the Lake States. The sale also seemed to mark the transition point from a custodial and protective job to one of active management of the resource, extensive at first but gradu- ally moving forward to a high degree of intensity. The logging operation continued throughout the depression, and, when the Gloquet sawmill closed because of timber exhaustion, the main box plant was moved to Cass Lake to augment facilities there. The mill now uses other species as well as aspen. Although the use of aspen for box lumber augured well for the future, it was not possible to extend sales ap- preciably during the depression. Only low-value material was available, and most of it was relatively inaccessible. Markets and accessibility control the intensity of management which may be given a forest stand. Extensive man- agement could be applied only on the areas where sales could be made. Plans for the future could be devel- oped, however. Timber surveys were made, and preliminary plans were de- veloped for the management of the timber stand, particularly the hard- woods, aspen, and matured jack pine. Two experimental forests, the Pike Bay and Cut Foot, were established in the early 1930's for use by the Lake States Forest Experiment Station, and a resident forester was appointed to conduct research into the problems of silvicultural management in the forest. The causes of failure of the planting efforts were worked out, and silvicul- tural research was intensified. Guiding data were thus at hand when the Civilian Conservation Corps was created in 1933 and when other emergency relief programs were in- augurated. There were seven 200-man CCC camps located in strategic work areas. The camps were primarily for the employment of young men, but because of widespread unemployment and the need of trained strawbosses, up to 10 percent of the enrollment was recruited from local people who had worked on various forest operations. The program enabled the foresters in charge to give cultural treatment to young stands and to develop physical improvements on the forest far beyond their hopes and anticipations. Because of the studies that had been made in handling young stands, the CCC boys were put to work on stand improvement earlier and with greater assurance than elsewhere in the region. The continuance of the CCC's from 1933 to 1942, together with labor as- signed from other relief programs, en- abled foresters in charge to accomplish nearly all the noncommercial stand- improvement work that needed atten- tion at the time. Seedling and sapling stands were given release from over- topping brush, aspen, and other low- value species. Dense stands of saplings were thinned, and about 300 potential final-crop trees an acre were given their first pruning. To a limited ex- tent, some older stands that were ap- proaching minimum commercial size were also given treatment by cutting out suppressed trees and trees of poor form. This left a stand of thrifty, well- formed trees with more room to grow. Fuel wood was salvaged for use in the camps, and some was sold in an ex- tremely limited market. Young plan- tations were combed over to find the weak trees still living but suppressed by the heavy growth of brush; they Evolution of Management on Chippewa 315 were released to the full sunlight by cutting away the brush, and made a remarkable recovery. The large, new Lydick Nursery, with a capacity of 10 to 12 million seedlings and transplants, was started in the spring of 1934 in order that the areas made unproductive by fire or the rapid invasion of brush might be planted. The physical development of the protective and administrative im- provements was also under way. A bet- ter road system, that made accessible all parts of the forest, was planned and started. Old woods roads were cleared and improved to serve as fire ways and to enable work crews to be transported closer to the job. In 1935 the Ghippewa National Forest was enlarged by the establish- ment of the north and south Chippewa Purchase Units under the Clarke-Mc- Nary Law of 1924. That action added greatly to the job load, because many different problems were involved — land examination and appraisal and negotiations for purchase. The land within the purchase units had been largely cut over and repeatedly burned, although isolated areas protected by lakes and swamps had escaped fire. The original forest area appeared as an oasis of pine in a sea of forest devasta- tion. Also, in the purchase units, many isolated settlers were struggling for a livelihood on land poorly adapted to agriculture. On areas of better soil were sparsely settled farm communi- ties. Destruction of the forest had de- prived the settlers of an opportunity of earning a supplemental income in the woods. From the standpoint of forest man- agement, one had to start from scratch to restore and build up forest pro- ductivity. The CCC program helped greatly. At first the job was one of establishing protection facilities — look- out towers, communication lines, and roads — for more rapid transportation for fire-fighting crews. As land was purchased, the process of restoring the forest became a more important part of the program. By the time that title was established, suitable planting stock was available at the new nursery. Release, thinning, and prun- ing operations were also undertaken in the limited areas of purchased land, where sapling stands had survived fire. At the same time, other resource values were enhanced. The camp work plans included projects for the protection and the administration of the forest, recreational development, and better food and habitat for wildlife. Land use plans were prepared to strengthen the agricultural communities through the transfer of settlers from poor and iso- lated tracts. By 1936 the need for experienced men in the camps was greatly reduced, because, with training and experience, the young men developed qualities of leadership. The local men were gradu- ally released; unfortunately, they were thrown out of employment, so that most of the residents within or near the enlarged forest were again in distress- ing circumstances. The upsurge of recovery in 1937, however, seemed to offer the opportu- nity for employment in the harvest of wood products from the forest. Good results came from a campaign to lo- cate markets for the class of material available that could be removed on a stand-improvement and salvage basis. By 1939, according to the late G. E. Knutson, the forest supervisor, not a man within the forest area, able and willing to work, was on the county re- lief rolls. The markets, however, were rather far from the forest and the re- turns were somewhat less than they would otherwise have been. In April 1940, a severe glaze storm wreaked havoc in some of the treated stands in the original forest area, with lesser damage over a larger area. In early August a 70-mile hurricane swept a patchy 20-mile swath across the unit. After each storm the CGC boys opened roads and repaired telephone lines. At about the same time an epidemic of the jack pine form of the spruce budworm appeared to be killing overmature jack pine in a large area. Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 Salvage of the material about to be lost made it necessary to find larger markets. Each forest officer fell to. Paper companies agreed to buy up to 10,000 cords of peeled pulpwood; the timber-sale purchasers had to be trained in the art of peeling. An owner of a chain of retail lumber yards was induced to bring in a portable saw- mill. A number of other mills followed. In the next 2 years, some 35 million feet of sawlogs and 20,000 cords of pulpwood were salvaged. Intensive management required that the "holes" in the forest be made productive. The presence of a large labor supply in the remaining CGG camps, plus an abun- dance of trees in the nursery, made that possible. Now, 9 years after the two devastating storms, one hardly knows where the storms hit. The war's heavy demands for wood products opened the markets for all classes of material, even material that had been unmerchantable. The forest was ready, and the men in charge made the most of the opportunity to make light, partial cuts that placed the for- est in a better growing condition and at the same time supplied the wood urgently needed in the war. The best part is that the amount of growing stock has not been depleted ; today the volume is larger than before the de- pression and even before the Second World War. INTENSIVE MANAGEMENT — the ap- plication of silvicultural practice to the forest stand in full measure — includes cultural work in young stands below commercial size, planting of nonpro- ductive areas, and improvement and harvest cuts on a commercial basis. Management within the original forest area has evolved to a high degree of intensity and is well on its way within the purchase-unit additions. In the Chippewa National Forest, light commercial cuts are practicable as soon as the trees are 30 to 35 years old. Additional light cuts can be made at 10-year intervals; each time the area is left in a thrifty growing condition so that maximum productivity is assured. While the CCC is no longer avail- able for work in young stands below commercial size, the Knutson-Vanden- berg Law is something of a substitute. The law authorizes the collection of money, in addition to stumpage, to place timber-sale areas in good produc- tive condition. It is not practicable to require the purchaser to do all the work that should be done. He removes only trees which "have served their pur- pose in the stand," and which will yield merchantable products. Some fill-in planting may be needed on parts of the area to get full stocking. Trees below commercial size may need thinning or release. Other trees may need pruning so that they may produce clear lumber. The sales of timber on the Chippewa Forest show a steady upward trend. Within or near the enlarged forest are 37 sawmills that depend to varying degrees on national forest timber. Six additional sawmills, located at more distant points, draw somewhat on the forest. The annual production of those mills is about 30 million board feet. About one-fourth of the raw material comes from the national forest. A much larger volume is shipped to more dis- tant points for conversion. A wide diversion of species as well as products comes out of the enlarged forest. Sawlogs, box bolts, and ties, which go through the sawmills, ap- proximate 7,714,000 board feet an- nually. Other products represent an equivalent of about 15,000,000 feet more. We figure that the timber har- vested in 1947 represents 1 15,000 man- days of employment in the woods and in the primary milling process. It is not desirable as yet to cut the full annual growth. Growing stock must be built up to a maximum. As this point is reached in different areas the annual cut can be increased. In 1947 the counties in which the forest is located received 4 cents an acre for each acre of national forest land, under the act of May 23, 1908, which provides for the return of 25 percent of the total receipts on a na- Evolution of Management on Chippewa 3*7 tional forest. An additional 1.6 cents an acre was returned to the Forest Service for road and trail construction. Larger payments to the counties will be made in the future as the timber grows into more valuable products. In 30- to 40-year stands, light cuts of timber on a stand-improvement basis bring in relatively low returns, but they can be handled at a profit to the Gov- ernment and to the purchaser as well. For example, in 1947, on a 37-acre tract of 40-year-old red pine mixed with 40- to 60-year-old jack pine, 33.03 cords of jack pine box bolts, 15.23 cords of pulpwood, and 2,500 board feet of red pine were cut to bring the Government an average stumpage re- turn of $5.14 an acre; the operator made $8.23 a day after expenses for cutting, skidding, and hauling. A per acre average of only 1.25 cords and 67 board feet was harvested. Another sale in the same general locality aver- aged only 1.16 cords an acre and gave a stumpage return of $3.71 an acre. The lightly cut stands are now in a po- sition to make maximum growth. In contrast to those low returns from improvement cuts in young stands is the average per acre receipt from two sales made in 1945 in an 80-year-old red pine and jack pine stand. From an area of 252 acres, 422,000 board feet of jack pine, 36,500 board feet of red pine, 202 pieces of red pine piling, and 417.4 cords of mixed pine pulpwood, that had a total stumpage value of $6,880.13, were cut. Of this area, 150 acres had been given a light improve- ment cut 5 years before, at which time $1,158.12 was received for stumpage. The average return was $3 1 .90 an acre. Stumpage values on the two sales in 1945 averaged $12 a thousand board feet for jack pine sawlogs, $13 a thou- sand board feet for red pine sawlogs, 7 to 14 cents a linear foot for piling, and $1.50 a cord for pulpwood. After the cutting, an average of 185 thrifty trees remained to the acre; their vol- ume was 10,800 board feet and 4.4 cords of pulpwood. The trees will con- tinue to grow in volume and value. Truly, intensive management has evolved in the Chippewa Forest, es- pecially in the original forest area. Timber can be harvested in increasing amounts at higher values. Yet the pic- ture is not wholly bright. Only 589,1 17 acres out of a gross area of 1,313,656 acres are in Federal ownership and thus susceptible to intensive manage- ment as a part of the national forest. A considerable mileage of roads remains to be constructed or improved, par- ticularly in the purchase-unit addition. With the passing of CCG and other emergency programs, it has been necr essary to discontinue most of the road construction as well as the noncom- mercial stand-improvement operations and to reduce the reforestation pro- gram to about 20 percent of what it should be. The large nursery invest- ment at Cass Lake is wholly inactive. The production of seedlings for Chip- pewa Forest had to be concentrated at another nursery to reduce overhead costs to a minimum. The Knutson-Vandenberg Act is helpful, because it provides funds for stand-betterment work, including fill- in planting on timber-sale areas. It does not, however, help any in bringing about a productive timber stand on areas where sales are not practicable. That plantations will pay their way is shown by data taken more or less at random in the many plantations estab- lished in the forest. The figures used are average. In the spring of 1937 one 178-acre plantation of jack and red pines was established with 1,564 trees to the acre, at a cost of $19.19 an acre. Ten years later 1,400 trees were making fine growth. The height of the dominant trees was 23 feet, and the trees were just reaching minimum pulpwood size. The stand contained 2.18 cords to the acre, worth $4. In another 10 years, the first partial cut can be made to give the best trees more growing space. In the fall of 1934 an experimental plantation of jack pine was made in the Pike Bay Experimental Forest to determine the feasibility of converting 318 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 brush and the low-value hardwoods to conifers. Two-year seedlings were used. The original spacing between trees was 5 feet by 6 feet (1,452 trees to the acre) , but the plantation went through a severe drought in 1936 and 300 fence posts were harvested in 1945. In 1947, nevertheless, 1,176 trees were still growing on an acre. Because of the experimental nature of the plantation, the cost was high — $33 an acre. Al- ready there are 6.7 cords of pulpwood, worth about $13, available, although half of the trees are still less than mini- mum pulpwood size. The next cut should be made about 1955 to thin the stand. A 1923 red pine plantation, 6 feet by 6 feet in spacing, has 820 trees an acre left; the merchantable volume is 1,390 board feet and 24.2 cords, worth about $60 if clear-cut now. The den- sity of the stand suggests the desir- ability of making a thinning that will yield box bolts and pulpwood. While the actual cost of establishment is miss- ing, it would appear that a light cut would yield a stumpage return suffi- cient to pay the initial cost of es- tablishment as well as the essential pruning of thrifty crop trees. The market demand is steady for all products from pulpwood size up. A market must be developed for salvage material just under pulpwood size. The young stands that were given release and thinning in the early days of the depression period have now grown to a point where a commercial improve- ment cut is desirable to keep the stand growing steadily at an even rate. Much of the material which should be removed is too small for pulpwood. An effort is being made to mecha- nize operations in the woods, so that the material can be handled economi- cally as posts to supply a market in the Great Plains. A trial sale was made in 1947 on 16 acres of red pine, which had been thinned in 1934 at 23 years of age. The tract was marked on a strict improvement basis, and all thrifty well- formed trees were left with more room to grow. It yielded 2,500 posts, 26.1 cords of pulpwood, and 7.8 cords of box bolts. As the purchaser found the cost of hand peeling posts too high to allow fair profit, he crowded as much of the larger post material to pulpwood as he could. The stumpage return to the Govern- ment averaged $6.80 an acre. The purchaser hired all the work of felling, peeling, skidding, and hauling, yet made $ 1 .40 an hour for his own time in giving supervision to the operation. Had an adequate post-peeling ma- chine been available, the production of posts probably would have been more economical. Such machines are being manufactured and the securing of several to be operated on a custom basis will be another advance in in- tensive management. Jack pine, aspen, and other species, as well as red pine, should be suitable for fence posts if treated. The market for fence posts will be limited by the capacity of pressure- treating plants, which already have full schedules of railroad ties, poles, piling, and other timber. Additional treating capacity close to the forest is needed. A semichemical plant for the pro- duction of boards and container ma- terial, and one that can use the small material of most species with the bark on, would be a welcome addition. Like- wise, additional plants for processing and remanufacture will add much towards further intensity of manage- ment. The installation of a concentra- tion yard and finishing plant at Deer River as a project of the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Com- mission was undertaken in 1948. WHEN THE PRESENT MANAGEMENT plans were prepared in the early 1930's, they were based on rather crude data as to volume. Growth calculations failed to take into consideration the better growth resulting from stand- improvement work. Moreover, the allowable cut did not consider fully the market opportunities that have since developed, especially for the small ma- terial. The present prescribed allow- Forestry in the Elac\ Hills able cut is believed to be too conserva- tive. To correct this, and to have a more substantial basis for intensive management, a new inventory was started in 1948. The entire forest was photographed from the air in 1947. The mapping of types was subsequently begun, and the inventory developed through an in- tensive system of sample plots on a statistically accurate basis. Attention was given to redetermining the growth rate. We believe that the new type of maps, inventory, and growth data will produce a management plan that will prescribe a greatly increased allowable annual cut. Further attention can then be given to market requirements and development, and action can be taken to insure full employment and com- munity stability. The process of rebuilding a fully pro- ductive forest is not completed but is 319 well under way. The value of good management has been demonstrated and will become even more apparent as the trees grow toward maturity. H. BASIL WALES entered the Forest Service in 1911, immediately after graduation from Michigan State Col- lege. After 19 years in the Southwest in various capacities, he was promoted to his present position as chief of the Division of Timber Management in the North Central Region. Since 1930 he has guided forest rehabilitation on the 12 national forest administration units in that region and has developed preliminary management plans to di- rect stand-improvement and harvest cuts. He directed the establishment of more than 700,000 acres of successful plantations, some of which are now ready for the first thinning on a com- mercial basis. FORESTRY IN THE BLACK HILLS ARTHUR F. C. HOFFMAN, THEODORE KRUEGER On the western edge of the Great Plains, separated from the massive Rocky Mountains by long stretches of prairie, lie two of our national forests, the Black Hills and the Harney. Huddled along the State line be- tween Wyoming and South Dakota — with all but a thumb in the southwest- ern quarter of South Dakota — this island of timber extends about 40 miles from east to west, and 120 miles from north to south. Its gross area is 1,524,- 797 acres, all but 20 percent (311,756 acres) of which is owned by the Fed- eral Government. Its altitude ranges from 3,500 to 7,240 feet (at Harney Peak), but most of the forest exhibits a rolling topog- raphy. There are, however, some fairly deep canyons on the lower ends of the main drainages and some plateaus that have precipitous sides. Its generally high situation subjects the forest to ex- tremes of weather — severe hail storms, unseasonable freezes, tornadoes, and heavy rains and snows. A favorable factor for tree and forage growth is that the period of heaviest precipita- tion is in May and June, when more than 15 inches of rain may fall, al- though the average is usually about 8 inches. Fauna and flora of East and West meet on the Black Hills and Harney National Forests — more simply named the Black Hills National Forest or the Black Hills. The commercial timber stand is 95 percent ponderosa pine and about 5 percent western white spruce (Picea glauca var. albertiana) . A small area contains lodgepole pine. The total stand of coniferous timber is es- timated to be 2,346 million feet, board measure. The average tree contains about 250 board feet, and the average stand is a little over 5,000 board feet an acre. The few hardwoods here have rather low economic importance: 320 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 Paper birch, the boxelder, cottonwood, aspen, ironwood, and bur oak. The spruce grows in the higher alti- tudes on the northern and western slopes and in the draws and gulches. A narrow stringer of grassland lies in the gulch bottoms. The remainder of the forest is the natural site for the pine. Wherever seed trees exist, natural reproduction does occur rapidly and surely; planting and seeding are neces- sary only in places where fire com- pletely killed the stand. The young growth invariably comes in so thick that it is called dog-hair stands, and must be thinned to relieve the over- crowded condition. Up to 1948, 266,- 000 acres had been thinned. IN SETTLEMENT AND USE, the Black Hills area is new country. It was con- sidered to be Sioux Indian land until the gold stampede to the southern hills began in 1875. Agitation followed to open the area to settlers. On February 28, 1877, President Grant signed an act that excluded the Black Hills from the Indian reservation and legally opened the country. Settlement and mining activities had already started, however, and most of the camps and towns were established by 1876. Unregulated cutting of the timber started at once to provide material for buildings and mines at Lead, Dead- wood, Rochford, Carbonate, Mystic, Galena, Sturgis, and Rapid City. Port- able sawmills operated at most of these places, and a string of them extended along the eastern side of the forest from Sturgis to Black Hawk. Cutting was also done on Rapid Creek to supply Rapid City. At first, utilization of the forest was poor. Little action was taken to pre- vent forest fires until a series of large fires convinced settlers and miners that the timber supply would have to be more wisely used. Utilization began to be somewhat closer, probably because within the decade a large demand had developed for mine timbers, ties, fuel, and for lumber and heavy timbers. No consideration was given then to the future of the resource, however, and clear cutting was the rule until about the turn of the century. By 1897, enough of the residents realized that better care of the timber- lands was necessary to assure adequate future supplies of timber and forage, and they petitioned the Government to make a forest reserve of the area. In 1897, President Cleveland withdrew all land in the Black Hills from entry; on September 19, 1898, the Black Hills Forest Reserve was placed under ad- ministration. It was later divided into two units for administrative purposes and renamed the Black Hills National Forest and Harney National Forest. Applications to purchase timber were received by the supervisor almost immediately. The first one was from the Homestake Mining Company, which for some time had been cutting timber in this area. The resulting sale, the first one made on any national forest in the United States, is familiarly known as Case 1. The company has continued to be a heavy purchaser of national forest timber. The conditions of sale and cutting for Case 1, compared with those now in effect, are of historic interest, as showing the initial step in the develop- ing of silvicultural practices on the forest. Offered in Case 1 were 15,519,300 board feet of saw timber and 5,100 cords of wood from the tops of live trees, at a minimum of $1 a thousand board feet and 25 cents for a cord. Standing dead timber was offered for 50 cents a thousand feet and down dead timber for 15 cents a cord. The timber to be sold was called Norway pine but was actually ponderosa pine. In comparison, the advertised mini- mum stumpage price in the same local- ity had increased in 1948, in one case at least, to $17.37 a thousand board feet. Eight contracts were let for the eight sections of land comprising the sale area. Cutting started at Christmas in 1899. Cutting the first year was to a strict 8-inch-diameter limit, which pro- Forestry in the Elac\ Hills 321 duced an average of about 5,000 board feet an acre. Later, at the request of the Forest Service, the method of cut- ting was modified so that not more than two of the larger trees were left on an acre for seed trees. One of the requirements of the contract was that the slash be piled by the operator after all tops had been made into cordwood. In general, however, the slash was poorly piled; on the less accessible places, where the cordwood was hard to get out, the purchaser's contractors followed the practice of covering the trimmed tops with slash. Before the cutting was completed and the case closed in April 1908, four extensions of time had been granted. The total cut was less than the esti- mated volume by almost a million board feet, but, because of the removal of practically all of the reserve stand, the area will not be ready for a second cut for many more years. A survey showed that actually an average stand of only 482 board feet had been left per acre when the cut was made. In 1924, the average stand per acre had increased to 2,611 board feet. This indicates how rapidly the volume increases when heavy cuttings are made, but is no argument for cut- ting as heavy as that originally done in the Case 1 area. When the forest was established, it was thought that local demands would be sufficient to use the entire allow- able cut. In the beginning, the lumber- ing and timber industry grew at the same rate as the mining industry de- veloped. Actually, for many years, the size of the timber industry was lim- ited by local demand. The Homestake Mine is still the largest single user of local timber on the Black Hills National Forest. The company has purchased large holdings of timberland that were in private own- ership to supplement timber available to them from the national forest. Railroads also used a great deal of the Black Hills timber. The agricul- tural areas surrounding the national forest developed at about the same rate as the mining industry, which pro- vided a market for the agricultural products; farmers, too, were users of the products of the timber. A sawmill, now known as the War- ren Lamb Mill, was established in Rapid City in 1907. The expanding lumber industry needed outside mar- kets to absorb the production that ex- ceeded local needs, but the ban on interstate shipping of any except fire- or insect-killed timber restricted the growth of the lumbering industry, until 1912. In that year it was lifted. Thereafter the industry was free to expand and was limited only by the size of the allowable cut provided for by the management plans. The volume of timber cut varied in accordance with business conditions : It was up in good times and down in times of de- pression, but through the years more stability was evidenced in this industry than in some other industries, such as farming and livestock raising. To date an estimated 2,800 million board feet of timber has been cut from the areas in the Black Hills. Of that amount, about 1/2 billion feet were cut in the old mining days from 1876 to 1898, before the national forest was created. Between 1908 and 1948, the cut was 1,084,923,000 board feet. The average annual cut of 40 mil- lion feet since 1942 has furnished 140,- 000 man-days of labor a year in woods and mills. to local people. BLACK HILLS TIMBER has always had a high cull factor (15 to 35 percent) . The timber cuts out mostly low grades of lumber. Eventually, lumber from the Northwest was shipped into the Black Hills territory and competed strongly with local lumber. The larger mills developed new markets by be- coming a supplier of special products that could be made from low-grade lumber — boxes and crates for the meat- packing industry, grain doors, table tops made by gluing together small pieces of lumber, and shipping crates for refrigerators. Utilization of a high percentage of the log became general. 802062C -22 322 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 When the forest was established and cutting of timber started under gov- ernment supervision, it was not super- vised by trained foresters. Young men who later occupied responsible posi- tions in the Forest Service, however, started their early work and gained experience on this forest. The develop- ment of proper methods of cutting, slash disposal, and fire protection were started and gradually improved. Before the establishment of the na- tional forests, most of the timber cut- ting was in the accessible stands. The sawmill operators took as many or as few of the trees as they wanted and converted them into mine timbers, ties, lumber, or cordwood. They passed up the diseased, the deformed, and the limby trees, and those on steep or rocky slopes. Consequently, the stand was left in poor silvicultural condition, cluttered with slash, and extremely vulnerable to damage by fire. Poor trees occupied space needed for grow- ing better trees. Federal foresters imposed regula- tions that were intended to stop such wasteful cutting. Much experimental marking was done. Foresters developed a progressive intensification of cutting practices — from clear cutting to diam- eter limit, selection cutting, and the present shelterwood system. Records show that the latter system was origi- nally advocated by some early-day for- esters. More recently the tendency has been away from heavy cuts to light cuts at shorter intervals. In the first rules for marking that were prepared for the forest, emphasis was placed on the need to insure nat- ural reproduction in case of fire. As in- surance, it was the policy to leave two, three, or four seed trees on an acre. The first marking rules apparently were based on the idea that a second cut would not be made within 80 years or more. Clear cutting with seed trees is good under some conditions, but experience taught foresters that other methods were better in the Black Hills. By 1913 they could use a selection system by which, in certain areas, some trees with good growth possibilities could be left for a second cut. The interval between cuts thus could be shortened. In the Black Hills, good progress has been made toward achieving the objective of forestry — to produce and use all the timber that the soil on the area will grow. The ideal never is reached in large areas of rough land, such as national forests; economic considerations have a powerful in- fluence, and other uses of the forest must be coordinated with timber pro- duction. However, selective cutting has developed through the years. The de- mand for timber has continued. Better roads have been built. Logging meth- ods and equipment have been im- proved. By 1926, forest practices had developed to the extent that the selec- tion system was applied universally in the Black Hills. The initial cut in vir- gin stands was lighter. The more thrifty trees — amounting to 1,500 to 2,000 or more board feet an acre — were left for future cuts. Under those conditions, shorter intervals between cuts became practicable. The establishment of reproduction in the Black Hills requires no special effort when proper cutting practices are followed. Present marking rules are based on the idea of harvesting the mature crop trees and the develop- ment of silvicultural conditions favor- able to the maximum growth of the reserve stands. Cutting cycles are be- ing shortened and cuts per acre are made lighter. This is possible through the development of the access-road sys- tem, by which the stands are made more accessible to cutting and to favor- able markets for sawlogs and other timber products. PRESENT MANAGEMENT PLANS are predicated upon cutting cycles of 30 to 35 years. They will be shorter in the future, however, as more intensive for- estry becomes economically practica- ble. Subject to variations in existing mature stands, the aim is to leave re- serve stands averaging 2,000 to 3,000 Forestry in the Black, Hills 323 board feet, net scale, an acre. One of the basic principles of the present marking policy is that the rate of growth of a reserve tree depends on the amount of release that results from cutting adjacent trees and on the age and vigor of the individual tree that is left. The preparation of plans for man- agement of the timber resource was started soon after the forest was estab- lished, but the plans were incomplete and ineffective, due in part to the lack of definite information on rate of an- nual growth and amount of timber on the forest. By 1923, however, enough basic information was available to per- mit better planning. The plan made in 1925 for the Nemo working circle was typical of all plans applied here until 1937 to 1948, when the plans were completely revised. The Nemo plan provided for a rotation of 140 years and 4 cutting cycles of 35 years each. It was thought that one could remove 70 percent of the volume of the stand in trees that were 10 inches or more in diameter at breast height. Later timber surveys, which now cover the entire forest except a small part of the southern end, have made available more reliable information on volume and classes of timber. Subse- quent research has provided better information on rates of growth. Conse- quently, it has been possible to prepare better and more effective timber-man- agement plans. The most outstanding change in the latest plan is the short- ening of the cutting cycle to 30 years. Since 1898 there has been regula- tion of allowable cut of timber on the forest. In the beginning, because the information was lacking about total volume of timber and rate of growth, cutting budgets were based largely on guess. From the time they were first assigned to the Black Hills, foresters were aware of the need for instituting scientific forestry practices in the han- dling of the resources. They received support from most of the people, and eventually convinced at least the tim- ber-using industries that regulation of cutting and protection of the timber stand were imperative if those indus- tries were to survive. Heavy demand for the timber makes it possible to ob- serve the principles of regulated cut- ting in that the amount to be cut, as well as the units that are to be cut, can be actually controlled. The total annual, allowable sus- tained-yield cut for the two forests is 36 million board feet of saw timber. In addition, a large volume is avail- able as cordwood, fence posts, poles, and so on, taken largely from thinnings. Annual growth is now considered sufficient to justify an annual cut of that volume, and little change will be necessary unless insects, fires, or tor- nadoes cause heavy losses. The volume of timber cut each year may exceed or may not equal the allowable amount, but the volume must be in agreement with the allowable amount over a 10- year period. The local timber operators are famil- iar with these important management plans, and know they must be observed. During the Second World War, some operators tried to get an increase in the allowable annual cut, with the un- derstanding that, after the war, a cor- responding reduction of cut would be made. They changed their minds, how- ever, when they were shown that eco- nomic depression would result after the war if the normal activity of the timber industry were to be reduced substantially. During the time of the Emergency Relief Administration, National In- dustrial Recovery Administration, and the Civilian Conservation Corps, thou- sands of acres of dense young stands were thinned and some pruning of crop trees was done. The work was ex- pensive because only a small part of the material that was removed could be sold. During the war, the demand for fence-post material was heavy, and it became possible to get young post- size stands thinned without cost to the Government. Better yet, the material brought some revenue to the Treasury. The post industry has been rather well 324 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 stabilized, and each year a sizable acre- age is thinned by the post operators. The largest of these operators has a pressure-treating plant at Deadwood, which peels, treats, and ships up to 50 cars of treated posts monthly. Some thinning also is done annually on tim- ber-sale areas under provisions of the Knutson-Vandenberg Law. Still, areas of natural reproduction will always exist and they will have to be thinned at the right time so that supply of post material will be assured. Research work is in progress to determine the allowable annual cut for post-timber stands. WHEN UTILIZATION of the timber in the Black Hills was started, the only method of hauling and skidding was by horse and oxen. Roads were poor and poorly drained. They deteriorated rap- idly when maintenance was discontin- ued; the sections that were on steep grades soon became unusable. When it was necessary to go farther back into the woods, railroads were built to haul logs and lumber. Then came motortrucks. The Homestake Mining Company used trucks that pulled two trailers; this combination could haul average loads of 14 thou- sand board feet of logs from the woods to the mill. The industry improved its transportation system as rapidly as the manufacturers of vehicles developed better trucks and tractors. All logs now are transported on trucks, and most of the skidding is done by tractors. The size of the trucks varies from ll/z tons to capacities of 7,000 board feet. Truck hauling is so efficient that it has entirely replaced railroad logging. Better roads on the forest are nec- essary. Because the trend in manage- ment plans is to provide for shorter cutting cycles, more permanent roads are needed so that plans can be for- mulated for timber cutting on areas where cutting has to be done or where cutting should be done to salvage in- sect-infested or the windthrown trees. Also, it is more economical to have roads of a permanent type : They save cost of rebuilding each time an area is logged and make possible the haul- ing of larger loads or the use of smaller trucks. The degree of utilization of timber that has been cut on the forest has varied usually with the general changes in economic conditions. In the early days there was close utilization because of the need for lumber, mine timbers, and fuel; later, the selling price of timber products determined largely how much of the tree could be used. Because there is such a large percent- age of defect in the Black Hills timber and because the allowable cut has been less than the demand much of the time, foresters and efficient operators alike have concentrated on developing markets and uses for low-grade lumber and on methods for getting more out of each log. The necessary length of haul from the woods to the market caused costs of operation to go up; so, it became necessary either to leave more of the tree in the woods or to find a way to make a profit from all that was hauled to the market. One way that the yield of the log was increased was by the use of resaws, which enabled the mills to get mer- chantable material from most of the slab. Markets were developed for short and narrow boards, which were glued together to make table tops. It be- came possible to dispose of small pieces for use in making boxes and crates, and a market was found for short- length moldings. There is still a good market for fuel, so little material now goes to the refuse burner. The demand for Black Hills timber will apparently always be larger than the allowable cut. Unless future costs become excessive, even more intensive utilization than is obtained at present should be in order. INTENSIVE FORESTRY in the Black Hills depends directly on the protec- tion that can be given the forest. It has suffered much damage from fires, four of which have burned over 80,000 acres. Damage by insects has Forestry in the Elac\ Hills 325 been great in some years; from 1895 to 1909, approximately l*/2 billion feet of timber on the western side of the forest was destroyed by the Black Hills beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopk.). Another large infestation of the beetle started in 1946, and it be- came necessary to initiate a large-scale control project, which in 1948 treated 46,000 insect-infested trees and for which Congress made a special appro- priation of $235,000. In 1893, fires destroyed the timber on large areas on the drainages of the Elk, Iron, and Polo Greeks. Other large fires were the McVey, in 1939, which burned 21,857 acres; the Roch- ford, in 1931, which burned 21,590 acres; and the Lost Gulch, Moskee, Buskala, Matt, Victoria, Black Fox, Beaver, and Bearlodge fires, each of which denuded large areas. Between 1909 and 1947, 92,760 acres of national forest land were burned over by 4,130 fires and about 28,000 acres of private land burned in the Black Hills. We have to cut losses from fires. In this day of better methods of hauling men and equipment, better communi- cation systems, and better fire equip- ment, the annual loss from fire should be much lower. A hopeful sign is that more and more people are becoming increasingly aware of how dangerous it is to be careless with matches in or near forests, and how close is the re- lationship between fire control and timber management on the Black Hills. If the protection job is ineffective, the resource-management plan is upset; so, also, are the plans of every opera- tion that depends upon the forest for its raw material. On the areas where the loss from in- sect damage occurred, natural repro- duction took place so that artificial reforestation has been unnecessary. But many of the fires completely killed everything on large areas, and plant- ing or seeding, or both, has been nec- essary to start another stand of timber. The first reforestation work done on the Black Hills was in 1905, on what was called the Guster Peak Experi- ment Area. Forty acres were success- fully established by the broadcast and the corn-planter methods. Since then, 10,946 acres have been planted; 9,570 acres more have been seeded. At the end of 1948, 13,472 acres had been reforested. The present plan is to plant a million trees a year for at least 10 years. The care, protection, and utilization of the timber always will be the most important work of those who are in charge of the forest — activities that protect the watershed and provide a stable supply of raw material for the lumber and timber industry. But many people think more and oftener of the other uses that are made of the forest. The Black Hills National Forest probably has as great a variety of uses as any in the Nation. It is all acces- sible and all used, and there is little friction among the various classes of users. South Dakotans have deep loy- alty for the forest and have great and helpful interest in what is being done on it. Grazing is one use. The average number of stock grazed under permit between 1943 and 1948 was 27,435 head of cattle and horses and 28,262 sheep. The stock graze mostly in the gulches and stream bottoms, on the stringers of bluegrass range, on old- burn areas, and on some of the exposed ridge tops. Most of the 682 holders of grazing permits live on small to me- dium-sized farms inside the forest boundaries. These men are deeply con- scious of fire hazard; they are always the first to arrive at the fires that do start; they are the backbone of the first attack crews. They know they are protecting their own as well as public property. The use of the forests for recreation is constantly increasing. A large in- dustry has grown up to take care of tourists. The forest officers consider the recreation feature of the forest a resource in itself and actively protect it as such. Out-of-State visitors to the forests come mostly from the Middle West. Many others from more distant 326 Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 regions stop on their way to the North- west. The chambers of commerce and other groups whose function is to serve the guests are aware of the value of the tourist business and the importance of keeping the forest in good shape. On the forest are five camps for church organizations, camps for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, a YWGA camp, and health camps. Two Government- owned camps are used by 4-H Clubs and other groups of young people. Sev- eral colleges and universities conduct summer field work in the forest, which is an exceptionally good area for the study of geology, mining, botany, for- estry, ornithology, and other sciences. Among the institutions that have done such work are Dartmouth College, Smith College, South Dakota School of Mines, Spearfish State Teachers College, and Princeton University. The streams are not large or numer- ous and fishing is somewhat limited. The forests have many mule deer and whitetail deer, but only a few elk. Mining is important in the region. The Homestake Mining Company's mine at Lead, established in 1876, is the largest producer of gold in the Western Hemisphere. The industry uses large volumes of timber products, and its employees make full use of the recreational facilities of the forest. The mining companies and their employees are also willing fire fighters and pro- tectors of the forest. Three hydroelectric power plants use water that originates on the forest. The fiftieth anniversary of the estab- lishment of the Black Hills National Forest was observed on September 19, 1948, on the place and date of the first timber sale. Much progress has been made in forestry since that date, but much remains to be done. ARTHUR F. C. HOFFMAN, a forester, joined the Forest Service in 1910 as field assistant on the White River Na- tional Forest in Colorado. Beginning in 1917, he was successively supervisor of the San Juan, Montezuma, and Rio Grande National Forests, all in Colo- rado, and supervisor of the Black Hills National Forest, with headquarters at Deadwood, S. Dak. He retired from the Forest Service in 1948. THEODORE KRUEGER is staff assistant in timber management in the office of the regional forester in Denver. He was supervisor of the Black Hills National Forest from 1930 to 1938, when much of the work of improving the timber by thinning and opening the stands and building access roads was done. TAMING A WILD FOREST JOHN R. BRUCKART The Douglas-fir region in the west- ern part of Oregon and Washington covers some 55,000 square miles. Five-sixths of it is forest land and one- sixth is farm land. On the forest land stands one-third of the saw timber remaining in the United States. Two- fifths of that saw timber is in the national forests, which make up 16,000 square miles of the most isolated forest land in western Oregon and Washing- ton. The saw timber is mainly Douglas- fir, with some hemlock, cedar, and true firs. The Willamette National Forest, in west-central Oregon, is one of these Douglas-fir forests. Forest manage- ment on the Willamette has several unique aspects, but otherwise it typi- fies forest management on the other national forests of the Douglas-fir region. In 1893, when President Grover Cleveland established the 4,883,000- acre Cascade Range Forest Reserve, he included within its boundaries the 1,819,483 acres that are now the Wil- lamette National Forest. The forest was Taming a Wild Forest 327 created in its present form in 1933, when the Santiam National Forest (created in 1911) and the Cascade National Forest (created as such in 1908) were combined. At the time of President Cleveland's proclamation, and for 20 years there- after, the territory was the real un- tamed, wild, virgin forest — practically as untouched by man as it had been in 1804 when Lewis and Clark first ex- plored the Oregon country. Indeed, practically the only change had been the one inflicted by fires. Trees that had sprouted from seed at the time of William the Conqueror still flourished as primeval giants in the humid valleys and canyons ; deer wandered over trails that Indians had always used for hunt- ing and fishing; the white man's only marks on the wilderness were three wagon trails through Cascade Moun- tain passes and three small settlements. As in the rest of the Douglas-fir region, the forest reached mile on mile across mountains and canyons. The mantle of trees was unbroken but for the ghosts of past fires. The stately Douglas-fir was king, and the king's girth was so large that a 10-foot meas- ure would not cover the distance across a fallen giant's stump. Many of the trees were clear of branches to 150 feet above the ground. As the timber ap- proached higher elevations at the Cas- cade summit, the Douglas-fir grew smaller in size and gradually merged with upper-slope and subalpine types — mountain hemlock, alpine and silver fir, and Engelmann spruce, which now are valuable chiefly for watershed pro- tection and recreation and as a reser- voir of pulp for the future. So vast was the forest that the first national forest administrators them- selves did not know how much resource had been put in their custody or what the growth habits of the trees were. Whatever was known in those days of the art of forest management could hardly apply to those forests. The tech- niques and doctrines of forest manage- ment had been devised for European forests, and seemingly no common de- nominator, whether economic or physi- cal, was at hand for managing forests that differed as much as these did from European forests. The only logical thing that the early rangers and super- visors could do was to use their own judgment, and to wait and see what would happen. Things did begin to happen. Timber claims and homestead entries brought people to the more accessible parts of the forest. Their activities and the dry summers and the lightning storms soon made it apparent that something would have to be done about forest fires or there would be no forest left to admin- ister. It was apparent also that the bulk of the forest land was valuable princi- pally for protecting the watersheds and for growing timber, but that streams and lakes should be preserved for fish- ing and recreation and the alpine meadows near the summit could be used for grazing cattle and sheep. THE FIRST MANAGEMENT PROCE- DURES developed on the Willamette National Forest were for fire protec- tion. The reason was simple: If fire were not kept out of the forest, there would be no need to devise complicated sustained-yield plans. Fires here were endemic — a recurring phenomenon. Since the beginning of time, lightning had struck the high ridges and fires had burned unchecked until autumn rains put them out. In wet years, the fires were small. In dry years, the fires were catastrophic. In the high coun- try, when fires did not occur naturally, the Indians set their own fires once in a while in the belief that old burns made the best grounds for hunting and huckleberry picking. Even the early miners and settlers considered it proper to touch off a few thousand acres of forest land if they thought any personal advantage would accrue. In 1902 Forest Examiner Fred G. Plummer looked over the part of the reserve that is now the Willamette Na- tional Forest and said: "From all points on the . . . divide the views are grand. On a clear day the pano- 328 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 rama extends from Mount St. Helens, in Washington, to Diamond Peak, and includes 10 snow-capped mountains, with hundreds of lesser peaks. The middle ground is of lakes, meadows, cinder cones, and rivers of lava, and the foreground would be in perfect keeping with the picture if it were not too frequently an unsightly burn." He estimated that 10 percent of the area was covered by new burns and that probably 90 percent of the entire forest at some remote period had suf- fered from fires, of which traces still remained. In the beginning men were lacking to do the job. Among the first super- visors were men like Gy Bingham, a westerner who combined the positions of county judge and sheriff with his Government work, and Tom Sherrard, a young easterner who had studied for- estry in Europe. Each field man had about 500,000 acres to protect from fire or trespass. On such large areas one man could do little in serious fire situations except to put out small fires and report the acreage burned over by the larger fires. The forests in the Douglas-fir region always have been uniquely susceptible to bad fires. The dry summers, the pre- dominance of resinous trees, and the great volume of inflammable material on the ground create an acute hazard all through the summer. The increas- ing use of the forest by travelers, vaca- tioners, loggers, and settlers has in- creased the chances of man-caused fires. Lightning storms can easily ignite the material ; in critical fire weather, a spark from a logging donkey, a burning match, or the cigarette of a passerby can set off a conflagration. Several bad fire years have occurred on the Willamette National Forest since it was created. One of the worst was in 1919, when several fires burned over about 31,000 acres. Through the years a systematic fire- protection organization has been de- veloped. The number of smokechasers was increased. Lookout cabins were built. The back country was made more accessible by new trails and roads. New fire-fighting tools were de- veloped. Portable pumps and hose that could be carried by men or pack ani- mals were used. Dropping men and supplies from airplanes was then tried. Agreements were made with hundreds of experienced loggers, sawmill work- ers, and other local cooperators for getting trained fire fighters in a hurry. The effect of the organization is evi- dent from the record for the 5 years from 1943 to 1948. During the period (when, it is true, the weather was fa- vorable for fire fighting) , 391 fires were started on the forest, practically all by lightning, but the area burned aver- aged only 139 acres each year. Another step came in the techniques of burning logging slash. Fire experts agree that slash from logging is the most dangerous type of fuel. As a re- sult of a series of large fires in slash, for many years the controlled burning of the slash was considered necessary. The early logger was not particularly skillful in his burning techniques, how- ever; it was not unusual for a slash- burning fire to get out of control. Through experience, men learned that in this region slash could be burned safely only at certain periods of the year — usually after the first heavy fall rains — and then only by using careful burning procedures. It has become standard practice to postpone burning until fuel under the green timber is wet (usually after 2]/2 to 5 inches of rainfall) ; to start burning in the after- noons so that fires will die down during the night; to burn downhill on steep slopes. Thus fire hazard is reduced with a minimum of damage to the for- est. Recently improved cutting prac- tices, such as partial cutting or area selection, have tended to simplify the slash-burning problem by breaking up slash areas into small segments. THE HEADWATERS of the Middle Fork Willamette, McKenzie, and San- tiam Rivers are within the Willamette forest. All are major contributors to the flow of the Willamette River, whose Taming a Wild Forest waters are important to agriculture and industry in Oregon. The management of the national forest is planned to safeguard the water yields, through maintenance of an ade- quate forest cover. Protection from fire, regulation of timber harvesting, and control of grazing help to maintain and improve watershed conditions. THE SELLING of timber to private logging operators and sawmills started early in the history of the Willamette National Forest. The first sale was one for 14 million board feet to J. B. Hills of Oakridge, in 1905. Between 1905 and 1940 the timber business increased at a comparatively modest rate. Recre- ation and fire protection were still the main items of business. The average cut on the entire forest for the 35 years was about 33 million board feet a year, and was mostly on the accessible Oakridge- Westfir area on the southern end of the forest and on the Detroit-North San- tiam area at the northern end of the forest. The first timber sales on three of the six ranger districts on the forest were not made until after 1940. In the Willamette Valley logging has changed from a primitive form to a highly mechanized operation within the span of a single generation. Early- day bull teams gave way to steam don- key logging; steam donkeys, in turn, were supplanted by trucks and tractors. Old-timers now high in lumbering cir- cles, like Faye Abrams of Springfield and H. J. Cox of Eugene, can remem- ber when they logged with bull teams and horse teams and how they later switched to steam donkey, chutes, and skid roads. Early logging in the Douglas-fir re- gion was primitive. Bull teams, made famous by the legends of Paul Bun- yan's Blue Ox, were the primary log- ging machines until nearly 1900. The early 1900's saw the coming of power logging — the emergence of the steam donkey as the principal logging ma- chine. Several years later, high-lead logging was developed. In high-lead logging, a lumberjack had to cut off 329 the top of a tall tree, called a spar tree. Logs were hauled to the landing by a long cable rigged to the top of the spar tree. By hauling in the cable, the donkey engine dragged the largest logs to a common pile, sometimes called a "cold deck," from which point the logs were skidded by another ma- chine along a chute or a skid road to be loaded on the railroad or dumped into the river. River driving was com- mon on the Willamette and McKenzie Rivers in the early 1900's. The method was destructive to trees left standing. Any standing tree in the path of a load of logs on its way to the landing would promptly be knocked flat, for steam donkeys were powerful engines. Despite the use of cheaper river driving close to rivers, the logging rail- road reached its peak as a logging tool at about the same time as the steam donkey. The first large timber sales made on the Willamette were logged with donkey and railroad, a method so expensive that much of the timbered country was considered inoperable be- cause of the rugged topography. Because of its rough terrain and be- cause a huge volume of privately owned timber was readily accessible to water transportation in the Puget Sound, Grays Harbor, and Columbia River territories, only a moderate amount of cutting of Willamette Na- tional Forest timber was made for nearly 40 years after the first timber sale was made. The boom in truck and tractor log- ging in the late 1930's and the greater demand for lumber as war approached gave impetus to the spurt in timber sales that started in 1940 when 56 million board feet were cut and in- creased to 207 million in 1948. Another advance came in 1933, when an analysis of the resources of the Douglas-fir region by the Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experi- ment Station was finished. From it came more definite information about what was actually on the ground — an inventory of timber types and depend- 330 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 able estimates of board-foot volumes; a framework on which to base future plans for timber cutting and from which the allowable annual sustained- yield cut could be calculated. On the basis of forest-management formulas the allowable annual cut was deter- mined to be 323 million board feet, the amount that the land could grow if it is kept fully productive. With the allowable cut determined, still another problem remained — what methods of cutting would most effec- tively keep the lands productive. The Forest Service always has re- served the right on its timber sales to require that, as a fire-prevention meas- ure, the slash be burned; that no mer- chantable logs be left in the woods after logging; that stumps be cut low to keep from wasting timber; and that seed trees be left to reseed cut-over areas. Until recently, however, extensive areas of clear cutting were common on national forest timber sales, with the provision that seed trees be left. The seed-tree method of providing for re- stocking of young trees left something to be desired, it was found, because lone Douglas-fir trees are easily blown down by strong winter winds that periodically buffet the Pacific coast. The cut-over land, with no seed source, consequently often grew up to brush instead of to young fir trees. The development of truck and trac- tor logging made it possible to reduce the size of clear-cutting areas and still not make the logging cost too high to permit cutting. Truck and tractor logging is a flex- ible mode of operation. It made pos- sible sales to small operators, who could afford to log timber only where a lim- ited capital investment in logging equipment and development was re- quired. Tracts of timber not large enough to justify building an expen- sive logging railroad could be opened. The first cruisers who had scouted the forest observed that most of the timber volume on the Willamette was in old-growth, overmature stands of Douglas-fir. Later cruises and the pub- lication of the systematic resource sur- vey confirmed their observations. True, in certain localities there were exten- sive stands of second-growth, the sequel to large fires that had devastated vast areas along the Cascades in the nine- teenth century. But far the greater part of the volume was in overmature, stag- nant stands — stands that were losing as many board feet each year from decay, disease, and windthrow as they were adding through new growth. The worst of it was that losses were in the slow- growing and high-quality "yellow fir," from which most of the valuable clear lumber and plywood is produced in this region. The first need, then, was to con- vert the overmature timber to a grow- ing condition — to utilize the old trees and to harvest the trees that were likely to be windthrown. To accomplish their purpose, for- esters needed a logging system that would have four characteristics: It had to bypass growing parts of a stand but cut the overmature trees, so as to convert the stagnant forest into a grow- ing forest in the shortest time. It had to extend the transportation system over the entire forest more quickly, so as to make possible the salvage of wind- falls and the fire-killed or insect-killed trees, and the profitable thinning of young stands at a later date. It had to leave a large part of the timber as a reserve to provide for natural repro- duction and preserve the values of wa- tershed protection, recreation, and scenery. It had to avoid creating ex- tensive areas of slash accumulation. That ideal logging system is the one to use in converting forest manage- ment from a virgin-timber basis to a vigorously growing, second-growth ba- sis in about 100 years — the rotation (that is, the number of years required to mature a crop of timber) in which Douglas-fir forests produce a maxi- mum volume of wood. A FOREST usually consists of trees of different sizes; sometimes the age of trees on a single acre can vary widely. Some trees are vigorous and fast grow- Taming a Wild Forest 331 ing; others are weak and may live only a short time. Foresters study the com- position of timber stands and develop cutting practices to fit particular con- ditions. Some forests — such as those com- posed chiefly of ponderosa pine — respond well to partial cutting, or selective logging. Trees marked for cutting are those that are economically ripe and those that are weakened by insects, disease, or fire. The younger, healthy trees are left for further growth. Thus, the poor-risk and ma- ture trees are removed over the whole area; a full forest cover is left, with only small openings. In these, the young trees become established, and the production of future timber crops is uninterrupted. Selective logging has been done in Douglas-fir forests. The results have not always been good. It is difficult to remove large trees from these dense stands without serious injury to some of the trees which it is planned to leave. Loss from windfall may be serious. On some stands, careful application will produce desirable results, but often it is not practicable to cut the old-growth Douglas-fir stands on the basis of se- lecting individual trees to be removed. That is very true on steep slopes. Another key reason for not using the true selective-logging system in old- growth Douglas-fir hinges upon a char- acteristic of Douglas-fir seedlings : The young trees will not tolerate shade. Unless the openings made by logging are one-half acre or larger in size, Douglas-fir seedlings will not thrive and the Douglas-fir stand will not re- produce itself. And if enough trees are logged selectively to open the stand sufficiently to insure Douglas-fir re- production, the danger of serious wind- fall becomes excessive. Workers in the Douglas-fir region therefore turned to other means of accomplishing the same purposes — area selection, which also is termed patch cutting, logging by staggered settings, or clear cutting by small blocks. Whatever the name, the prin- ciple was the same — to clear-cut small areas of timber and to leave reserve or seed strips surrounding the cut-over areas. Leaving solid reserve strips seemed to eliminate most of the danger of windthrow. After the cutting units, as the blocks to be cut over were called, were clear-cut, enough light could get to the ground to favor the natural re- seeding and survival of Douglas-fir seedlings rather than those of minor species. Patch cutting, or area selec- tion, met the other requirements of the ideal Douglas-fir silvicultural system. It made less fire hazard. It tended to minimize damage to watersheds, scenic beauty, and wildlife. It favored salvage logging. The more they tried it, the better the foresters liked it. As the patch-cutting idea developed, methods of laying out logging units improved. At first, no one knew what was the proper size for the cutting patches. Foresters laid out units as large as 120 to 200 acres, but patches of that size did not seem to reseed com- pletely from green timber around the fringes; it has since been necessary to plant some of those cut-over areas in order to assure satisfactory stocking of new trees. The policy now is to have cutting patches that average from 40 to 100 acres each, with no part of the cut-over area further than 1,000 feet from green timber. With logging units this small, it seems that natural re- stocking will be assured in most cases. As additional insurance, the timber- sale policy now is to assess a coopera- tive deposit, under the Knutson-Van- denberg Act, to provide for planting and stand-improvement work on the sale area after logging is completed. If a logged-over area has not restocked naturally after 5 years, it is replanted. Under the area-selection system, the reserve timber — often designated as seed strips — is left standing until the cut-over patches are covered with trees and until those new trees are old enough to bear seed. Then the second and third cuts can be made to complete logging of the mature timber. Patch cutting involves certain diffi- 332 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 culties. Because it is essentially a clear- cutting system, the only way to get good forestry is in the lay-out of the logging plan. The designation of which timber is to be cut and which is to be left, the size and location of the cut-and-leave areas, and the location of roads and spar trees all limit the practices, good or bad, that will be used in logging. Improper lay-outs and poor road locations increase logging costs; the result is lower stumpage prices for the standing timber and a tendency toward poor forest practices. The areas that will not be cut in the original patches should also be con- sidered carefully since their lay-out, when they, in turn, are logged some- time in the future, also depends on the original location of roads and cutting areas. The men who do this planning must be good foresters and good prac- tical logging engineers. In order to lay out a system of patch cutting intelligently, a great deal of engineering work is needed before a timber sale is made. A road system over which the timber cut in the first cutting cycle can be hauled must be located, with the thought in mind that the same road might be used in mak- ing the second cut 20 or 40 years later and that salvage cuts may be made at other times. To locate the road system and lay out the proposed cutting units in a logical and practical manner requires a good topographic map such as for- est cruisers usually make when they measure standing timber to determine how many board feet of lumber can be cut from the timber. Also essential is a map that shows the kind of trees and kind of stand of timber that is on the ground. Proper planning in advance is im- portant because the lay-out deter- mines to a large extent the cost of logging. For example, timber on gen- tle slopes ordinarily should be tractor- logged. In order to log with tractors, the truck roads that tap any cutting area must be located below the unit because it is much more economical for tractors to drag heavy loads downhill. On the other hand, high-lead logging on steep ground is most economical when the logs are pulled uphill, be- cause the logs tend to hang up and become tangled with stumps when they are pulled downhill. Therefore, roads should be located above "high- lead shows" but below "cat shows." The ideal now on the Willamette National Forest is to keep the work of cruising, mapping, and road location at least 5 years ahead of the logging oper- ations. The use of aerial photographs — which show streams and ridges exactly as they are on the ground, or, if they are of large enough scale, even the in- dividual trees on the ground — may eliminate much of the field work that is necessary in making logging plans. Although the allowable annual cut of the Willamette National Forest un- der sustained-yield management has been set at 323 million board feet, the actual cut in 1940 was only 56 million board feet. By 1948, it had been in- creased to 207 million board feet, still more than 100 million feet short of the allowable goal. It is desirable to reach this goal quickly in order to convert all of the forest land that is available for cutting to a growing instead of a stag- nant condition as soon as possible without impairing the sustained-yield capacity of the forest. Planners expect that by 1952 the Willamette will reach an annual cut of 323 million board feet and maintain that figure as a perma- nent annual cut — a production that will last as long as the forest lasts. Timber on the Willamette National Forest is naturally tributary to three Oregon counties: Lane, Linn, and Marion. The greater part would go to Lane and Linn Counties, in each of which is cut annually an average of about a billion board feet of timber, mostly on private land. Sustained-yield capacities of public and private lands have been estimated as about 400 million feet for Linn County and 800 million feet for Lane County. Private timber, which ac- counts for about 50 percent of the total Taming a Wild Forest 333 supply, now is being cut two to three times as fast as it can grow anew. As the supply of private timber is cut out, the Willamette timber will be called upon more and more to support a number of communities that depend on it, among them Eugene, Springfield, Sweet Home, and Lebanon. The fact that this public timber is being cut on a sustained-yield basis will be a factor in the stability of the communities. It has been estimated that Willa- mette timber will provide employment directly for some 5,000 persons when cutting does reach the sustained-yield level; many thousands more will be supported indirectly. On the Willa- mette, the problem has not been to limit the cut but to increase it up to the allowable limit. The reason has been the remoteness and inaccessibility of the back country, in which much of the timber grows. Orderly harvesting of the timber will require the development of a system of timber-access roads. Early completion of the system is needed in order to pre- vent steadily occurring losses from nat- ural causes in overmature and deca- dent stands. Such a road system will also serve as an aid in protection of the timber against fire and insect attack and will permit salvage of material lost from such causes. The road-building plan on the Wil- lamette calls for the early construction of 3 1 miles of timber-access roads into four main drainages — the Fall Creek, South Fork McKenzie, Blue River, and Winberry. DEFINITE STEPS have been taken to safeguard and develop recreation on the Willamette. Two areas of magnifi- cent scenic beauty, the Mount Jefferson Wild Area and the Three Sisters Wil- derness Area, have been set aside to be kept free of logging roads or other marks of civilization. In them will be 210,000 acres of land ,to be preserved in its pristine glory, unchanged from its condition when the first pioneers and fur traders set foot on them in the early nineteenth century. Also to be reserved from cutting are scenic strips along all major highways, fishing streams, and lakes. Several natural areas are also planned, to remain forever untouched, even by trails, as evidence to future generations of what their forefathers found here and as laboratories for sci- entific study. The Forest Service has built 173 forest camps and picnic areas on the Willamette National Forest. Fireplaces, benches, and tables are provided for campers. Shelters are available in the inaccessible regions for use in rainy weather. Two organization camps are available now to civic and welfare or- ganizations and three winter-sports areas have been developed. In many of the more accessible rec- reational areas, such as the Breitenbush Hot Springs, the McKenzie River, the Upper Willamette River, and the North and South Santiam Rivers, re- sorts and hotels are operated by pri- vate concessions under permit. All six ranger districts have plans for leasing sites for summer homes. Practically all the recreational im- provements on the Willamette were built by the workers of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The thousands of youths, housed in eight camps from 1933 to 1941, built the forest camps, picnic areas, organization camps, win- ter-sports areas, trails, and roads dur- ing the great opening-up period of the 1930's. Their work also in fighting for- est fires, building protection roads and trails, and constructing lookout sta- tions and guard stations was invaluable in preventing disastrous fires and rais- ing fire-protection standards. The use of the ski areas on the Willa- mette Pass and McKenzie Pass terri- tory has grown very rapidly. An even greater development has been the Hoo- doo Butte area on the Santiam Pass, where a winter-sports area accommo- dates— at little cost — 1,500 skiers. With four snow-capped peaks — Mount Jefferson, North, Middle, and South Sister— all over 10,000 feet in elevation, and numerous lesser peaks, including Mount Washington (7,802 334 feet) and Three Fingered Jack (7,848 feet) as a backdrop, the high part of the forest along the summit of the Gas- cade Range possesses a scenic grandeur all its own. Hundreds of mountain lakes, many of which furnish excellent fishing, dot the alpine-meadow coun- try. The Oregon Skyline Trail, a mecca for beauty seekers, follows the Cascade summit along the eastern boundary and traverses much of the more beau- tiful portion of the forest. The trail crosses through the Mount Jefferson Wild Area past the Eight Lakes Basin, skirts Three Fingered Jack and Mount Washington, wanders across the Three Sisters Wilderness Area, and heads south past Diamond Lake toward Grater Lake National Park. FISH AND WILDLIFE are another of the multiple values of the Willamette. Patch cutting helps protect the game, because the patches are quickly cov- ered with tree seedlings and palatable browse and for 15 years or so the patches provide excellent feed for deer, elk, and small game. For this reason, the system of patch cutting should materially benefit the wildlife resources of the forest. The game census of 1947 estimated 540 elk, 860 bear, 7,400 deer, 100 cougar, and 1,100 beaver. Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 GRAZING is another forest use, al- though it is carried on to a limited ex- tent only. The 22 grazing units are located mainly along the summit of the Cascade Range and in the most part consist of alpine-type meadows and old burns. As these areas are protected from fire, encroachment of conifer tree growth is gradually taking place and the net usable grazing area is con- stantly decreasing. It seems that graz- ing is destined never to be more than a minor use on the Douglas-fir forests west of the Cascades. JOHN R. BRUCKART, now supervisor of the Willamette National Forest, en- tered the Forest Service as a forest guard on the Snoqualmie National For- est in 1909. He has served since as dis- trict ranger, assistant forest supervisor, regional forest inspector, and forest supervisor in the Pacific Northwest. He has been associated with Douglas- fir management since early in his ca- reer, having done timber cruising, sale administration, and timber-appraisal work. He pioneered in the develop- ment of slash-disposal, fire-protection, and utilization techniques and the im- provement of cutting practices. He re- ceived the Superior Service Award of the Department of Agriculture in 1947. NEW SECURITY FOR FOREST COMMUNITIES DAHL J. KIRKPATRICK The Sustained-Yield Unit Act was designed to permit the Federal forest- management agencies to combine pub- lic and privately owned forest lands for joint sustained-yield operation. It also authorized the designation of depend- ent forest communities as the manu- facturing points for Federal timber. The need for such legislation as a measure to assure community stability was recognized on the Pacific coast a generation ago — when the ultimate result of excessively rapid private tim- ber liquidation became apparent. The measure was enacted by the Seventy- eighth Congress on March 29, 1944, as Public Law 273 (58 Stat. 132; 16 U. S. C. 583-583i). The law promises to be of consider- able help to communities that depend on the forest industries for their eco- nomic support. It can assure sustained- yield management on large areas of the private forest lands that otherwise might be subjected to liquidation with the inevitable aftermath of community deterioration and ruin. An example of how the legislation New Security for Forest Communities 335 works is illustrated by a review of the first case to which it was applied, the Shelton Cooperative Sustained- Yield Unit. The Simpson Logging Co. started its operations in Shelton, the seat of Mason County, Wash., in 1895. At first, the company's operations were confined to logging. The entire output was sold on the log market of Puget Sound. The company grew and pros- pered with the new community. By the time the Sustained-Yield Unit Act was adopted, the frontier town of Shelton had become a flourishing town of 4,800 population, and the Simpson Logging Co. had matured into a substantial concern that operated two large saw- mills and a Douglas-fir plywood plant at Shelton, as well as two outlying log- ging camps in the tributary forest area. The other important source of indus- trial support for the community was a pulp mill of an annual capacity of 75,000 tons. DURING THE FIRST HALF CENTURY of timber operations in and about Shel- ton, the vast virgin forest, which had stretched back almost endlessly from the shores of Puget Sound, had shrunk to an alarming degree. Serious losses from forest fires in 1902 and active timber cutting by several large opera- tors pushed back the forest frontier. Then, one by one, as the virgin forest was depleted, the operating firms closed down or moved away. The last to reach the end of its holdings was the Henry McCleary Timber Co., which, besides its logging facilities, operated a sawmill at Shelton and a plywood plant and sash and door factory in the nearby company town of McCleary. The Simpson Logging Co. bought out the McCleary concern in 1942. Unlike most of its contemporaries in the logging and lumbering business on Puget Sound, the Simpson Logging Co. did not let its cut-over forest lands re- vert to the counties for taxes, as was then customary. It kept its holdings and, as the opportunity permitted, ex- tended its ownership of reproducing forest lands by buying the cut-over areas of other operating companies and by redeeming lands that the counties had acquired through tax foreclosure. Simpson pioneered in urging and se- curing the establishment of a forest fire-protection system in Washington. The firm's forest-land program was based upon a belief that forestry in western Washington would ultimately be a profitable business enterprise — that the ownership and protection of young growing forests would be the foundation on which such an enterprise would be built. A few years after lumbering opera- tions started near Shelton, the unap- propriated public domain in the remote mountainous country, beyond what was then considered to be the economic limits of timber exploitation, was set aside as a part of the Olympic National Forest. Little public notice was taken of the action; the reservation was largely be- yond the zone of high-quality old- growth Douglas-fir, in rugged terrain where logging would be difficult and costly, and far from settlements and the Puget Sound log market. The values involved were so low that the withdrawal action was of little local concern. During the time that the better and more accessible private timber in the lowlands was being used up, the na- tional forest stumpage almost went beg- ging. But with the development of transportation systems for harvesting the private forest zone and the intro- duction of improved logging equip- ment, the national forest resource became physically and economically accessible. It was no longer a remote area of low-grade timber in the back country; it became a valuable forest property whose management was vital to the well-being of the people in Shelton and McCleary. When the Sustained-Yield Unit Act was passed, the Simpson Logging Co. owned 20,000 acres of virgin timber- land that contained a billion board feet of timber. Simpson also had 140,000 336 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 acres of reproducing forest lands that supported young trees from 1 to 70 years old. The annual log requirements of Simpson's manufacturing facilities amounted to about 100 million board feet. About 7,400 persons depended for their livelihood on the continuation of the company's operations at that level of production. The national forest re- source in the area tributary to the com- pany's operations consisted of 110,000 acres of forest land, 89,000 acres of which were old-growth timber stands having a total volume of 4 5/3 billion board feet. Under sustained-yield harvesting, the cut from the national forest lands alone would have been 48 million board feet a year. Simpson's holdings could not practically have been sub- jected to sustained-yield management if anything approximating the current plant requirements were to be sup- plied. The company did not own enough mature timber. The 100 mil- lion board feet per year rate of cutting would have forced the company to liquidate its timber in 10 years; after that, production from company lands would have dropped to next to nothing for 30 years or so until the trees on the reproducing lands reached cutting size. During that period, production would have fallen to a level measured by the company's competitive purchases of national forest timber. It could not have exceeded 48 million a year. It might have been a great deal less. An extremely severe curtailment of indus- trial activity and a consequent econom- ic crisis would have been inevitable in Shelton and McGleary. THE SUSTAINED- YIELD UNIT ACT permitted the Forest Service to join its timber resource with that of the com- pany for unified management. The large reservoir of old-growth timber in national forest ownership thus could be used to bridge the production gap, pending the economic maturity of the company's young stands, and assurance could be given that the company's wood-using facilities in Shelton and McCleary would be maintained at ap- proximately current levels. Within the limits of sustained-yield forest man- agement, comparable stability for these communities could not otherwise be achieved. A combination like that for management purposes would guaran- tee that good forest practices and sus- tained yield would be applied to 268,000 acres of forest lands rather than to the 110,000 acres of national forest ownership alone. In consequence of these obvious public benefits, the Simpson Logging Co. and the Forest Service reached a sustained-yield agreement, effective January 1, 1947. Advantages became apparent almost at once. In the first year of operation under the agreement, the employment in the Simpson Logging Co. industries grew from 1,350 to 1,800 persons. An insulation-board plant has been opened in Shelton. It employs 200 men on 3 shifts. Its raw material comes from wood formerly wasted or used as fuel for the generation of power at Shelton. It furnishes an outlet also for the small stuff from thinnings and the stand-improvement cuttings, which will be available in quantity from the reproducing stands within the unit. A new and very modern community, Grisdale, was established as the seat of the company's logging operations at the railhead 48 miles west of Shelton. It provides houses for more than 400 per- sons and has recreational facilities, a school, and a community center. The community of McCleary, which for a decade had been on the decline, has been revitalized. It is no longer a company town. The homes and busi- ness places have been sold to their oc- cupants, civic improvements have been made, and a corporate form of govern- ment has been established. The com- pany has modernized the plywood plant as well as the door factory. Em- ployment and the production of fin- ished products have increased. Other company plants have been modernized to some extent and the logging railroad and machine shops have been moved New Security for Forest Communities from the heart of the Shelton business district to an industrial site on the water front. In addition to those improvements, private business and residential con- struction in and near the two towns has increased markedly. Now that the fu- ture security of the communities seems assured, further advances can be ex- pected under the cooperative sus- tained-yield program as new processes are developed for the expanded and more complete utilization of the raw products grown on the lands of the unit. These new utilization facilities are expected also to provide a market for raw material from the young forests of the noncooperating landowners who are within the area. THE ADMINISTRATION of the coop- erative-unit phase of the Sustained- Yield Unit Act requires that private cooperators contribute substantially to the cooperative enterprise. They must own considerable areas of productive forest lands and volumes of merchantable timber. They must agree to maintain the lands committed to management in a high state of productivity by carrying out advanced programs of forestry, protection, and development. They must agree to fol- low timber-cutting plans that are geared to the sustained productive ca- pacity of the cooperating lands of the unit. They must keep abreast of ad- vances made in manufacturing tech- niques, so as to assure fullest possible use of all available raw products and achieve maximum employment and community support. In return for the public benefits that will accrue as a result of these commit- ments by the private cooperators, they are given the privilege of purchasing national forest timber within the co- operative unit at appraised prices with- out competitive bidding. THE EXTENT to which programs of cooperative forest management ulti- mately can be applied in our national forest system depends on several fac- 337 tors. One is the willingness of qualified cooperators to assume the responsi- bilities that the Forest Service imposes to assure the fulfillment of the objec- tives of the act. Another is that the forest lands proposed for commitment to cooperative management be of rela- tively high productivity — otherwise, sustained-yield management on them might be poor business. Because of the widely mixed nature of the ownership of private forest land throughout the country, many poten- tial cooperators cannot meet the mini- mum qualifications of land and timber ownership. Sometimes the low produc- tivity of some of our forest zones discourages long-term private-forest programs. These facts, plus the extent of private-forest depletion in some areas, make it seem unlikely that co- operative forest-management units will embrace very large proportions of the Nation-wide public-forest resource. Present indications in the Pacific Northwest are that cooperative-man- agement units will not involve more than 25 percent of the total sustained- yield cut allowed on national forests — maybe much less. In California there are only a few opportunities for the beneficial institution of cooperative- management programs. In the northern Rocky Mountains, it is probable that cooperative-man- agement units will be limited. In other national forest regions the extensive development of cooperative sustained- yield management programs does not at this time appear likely. From a national standpoint, there- fore, cooperative management is ex- pected to have restricted application. FURTHER AUTHORITY was extended by the Sustained-Yield Unit Act to agencies that administer Federal for- ests. By formal declaration they can establish sustained-yield units that comprise only Federal forest land. This aspect is designed to protect the sta- bility of communities that depend pri- marily on the sale of Federal timber or other forest products. It is intended to 802062°— 49- -2.°, 338 Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 be used in situations where the stability of a community could not be assured under the usual procedures of selling timber. Units of this kind are called Federal sustained-yield units. Timber sold from these dedicated areas must be given at least primary processing within the community that needs the support. In all instances an effort will be made to support local secondary wood-using industries in existence at the time the unit is estab- lished or to encourage the establish- ment of secondary utilization processes in communities that do not have them. The Federal-unit program thus can be made to contribute most to the accom- plishment of the objectives of the act by broadening the employment base. The law also permits the selection and designation of qualified operators in Federal units who will be allowed to purchase the national forest timber from the area without competitive bidding. In most communities that de- pend primarily on Federal timber, however, there are already more wood- processing plants than can be sup- ported by the sustained allowable cut of the available public forest lands. Under such conditions there is no dis- tinct advantage to the community in designating one of the plants as the exclusive beneficiary of the act. Con- sequently, in such situations it is plan- ned that the timber will be offered for sale under regular bidding procedure with the stipulation that manufactur- ing take place in the community in- tended to be supported. Competition for the timber will be limited to pur- chasers who can meet the local proc- essing requirements. Only one Federal unit has been es- tablished so far under the authority of this phase of the act. It is known as the Vallecitos Sustained- Yield Unit and is situated on the Carson National Forest in New Mexico. The formal declaration establishing the unit was executed by the Chief of the Forest Service on January 21, 1948. Its pur- pose is to provide the incentive for the establishment of suitable milling and remanufacturing facilities to handle the small cut that the unit will yield in order to provide supplemental em- ployment for the community of ranch- ers residing in and near the village of Vallecitos. Assurance of a stable supply of raw forest products was needed to induce the establishment of remanu- facturing facilities and make the level of local employment more consistent with the needs of the people of the community. As in the case of cooperative units, the extent to which the Federal-unit program may find application in the administration of the national forest system cannot be predicted. The op- portunities for beneficial action seem to be wider than in the cooperative- unit field. Because the Federal-unit program does not require contracts with private forest-land owners, fewer conflicting interests need to be re- solved. It is designed only to direct the ordinary management programs for Federal forest lands so as to give the greatest help to dependent com- munities. In the Pacific Northwest region and California an estimated maximum of 30 percent of the total allowable an- nual cut from national forest lands may be dedicated ultimately to local dependent communities under the Federal-unit phase of the act. Exten- sive use of the plan in the northern Rocky Mountains does not seem likely. In the Southwest, the act may be applied beneficially in establishing Fed- eral units for numerous small com- munities, as in Vallecitos. It should do good in situations in which national forest timber has been contributing nothing or less than it could to com- munity stability. But these two phases of the Sus- tained-Yield Unit Act — the cooper- ative unit authority and the Federal- unit program — can assure important public benefits. They can improve the practices of using and processing wood ; they can steady employment; they can give benefits that flow from industrial and community stability. They are, Rebuilding a Southern Forest 339 above all, a new approach to one part of our forestry problem. DAHL J. KIRKPATRIGK, a native of the Pacific Northwest, is the son of a pioneer forest ranger. He was grad- uated from the College of Forestry of the University of Washington in 1929, and became a member of the Forest Service in 1930. He has served in vari- ous capacities in the Pacific Northwest since that time and is presently a mem- ber of the regional forester's staff in Portland, Oreg., handling activities connected with the administration of the Sustained-Yield Unit Act. REBUILDING A SOUTHERN FOREST FRANK A. ALBERT The rebuilding of the Bienville National Forest began on June 15, 1936. It was then a sorry tract in the middle of Mississippi, about 45 miles east of Jackson. Severe logging and re- peated wildfires had wasted it away. The 175,375 acres in the forest should produce 10,000 board feet of timber to the acre. But, in 1936, only 89,455 acres were well enough stocked with timber to be considered salable; on that part, the average was only 569 board feet to the acre. The rest was even worse. The average stand for the whole forest was 298 board feet; it varied from 48 board feet to 4,011 in a few spots. The bad economic conditions then reflected the exhaustion of the forest and the general depression. Between 50 and 75 percent of the land of the large lumber companies and 40 to 50 percent of the land of small owners was tax delinquent. Nearly all the saw- mills in the area were losing money. The governments of Jasper, Newton, Scott, and Smith Counties, in which the forest lies, and the citizens were impoverished. Many of the people were sustained by the relief programs. This was the cut-over, burned-over, abused land that the Government bought in 1936. With the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration, work started. The residents considered the area as wild land ( laying out — not being used) and therefore subject to burning and trespass at will. The aims and methods of the national forest program were ex- plained to them ; they had thought the Government was buying the land as a boondoggle. In the tasks of changing such think- ing into something cooperative as well as constructive, the first item was fire prevention. Demonstrations were given of what good forestry would mean to the welfare of the communities. Results were almost immediate. In 1941, Bien- ville had only 46 fires that burned 1,655 acres. To control fires and develop the re- sources, fire lookout towers, telephone lines, residences for fire lookouts, ware- houses, repair shop, fences, and 172 miles of roads were constructed. The first fire-suppression work was done mainly with hand tools. Today the work is handled by small crews of three or four men equipped with mobile ra- dio and fast, light tractor-plow outfits. Modern methods and equipment have greatly reduced the losses and costs. After the protective measures of fire control were under way, constructive action was started to restore the wrecked stands and the large denuded areas. The removal of the pine timber from those areas had left too great a proportion of low-grade hardwoods, and the areas were covered now pri- marily with brush and the worthless species. Work to improve the timber stand was carried on in pine reproductions. The work consisted of felling or gir- dling the overtopping, worthless hard- 340 woods to release the pine. Good hard- woods were left; so were food and shelter trees for wildlife. To help check the encroachment of brush on large areas that had insuffi- cient seed trees, 12,000 acres were planted to loblolly pine and longleaf pine. From 500 to 700 loblolly pine seedlings per acre survived; their en- emy was fusiform rust (Cronartium fusiforme). Brown spot disease and hogs and sheep destroyed some longleaf pine seedlings, but 400 to 500 survived per acre. ( In some places natural lob- lolly reproduction now is encroaching into the longleaf pine and is causing some concern, because loblolly pine on poor sites is especially susceptible to fusiform rust disease.) ALREADY,, AFTER 13 YEARS of protec- tion and management, the results can be seen. People who visit the area now find it hard to believe that a few years ago the tract was almost worthless. It is stocked with a merchantable stand of about 3,000 board feet an acre — 10 times the volume that existed when the land was purchased. A steady stream of sawlogs, pulpwood, railroad ties, fuel wood, and other products comes out of the forest. It has made a great change in the economic and community life of adjoining towns and villages. At first, because of the poor stand, little timber was sold. From 1936 to 1942, only 756,000 board feet were cut. The annual cut since then has been: In 1942, 2,190,000 board feet; 1943, 3,048,000; 1944, 5,304,000; 1945, 5,- 133,000; 1946, 8,333,000; 1947, 15,- 072,000; and, in 1948, 25,296,000. Rapid restocking and growth of tim- ber under effective fire protection made possible this unusual, steady increase. Today the timber stands and growth are estimated as follows: Present vol- ume of saw timber, 330 million board feet, and 190 million of pulpwood; an- nual growth of saw timber, 35 million board feet, and 1 1 million of pulpwood. The annual cut of saw timber in 1948-52 is put at 12 million board feet, and of pulpwood, 5 million. In 1952- of Agriculture 1949 57, the annual cut will be about 20 mil- lion board feet; the cut will increase gradually until it reaches a potential cut of approximately 70 million board feet a year by 1970 or so. The inten- tion is to sell the sawlog timber first and then the pulpwood. After the sale of pulpwood will come whatever silvi- cultural work is needed, such as remov- ing the unmerchantable hardwoods which overtop pine. Cutting will be regulated so that food and den trees are left for game. Some of the areas are being cut for the second time in 13 years. The short cutting intervals — 5 years for pulp- wood, 10 years for sawlogs — are pos- sible because of rapid growth and the good system of forest roads. On one 20-acre parcel in Scott County, 2,585 board feet an acre were cut in 1941. The second cut, 2,300 board feet of logs and 4 cords of pulp- wood an acre, was made in 1946; the grade of the second cut ran 20 percent better than the 1941 cut. It is estimated that the plot now has 10,000 board feet per acre of good saw timber. ADMINISTRATION of the Bienville National Forest is made difficult be- cause it is comprised of many small, scattered tracts. It is not a large, solid block of Government-owned timber- land, but its boundaries enclose 382,- 820 acres, of which only 46 percent is federally owned. Such scattered own- ership increases the cost of all phases of administration and adds to the prob- lems of management : Sometimes prop- erty lines are poorly marked and in dispute; matters of fire control and public relations are harder to handle. Ivo W. Miller, the Bienville district ranger, recognized that situation when he returned from the war and took over. He determined on a dual aim: To make the forest contribute to the welfare of the neighboring farmers and others, and to secure their interest and cooperation in its protection and man- agement. He believed they should take part in their own forestry program and should appreciate the values of for- Rebuilding a Southern Forest estry on their own forties. He initiated a plan to apply the principles of farm (or small-scale) forestry on the scat- tered Government tracts in his district, utilizing local people and small-scale operators for harvesting the timber. He formed an advisory committee of leading citizens to help manage the forest, so that it would be operated smoothly and efficiently and with the maximum benefits to the local econ- omy. Members of the committee met with the supervisors and Ranger Miller to discuss the problems and work out solutions. The program was effective. THE FIRST EFFORT to place the scat- tered lands under intensive manage- ment was made through small timber sales to neighboring farmers. At once the problem came up of financing the farmers who did not have the money to buy and operate the timber. Ordi- narily, they are financed by a sawmill or a larger operator, in which case their log market is limited to that par- ticular mill. But in the Bienville forest, the small farmers got most of their credit from local bankers, who were enthusiastic over the prospect of de- veloping this small, scattered logging industry. (Now, about 90 percent of the small operators are able to finance themselves. ) With the independent financing, the farmers could work their timber sales, which averaged 42,000 board feet, dur- ing their off season and could sell their timber products to the best financial advantage. From the start, this busi- ness developed into a cooperative proj- ect. Two or more farmers helped each other cut the timber and haul it. For example, on no one sale was there enough white ash to be hauled profit- ably to the Newton market. But when several men pooled their ash logs and hauled them to market on one truck, the logs could be sold at a premium price as white ash, rather than as "log-run" to the local sawmill at a much lower price. Likewise, high-value veneer logs, perhaps 2 or 3 veneer logs out of a 42,000-board-foot sale, were hauled to Jackson; white oak stave stock went to a stave mill; cross-tie logs were sold to a cross-tie mill, and so on. Sawlogs were decked along roads or at the farmer's home place to be sold when the market was good. How such special markets were made available to the farmer-opera- tors is exemplified in the development of a cross-tie market in the south end of the forest, where many scattered tracts have only "hill hardwoods" that are of low quality and suitable mostly for cross ties. No cross-tie market existed in that part of the forest. Roy Hughes, of the Bienville timber-mark- ing crew, solved the problem by per- suading the T. J. Moss Tie Co. to place a small mill in the area and buy the farmers' cross-tie cuts. In a year the farmers cut 18,000 cross ties. The sales of timber to farmers amount to a considerable volume. In 1946, nearly 5 million board feet was sold to 141 small operators; in 1947, more than 11 million board feet was sold to 244 operators. Despite such a volume, the forest is not being over- cut. Most of this timber is "hill hard- wood" that is overtopping the pine reproduction, and is being removed in improvement cuts, rather than as a commercial undertaking. Hardwood stumpage prices are kept reasonably low as an inducement to keep the sales going while the market will absorb the low-grade hardwoods; at the same time the forest is being put in a good growing condition, because the re- moval of the low-grade hardwoods ac- celerates the growth of the remaining choice species of pine and hardwoods. All the sales are handled on a tree- scale basis. The farmers participate in selecting and measuring the trees, and thereby get practical instruction in the woods by foresters as to why one tree is marked to be cut and another tree is left to grow. They also learn some- thing about the use of tables to deter- mine the volume of the trees they buy in the sales. They use the information in handling timber in the national for- est as well as on their own wood lots. 342 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 At least 25 owners have given their own farm wood lots — which total 4,000 acres — this silvicultural treatment. Another benefit is a sharp reduction in the number of fires on these scat- tered holdings. Reasons are: Under the timber-sale agreements, the farmer- operators are required to fight fire any- where within a mile of their sale boundary; they have an opportunity in the woods to study the effect of fire; and they have come to feel that they have a personal stake in the forest. THE LOCAL ECONOMY has improved. The Federal Government does not pay the counties any taxes for the lands owned by it in the national forests, but it does pay 25 percent of the receipts from the national forest to the counties in which a forest is located. The share of each county is in proportion to the amount of national forest acreage in the county. The average return to the counties under this arrangement in 1943-47 has been 18.7 cents an acre per year. The average land tax col- lected by the counties for similar lands has been 21.5 cents an acre. The gap between the tax rate and the annual payments is closing; in 1947, the return to the counties from Bienville National Forest timber-sale receipts was 20.5 cents an acre. In addition, the State of Mississippi collects its severance tax on all timber cut in the national forest. Besides the direct monetary returns, the Bienville National Forest contrib- utes to the local economy in several ways. The money for the improve- ments adds to local income; the im- provements themselves help business and enhance local welfare ; the yield of forest products creates opportunities for the local industry and employment. Since it will be a continuing yield, in- dustries and jobs will continue. FRANK A. ALBERT joined the Forest Service immediately after he was grad- uated in forestry at Pennsylvania State College in 1926. He has served in na- tional forests in New Hampshire, Vir- ginia, West Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, and Mississippi. He now is assistant regional forester in the Divi- sion of Lands, Recreation, Wildlife, and Watershed Management. PINYON-JUNIPER IN THE SOUTHWEST QUINCY RANDLES The short, scrubby growth of co- nifers that now covers some 40,000 square miles in Arizona and New Mex- ico has been used by man for probably 20,000 years. The growth is less con- ventional in form and of less obvious value than the forests at higher ele- vations, but it served the Indians for a long time. It also served the Euro- peans when they arrived some four centuries ago; they founded their first settlements in and near the woodland forest, which was more inviting as a site for homes than the colder, higher elevations or the hot, lower elevations. The woodland forest is one of two broad classes in which forests in the Southwest are often placed. One is called the saw- timber forest. The products from the three forest types that make up this class are used largely for the production of lumber and other sawn products. The three types are the ponderosa pine, Douglas- fir, and Engelmann spruce. They oc- cur at elevations of 7,000 to 11,500 feet, the latter being timber line in Arizona and New Mexico. The second class of forest, the wood- land, gives products that have been used almost exclusively for fuel and posts. The woodland forest also com- prises three types. One is the cypress type, composed of Arizona and smooth cypress, which grows in a limited area and has only local importance. The Pinyon-Juniper in the Southwest 343 second one, the evergreen-oak type, is found mostly in Arizona at elevations of 4,500 to 6,000 feet, and is made up largely of Arizona and Emory oak; it is of considerable importance in its area. The third type is the pinyon- juniper, with which we are here con- cerned. The pinyon-juniper type occupies an area in Arizona and New Mexico far in excess of all other forest types combined. The area is estimated at 17 percent of the total area of both States, or some 25 million acres. This forest is fairly well distributed over the two States, except in the eastern part of New Mexico and western and southern Arizona. The pinyon-juniper forest occurs below the ponderosa pine at elevations of about 5,000 to 7,000 feet. The lower elevation at which the for- est occurs is determined by lack of moisture. Annual precipitation in the Southwest increases with increased ele- vation. The annual precipitation in the pinyon-juniper areas is from 12 inches at the lower edge to 18 inches at the upper limits. Some 50 to 60 percent of the moisture falls between May and September. The moisture requirements place the pinyon-juniper type in a belt of vary- ing widths around the mountains and on the mesas that are higher than 5,000 feet. The presence of forest and its type and density give the traveler in the Southwest a measure of the total pre- cipitation at a given point. The open stands of pinyon-juniper indicate pre- cipitation of 12 to 14 inches. The denser stands indicate 16 to 18 inches of rain and snow. The saw-timber for- ests of ponderosa pine and the others indicate a total of 19 to 25 inches. Soils of all classes appear to be ac- ceptable to pinyon and juniper, which grow on soils derived from both sedi- mentary and igneous rock. The Rocky Mountain juniper prefers soils derived from limestone. Temperatures in the pinyon-juniper type of forest are about 5° lower than in the grassland zone below and about 6° higher than in the ponderosa pine zone immediately above. The mean maximum temperatures approximate 67°; mean minimum, 37°; and mean annual, 52°. The growing season is longer than in the ponderosa pine for- est. Winters are not so severe, and snows do not get so deep. The pinyon-juniper forest contains several species of pinyon and juniper in varying mixture. Of the three species of pinyon in Arizona and New Mexico, by far the most abundant and most widely dis- tributed is the Pinus edulis, commonly called pinyon. Its short needles, usually less than 2 inches long, occur two to the bundle. It produces most of the pinyon nuts collected locally for food and for sale. The other species are of less impor- tance. The one-needle pinyon (Pinus monophylla) has only one needle to the bundle. The Mexican pinyon (Pinus cembroides), also of limited occur- rence, has two or three needles to the bundle. The pinyons are relatively small trees, rarely more than 35 feet tall. They have short, quite limby boles. They are usually less than 2 feet in diameter. Four species of juniper, locally called cedars, occur in various parts of the pinyon-juniper type. The one-seed juniper (Juniperus monosperma) is a small, short-boled tree, which branches into a broad, spreading top almost from the ground level. It is usually found on the drier sites and at the lower edge of the type. Normally it is the first tree species that one sees as he goes from the lower to the higher elevations. The Utah juniper (Juniperus utah- ensis), also short, rarely exceeds 20 feet in height and 2 feet in diameter. The trunk is fairly free of branches, which usually are less than 6 feet long. The alligator juniper (Juniperus pachyphloea) , so named because the bark on the mature tree is so broken that it resembles the back of an alli- gator, is the tallest of the local junipers. Sometimes it reaches a height of 60 344 feet. Specimens up to 5 feet in diam- eter are sometimes seen, but the average tree is shorter and smaller. The Rocky Mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum) is of a more conventional tree form. Occasionally it grows 30 to 40 feet tall and up to 3 feet in diameter. It has a straight but rap- idly tapering trunk. The piny on- juniper forest is usually open, and the openings among the trees are occupied by the grasses and shrubs. The short stems and broad crowns of the individual trees, usually of one species of pinyon and one or more species of juniper, give to the forest a pleasing appearance. EXPLORATIONS of early Indian habi- tations show that many were located in valleys, in or near the pinyon- juniper forest. The reasons why they selected those places are not known, but many factors favored them for home sites — an agreeable climate, a growing season long enough for farm crops, and an abundance of fuel for cooking and heating. The wood, especially juniper wood, was light to handle — an impor- tant detail because before Spanish ex- ploration the Indians had no beasts of burden and had to carry things them- selves. The wood was easy to work with the primitive stone axes and hammers or by hand. The forest supplied pinyon nuts for food; archeologists have found pin- yon nuts in ruins. Early Spanish ex- plorers, Cabeza de Baca among them, noted the small pine trees, whose seed they considered better than those of Spain. The thin husks, he said, were beaten while green, made into balls, and eaten. The dry nuts were pounded in the husks and used as flour. Coro- nado told of the extensive areas of pines, which, he remarked, were only two or three times as high as a man before they sent out branches, and the great quantities of pine nuts they pro- duced. He stated that the Indians col- lected and stored the nuts each year. Fuel wood for cooking and heating was no doubt the forest product most Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 valuable to the early Indians. They used some wood in constructing tem- porary shelter and permanent housing; some wood, found in ruins, was used for terracing logs, roof beams, and door lintels, and incorporated in masonry walls. Some material up to 14 feet long and 12 inches thick has been found — what a job they must have had in work- ing sticks of that size with stone tools. The wood of all the junipers is fairly light and soft, however; that of the pin- yon is also soft, but brittle. The early Indians made some use of the juniper berry for food; the bark was used for cradles, sandals, torches, and similar products. The early Indians also got much of their food from corn, beans, squash, and other cultivated crops; the pin- yons, acorns, and seeds, which could be had for the taking; deer, antelope, elk, ground sloth, camel, and Taylor buffalo. Good forage for game was pro- vided by the grasses and shrubs found in the openings in the pinyon-juniper forests ; turkeys fattened on the pinyon nuts and juniper berries. All in all, therefore, the woodland forest pro- vided most of the basic needs of the earliest inhabitants in the region; it may not have been absolutely essential, but it was of great value. THE SAME PATTERN of use continued after the coming of the Spanish. Their settlements were in the larger valleys, where irrigation water was available. They also depended on the forest for fuel and some building material. The Spaniards, besides, needed fences for their domestic stock, and that the pin- yon-juniper amply provided. The burro and the horse that they brought with them saved human labor in get- ting those supplies. ( The burro, with a pack load of fuel wood, remained a familiar sight for a long time through- out the Southwest. ) Because the Span- iards had better tools for working wood, they made much wider use of the products of the forest. So it is natural that the Spanish- Americans of the Southwest still have Piny on- Jumper in the Southwest 345 a high opinion of the value of the pin- yon-juniper forest; the pinyon is their traditional Christmas tree, and they use the foliage of the pinyon and the juniper for decorations on special occasions. The coming of the American to the Southwest in increasing numbers after 1840 added several new elements. To the usual demand for forest products were added new ones: Demand for more fencing materials to take care of the expanding herds of domestic live- stock and more fuel to supply the grow- ing population. This demand for fuel continued heavy until the railroads reached the Southwest, coal mining increased, and oil and gas became available. Such changes have lowered the local con- sumption of wood fuel at many points and have reduced the demands on the piny on- juniper forest, but have by no means eliminated the need. In depression times, the use of wood is greatly increased, and many people get their supply directly from the for- est; many rural families still depend entirely on wood, and many towns- people prefer wood for fuel. Wood- yards in towns and cities still do a good business. The demand for pinyon-juniper will continue, too, as long as people like a wood-burning fireplace, for which there is nothing quite like the heat of the pinyon and the fragance of burn- ing juniper. OVER THE YEARS the products of the forest have been used largely for domestic purposes and near the forest. Some fuel and posts have been pro- duced commercially to supply local demands and for shipment to other States. Also produced are pinyon char- coal, props and ties for coal mines, fuel for burning lime and for smelting ores, and fence posts. The posts bring the highest stumpage price of any product from the type ; juniper is used for this purpose. The most serviceable post is one split from an old tree that has 3 inches or more of heartwood, but younger trees that have an appreciable amount of heartwood are excellent; the highly colored heartwood is the part that resists decay. The pinyon nut has been handled commercially for the past 40 years. The value in relation to bulk makes shipment to distant points possible. Before 1940, nearly l/2 million pounds were shipped annually. In 1936, the shipments totaled 8 million pounds. Pickers have been paid as little as 5 cents a pound, and up to 60 cents in 1947 when the crop was almost a total failure. A fair crop in 1948 resulted in a price of 25 cents to 30 cents a pound. When a good crop of nuts is pro- duced, only a small percentage of the crop is gathered. Demand is normally below supply. The surplus is usually stored to meet needs during later years of crop failure. Crop failures are fre- quent and therefore it would probably be unprofitable to undertake any cost- ly effort to encourage greater use. Most of the nuts shipped in the past went to New York City. Some are consumed locally, some are machine-shelled, and some, after shelling, are made into candy. Only limited attempts have been made to exploit the products of the woodland forest for other than the conventional uses of fuels and posts. The small size, rapid taper, and low quality of the usual stem of both pin- yon and juniper, with the consequent high expense of producing usable sawn material, have discouraged use. Only relatively small-sized, clear pieces can be cut, and waste is heavy. Pencil slats were produced experimentally from the Utah juniper. These were satisfactory, but too expensive to meet competition. Some sawn material has been cut from the Rocky Mountain juniper and used as closet lining, cus- tom-built furniture, for inlays and cedar chests, and so forth. Costs are high, but the products are attractive. The colored heartwood has been used for carvings and novelties, but only on a small scale. The cones of the pinyon are being used to produce incense. 346 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 The area occupied by the type, due to low precipitation and heavy evap- oration, is not a high-yielding water- shed. The runoff per acre is lower than that for the saw-timber type, where total precipitation is greater and the winter precipitation is in the form of snow. Although the yield per unit of area is low, the total yield from the large area is of material value, espe- cially because most farming is done under irrigation and water in the Southwest is most important. The pinyon- juniper forest furnishes grazing for domestic livestock and game. Animals that spend the sum- mer at higher elevations come in win- ter to the lower ground, where snows are not so deep as to cover the forage. Some livestock and game use the for- age yearlong, but if such grazing is not properly regulated, the grass and the shrub cover essential to protect the soils from erosion is seriously reduced. Winter use alone is best suited to main- taining normal cover. The light stand of relatively sparse foliage trees of the type produces much less forest litter than do the saw-timber forests at high- er elevations. The litter is effective in soil protection and in reducing run- off, but the grass and shrubs in the intervening nonforested areas must be maintained to insure soil stability. When this is overused, sheet and gully erosion result. The pinyon- juniper type, because of the heavy use by live- stock and game, contributes appre- ciable quantities of silt to streams. ONLY DURING the past 40 years, since the creation of the national for- ests, has any positive action been taken to give protection to the forest and to direct wood harvests in ways that would insure continuous yields of ben- efits and products. Fires once denuded large areas. The pinyon is susceptible to bark beetle attacks, and considerable losses have resulted from this cause. Mistletoe causes material losses in ma- ture juniper. Destructively heavy cut- ting has practically denuded some areas; on others, cutting has severely reduced the stands. Recovery is slow The seeds of the pinyon and juni- pers are heavy and normally fall close to the parent tree. The spread of the type is slow unless the seeds can be spread by other means — for example, by birds, game, and domestic stock. The passage of the seeds through the digestive tract materially aids germi- nation, and this method of seed disper- sal by animals is important in aiding the extension of the type. This ex- tension is especially noticeable along trails used by sheep in their travels from winter to summer ranges and re- turn, and in the large natural open- ings, locally called parks, within the range of the species, and around the edges of the type. After the national forests were estab- lished, adequate fire protection was given pinyon-juniper forests. Better roads were built and made easier the harvest of fuel and posts. Positive ac- tion was taken to initiate a system of cutting by which only trees above a fixed diameter or dead or diseased trees could be harvested. The aim was to insure an adequate seed supply and sufficient stand to maintain forest con- ditions. Since yield and prices of the product are low, any system followed must be selected with the end of bal- ancing costs and results. Growth is slow — probably not more than a half inch in diameter a decade. Virgin stands approximate 200 years of age. The volume per acre measured in cords varies greatly, being lowest at the lower edge of the type where yields will not exceed 2 to 4 cords; better stands often yield 25 cords to the acre. The slow growth and low yields are the result of low precipitation. In assessing the future of this forest area, of which some 20 percent is in national forests, one should remember that some of it has been heavily cut and has little chance for another crop for a long time; some of it has been lightly cut; some has only been high- graded for post material. Except for limited areas in the rather inaccessible places, only minor areas of so-called Ponderosa Pine in the Southwest 347 virgin stands remain. The growth and yields are low. The products cut in the past have been low in price, and private owners therefore have had little incentive to take positive management action to maintain or increase productivity. Re- search on the public lands to deter- mine potentialities has been limited. More data on sound management are needed ; so is an effort to find new and profitable uses for the few high-grade products the area can furnish. The ex- tensive area of the type would indicate adequate supplies of material to meet present and future needs. It should be the aim to keep this large land area producing successive crops of essential wood products, since the forest is, all things considered, the highest use of the area. QUINGY RANDLES,, formerly in charge of timber management in the Southwestern Region of the Forest Service, is now retired. He holds de- grees from the College of Wooster in Ohio and the University of Michigan. He started work with the Forest Service in 1911. PONDEROSA PINE IN THE SOUTHWEST C. OTTO LINDH From train or highway, the traveler in Arizona and New Mexico sees tree- less mesas, deserts, some scattered woodlands, century-old habitations, the white gold of the sunshine, and the bright blue of the cloudless sky. He does not see, far back from the main routes, the plateaus, the high mesas, and the slopes that are clothed with valuable forests. In Arizona and New Mexico are 6,280,000 acres of forest land from which trees can be harvested. About 4 million of these acres are in national forests, a million in other Federal ownership and the Indian reservations, and a million in the ownership of States and counties and individuals. The most valuable tree in the South- west is the ponderosa pine, which in volume accounts for 88 percent of the total of all commercial species and produces 90 percent of the 375 to 400 million board feet of lumber cut each year. Unbroken stands extend for miles. Ponderosa pine grows where the an- nual precipitation is 18 to 24 inches — less water than any other large com- mercial tree requires. In the South- west it grows at elevations of 6,500 to 8,000 feet, which correspond to the 18- to 24-inch precipitation zone. At lower elevations it is found in mixture with junipers, pinyons, and oaks. In its main range, pure stands are the rule. On cool, northern slopes and at upper elevations, it is mixed with Douglas- fir, spruce, limber pine, and white fir. Small aspen groves are not unusual throughout the type, except at the lower elevations. Disregarding ex- tremes, ponderosa pine stands contain 5,000 to 15,000 board feet an acre. Over large areas, in the main range, stands average about 10,000 board feet an acre. The virgin stands of ponderosa pine in the Southwest are unusually de- cadent or injured. Western red rot re- duces gross volumes by 15 to 25 per- cent— or more on some rocky ridges. Mistletoe, the slow killer, is wide- spread. The Cronartium rust is found throughout the type on individual trees here and there. Bark beetles are not unusually serious and seldom reach epidemic proportions, except that sev- eral species of Ips and Dendroctonus make serious inroads in small areas during cycles of dry weather. Light- ning causes the most damage and high- est mortality. If it does not kill the struck tree outright, it leaves a long open wound, into which disease or- 348 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 ganisms enter easily. Abert squirrels and porcupines girdle the limbs and tops of trees, especially those of sapling and pole size. The girdled trees become deformed, and rot enters the wounds. Ponderosa pine is a light-loving tree. It reproduces and grows best with some overhead and side light. It seldom re- produces in full shade. Because of the low annual precipitation, it needs plenty of space to reach its largest growth. At the same time, a dense stand is desirable, at least through the sapling and pole stage, in order to keep the lower limbs small and obtain natu- ral pruning on the main bole. The spring period in the Southwest is unusually dry and windy. Summer rains are the rule, but often are no more than showers. A combination of a good seed crop and early and heavy summer rains is needed to insure repro- duction of ponderosa pine. Seldom does the combination occur. In 1918, the seed crop was heavy, the following spring was favorable for germination and establishment, and the summers of 1919 and 1920 were above average for continued seedling growth. As a re- sult, large areas of reproduction and saplings are now common in most of the Southwest. Since then, only rela- tively few seedlings have become estab- lished each year. HISTORY does not record how soon the Spanish erected the first sawmill in New Mexico after Onate led the first settlers into the Valley of the Rio Grande del Norte in 1598. One of the first sawmills in northern Arizona was brought overland from the Salt Lake region by the Latter Day Saints and erected south of Flagstaff at Sawmill Springs in 1878. Large-scale lumbering operations began with the construction of the first railroad (now the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe) through the timbered parts of the Southwest. Between 1878 and 1881, the forests near Las Vegas, Pecos, and Santa Fe, in New Mexico, were heavily cut for ties and construction material. In the 1880's the stands on the Colorado Plateau near Flagstaff and Williams, in Arizona, were exten- sively cut. Since then, the lumber in- dustry has thrived and spread. Early cutting of ponderosa pine was strictly on a basis of cut and use what you can. The usable trees in the most available areas were cut; the rest were usually burned, with no thought to con- servation or forestry. Some of the scars are still noticeable, but most of the heavily cut areas are now partly clothed with forest growth, and many areas have fine stands of young ponderosa. The largest lumbering operations are in the vast ponderosa pine stand on the Colorado Plateau, which ex- tends unbroken from the Gila Wilder- ness Area in New Mexico almost 300 miles northwest toward the Grand Canyon. A typical operation is the one that is centered at Flagstaff, in the heart of the Coconino National Forest. During the past 70 years the local mills have cut more than a billion board feet from 350,000 acres. The two large mills and several saw mills can con- tinue to cut about 60 million board feet a year of national forest timber on a sustained basis. More than 40 million board feet of sawlogs a year are brought in 34 miles by a logging railroad from the virgin stands of pon- derosa pine south of Flagstaff. Large trucks deliver logs to the railhead from as far away as the Mogollon Rim. Sawlogs cut near the established mills are trucked directly to the mills. The lumber industry has a capital investment of about 3 million dollars in sawmills, box factories, cut-up plants, and power plants in the Flag- staff community. The industry depends almost wholly on timber from the na- tional forest. It provides employment for about 750 persons. Wages paid amount to 1% million dollars a year. The Flagstaff community depends to a large extent on the maintenance of a stable forest-products industry. North of Flagstaff and across the Grand Canyon is a unique island of commercial ponderosa pine timber — Ponderosa Pine in the Southwest 349 1/2 billion board feet on the 184,000 acres of national forest land on the Kaibab Plateau. For centuries only In- dians used it. In the 1870's Mormons settled in the lowlands, 30 miles or so to the north near the Utah-Arizona line, and operated one or two small sawmills intermittently. Highways first tapped the Kaibab Plateau soon after the Marble Can- yon bridge was completed across the Colorado River in 1928. The plateau is the home of the famous Kaibab mule deer herd; there, also, Theodore Roosevelt hunted the mountain lion. It is an isolated region — from the cen- ter of the timber, the nearest railroad on the north is 140 miles away; on the south, 1 75 miles. No wonder, then, that the large body of ponderosa pine on the Kai- bab Plateau was relatively untouched until the Second World War. Good highways, good trucks, the scarcity of good timber, and high prices came to- gether at about the same time. Tim- ber was sold, mills were installed, and for the first time lumber moved to the outside world. Now lumber moves on large trucks over the Marble Canyon bridge, across the desert, past the wind-swept hogans of the Navajo In- dians, and thence to markets over the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. The closest mill to the Santa Fe Railroad is 165 miles; the farthest, 205 miles. The development is typical of the western pioneer days, but it happened in the early 1940's. The future for the Kaibab Plateau timber looks bright. The opportunity is there for an integrated manufacturing and remanufacturing industry on a substantial and continuing scale. New highways will reduce the distance to the railroad. After 80 years, the local people are assured of employment op- portunities in a basic manufacturing industry. At the same time, the other values of wildlife, recreation, water production, and grazing of livestock need not be impaired if the timber har- vest is orderly and management of the forest is careful. In much of central Arizona and in northern New Mexico the operations are small. Most of the sawmills have a circular head saw and annually cut l/z million to 5 million board feet of rough green lumber. They are located in interior forest communities, where the inhabitants depend on the local resources of water, forage, and the harvesting and manufacture of forest crops. A TYPICAL CASE is the operation at Vallecitos, in the Carson National For- est in New Mexico. The established operator there cut annually a million board feet or less before 1948. Trucks hauled the rough green lumber 63 miles to the nearest railroad shipping point. Employment was furnished to 8 or 10 persons. The sawmill was poor- ly located in relation to the available timber and existing roads. Technicians were called in to an- alyze the situation at Vallecitos. They decided the annual cut should be not less than l/2 million board feet. The operator said he would relocate the mill, install seasoning and finishing fa- cilities, construct a small box factory or cut-up plant to utilize low-grade material, and continue to use local labor and furnish lumber at regular prices to people nearby if he were as- sured a stable supply of timber. If that were done, employment would be in- creased up to 400 percent, the annual wages would be increased by as much as $30,000, and the communities of Vallecitos, Canyon Plaza, and Petaca would be helped materially. Accordingly, under section 3 of the Sustained- Yield Unit Act, steps were taken to establish a Federal Sustained- Yield Unit. At the required public hearing on the proposal, in December 1947, more than 100 residents attended to get information, ask questions, and make comments. They agreed that the unit would be a good thing. On January 21, 1948, the Vallecitos Federal Sustained-Yield Unit was for- mally established, the first of its kind in the United States. In the year since, 350 progress has been made in carrying out the declared policy for the unit: In 70 years, then, lumbering in the South- west has progressed from logging with oxen and cutting ties for railroads to big wheels and logging railroads, to modern trucks and complete manufac- turing facilities, and, finally, to the integrated plant in little Vallecitos, whose life and livelihood are actually determined by the life of the forest. THE NATIONAL FORESTS, which em- brace two-thirds of the commercial timberland in the Southwest, were es- tablished at the turn of the century. At first, cutting was directed toward leaving thrifty seed trees and protect- ing the few poles and sparse reproduc- tion. But with research, experience, improved fire protection and establish- ment of reproduction, and improve- ments in logging and transportation facilities, the cutting practices have gradually changed, and they have pro- gressed through various steps — the cut- ting of selected groups of trees, the heavy cutting of selected individual trees, and light cutting of selected trees to improve the growth of the stand. Much of the credit for the progress is due to almost 40 years of research at the Fort Valley Experimental Forest near Flagstaff. The late G. A. Pearson, a long-time employee of the Forest Serv- ice, was in charge of research for 35 years. He kept individual records of thousands of ponderosa pine trees, measured growth of residual trees, and studied results of many different types of cutting practices on large experi- mental plots. The findings give south- western forest managers a wealth of material to use as a base for progres- sive forest practices. Management is not static or neces- sarily uniform throughout the national forests in the Southwest. Management is by small units, or working circles, and management plans are made for each. The annual cut from each varies from 1 million to 60 million feet. In the preparation of management plans for ponderosa pine, foresters are Yearbool^ of Agriculture 1949 guided by the general objectives and policies established for all the national forests in the Southwest. They are: 1. To make the first harvest cut in all virgin stands within the next 20 years or less, in order to harvest quickly the dying trees, to begin the process of improving growth and quality, and to make all commercial timber stands accessible by a permanent road system. 2. To make the initial cut in virgin stands on a light improvement-selec- tion basis, designed to remove from 30 to 50 percent of the gross volume, or 5 to 10 trees an acre. 3. Periodically, at least once a dec- ade, to make a light intermediate cut in the old cut-overs to remove de- cadent trees and to thin the poorest trees from groups or dense stands where root or crown competition im- pairs net-quality growth. 4. To utilize, to the greatest extent possible and thereby improve the for- est, all material that should be thinned from the sapling and pole stands and all material normally left in the woods in a sawlog operation. In the initial harvest cut in virgin ponderosa pine stands, many trees are readily recognized as requiring re- moval. They are the decadent trees — those with mechanical injuries such as lightning streaks, those with heavy mis- tletoe, the bad leaners, the rough, limby trees, and the large, old trees of declin- ing growth and thrift. It is not difficult for a trained or experienced marker to select those trees for removal. Special skill is involved in selecting the addi- tional trees for removal, which will fur- ther improve the stand. The major considerations are spacing, quality, and thrift, so the marker looks for the poor- est trees — those that are rough or crooked or have large limbs, or that have large, low crowns or slight me- chanical injuries, particularly in the lower bole. Their removal will enhance the growth of the trees that are left in the stand. The isolated wolf tree, with large, low limbs, and the rough, limby tree are first sought for and marked. In the intermediate cuts in old cut- Ponderosa Pine in the Southwest 351 overs, the objective is much the same as in the virgin stands, but special em- phasis is placed on improving the stand so as to increase growth in the younger sawlog trees and the oncoming poles and saplings. Residual trees that have serious infections of mistletoe, have been struck by lightning, or have other mechanical injuries are marked for re- moval. Groups are thinned by the re- moval of the poorest and roughest trees. After their removal, net growth takes place on the best-quality stems. One can make intermediate light im- provement-selection cuts of 300 to 600 board feet an acre in the old cut-overs, because the stands have been made ac- cessible by permanent roads. Logging is done by tractors or horses, portable loaders, and light trucks. As roads are improved and lighter mobile equip- ment is developed, it is expected that stands, from which the initial harvest cut has been made, will be cut over every few years. By so doing, mortality will be minimized, whether from wind, lightning, disease, or insects, and qual- ity growth will increase. Within a few decades, even in areas that were heavily cut 30 to 70 years ago, the net harvest- able growth should be at the rate of 150 board feet or more an acre each year. Foresters work toward that objec- tive ; if they reach the goal, they will be producing a large volume of excellent wood in a forest that has almost the characteristics of a desert in habitat and moisture requirements. THE TREES OF THE FUTURE are the seedlings, saplings, and poles, all under 12 inches in diameter at breast height. They are found as individuals in open- ings, in open stands, in dense groups, or as an understory. In the Southwest, young ponderosa pines are usually limby if they are not growing in dense stands. To produce the maximum growth in quality trees for the future, special attention must be given to the trees of tomorrow. To that end, help is given by the Knutson-Vandenberg Act, under which a small part of the stumpage value of the trees that are being sold can be used to improve the timber stands. Based on an analysis of each area, a decision is made as to the need for improving the stand and its cost. The collection of funds is pro- vided for in the timber-sale agreement. Most current collections vary from 25 cents to a dollar a thousand board feet. Research experiments and tests have indicated that highest priority should be given to pruning trees of small sizes — usually 4 to 1 1 inches in diam- eter at breast height. The best saplings and small poles are selected as crop trees for pruning. All limbs are cut flush with the bark to a height of 9 to 17 feet, depending on the size of the stem. Not more than one-half of the live limbs are removed, because it is essential that a thrifty crown of ade- quate size be retained. Trees with dead limbs more than ll/2 inches in diam- eter are seldom pruned because of the possibility of the entrance of western red rot in the large wounds. The most productive areas are selected first for pruning. They are the best growing sites and are free of mistletoe infec- tions. By pruning now, while trees are small, clear lumber or veneer will be produced in the future, instead of low- value boards with knots. Besides the periodic pruning of the best trees, worthless, unusable trees are removed by poisoning or cutting; they are the rough, limby, or deformed trees that occupy space and use moisture that should be made available for the good crop trees. Young stands of ponderosa pine can be further improved by utilizing the small stems that should be cut in peri- odic thinnings. Little has been done so far with them, but they are worth at- tention. One possibility is to use the smallest stems, 4 to 10 inches, for posts and poles, which are used by the tens of thousands in the Southwest. They would have to be given a pre- servative treatment, because untreated ponderosa pine is not durable in con- tact with the ground. No custom treating plant exists now in the South- west, but foresters are making an in- 352 ventory of the raw material and an- alyzing the potential market, so as to determine the best location for a treat- ing plant and to interest prospective operators. Another possibility is to use the trees of small sawlog size (12 to 18 inches in diameter) in a log gang or small band mill that would be built espe- cially to handle small logs economi- cally. At several locations such an operation would be feasible. Forest officers are working with mill operators to promote more efficient manufacture of lumber by small cir- cular mills and the replacement of cir- cular mills with band mills. They also advocate the further finishing and re- manufacture of forest products and increased use of waste. Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 Such management devices in the Southwest will strengthen the economy of tomorrow and provide further em- ployment opportunities for those in rural communities in and near the forests. They also will improve the forest, and, in turn, will increase wealth and employment. C. OTTO LINDH, assistant regional forester in the Division of Timber Management, is stationed in Albu- querque, N. Mex. Upon graduation from Oregon State College in 1927, he joined the Forest Service, and has held various positions, from assistant ranger to assistant regional forester. His work has been in the fields of fire control and timber management in the Northwest and Southwest. PINE FORESTS OF CALIFORNIA B. O. HUGHES, DUNCAN DUNNING The national forests of California have 7.7 million acres of land suitable for growing timber as the primary crop. Of this total, 5.6 million acres bear virgin or old-growth forests un- affected by lumbering and 1.2 million acres have younger stands left in the first logging operation. The rest is not stocked with trees, mostly because of fires before the late 1890's. In converting these three kinds of areas to well-ordered croplands, for- est managers must reckon with a com- plex mixture of assets and liabilities. Generally speaking, the national for- ests are not the most favorably situ- ated timberlands in the State. The more accessible, more productive lands passed to private ownership before the forests were established. Five conifers make up more than 95 percent of the volume of the standing timber. Of these, ponderosa pine is the most generally useful and of widest occurrence. The fine-textured sugar pine commands the highest price, but constitutes only one-tenth of the vol- ume. Both pines reach their best de- velopment along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. Douglas-fir and white fir each make up about one-third of the timber vol- ume and are important components of the mixed forests of both the Sierra Nevada and Coast Range, sometimes forming almost pure stands. California incense-cedar occurs in- termingled with the other species, forming only one twenty-fifth of the volume. It is presently the world's most important pencil wood and is prized for fence posts, rails, and other uses requiring resistance to decay. Native hardwood trees are of rela- tively minor importance in California. The introduction of valuable timber hardwoods from the Eastern States or elsewhere has not been successful. Nor are any introduced conifers known that are more generally useful and that could survive and grow better than the natives. Several promising hybrid pines are now being tested; some of these may prove useful in certain localities. Pine Porests of California Profile of CENTRAL SIERRA NEVADA Showing Altitudinal Limits of the Principal Forest Types Ponderosa pine is the mainstay of the national forest management, with sugar pine the favored species in re- stricted, highly productive localities. By good management the proportion of these trees in the stands can be con- siderably increased and serious insect damage, diseases, and soil deterioration common in single-species forests can be avoided. But constant care is needed to keep these two valuable pines from being crowded out by the associated firs and cedar, which are more easily established by natural seeding. All the five native conifers can grow rapidly and attain merchantable saw- timber dimensions of 18 to 50 inches in diameter in 75 to 150 years, according to quality of soil. The problem of transforming the wild natural forests for more efficient timber growth has one highly favorable aspect: The high values stored in the large smooth stems of the old trees that occasionally exceed 600 years in age. Some of this reserve capital can be reinvested in the forest to correct the many deficiencies. Provision for this has been made through the Knut- son-Vandenberg Act, which authorized the planting of fail-places, removal of undesirable trees and brush, prun- ing crop trees, and other stand im- provement. A notable deficiency of the virgin forest is that the land is now stocked with trees only to a little more than 60 percent of its capacity. Good manage- ment aims to increase stocking by about one- third. Accomplishing this is made difficult by an excess of old trees. The large, old trees contain from 60 to 95 percent of the stand's saw-timber vol- ume. This is slow-growing or deterior- ating timber ready for harvesting; it should be replaced. Thus, growing stocks must first be reduced before they can be built up by natural regeneration or planting into thriving forests that contain young trees for future harvests. Reconstructing the stands by plant- ing or seeding is made difficult by hosts of aggressive shrubs — manzanitas, cea- nothus, and others — growing between the trees or waiting as seed to take pos- session of the soil when trees are cut. 802062°— 49- 24 354 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 Squirrels, chipmunks, and mice add to the difficulties by destroying tree seed ; rabbits damage the natural or planted seedlings. Cone- and seed-destroying insects are serious pests, as are the cut- worms and weevils that kill seedlings. Insect enemies of larger trees are a serious menace to the timber kept in reserve as growing stocks. Sometimes the pests force premature or undesir- ably heavy cutting. The worst are bark, or engraver, beetles. Their depreda- tions exceed the losses caused by fire. Of tree-killing diseases, the blister rust of sugar pine is the most feared, although it has not yet become wide- spread. The ring scale fungus, the In- dian paint fungus, the incense-cedar dry-rot, and many other fungi, which are not primarily tree killers, neverthe- less cause heavy losses by destroying the heart wood of standing trees. The climate of California often gets bad marks — perhaps unjustly — from forest managers. The long, warm, dry summers contribute to an excessive fire danger. As to tree growth, however, better understanding gained in recent years tends to discount the opinion that high summer temperatures and low growing-season rainfall are extremely adverse features. The trees are well ad- justed to survive these normal rigors of their environment. Close observa- tion has shown that most failures of planting and natural seeding resulted from crowding by weeds and shrubs, damage by rodents and insects, or faulty timing and methods. More knowledge and improved skill can overcome these obstacles. With respect to topography and transportation, the national forests in California have disadvantages as com- pared with other forest regions. The bulk of the timber covers the mani- fold ridges and canyons of the western Sierra Nevada and northern inner Coast Range between altitudes of 3,000 and 7,000 feet. The Coast Range timber is least accessible by roads. Ter- rain of the northeastern volcanic pla- teau, with its extensive forests of ponderosa pine, is more favorable. Offsetting the difficulties of trans- port is the large and expanding local market for lumber. From one-third to one-half of the lumber manufactured by the mills in the State goes into pro- duction and marketing of farm crops. The growing population is bringing to the State new industries and new home building likely to maintain a good local market for wood. The varied pattern of land owner- ship in California also complicates timber management. There are about 18,300 private holdings of forest land in the State as a whole, many of which are inside the national forest boun- daries. Fire control has long been ac- complished by cooperation among the private owners, the State Board of Forestry, and the Forest Service under provisions of the Clarke-McNary Law. Recent congressional and State laws also provide for cooperative defense against insect enemies and tree dis- eases. Another recent congressional law — the Sustained-Yield Unit Act- authorizes cooperative management of the interdependent private and federal timber, but no agreements have yet been consummated. Problems arising from divided responsibility have been simplified in many instances by land exchanges. The wood-growing capacity of the national forests of California under good management is estimated to be slightly more than a billion board feet a year. The allowable cut during the period of converting the old growth to thrifty and well-ordered stands is re- stricted to 972 million board feet. The volume actually logged has averaged much below the allowable cut and in 1947 was 555 million feet. The rate of cutting obviously can be increased by opening up inaccessible areas. After cutting started in 1898, the proportion of the sawmill production in the State that came from the na- tional forests rose gradually to about 10 percent in 1939. Thereafter the pro- portion has risen more rapidly, reach- ing 20 percent in 1947. Depletion of the more accessible private timber Pine Forests of California 355 doubtless will continue this trend in cutting on the public forests. An era of accelerated use is at hand, present- ing the opportunity to improve and in- tensify all management procedures. The direction that such improve- ment should take is suggested by the lessons from 50 years of experience. Naturally, the early years of admin- istration were devoted to surveying boundaries, classifying the land, con- structing improvements for adminis- tration and fire control, suppressing fires, inventorying the timbered areas to guide cutting and preparation of forest working plans, and directing tim- ber cutting under sale contracts. These activities continue today, some of them expanded and intensified as better methods have been discovered by ex- perience and research or as population and markets have increased. Advancements in timber manage- ment depended largely on the market for old growth. There has been no ap- preciable outlet for the small trees that should be removed in thinnings to im- prove young stands on cut-over land. Lack of markets for young growth also has been a deterrent to reclamation of deforested areas by planting. Some- what more than 300,000 acres of old growth have been cut over in timber sales; approximately 30,000 acres of young stands in cut-over land have been subjected to thinning and crop- tree pruning; and about 28,000 defor- ested acres have been planted. The early timber-sale administrators were forced to begin cutting at a time when forestry was a mere word with- out local significance. They had no research and only limited experience to guide them. Tree growth and seeding habits, the behavior of competing brush, insect risks, and nearly all other important factors of forest manage- ment were subjects of conjecture. Those early foresters were conserva- tive, fortunately, and determined to leave on the land the best growing stock possible. They marked for cut- ting little more than half the stand volume, leaving a large share of ponde- rosa and sugar pines in the hope that natural seeding would increase the pro- portion of these species in the new stands. They reduced waste by requir- ing that stumps be cut low and small top logs be utilized. To reduce fire dan- ger, they insisted that logging engines have spark arresters, that all logging slash be piled and burned, and that all dead trees be felled. They also origi- nated and enforced many logging re- strictions to prevent damage to seed trees and young growth. The early-day outlook on future markets being rather dim, the first sales were made on the assumption that second cuttings would not be feasible in fewer than 30 to 60 years. To determine the effects of cutting procedures as well as to improve them, studies were begun almost with the first sales. Within 10 years the records showed that reserving heavy propor- tions of pine and drastically reducing the firs accomplished little or no im- provement in the proportion of pines growing in young forests. It became evident, also, that the many large pines left uncut continued to grow at slow rates or suffered heavy losses from in- sect attacks, windthrow, and other agencies. Such information, and the good markets during the First World War and in the early 1920's, led to heavier cuttings that sometimes re- moved as much as 80 percent of the stand volume. A trend towards the lighter cutting, which began about 1928, can be traced to three causes: The general depres- sion in markets, already felt in the lum- ber industry ; information from studies that showed that heavy financial losses resulted from cutting pines smaller than 18 to 22 inches, or firs smaller than 30 inches in diameter; and im- proved standards for selecting the trees least apt to die if left for seed and growth. The introduction of tractors also made logging more flexible and permitted lighter cuts and wider option in selecting the trees to harvest. The revival of markets that began with the Second World War did not 356 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 reverse — but accelerated, rather — the trend toward lighter cutting in the na- tional forests. With good markets, it became profitable to log less accessible timber, lighter volumes, smaller and lower-quality trees, and less valuable species, and to make return cuts at shorter intervals. This opportunity has been seized to bring about a long-de- sired change in methods of converting the old, decadent forests to younger, thriftier ones. The procedure now followed is to make a light initial cut that covers the old growth as rapidly as possible and utilizes the trees that would die if log- ging were delayed. A second cutting will follow in less than 30 years to open new areas for seeding, give the young, established seedlings room to grow, and harvest any additional trees that appear likely to die. A critical factor in success of this procedure is the ability to identify the trees threatened with death. Effective rules for recognizing such high-risk trees have been formulated from many thousands of case histories of individ- ual trees dating from 1910. Properly applied, those rules can reduce the vol- ume of wood lost through mortality. Test cuttings in a 10,000-acre demon- stration forest over a 10-year period reduced volume loss more than 80 per- cent. That was accomplished by re- moving as little as 15 percent of the total volume in the stand and cutting only the high-risk trees. Such risk-tree selection is more ef- fective in forests of ponderosa pine. In stands of other conifers it must be sup- plemented by salvaging trees that are actually dying or dead before the wood is stained or destroyed by fungi. Both high-risk and salvage logging require ready access by good roads. Much remains to be done before the national forests can serve their many functions at full capacity. Three great jobs are ahead: Reclaiming nearly a million acres of deforested land by planting, increasing stocking on more than 500,000 acres of land cut over before acquisition, and con- verting in an orderly way the 5l/2 mil- lion acres of old growth to productive growing stands. The first two are the most difficult. The planting job has been scarcely touched in the exploratory efforts that have been possible so far. Before rapid headway can be made, special heavy- duty machines must be developed for removing tough shrubs from steep, rocky land without excessive soil dam- age; cheaper, more lethal chemical methods for clearing brush must be perfected ; and effective means of con- trolling destructive rodents must be found. Planting also is involved in building up stocking on the cut-over land from its present 26 percent of soil capacity to 75 or 80 percent. Thinning and pruning overdense young stands and removal of large de- fective trees are most needed on the cut-over lands. Here, also, less expen- sive methods must be developed as the work is expanded. * Future cutting methods for the old- growth areas doubtless will advance beyond the tree-selection philosophy of today in the direction of detailed con- trol of stocking on small areas. Log- ging must be more varied to fit stand conditions as they change from acre to acre. Cutting also must be closely co- ordinated in time and place with other supplementary measures, such as clear- ing and scarifying the soil to make favorable seedbeds, planting spots that fail to seed naturally, rodent control, blister rust control, and thinning and pruning in young-growth stands. The years immediately following the logging are the most critical; fre- quently they determine whether the new plant cover will be pines, firs, or mere brush. Once the stand is opened, the conversion process must be con- tinued until trees are reestablished. An error in timing, such as logging when there is no tree seed or omission of some necessary step (for example, not planting when seed crops fail), may mean loss of area to brush. That is more lastingly expensive than loss of trees. Once brush takes control, rec- Pine Forests of California Tree classes for ponderosa pine, based on age, position, the length and width of crown, form of top, and vigor — factors that reflect growth, survival, and seeding capacities. Class l.Age class, young or thrifty ma- ture; position, isolated or dominant (rarely codominant); crown length, 65 percent or more of the total height; crown width, average or wider; form of top, pointed; vigor, good. Trees of this class are rarely over 30 inches in diameter, even on good sites. The bark is dark brown and roughly fissured into ridges or small plates. Class 2. Age class, young or thrifty ma- ture; position, usually codominant (rarely isolated or dominant); crown length, less than 65 percent of the total height; crown width, average or narrower; form of top, pointed; vigor, good or moderate. Such trees are usually less than 24 inches in diameter. They are commonly the inside codominant trees of groups. Class 3. Age class, mature; position, iso- lated or dominant (rarely codominant); crown length, 65 percent or more of total height; crown width, average or wider; form of top, round; vigor, moderate. These trees are ordinarily between 18 and 40 inches in diameter, depending on site quality. The bark is light brown or yel- low, with moderately large, smooth plates. Class 4. Age class, mature; position, usually codominant (rarely isolated or dominant); crown length, less than 65 per- cent of the total height; crown width, average or narrower; form of top, round; vigor, moderate or poor. These are com- monly the inside or codominant trees of this age class. Except for their small poorly developed crowns and smaller size, they are similar to Class 3 trees. Class 5. Age class, overmature; position, isolated or dominant (rarely codominant); crown of any size; form of top, flat; vigor, poor. These are usually the largest trees in the stand. The bark is light yellow in color, the plates often very wide, long, and smooth, especially near the base. The bark may be thin, having weathered more rapidly than it has grown. The foliage is usually rather pale green and very thin. Class 6. Age class, young or thrifty ma- ture; position, intermediate or suppressed; crown of any size, usually small; form of top, round or pointed; vigor, moderate or poor. These are understory trees, rarely over 12 to 14 inches in diameter. The bark is dark and rough. Class 7. Age class, mature or overma- ture; position, intermediate or suppressed; crown of any size, usually small; form of top, flat; vigor, poor. These understory trees are rarely over 18 inches in diameter. The bark is light colored, thin, smooth. 358 Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 lamation by clearing and planting be- comes increasingly more difficult. Such intensive treatment depends heavily on the findings of research; it also re- quires detailed working plans, and, above all, well-planned and well-con- structed logging roads. Establishing in- tensive management costs more, but it is cheapest in the long run. Timber growth and, ultimately, cutting can be increased to twice what they are now, and maintained at that level. That can be done without endanger- ing California's vital water supply, harming the mountain soils, or jeop- ardizing recreation and other values. B. O. HUGHES has been chief of the Division of Timber Management in the California Region of the Forest Service since 1944. He began work with the Forest Service in 1923; his experience since that time includes as- signments on the Eldorado, Shasta, and Lassen National Forests and timber- management work in the California and the Southern Regions. From 1940 to 1943 he was supervisor of the Mis- sissippi national forests. He holds de- grees from Cornell University and the University of California. DUNCAN DUNNING, since 1927, has been in charge of forest-management research at the California Forest and Range Experiment Station. He began work with the Forest Service in 1916 on the Shasta National Forest and at the Feather River Experiment Station. He is a graduate of the University of California. SMALL RANCHERS AND THE FORESTS WILLIAM L. ROBB From the 104 national forests near which they live in the West, operators of small ranches obtain many millions of board feet of timber products. Practically all of this timber is obtained through small sales that in- volve a stumpage value of $500 or less. The number of such small sales made yearly in a typical period, from 1941 through 1945, ranged from 10,895 in 1943 to 15,938 in 1941. The largest demand is for saw tim- ber, followed in order by fuel wood, corral and fence poles, fence posts, and miscellaneous products such as house logs, derrick sets, and cellar poles. The buyers use most of these timber products for maintaining and improv- ing their own property, but many cut and sell lumber, poles, posts, and mine props during otherwise slack seasons. In a typical case, the rancher or farmer applies to the local forest ranger for the type and amount of timber he wants. The ranger issues a sale permit to the applicant and, upon receipt of notice that payment for the timber has been made, marks the trees to be cut. The rancher then does the cutting; the ranger checks at intervals to see that terms of the permit are fulfilled. Under the sales agreement, the rancher must complete the cutting and removal of the timber within a given time; cut low stumps, and otherwise make the fullest use possible of each marked tree; dis- pose of limbs and tops so as to provide for the establishment of new growth of young trees and reduce the fire hazard ; move the logs so as not to damage the young trees or cause soil erosion; and follow other operational requirements to assure the best use of the forest. For some years the timber purchaser was required to assemble, or deck, his logs on the timber-sale area (or at some other agreed-upon location) for scaling or measurement by the forest officer before removal. The common practice now is to make small sales by what is known as the tree-measure- ment procedure. The volume of in- dividual trees is determined at the time they are marked for cutting. Small Ranchers and the Forests 359 In the case of a sale for saw timber, the forest officer blazes each tree to be cut and numbers it, consecutively, on the blaze. He measures its diameter at a point 4 5/2 feet above the ground with a diameter tape and its merchantable height with an Abney level or hyp- someter. Diameter and height meas- urements are recorded for each tree as the marking and measuring go for- ward. From tables prepared for each tree species in the timber stand the vol- ume of lumber that can be sawn from each marked tree is calculated and re- corded. A sufficient number of trees are marked to produce a gross volume, as determined from the volume tables, somewhat in excess of the amount which the purchaser applies for. Usually some of the trees marked contain defects in the form of rot, checks, or crooks, or are unavoidably broken when they are felled. To be sure the purchaser gets the full volume of the usable material desired, the gross volume, as determined from the vol- ume tables, is reduced by the amount of such defect and unavoidable break- age as occurs. This deduction is arrived at by scaling a sample of felled trees to determine the difference between their gross and usable volume. This differ- ence is then applied to the whole. In order to handle most efficiently the great number of small sales made annually and to provide the most serv- ice to purchasers, units of timber are set aside on most national forests and ranger districts where small sales are concentrated. Such units are located, as far as practicable, close to communi- ties from which most requests for tim- ber are received. In them the forest officer usually marks and measures enough trees in the spring to take care of all the small sales he expects to have during the normal logging season. As each application is received, pre- viously marked and measured trees are assigned to the applicant and specified by number in his permit. The assign- ment, by number, of trees previously marked is done consecutively as ap- plications are received. Each permit- holder is given directions on how to reach the area where the timber is located. Periodically the forest officer inspects the cutting area. Many small ranchers in the West use national forest forage for their livestock in summer. The forage is managed, like timber, on a sustained-yield basis. The use of forest range is permitted on pay- ment of a grazing fee based on the class of stock and the length of the grazing season on each grazing unit. In 1947, 17,153 ranchers were permitted to graze 1,142,629 cattle and horses under paid permits. Another 3,167 had per- mits to graze 3,398,375 sheep and goats. About 60 percent of the holders of permits for cattle and horses grazed fewer than 40 head of stock each ; only about 7 percent owned more than 200 head each. Approximately 63 percent of the permits for sheep and goats were for fewer than 1,000 animals; only about 3 percent grazed more than 4,000 head. The forests also provide supple- mental employment to many ranchers on various types of projects for improv- ing and protecting the forests. People living in or near the forests are especially qualified and adapted to this type of work. Because they have more than average dependence upon the resources of the forest, they have more than average interest in develop- ing and protecting them. Those who operate small mills to supplement their ranching operations are interested in stand-improvement measures, such as thinning dense stands, pruning crop trees, and planting seedlings, and in maintaining the roads. Graziers are in- terested in range reseeding and con- struction of improvements like water developments and fences. Men who use the forest roads and trails for trailing or trucking livestock or guiding vaca- tionists on fishing and hunting trips are anxious to maintain roads and trails. WILLIAM L. ROBB has been in charge of the Division of Timber Man- agement of the Intermountain Region of the Forest Service since 1939. Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 Four scenes in the forests of Alaska — "under proper man- agement they can be made to contribute generously to the wealth of the United States/3 36i FORESTS OF ALASKA B. FRANK HEINTZLEMAN When the United States bought Alaska from Russia in 1867,, neither party to the transaction ascribed much value to the forests embraced in the purchase, even though the best known section at the time, the southern coast, was largely clothed with a dense mantle of deep-green tree growth from the seashore to elevations of 3,000 feet. We can understand this lack of interest in the forests, however, when we consider that there the coastal forest was merely the northern tip of a far greater timbered area, which ex- tended down along the northwestern coast of North America to the southern boundary of Oregon, and that all the timber of this vast area was then practically untapped. This great real estate transfer oc- curred only 82 years ago, but already the forest situation has changed radi- cally. Large-scale timber industries have long since spread over the whole of the coastal forest area lying to the south of Alaska; pulp and paper manu- facturers now are considering the extension of their operations to the hemlock and spruce stands of Alaska's southern coast to meet the constantly increasing demand for pulp products in the United States. Farther north, in interior Alaska, the light stands of white spruce and white birch have long been used by the small population, but increasing public interest in develop- ment there is focusing more attention on the value of those forests. Alaska, one-fifth the size of conti- nental United States, has many kinds of climate and many types of vegeta- tive cover. A forester, though, divides the Territory roughly into three vege- tative regions — the nontimbered Arc- tic and Bering Sea coast, the lightly timbered interior, and the well-tim- bered south coast. The Arctic and Bering Sea coast embraces about 30 percent of the area of the Territory and includes most of the Alaska Peninsula, Aleutian Islands, the Bering Sea coastal region to an average width of about 100 miles, and the land draining into the Arctic Ocean. Generally, the region is untim- bered, the climate being too severe for tree growth. Surprisingly, however, white spruce trees sufficiently large for cabin logs and narrow boards grow along the banks of the Noatak and Kobuk Rivers and some branches of the Yukon River, well north of the Arctic Circle. Much of the region is flat lowland and rounded ridges cov- ered with a swamp and tundra vege- tation of moss, lichens, sedges, dwarf willows, and other short shrubs. The more southerly lands, the Alaska Penin- sula and Aleutian Islands, are moun- tainous and support a. luxuriant growth of grass, alder, and willow. Interior Alaska, as here considered, lies between the mountain chain, which forms the Arctic Divide on the north, and the crest of the Coastal Range, which borders the Pacific Ocean on the south. It covers about 60 percent of the area of the Territory, and com- prises the watersheds of the Yukon, Kuskokwim, Copper, Susitna, and other large rivers. This is the region that meets the popular conception of Alaska. The winters are long and in- tensely cold. The summers are short but warm, and daylight lasts 20 hours or more of each 24 days. Much of the area has permanently frozen ground (permafrost) to within a foot or two of the surface. The annual rainfall is ex- ceedingly light (being only 12 to 16 inches) but permafrost and the short summers prevent the development of desert conditions. Millions of acres of sparse timber give this region the classi- fication of a forested country, but the forests occur as many scattered islands among the extensive areas of swamp and tundra vegetation on the valley 362 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 floors and along the foothills. They give way entirely to shrubs, grass, and barren ground on the higher ridges and mountains. The south coast covers about 10 per- cent of the area of the Territory and comprises the narrow, crescent-shaped region fronting on the Pacific Ocean from Portland Canal on the southeast to Kodiak Island on the northwest, a distance of 800 miles. Southeastern Alaska, the almost-detached section that extends southerly as a panhandle along the western side of northern British Columbia for 400 miles, makes up almost two-thirds of it. The region consists of a narrow strip of mainland extending back to the summit of the Coastal Range, numerous large and small islands, and a maze of inter- vening narrow waterways. The land is mountainous throughout, and rises abruptly from the water's edge to heights commonly exceeding 4,000 feet and, in many instances, 8,000 feet. A few awe-inspiring peaks extend to 15,000 and 18,000 feet above the near- by sea. The coast line of mainland and islands is highly indented, and the deep, narrow waterways, the fiords, reach far inland toward the backbone of the mountains, with the result that most of the land area is within a few miles of navigable tidewater. The lofty summit of the mountain chain on the mainland strip has great permanent icefields, from which ice is drained off by glaciers down hundreds of valleys. The voyager along the network of narrow waterways here gains the im- pression of a mountain country which has been depressed about 1,000 feet, thereby transforming the former stream valleys into deep, narrow, navi- gable sea channels, and the summits of the high ridges into chains or elon- gated islands. The south coast owes its well-tim- bered condition to a moist and rather warm, equable climate. A warm ocean current of the north Pacific touches the northwest coast of North America from Kodiak Island to southern Ore- gon along a distance of 1,800 miles and gives the intervening coastal area about the same climate throughout. The visi- tor from Portland feels at home in the winters of Sitka. Winds moving land- ward from this warm ocean water, through a low barometric trough usu- ally lying over a portion of the north Pacific, greatly modify the winter temperatures. They also produce a heavy rainfall, as much of their abun- dant moisture is dropped when they strike the cold, high coastal mountains. The winters of the south-coast area are long but not severely cold. The average January temperature at sea level is 32° F., about the same as that of Washington, D. C., or Cincinnati, Ohio. A reading of zero is a rarity. The summers are cool, with an average July temperature of about 55°. The average annual precipitation is heavy. It ranges from 70 to 155 inches at sea level in different parts of the region and rap- idly increases with elevation on the exposed westward slopes of the moun- tains. The winter precipitation near tidewater is largely in the form of rain, and the ground may be clear or nearly clear of snow for extended periods, but at elevations above 600 feet the snow- fall persists throughout the winter months and accumulates to great depths. Cloudy days are common in all seasons and constitute two-thirds of the days of the year. There is no pro- nounced summer dry season. Harbors are not icebound, and climatic condi- tions at the lower elevations do not, as a rule, seriously interfere with outdoor winter activities, such as logging. A growing season of 150 days and 16 to 18 hours of daylight are highly fa- vorable to the growth of vegetation, especially coniferous forests, but heavy rainfall, rough topography, and thin, new soils in this part of Alaska prac- tically rule out extensive agricultural development. Many garden crops do well if given good care. THE LAND OF ALASKA is still almost entirely in Federal ownership. Not more than 1 percent of its 586,400 square miles has been patented to date Forests of Alaska 363 under the homestead, mining, and other laws that permit of alienation of public lands. While considerable areas are held intact for special purposes, such as military and naval reservations and national parks, the great bulk of the land is classified as open public domain, where soil and other resources are available for occupancy and use under laws that permit patenting or leasing. This land is under the jurisdic- tion of the Department of the Interior. Approximately 32,575 square miles (20,840,000 acres), or 5.5 percent of the total area of the Territory, has been designated as national forests. These national forests lie entirely in the well- timbered south-coast region and, in the main, are to be held in permanent Federal ownership for the production of successive timber crops. If tracts are found to be more valuable for such uses as mining, homesteads, homesites, water-power development, industrial sites, and resort areas, however, they are made available for those uses through land patents in some cases and a leasing system in others. THROUGHOUT INTERIOR ALASKA, an area larger than Texas, is a mixed forest of small white spruce and Alas- ka white birch, with some cottonwood of various species frequently in mix- ture. These forests occupy the better drained soils of valley bottoms, lower slopes, and low benchlands, to an ele- vation of approximately 2,500 feet, but the local climatic conditions frequently hold the timber line to lower levels. The trees sometimes reach a diame- ter of 18 inches, but the average diameter of mature trees is between 10 and 12 inches. The height ranges from 40 to 50 feet. The stands are fairly dense, and the volume per acre of vir- gin mature stands may be as high as 20 cords. Stands of trees of sawmilling size may contain from 6,000 to 8,000 board feet an acre. Ground birch, stunted alder, and willows constitute a fairly dense undergrowth, and the ground cover is a thick mat of moss. Permafrost is prevalent in the region, and because of that, and other features of a harsh climate, the rate of growth is slow. White men started coming into this region in large numbers about 1900. Since then, extensive, devastating for- est fires and, to a lesser degree, cutting operations have greatly reduced the extent of the virgin timber. Perhaps not more than 20 percent of the origi- nal white spruce-white birch stands are now intact. Reproduction after fire runs strongly to aspen. Another forest type, which could well be classed as a brush type, consists of black spruce on wet lowlands. The trees are scattered, gnarled, and rarely more than 6 inches in diameter. Tam- arack and cottonwood of stunted form are the associated tree species. Inter- spersed clumps of willow brush and areas of grass, peat moss, and swamp herbs occupy as much of the ground space as the black spruce and associ- ated trees. No one has ever made a systematic field survey and estimate of the area of the different kinds of vegetative cover in interior Alaska. A conservative guess places the area of white spruce- white birch forests, including the burned areas reproducing strongly to aspen, at 100,000 square miles, or 64 million acres. The whole type, burned and unburned, can be roughly esti- mated as having an average stand of 5 cords an acre, or a total volume of 320 million cords. Interior Alaska now uses and will likely continue to need large quantities of wood products in connection with its development. Gold mining and dairy and vegetable farming are the prin- cipal local industries, although military defense projects in the past 10 years have contributed substantially to the economy. Much of the fuel and construction material needed in mining and on the farms is cut from the local forests. Gut- ting operations, which have been going on since the days of the gold rushes around 1900, and the heavy losses from forest fires have led to near-depletion of the virgin timber for a score of miles 3^4 Ycarboo^ of Agriculture 1949 around each of the larger communities. Future settlement and development of interior Alaska will continue to draw heavily on the meager local forest re- sources because of the distances from the outside sources of supply. Conse- quently, the potential value of these forests to the region is great. Of almost equal economic impor- tance is the use made of these forests by fur and game animals for cover and as a source of food supply. Interior Alaska is one of the better areas of the world for large wilderness game ani- mals, and it is also an extensive pro- ducer of fur. Those resources contrib- ute substantially to the food supply and the cash income of the native Indians and of many white settlers. The big- game animals — moose, the mountain sheep, the great brown bear, and cari- bou— attract hunters, wildlife photog- raphers, and general tourists, who provide an important and constantly increasing source of income. THE EARLY SITUATION in the forests of the Western States is being repeated in Alaska in that the interior forest area is subject to devastating fires, and the volume of timber burned is many times greater than the volume cut. A combination of light precipitation, the long daylight hours, and the warm weather of the summer months, plus the heavy ground cover of moss, pro- duces a serious fire hazard. Also, the vast size and the wilderness condition make effective fire-control measures difficult and costly. Another discour- aging fact is the slow tree growth here, which means a slow recovery of spruce and birch on the burned-over areas. The fires in interior Alaska are largely man-made ( lightning is serious in cer- tain areas only) , and until recently they have been largely due to indifference. Many settlers, hunters, prospectors, and general travelers had the attitude that the burning of an area here and there in that vast wilderness was a matter of no importance. Fires were allowed to escape from land-clearing jobs, campfires along the trails were left unextinguished, and fires were set to drive the mosquitoes from camp sites and mining operations. The past dec- ade, however, has seen an encouraging trend away from this attitude. The extent of individual fires is ap- palling to a visitor from the States, but understandable in view of the warm, dry summers and the wilderness con- ditions. Fires often start in the early spring and travel uninterruptedly until the fall rains extinguish them. Dozens of fires, each of 10,000 acres or more, may occur in one summer, while not uncommonly a single fire will burn from 200,000 to 400,000 acres. In 1947, at least five fires burned more than 100,000 acres each. The largest of those, on the open public domain on the west side of the Kenai Peninsula, covered approximately 250,000 acres, as determined by inspection from the air at the end of the fire season. No one knows the total area burned in interior Alaska in 1947, but it probably reached 1,150,000 acres. The open public domain, comprising most of interior Alaska, is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (formerly the General Land Office) of the United States Department of the Interior. Before July 1, 1939, there was practically no organized forest- fire protection on these lands, but at that time an appropriation of $37,500 was made available by Congress to the General Land Office for the start of a protective unit, designated the Alas- kan Fire Control Service. Up to and including the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1946, the annual appropriation had been increased to $170,000, and the organization expanded to a force of approximately 40 persons, two-thirds of them part-year employees only. The item for fire control was omitted from the Department of the Interior appro- priation act for the fiscal year begin- ning July 1, 1947, which year proved unfortunately to be a bad fire period. That item was restored and substan- tially increased the next year. The lands under the protection of the Alaskan Fire Control Service in- Forests of Alaska Sr.WhSier.. L=9 V«. / iTU**** Forest distribution in Alaska: The nontimbered Arctic slope and Bering Sea coastal region, tundra and grass; the lightly timbered interior, white spruce and white birch, which supply local construction material and fuel and provide food and cover for game and fur bearers; the heavily timbered south-coast region, extensive stands of western hemlock and Sitka spruce suitable for pulp manufacture. elude not only the forests of interior Alaska, but also the tundra and grass- lands of interior Alaska and the Bering Sea- Arctic region, as those nonforested lands are important game and fur areas. The total area needing fire pro- tection in Alaska is not less than 250 million acres. Those who know the fire situation in interior Alaska estimate that an accept- able minimum of fire protection on these lands could be provided with an expenditure of $250,000 annually, sup- plemented at the start with $50,000 a year over a 5 -year period. The sup- plement would provide for necessary transport equipment, such as trucks and river boats, the purchase and in- stallation of the radio and telephone equipment, the purchase of fire-fight- ing equipment, and the construction of essential field stations. The $250,000 annual operating cost would be slightly more than a mill an acre. The small population of interior Alaska, and the fact that most fires are man-caused, make it possible to accomplish a great deal in fire protection at little cost by instructing the public in the need for and methods of prevention. IN THE SOUTH-COAST region the timberlands form a part of the conif- erous forest type that occupies the so- called fog belt, usually less than 50 miles wide, along the shore line of the 366 Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 Pacific Northwest from southern Ore- gon to the northern tip of Kodiak Island. In Alaska, this coast forest is predominantly a mixed stand of west- ern hemlock and Sitka spruce, with a small percentage of Alaska-cedar, and western redcedar in some localities. The forest here is almost tropical in density. The main cover is western hemlock with some cedar. This is over- topped by scattered trees of the more light-demanding spruce, while under- neath is a second story of somewhat suppressed saplings of the more shade- resistant hemlock and cedar. At a still lower level are great clumps of blue- berry, false azalea, the devilsclub, and other woody shrubs. Fallen timber, which decays slowly in this region of all-year heavy rainfall, is everywhere abundant, and the ground surface is usually covered with a carpet of moss. The forest occurs as a relatively nar- row ribbon or band along the sinuous coast line of the mainland and the hundreds of islands, and extends from the edge of tidewater to an elevation varying from 1,000 feet in the more northerly and westerly sections of the region to 2,000 and 3,000 feet in south- eastern Alaska. Because of the moun- tainous character of the country, the entire area of tree growth is usually within sight of tidewater and rarely extends more than 5 or 6 miles inland. Three-fourths of the commercial tim- ber is estimated to be within 2/2 miles of the coast line. The timber stands of present mer- chantable quality are seldom continu- ous over large watersheds, but are interspersed by areas of somewhat stunted stands of the same species, designated as "scrub," and by un- timbered bogs of peat moss locally known as "muskegs." The best of the Alaska forests is found in southeastern Alaska and, in general, the quality of the timber and the proportion of forested land decreases with progress northward. Thus the trees are smaller and the timber band narrower in the Prince William Sound country than in southeastern Alaska, while the trees at the very tip of the hemlock-spruce range on Afognak and Kodiak Islands are largely unmerchantable, and the stands patchlike in occurrence. As a whole, the quality of the hem- lock and spruce timber of the south coast is poorer than that of Washing- ton and Oregon. More trees of the medium and larger sizes are affected by rot, and more of the hemlocks have a "fluted" base that extends upward into the first log section of the tree. However, there are many stands of uniformly excellent trees and many good individual trees in the poorer stands. During the Second World War a special logging project, designated as the Alaska Spruce Log Program, was established to obtain Sitka spruce from southeastern Alaska for the construc- tion of military airplanes. Logs from this operation were rafted 800 miles south to Puget Sound sawmills, which were specializing in the production of airplane stock. The Alaska material was fully equal in quality to that taken from the forests of Washington and Oregon. Much of the Alaska hemlock is suited to the highest uses for hem- lock, such as flooring and interior trim for residences. The wood of Alaska- cedar and of western redcedar is well adapted to the manufacture of a great variety of specialty items that are in demand in the United States. A few such items are furniture parts, battery separators, wooden handles of many kinds, and rollers for window shades. Processing is ordinarily done in small plants and requires much labor. It is believed that such wood-using indus- tries might profitably be established in the coastal towns of southern Alaska. Most of the timber is, however, more suitable for pulp than for any of the above uses. The woods run of logs from the hemlock and spruce forests of Alaska are equal in quality to logs (No. 2 and No. 3 grade) from the Washington forests that are used by the pulp mills on Puget Sound for the highest grades of pulp. The economy of the south-coast re- Forests of Alaska 367 gion, with approximately 35,000 in- habitants, is now based largely on the commercial sea fisheries, but lumber production, now approaching 100 mil- lion board feet annually, is growing in importance. When fully developed, the timber industries, including especially pulp manufacture, will likely equal and may even exceed the fisheries in value of yearly output. THE BETTER AREAS of the coast for- est lying north and west of southeastern Alaska are included in the Chugach National Forest. This forest consists principally of lands around Prince Wil- liam Sound and on the eastern half of the Kenai Peninsula just north of Seward. Its area is 4.8 million acres. The timber-management plan speci- fies that the timber output will be used to supply the needs of localities in and around the national forest, with the excess going to the lightly timbered and nontimbered sections of Alaska farther to the north, the interior and the Arc- tic-Bering Sea areas. The Chugach National Forest con- stitutes the nearest source of supply of large timber items for those areas, and its production capacity is not sufficient to meet their present and prospective demands. Consequently, sales of tim- ber from the Chugach National Forest are not made to concerns that contem- plate shipping their principal products out of the Territory. The chief local demand for Chugach products is and likely will continue to be lumber, heavy sawn timbers, and piling. A sawmill with a capacity of 60,000 board feet a day, located at Whittier on Prince William Sound, a gateway of the Alaska Railroad into interior Alaska, is the largest mill on the Chugach National Forest. A few smaller mills, ranging up to 10,000 or 15,000 feet in daily capacity, supply part of the purely local lumber de- mands at Seward and other towns. THE TONGAS S NATIONAL FOREST IS in southeastern Alaska. The Alaska forests that will be an important source of wood products, especially pulp and paper, for continental United States are those of southeastern Alaska. The system of sea channels there is more elaborate than in the more northerly and westerly sections of the south- coast region, and the timber is thus more accessible. Seventy percent of the area and most of the commercial tim- berlands of southeastern Alaska are in- cluded in the Tongass National Forest. In addition to suitable timber, south- eastern Alaska has that second requi- site for pulp manufacture — power. The heavy rainfall and the availability of many high mountain lakes for stor- age reservoirs, give this section good water-power resources. Detailed stud- ies show that approximately 200 of the better undeveloped power sites have a total yearlong capacity of 800 thou- sand horsepower. This national forest has a total area of 16,040,000 acres, of which 10 mil- lion acres is within the altitudinal limits of tree growth. Approximately 4 million acres carries timber of present commercial quality; another 1 million acres has timber of marginal quality; and still another 1 million acres has timber of such low quality that it is Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 PULP-TIMBER ALLOTMENTS TONGASS NATIONAL FOREST SUSTAINED POSSIBLE PULP YIELD OUTPUT UNITS (TONS PER DAY) DOMINION OF CANADA Four sustained-yield units (composed of pulp-timber allotments A, B-H, C-D, and E-F-G) have been tentatively established on the Tongass National Forest as a basis for effecting a full, orderly, and economic development of the pulp and paper industry now in prospect for Southeast Alaska. Within each unit intensive forestry will be practiced on the timberlands, and the annual cut will be limited to the estimated annual growth. wholly disregarded in all timber-man- agement planning. The remaining 4 million acres within the limits of the timbered zone is barren rock or is cov- ered with muskeg, brush, or icefields. The estimated volume of commer- cial timber now on the Tongass Forest is 78,500 million board feet, of which Forests of Alaska 369 about 74 percent is western hemlock, 20 percent Sitka spruce, and 6 percent western redcedar and Alaska-cedar. The average stand on an acre of com- mercial timber is approximately 20,000 board feet, but individual logging units with 40,000 board feet or more are not uncommon. The prevailing timber type of the Tongass Forest consists of a mixture of the species named previously. It is designated as the western hemlock type. Mature hemlock trees average between 3 and 4 feet in diameter, are usually quite clean-boled and well- formed, and are sound until maturity is reached. After maturity, dead tops and butt rot develop rapidly. Sitka spruce, the other dominant member of the western hemlock type, is a larger tree than the hemlock, reaching at maturity an average diam- eter of 5 feet at breast height and a maximum of 8 feet or more. It usually occurs singly or as small clumps of trees scattered throughout the hemlock stands. More light-demanding, it keeps its head above the neighboring hem- locks and cedars. Its long, slightly tapering, branch-free bole and its great size make Sitka spruce an impres- sive feature of the Alaska forests. The western redcedar and Alaska- cedar usually occur in clumps in the mixed forest, but on the wetter soils. They are somewhat shorter than the hemlocks, have a heavy taper, and reach dimensions at maturity of about 4 to 5 feet in diameter. The scrub type, consisting of the open stands of somewhat dwarfed, de- fective trees and dense undergrowth, occupies soils of poorer drainage than the hemlock type but better drained than those occupied by muskegs. This type covers most of the million acres of timber of marginal value previously mentioned, plus additional great areas that offer only a remote possibility of attaining future commercial value. The marginal stands of scrub may have from 5 to 10 cords or even more of pulpwood an acre over large areas, but the amount of the wood defect to be 802062 c eliminated and the dense underbrush and moist ground to be encountered in logging give the material a distinctly negative stumpage value at present. The muskeg, with a tree growth lim- ited to a few scattered and gnarled hemlocks and cedars, is definitely a nontimber type. Any future economic value of Alaska muskegs lies in their peat deposits and not in their timber. The main objective in the manage- ment of the Tongass National Forest is to bring all resources of the forest land into use and to make them con- tribute in the greatest possible degree to the needs of the Nation and the devel- opment and maintenance of the econ- omy of southeastern Alaska. First, the timber resource is to be made the basis for permanent forest industries to be established in the region. Second, full use of all other resources, including recreational features, the water-power sites, minerals, and potential agricul- tural lands, is to be encouraged. The timber inventories and studies of tree growth that have been made on this forest to date indicate that a rota- tion of 80 to 85 years will produce the most wood of good quality per acre per year and that removing the present vir- gin stand over that period of time will permit the cutting of approximately one billion board feet of timber a year. This volume is sufficient to make at least a million tons of chemical pulp, plus considerable quantities of high- grade lumber and plywood. Western hemlock and Sitka spruce form an excellent forest type for the production of pulpwood. The hemlock is shade enduring and the spruce light demanding, a combination which re- sults in a dense stand per acre. Both are fair to rapid growers and produce high total yields, and both woods have good pulping qualities. The hemlock- spruce forests, except in a few small areas, do not lend themselves to the practice of selective logging, the system of cutting under which trees of all ages are grown in one stand and individual trees are selected and removed as they reach maturity. Both the hemlock and 370 Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 the spruce are shallow-rooted, and the heavy winds of this region cause seri- ous windfall to the remaining trees if the stands are opened up by selective cutting. Consequently, the forest man- ager has to clear-cut the forest and, to insure natural reseeding, leave seed trees in the form of large patches of undisturbed timber spotted over the cutting area. The areas that have been cut over in this region show abundant natural reproduction under this clear- cutting, grouped seed-tree system. Selective cutting is also impracticable on most areas here from a logging standpoint. Because of the large size of the timber, the dense brush, and moist soils, powerful donkey engines and heavy wire cables must be used to pull the logs from the woods, and if indi- vidual trees were left standing through- out the logging area they could not be protected from destruction or injury by the logging equipment and machinery. The common practice in the Pacific Northwest of broadcast burning of slash left in logging as a fire-preven- tion measure is unnecessary here be- cause of the heavy rainfall. This is distinctly advantageous to the Alaska forester, as the logging areas usually have much advance reproduction of young hemlock and spruce that can be saved to provide a fine start toward the next timber crop. THIS IS A PROSPECTIVE PULP- AND PAPER-MAKING region. The Tongass National Forest, with an extensive stand of fine pulp timber, excellent water-power resources, its cheap tide- water transportation, and mild winter climate, offers good possibilities for the development of a large, prosperous, and permanent regional pulp industry based on a system of timber cropping and the sale of the output in the gen- eral markets of the United States. If fully developed, the industry could support, directly and indirectly, a total of 30,000 persons in southeastern Alaska. Pulp manufacturers would have the obviously very great advantage here of being able to obtain an assured supply of timber for a long term of years on a basis of paying for this material as cutting proceeds. Other favorable fea- tures include low logging costs because of the ready accessibility of the timber stands to tidewater, cheap log towing to the mills along the protected sea- ways, a mild winter climate, which permits of practically yearlong logging and offers no handicap to mill opera- tion, and ocean transportation for the product direct from the mill to the general markets. In view of those fea- tures, men in the Forest Service believe that the development of this industry, which can contribute so substantially to the pulp and paper needs of the United States and to the permanent development of Alaska, will not be long delayed. The first promising prospects for pulp and paper mills on the Tongass Forest developed in the late 1920's. At that time a large Pacific coast paper manufacturer and a combination of Pacific coast newspaper publishers ap- plied for and received awards of timber and of water-power sites for the estab- lishment of two large newsprint mills. Substantial sums were spent by these prospective operators on surveys and plans over a period of 3 years, but the depression that began in 1929 blocked further progress, and in 1933 the proj- ects were definitely dropped. Subse- quently, until the start of the Second World War, a number of manufactur- ers and users of pulp and paper made preliminary investigations of the possi- bilities, but financial and market condi- tions in those years did not encourage them to go further. In no case did interest during that period reach the point where timber- and power-site awards were applied for. Since the close of the war there has been a resurgence in interest. The timber-management policies provide that the timber resources of the Tongass Forest shall be used for the upbuilding and the support of perma- nent, modern communities throughout southeastern Alaska. In line with this Forests of Alaska 371 policy the forest has been divided into pulp-timber allotments, that in turn have been tentatively grouped into four sustained-yield units. Each unit has sufficient timberland to support one or more pulp mills of economic operating size in perpetuity. Suitable water pow- ers that can be developed for mill and domestic use and a good plant location or locations are found in each unit. In all but one unit, plants can be located adjacent to an existing town. Sus- tained-yield units and the location of the better power sites are shown in the diagram on page 368. The diagram also shows the estimated maximum output of timber products in the form of tons of chemical pulp per day which the unit can maintain indefinitely. The volumes of the sustained output and the boundaries of the units may be changed somewhat as more informa- tion on timber growth is obtained. As A RESULT of present interest, the Forest Service in 1948 offered for sale by competitive bidding and awarded the cutting rights on a large pulp-tim- ber unit for a proposed plant at Ketch- ikan, Alaska. The contract period is 50 years and sufficient timber is provided for this period to supply a chemical pulp mill of 525 tons daily capacity, plus approximately 75,000 board feet a day of lumber or plywood, to be made from high-grade logs that will come out of the woods in the pulpwood logging operations. The land is not to be sold with the timber, but is to be held indefinitely by the Federal Gov- ernment for the production of succes- sive timber crops. All cutting is to be done in accordance with specified for- estry practices and under the field in- spection of the Forest Service officers. Standards of utilization are provided to prevent unreasonable waste of mer- chantable material in logging. Timber is to be paid for as cutting proceeds on the basis of a scale of the cut material by Forest Service sealers. The prices to be paid to the Government for the material taken during the first 10 years of operation are those offered by the successful bidder. They coincide with the minimum acceptable rates named in the sale advertisement. Plant con- struction is expected to start in 1949 and pulp manufacture early in 1952. At the end of the initial 10-year period, and at 5-year intervals there- after throughout the life of the contract, the prices to be paid for stumpage, the utilization standards, and other important contract provi- sions are subject to readjustment to make them conform to changing con- ditions. Such readjustments are neces- sary to safeguard the interest of the public in this federally owned timber, but the contract also contains provi- sions designed to protect the pulp-tim- ber purchaser against arbitrary action by Forest Service officers throughout the 50-year sale period. It establishes guides to be followed by the Govern- ment in setting new stumpage prices and making other contract changes at the specified intervals, and provides a right of appeal by the contract holder to the Secretary of Agriculture. This appeal includes the right of the con- tractor to have a board of specialists review the cutting-area boundaries and stumpage-price adjustments as deter- mined periodically by the Forest Serv- ice, and advise the Secretary of Agri- culture on action to be taken by him in the matter. THE PROTECTION OF SALMON FISH- ERIES and scenic features is provided for. The development of large pulp and paper projects on the Tongass Forest will not be permitted to jeopardize the highly important salmon fisheries of southeastern Alaska. The national for- est contains hundreds of streams to which salmon return from the open sea to spawn, and the productivity of the fisheries would be seriously im- paired by improper logging methods and practices in the valleys of those streams. The Secretary of Agriculture has authority to require that logging operations conform to instructions for preservation of natural conditions on salmon streams, and all pulp-timber 372 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 cutting contracts will state that the logging operator must abide by such instructions as are set up for that pur- pose. The standard practice will be to issue the instructions for a given stream when the plans for the logging of its watershed are drafted. Arrangements have been made for cooperation of the United States Fish and Wildlife Serv- ice in determining what should be done to protect salmon-spawning streams. Alaska's fine scenery is also to be con- sidered when the lands to be logged are designated. Large areas of great scenic value are not to be included within the exterior boundaries of the pulp-timber sales. Small scenic areas that cannot be readily excluded from a sale will be reserved from cutting when the logging plans for that locality are drafted. In general, narrow, navigable sea chan- nels, highways, and the recreation sites having special scenic values will be protected by reserved strips or blocks of timber to screen the logged-off land. THE RECREATIONAL FEATURES of the Tongass National Forest possess an esthetic and an economic value that rates them high in the resource-man- agement plans of the forest. The many miles of narrow, navigable waterways flanked with forest-covered slopes, snow-capped mountains, and high waterfalls appeal to the cruising enthusiasm and scenery lover. Mountain goats on the high ranges of the mainland, deer on all of the islands, and the famous Alaska brown bear of Baranof, Chichagof, and Ad- miralty Islands make this a good hunt- ing country. Persons interested in nature studies are attracted here by tidewater glaciers that discharge into the sea, the exposed geologic formations along the almost- vertical walls of the fiords, the chang- ing types of flora between sea level and the summits of the high mountains, and the varied marine life that is uncovered on the beaches at low water by the 12-foot to 20-foot tides. These important resources — timber stands, the commercial salmon fish- eries, scenery, and recreational fea- tures— are either of a renewable or nonwasting nature. In this region prac- tically all are now publicly owned and can be safeguarded as necessary to in- sure the perpetuation of the renewable resources and the development or use of the others with adequate considera- tion for the public interest. Under proper management they can be made to contribute generously to the wealth of the United States and the perma- nent economy of the Territory. B. FRANK HEINTZLEMAN is regional forester for Alaska, and ex-officio Com- missioner for the Department of Agri- culture for Alaska, with headquarters at Juneau. A native of Pennsylvania and a graduate of the School of For- estry of Yale University, he has been associated with the Forest Service in Alaska since 1918 and has participated in many public- planning activities dealing with the settlement and devel- opment of the Territory. THE ADMINISTRATION OF NATIONAL FORESTS EARL W. LOVERIDGE Our national forests are big, com- plex, varied in the services they render and the land they cover, widely dis- tributed, and diverse in use and pos- sibility. As pertinent as the fact that their exterior boundaries embrace nearly 230 million acres is the fact that 140 million American citizens own them. The administration of the for- ests has to take into account all those different factors. The great area and distribution of the forests is one basic problem of ad- ministering them in the public interest. The Administration of National Forests 373 The other is the dual purpose for which the forests were established and are being managed. The purpose includes service to the Nation and to the local economy and welfare. The same dual purpose controls the management of the national forest range resource, which is utilized by some 10 million head of livestock, owned by more than 25,000 ranchers and other nearby residents. So, too, with the recreation and wildlife re- sources, which attract millions of per- sons to the forests each year. Water that the forests produce likewise must be so managed to serve interstate and local needs and to reduce its high potential for such disasters as floods and siltation of reservoirs. Because of its supreme importance, water man- agement must be given predominating consideration in the handling of each of the other national forest resources. The situation gives the order. Ob- viously, decentralization and delega- tion of authority to the tree and grass roots are called for. When Gifford Pinchot, first Chief of the Forest Serv- ice, formed a decentralized type of or- ganization and administration in 1 908, he said, "Each locality should be dealt with on its own merits." Since then that has been the controlling principle. A small central office is maintained to meet the needs for coordination and leadership, for essential facilitating and control services, and for the work with the board of directors — Congress. Of the total employment during a normal field season, less than 2 percent is in the central office in Washington. Administration of the national for- ests is one of three main responsibilities of the Forest Service. The other two and research and State and private for- estry cooperation. In charge of each of the three major lines of activity is an assistant chief, who with other assist- ant chiefs comprise the staff of the Chief of the Forest Service in dealing with matters of national importance. The assistant chief in charge of na- tional forest administration, acting for the Chief of the Forest Service, has full operating responsibility for planning, coordinating, staffing, organizing, and directing all national forest functions and activities. He in turn delegates to division chiefs in his office responsibil- ity for particular functions. This func- tional organization is made up of the divisions of timber management, range management, wildlife management, recreation and land use, watershed management, fire control, and such service units as engineering, informa- tion and education, finance, as well as personnel. Territorially the United States is divided into regions, each region into national forests, and each national for- est into ranger districts. The line of authority runs from the Chief of the Forest Service to the as- sistant chief in charge of national for- ests, to the regional forester, to the forest supervisor, to the district ranger. The functional organization in the Chief's office, however, is extended to the field. In Washington, for example, a Division of Timber Management is responsible for over-all direction of timber management. In the region there is likewise a timber management division. At the national forest level there is a functional-staff man for tim- ber management, and in the ranger district as many men are stationed as are needed to do the work. Here then we have a secondary or- ganizational line parallel to the pri- mary lines of authority, and, like it, running from top to bottom. There are as many of these secondary lines as there are functions. The purpose of the first line, that is, the so-called line of authority, is primarily that of coordi- nating the work of the functional divi- sions, although it has other important duties, as will be seen later. The various functional lines must be kept in balance and held within their proper fields. The relationship between the line of authority and the functional lines is important. Briefly stated, the relation- ship is this : General policies are issued down the line of authority, and only down that line. Within the framework 374 Yearboo\ of Agriculture 1949 of those established policies, a func- tional chief in Washington may issue instructions to the regional forester. The same practice holds as between the regional office and the forest super- visor's office. THE REGIONAL FORESTER is in a key position. While ordinarily there is thus an open channel of communication down the functional lines, it is to be under- stood that all functional officials in the region are responsible to the regional forester, and not to the Washington functional chiefs. They are employees of the region (not of the corresponding functional divisions in Washington), and the regional forester, who is re- sponsible only to the Chief, is their im- mediate supervisor. Upon the regional forester rests ultimate responsibility for the needed correlation between func- tions and for the success or failure of all national forest operations in his region. With this picture in mind — a group of functional lines paralleling a con- trolling coordinating line — we are now ready to consider field relationships in greater detail. While the assistant chief has full responsibility for national for- est operations, he and his division heads in Washington exercise control only at the over-all, Nation-wide level. That is, within the mandates of Congress and the Secretary of Agriculture, the assistant chief and his Washington staff formulate objectives, determine policies, develop plans, establish stand- ards, and check the accomplishments. These objectives, plans, policies, and standards must apply to the Nation as a whole and must be general enough and broad enough to cover all possible conditions. A significant feature of the organiza- tion is the small size of the functional divisions in the central office that are responsible for national forest activi- ties. An example is the Division of Fire Control. The extent of its responsibili- ties is indicated by the fact that each year there are some 11,000 fires in the national forests, and as many as 20,000 fire-control workers are em- ployed at times. Fire-control expendi- tures amounted to more than 12 million dollars during each of the past several years. But there are only three staff-level employees in this Division and two clerical assistants. The United States is divided into 10 national forest regions. The average region includes about 20 million acres of national forest land and an average of 15 national forests. Those are rounded-off averages that do not apply to any one region. They do, however, indicate the general framework of the organization at this level. The person versed in administrative matters will be interested in knowing that the aver- age "span-of -control" in the territorial organization for a regional forester and his staff of functional division chiefs is 15 forest supervisors, in con- trast to the generally considered max- imum "span" of 3 to 7 supervisory or other important subordinate positions that an administrator can handle effec- tively. That the regional forester can handle such a broad span of control is due partly to the parallel functional or- ganization line I have described. The assistant chief in charge of na- tional forest administration delegates to each regional forester control over all operations within his own region, subject to the requirement that he must operate within the framework of the policies, plans, and standards estab- lished for the country as a whole. The regional forester, with his staff of func- tional division chiefs, then sets the ob- jectives for his region. He establishes regional policies, makes regional plans, establishes regional standards, and, of course, makes certain of compliance by field inspection and otherwise. That is necessary because each region is dif- ferent. Conditions in the Southeast, say, differ materially from conditions in the Pacific Northwest — the timber, the types of recreation, and the wildlife are different, and so on. Each region makes its own plans and carries on its own activities. It does whatever is The Administration of National Forests 375 necessary to make the national forests of greatest value in the social and eco- nomic life of the region. The only re- striction is that everything done must contribute to the national objective, must come within national policy, and must be up to national standards. The field, then, stands on its own feet. There are some exceptions, al- though it will be seen that even those are, in reality, applications of the gen- eral principle that the Washington staff should confine itself to national mat- ters. Sometimes an operation, even though it is located entirely within a region, is of national importance. It then must be considered on a national basis and by the Washington office. For example, a small timber sale is of only local significance, but a large one af- fects national markets and has national economic importance. It is difficult to say exactly where the dividing line may be, but now it is estimated to be around 30 million feet in some regions, 50 million feet in others. If a sale in- volves more than that amount, it must be approved by the Washington office ; if it is less than that amount, it may be approved within the region without reference to the Washington office. The same general rule applies in all other functional activities. The regional office, which is organ- ized for national forest work on the same general pattern as the Chiefs office, is likewise manned on a skele- tonized basis, with certain differences. Although each main function is rep- resented in the Chief's office by a separate division, frequently several functions are grouped within one divi- sion at the regional level, depending on the work load. In addition, the regional office provides project and other service to individual national for- ests as needed, where the national for- est concerned does not have enough work of that type to require the full time of specialists attached directly to the staff of the forest supervisor. For example, the logging engineer and his assistants who are attached to the regional office will provide their specialized type of service for short periods each year as needed on the na- tional forests that do not have a full- time logging engineer. Range- and timber-survey crews, bridge-construc- tion experts, and central equipment and machine shops headquartered at the regional office are other examples of special services available for limited periods to all the national forests in the region. In other words, there are two general classes of personnel attached to each regional office. One is of the su- pervisory, or overhead, class. The other is made up of project workers engaged in direct operations in the woods and on the range. They nor- mally have headquarters at the re- gional office merely as a convenient turning and base point for a succession of work assignments to different points in the field. The constant effort to decentralize and delegate authority closer to the tree and grass roots results in rather limited authority at the regional office level. Most of the responsibility for na- tional forest work is delegated down to the forest supervisors and the forest rangers. As has been stated, only rarely does the regional forester refer a tim- ber sale to the Chief's office for ap- proval. Likewise at the field level, only the larger sales are referred by the for- est supervisor to the regional forester for consideration and approval. In the field of range management, too, prac- tically none of the operating activities is administered directly from the re- gional office. Even a catastrophic for- est fire is handled directly by the local forest supervisor, with participation from the regional office usually limited to advice and facilitating services. Such decentralization reserves for the re- gional office the responsibility and time needed for providing effective regional leadership and over-all services. THE NATIONAL FOREST SUPERVISOR has great responsibility. The average national forest contains more than 1,500,000 acres within its boundaries — an area larger than the State of Dela- 376 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 ware and 35 times larger than the Dis- trict of Columbia. The protection, development, and the utilization of the natural resources within this area is the direct respon- sibility of the local forest supervisor. Decentralized and delegated to him, under broad national and regional pol- icies, are all the authorities needed normally to meet this responsibility. He has authority to enter into con- tracts for the sale of the timber re- source, up to certain size limits. The size of this authorization depends mainly on the volume of timber avail- able for sale and his qualifications. Some of these authorizations are for as much as 10 million board feet a year for any one sale, but with no limit to the number of such sales authorized, except as imposed by the sustained- yield productive capacity of the forest or other controlling factors prescribed in the management plan for the work- ing circle involved. The duties of the forest supervisor are mainly coordinating and super- visory in character. He must see that all functions are given their share of attention according to plan, and that the range work, for example, is not crowded out by a growing demand for timber. He must determine the local forest objectives, and plan and direct the work of his forest. His plans must, of course, lie within the framework of the regional plan. As the regional for- ester provides special project assistance to the supervisor, so, too, does the supervisor help his ranger force with facilitating services in the form of spe- cialized assistants on types of work that do not occur in sufficient volume to justify manning each ranger district with such specialists. Handled in this manner are such types of work as tim- ber and range appraisals, major con- struction projects, special recreational plans, and development of special wild- life-management plans in cooperation with State authorities. Other facilitat- ing services provided his field forces by the supervisor include much of the clerical work involved in procurement, pay rolls, as well as in personnel pro- cedure. The average forest supervisor has some 6 ranger districts under his su- pervision. Because of geographical, work load, and other controlling fac- tors, the actual number may vary from 4 to 11 ranger districts. THE RANGER is the local manager of a forest property. He is in direct con- tact with the public. He meets the timberman, the stockman, the hunter, the camper face to face. He supervises sales, measures products sold, issues permits, protects the resources against fire, erosion, insects, and disease, car- ries on planting programs, and in many other ways serves as local manager of property worth from half a million to several million dollars. The average area within the bound- aries of the 765 ranger districts into which the national forests are sub- divided is 300,000 acres. The actual size of the individual districts depends mainly on the work load. Where timber sales and other intensive resource- management activities are heavy, the ranger districts may be as small as 50,000 acres. The other extreme is in the thinly forested and remote back country, and especially in Alaska, where there is as yet no active market for much of the timber or other need for intensive forest management. Here the work is primarily custodial in char- acter, and consequently the ranger dis- tricts are as large as a half million to a million and more acres in size. In order to handle the work effec- tively, the district ranger in his turn must set objectives and devise a plan of operations. He has broad planning and executive authority. The ranger does the ultimate planning. Usually he is the one who decides which area and which trees are to be cut first. To make such decisions, he must know the tim- ber and the local community. He must fit the timber business into the life and needs of the community. He works with the community and plans with it, and sees that the forest is looked on as The Administration of National Forests 377 a local enterprise and community asset. The ranger does all this within the framework of national, regional, and forest objectives. He is checked closely against policies and regulations and must conform, but because it is a fundamental national policy that the forest take its place locally as a con- tributor to community prosperity, the Chief of the Forest Service insures that the ranger's authority is protected and that no one above him sabotages his planning or action. In other words, he has his job and is protected in it; his authority has limits, however. But the ranger not only makes plans; he is a distinctive part of the organization be- cause he also puts the plans into effect. The district ranger is responsible only to his forest supervisor. He may meet the functional chiefs, in his dis- trict or in their offices, and discuss his plans and theirs, but he receives orders only from his immediate superior, the forest supervisor. EFFECTIVE RANGER district adminis- tration is based on two key points. First is sufficient delegation of authority to the district ranger so that his protection and management duties, including dealings with local settlers and com- munities, may be handled with effec- tiveness and dispatch. To that end, the ranger is authorized, for example, to make any number of timber sales of from some 50,000 to 100,000 board feet to each purchaser, subject only to the timber-management plan for the district. He also may employ lookouts and other members of his seasonal pro- tection and improvement crews, sub- ject only to over-all requirements, and otherwise handle the more pressing business on his district without con- stantly referring matters to his super- visor for prior approval. The ranger district approaches the ultimate in territorial form of or- ganization. That is the second rather distinctive feature of ranger-district administration. Under the set-up, all the various re- sponsibilities and types of work to be done within his territory — his district — are under the control of one man, the district ranger. That has been found to be more effective than the functional method of administration, under which there is a specialist reporting directly to the forest super- visor to handle each major func- tional activity — a specialist for timber management, a specialist for range management, other specialists for rec- reation management, forest protection, construction and maintenance work, and so on. Such functionalization might mean that more expert attention is given to each activity. But with supplementary help from functional specialists on the supervisor's and the regional forester's staffs, adequately expert attention to all activities is provided in ranger-dis- trict work through the territorial form of administration. In addition, better integration of all activities is possible with less waste of time in travel, be- cause one trip can accomplish several purposes. And of controlling impor- tance is the fact that the local settlers and other users deal with only one for- est officer instead of several. On districts where the work is heavy, the ranger has one or more yearlong assistants. During the field season, fire- control assistants, improvement fore- men, log sealers, and other aides as needed are employed to supplement the regular force. All are under the direct control of the district ranger. The large volume of business and the technical work involved in the management of a ranger district on a multiple-use basis calls for technical competence, experience, and man- agerial ability. Accordingly, rangers are usually chosen from among junior foresters and range examiners who are graduates of a recognized college or university, have passed a professional examination, and. have demonstrated their ability in technical work and as an assistant ranger. The rangers pro- vide the pool of trained and tested men from which supervisors and others in higher positions are usually chosen. 378 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 STUDIES IN ORGANIZATION and man- agement have been carried on re- peatedly. In 1912, F. A. Silcox, then regional forester of the Northern Rocky Mountain region, had a study made of the organization and opera- tion of the Savenac Forest Nursery. That was the first reported use in the Forest Service of the Frederick Wins- low Taylor approach to the study of the work practices and organization, which later became a primary factor in the broader field of scientific manage- ment. As is commonly known, this way of studying and performing work has been of help to American industry in attaining its high place in the markets of the world, because of the resulting combination of high-quality products and relatively low cost. The general principles of scientific management gradually were applied elsewhere in the Forest Service. That was especially so in the California re- gion under Roy Headley, as chief of operation and acting regional forester. Subsequently, when he became assist- ant chief of the Forest Service in Wash- ington, he and Peter Keplinger, staff adviser on administrative manage- ment, gave impetus to studying and or- ganizing national forest activities in this manner. The scientific approach was more sharply defined under his direction, beginning some 20 years ago with the development and application of "job-load analysis and planning" to the rangers5 and supervisors' work and to other national forest activities. Job-load analysis serves as a controll- ing basis for the manning of adminis- trative units, for organization set-ups, for the allocation of funds, and for administrative, including the financial, controls. It parallels in considerable part the use of scientific management in American industry. Among its sev- eral aims are two principal ones: To get the work done with as high stand- ards of quality, quantity, and economy as practicable, and to do so with un- failing regard for the men who are to perform the work. Included among the corollary aims is a meeting of minds between the supervisor and the worker, and a determination of the needs for specialized training for each specific assignment to each employee. The job-load analysis method as applied to studying, organizing, and administering national forest work con- sists of five main steps. First, the objective sought in each field is clearly established. Many of the objectives are already available in re- source-management plans, manuals, handbooks, and work programs. All subsequent steps in the analysis are aimed toward reaching this specific goal. Proper and sharp definition of objectives provides a stimulating in- centive to distinguished effort. It also serves as a helpful shield against divert- ing proposals. The second step is to break each ac- tivity down into the component jobs that must be performed to attain the objective. The third step is to determine and establish standards for each of the com- ponent jobs; that is, the standards of quality, quantity, frequency, methods, and other practices needed to do the work as it should be done. That is a job analysis up to this stage. To develop it into a job-load analysis, the fourth step is taken. That calls for determining the unit-time require- ments for doing each job as it should be done. The fifth step calls for grouping the separate jobs into the months in which they can be done, as controlled by the work requirements, the climatic condi- tions, available time, and other factors. A main purpose of this step is to re- distribute peak loads to the less busy periods of the year, to the extent prac- ticable, and thus strive for a well- balanced program of work, yearlong. The total of the time requirements thus developed shows, of course, the total job-load weight, in man-hours, of the ranger district, forest, or special project that is being studied. The job-load analysis method enlists the cooperation of the entire organiza- tion. To that end the analyst, in the The Administration of National Forests 379 course of each study, seeks the points of view of the local ranger, of his su- pervisor, and of the functional experts in each field of work. Such joint con- sideration establishes, clarifies, and de- fines in specific form both the major and minor duties of the employee. It re- sults in widespread education and training on the part of all the partici- pants. It promotes a common under- standing of the work between subordi- nate and supervisor. It disentangles misunderstandings which, otherwise, are almost certain to develop from the long-distance supervision inherent in national forest work. This result has become recognized as one of the main benefits of a job-load analysis program. Nevertheless, the analyst recognizes that he must not substitute a discussion for an investigation; that five or six opinions are not necessarily better than one. All may be quite worthless. In- stead, facts based on investigation and experiment, including analysis, meas- urement, and comparison, provide the only sound basis on which the job-load determinations can be made. With the job-load weight and num- ber of man-hours of work required thus arrived at, the number of em- ployees needed is readily determined. Also, because number of hours may be readily converted to the number of dollars, the job-load analysis provides the primary base for two essentials of budget and financial management. First, it furnishes the soundest founda- tion possible for estimates submitted to Congress as to the amount of appro- priations needed for ranger salaries, special timber-sale projects, and each of the other activities on the national forests. And, after the appropriations are made, it is the fairest basis for allocation of funds, by activities, to the regions, the national forests, ranger districts, and special projects. An adequate cost-accounting system correlated with a primary allotment base of that type, together with system- atic audits and field inspections, are key components of the financial and administrative controls, which assure expenditures of time and money as contemplated by Congress. WORK PLANNING is done in several ways. The National Forest Manual contains a section devoted to each of the main functions of national forest work. Included in each section are the related regulations by the Secretary of Agriculture, based on legislative au- thority and supplemented by over-all instructions as approved by the Chief of the Forest Service. Handbooks, issued by each region, localize the service-wide manual in- structions. They include many local standards and some specific objectives. Another working and planning tool is the Program of Work issued an- nually by the Chief. It includes a state- ment as to the activities he wishes given special emphasis in the coming year. It also contains specific objectives and programs to which each division is to give special attention. With that as a basis, each regional forester prepares a localized annual program of work. And that, in turn, is supplemented by each supervisor with a highly localized and more specific annual program of work — a real working and planning tool — for the national forest of which he is in charge. Plans are also made for the management of each of the main resources within the national forests. The need for such plans is evident when one considers that a century or more of time may be required to grow a crop of timber or build up a depleted range or watershed. Resource-manage- ment plans are also needed, because the manner in which one resource is han- dled may have an important effect on other resources within the same forest. There must also be transportation plans, communication plans, fire-con- trol plans, and other similar working tools. They all provide indispensable background material and are other- wise helpful in the job-load analysis. The five steps in work-load analysis that I outlined determine the total time that is required to handle each job, as needed to attain the specified objec- 38° Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 tive. The next step is to convert this analysis into a plan of action. A start on this is made, as previously stated, by assigning each job, or a specified part of each job, to each of the months during which it should be performed. The resulting list of jobs in each month is then assembled into an integrated plan of work. In a ranger district, for example, the list of jobs for a month will include a great variety of work such as timber sales, inspection by fire guards, range management, and special-use adminis- tration, scattered probably over a quar- ter of a million acres. Travel time alone, on horseback and otherwise, may require as much as 35 percent or more of the total time devoted to all the duties on the district. Obviously, there- fore, unless the work is carefully planned, travel may be unproductive and unreasonably high and it may shorten appreciably the time necessary for the actual fulfillment of duties. EARL W. LOVERIDGE is assistant chief of the Forest Service, in charge of ad- ministrative management and infor- mation. A native of Pennsylvania and a graduate in forestry from Pennsyl- vania State College, he started work with the Forest Service in Minnesota as a student assistant in 1911. A juniper 3,000 years old in Cache National Forest in Utah; drawn from a photograph taken in 1924. Projects of Many Uses OTHER FEDERAL FORESTS F. W. GROVER BESIDES THE NATIONAL for- ests, which are the most extensive of the federally owned timber and watershed lands, eight other categories of Federal lands bear large forests. Some of them are held primarily for timber production. Others, as wildlife refuges, are owned and administered for primary purposes other than the production of timber or water, but are susceptible of forestry management in correlation with the specialized uses. THE O & C REVESTED LANDS are administered by the Bureau of Land Management of the Department of the Interior. They comprise somewhat more than 2 million acres, originally selected pursuant to grants of public lands made by Congress in 1866 and 1869 to aid in building a railroad from Portland, Oreg., to the California line and a wagon road from Coos Bay, Oreg., to Roseburg, Oreg. Violations of conditions of the grants by the grantees or their successors led in 1916 A typical scene in an arboretum is shown above. and 1919 to repossession by the Gov- ernment of the unsold parts of the granted lands ; these now constitute the "revested" lands. The lands are in 18 counties in western Oregon. Because only odd-numbered sections were origi- nally granted, the predominant pattern is that of a checkerboard in squares of 640 acres, the intermingled lands being mostly private or national forest. Many of the tracts are less than a full section, however, because of disposals in the past. Nearly all of the lands are forested ; many have fine stands of old-growth conifers. The major species is Douglas- fir, and types in which it predominates cover 70 percent of the area of the timberlands. White fir, grand fir, noble fir, Pacific silver fir, western hemlock, western redcedar, Port-Orford-cedar, ponderosa pine, and sugar pine are also well represented, usually in mixtures but occasionally as dominant types. Western species of hardwoods, such as Oregon oak, bigleaf maple, red alder, madrone, and the golden chinquapin occur in limited quantities. All but a small proportion of the 381 382 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 revested lands are classed as commer- cial timberland. More than half of these lands still support stands of virgin timber, and most of the remainder is restocking to forest; the young trees vary from nearly merchantable second growth to seedlings and saplings in recently logged areas and burns. Some 50,000 acres, however, are in the Tilla- mook "burn" and are largely denuded. By the act of August 28, 1937 (50 Stat. 874) , Congress provided for the permanent management of the re- vested lands valuable for timber pro- duction. The act specifies that such lands shall be managed for permanent forest production and that the timber thereon shall be sold and removed in conformity with the principles of sus- tained yield for the purpose of pro- ducing a permanent source of timber supply, protecting watersheds, regu- lating stream flow, and contributing to the economic stability of local com- munities and industries. The act also (1) provides that the annual productive capacity of these timberlands shall be determined and declared as promptly as possible and that until such determination be made the average annual cut of the lands shall not exceed one-half billion board feet; (2) specifies that the annual sus- tained capacity of the lands shall be sold each year or so much thereof as can be sold in a normal market at reasonable prices; (3) authorizes the subdivision of the lands into sustained- yield units to provide, as far as prac- ticable, a permanent source of raw materials for support of the dependent communities and local industries of the region; (4) stipulates that timber sales from a forest unit so established shall be limited to the productive ca- pacity of the lands in such units; (5) authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to enter into cooperative agreements with other Federal agencies, State agencies, or private forest-land owners or operators for coordinated adminis- tration of the resources of the revested lands and the other Federal, State, or private lands within the forest unit, with the objective of promoting sus- tained production. To carry out the policies for the administration and use of these lands as specified by Congress, a forestry or- ganization to make timber sales, in- augurate studies of sustained yield, make timber-management plans, and perform the numerous other tasks nec- essary to manage this valuable public property was established with head- quarters in Portland, Oreg. Since formation of the Bureau of Land Man- agement in 1946, by the combination of the General Land Office and the Grazing Service, forestry work on these lands, as well as on the unreserved public domain, has been under the general direction of the Division of Forestry in the office of the Director, Bureau of Land Management. A re- gional forester in the office of the re- gional administrator, Bureau of Land Management, in Portland, exercises general supervision and furnishes tech- nical direction; on-the-ground forestry activities are performed by the staffs of five district foresters, each of whom is responsible for a prescribed area. Fire protection is performed by the Forest Service or by State or local fire-pro- tection agencies on the basis of coop- erative agreements. The Bureau of Land Management is actively selling timber from these lands, as directed by Congress. The policies that govern timber sales call for silvicultural practices adapted to the particular site and designed to as- sure reforestation of the lands by the desired tree species, the protection and perpetuation of highway screen strips and lands valuable for recreation, and the safeguarding of local watersheds. Progress has been made on the long- term task of determining the sustained timber-producing capacity of the lands and in devising management plans for the utilization of the timber resources on a permanent production basis. Be- cause of the checkerboard pattern of the revested lands, an important as- pect of long-term management is the development of coordinated manage- Other Federal Forests 383 ment of the Federal, State, and private lands within the boundaries of the re- vested lands. One cooperative unit has been proposed, and public hearings have been held. During the fiscal year 1947, some 469.3 million board feet of timber, valued at about $2,197,018, was cut from the lands in commercial sales under the administration of the Bu- reau of Land Management. In ad- dition, about 394,000 board feet, consisting largely of posts, cordwood, and similar products, was cut without charge by local residents. The 239 graz- ing leases that were issued covered 276,000 acres, receipts from which totaled $18,128. THE UNRESERVED PUBLIC DOMAIN of the United States still includes more than 169 million acres of unappropri- ated and unreserved public lands, in- cluding 132 million acres in grazing districts established under the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934. There is more than 265 million acres of unreserved public lands in Alaska. Forestry activi- ties on that land are under direction of the Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior. Much of this land in continental United States is range and watershed land that bears only grass or brush or is semidesert or desert, but about 28 million acres is classed as timber or woodland, of which, according to the Bureau of Land Management, ap- proximately 3 million acres bears com- mercial timber estimated at 9.5 billion board feet. These forest and woodland areas are remnants left from large grants, the establishment of national forests, parks, and other Federal reser- vations, and as a result of the operation of the public-land laws under which the public lands were patented to pri- vate ownership. Because they are widely dispersed throughout 20 States, a large number of the major forest types are represented, from the Doug- las-fir in the Northwest, the white pine in Idaho, the lodgepole pine in Mon- tana and Wyoming, the spruce and aspen of the Lake States, the pinyon- juniper of the Southwest, to the pine and oak-pine types of the Southeast. Until recently, only dead, down, or damaged timber or timber threatened with damage from fire could be sold from the unreserved public domain, although timber could be taken with- out charge for noncommercial pur- poses. By the act of July 31, 1947 (61 Stat. 681), Congress authorized the sale of, among other resources, timber and timber products from these public lands, in accordance with rules and regulations of the Secretary of the In- terior. Authorization is also given for free permits for use other than for in- dustrial or commercial purposes or for sale. Policies of the Bureau of Land Man- agement provide for developing the timber resources of the public lands, protecting them from fire, insects, and disease, and managing them in accord- ance with good forestry practices with the objective of insuring continuing crops of timber and improving water- shed, wildlife habitat, and recreational opportunities. Disposal requirements are designed to provide for protection and improve- ment of the residual stand and for re- stocking of the land to desirable timber species. The forestry work is under general direction of the Division of Forestry in the office of the Director, Bureau of Land Management, and is handled locally as far as possible by the forestry personnel in the offices of the regional administrators of the Bureau. The rather wide dispersion of these lands renders supervision and manage- ment difficult. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1947, about 15.4 million board feet of timber, valued at $58,024, was cut from these public lands in the United States, of which about 8.9 million board feet was utilized through free permits to local residents. In Alaska an estimated 45 million board feet was sold, yielding $57,535, and addi- tional timber products such as posts, poles, lagging, and house logs, with an Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 estimated value of $2,158., was granted for local use without charge. Other uses of these public lands included grazing, mineral production, wildlife production, and recreation. THE LANDS OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN Sj in the form of individual trust allotments, tribal lands, and Fed- eral lands dedicated to Indian use, aggregate more than 56.5 million acres. The area comprises a large number of homestead allotments, approximately 160 acres each, on the public domain, most of which were made to individual Indians in accordance with the act of July 4, 1884 (23 Stat. 76, 96), and of reservations, several of more than a million acres, which were established in accordance with treaties with In- dians and by Executive orders. A sub- stantial part of the land within many of the reservations has been allotted to individual Indians in tracts that us- ually vary from 80 to 160 acres. The title to the homestead allotments and to allotments within reservations is usually held in trust by the United States for the individual owners, al- though, in some instances, the title to al- lotted lands within reservations passed to the owners but with restrictions against alienation. The basic title or fee to all unallotted tribal lands is held by the United States. Indian lands are distributed throughout 26 States, but are heavily concentrated in the West. Of the Indian lands, more than 16 million acres is classed as forest and woodland; of that area, about 6.6 mil- lion acres (or 40 percent) is presently classed as commercial forest land ca- pable of producing continuous crops of salable forest products. The remaining acreage is valuable for cordwood, posts, poles, nuts, fruits, and similar products for local use, and for forage, for watersheds, and as game habitat. Records of the Bureau of Indian Af- fairs indicate that the commercial forest land bears about 27.6 billion board feet of merchantable timber. Because of wide geographical dis- tribution, Indian forest lands include a variety of forest types. The hard- woods of the Appalachian Mountains, the palm and cypress of Florida, the pine-hemlock-hardwood of the Lake States, the mixed-conifer stands of the "Inland Empire," the fir, hemlock, cedar, Douglas-fir stands of the Pacific coast, and the ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer types of eastern Wash- ington and Oregon are all represented in some degree. From the standpoint of volume and industrial use, the conifer forests of Oregon, Washington, Ari- zona, and Montana are by far the most important. These include an estimated 69 percent of the commercial timber- land and more than 83 percent of the commercial timber volume. The timber on the Indian lands was early recognized as a valuable asset, and logging of it became rather general after 1890. With the development of the national conservation movement at the beginning of the twentieth cen- tury, there came a demand for cutting the timber on a conservative basis to assure its perpetuation. In 1909, Con- gress provided for forestry work on Indian reservations, and, by the act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. 855), gave comprehensive authority, under regu- lations of the Secretary of the Interior, for sale of timber from Indian reserva- tions, and provided that proceeds from such sales should be used for the bene- fit of the Indians on the reservation. Authority was also granted for sale of timber from allotments under trust patents with the consent of the Secre- tary of the Interior. Pursuant to such authority and to that in section 6 of the act of 1934 (48 Stat. 984), utiliza- tion of timber from Indian lands is now carried out in accordance with conservation policies under the direc- tion of the Forestry and Grazing Divi- sion of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior. Forests are important in the Indian economy. Only a small percentage of the Indian lands are suitable for farm- ing, the greater part of them being chiefly valuable for forest production or grazing. The forested areas furnish Other Federal Forests 385 fuel, logs, and lumber for houses and barns, forage for livestock, fish, game, and furs. Additionally, the commercial forests provide the Indians with sub- stantial sources of income through sale of stumpage, through employment in industries that the timber supports, and in the protection and management of the timberlands. The policies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in directing the utilization of Indian forests, therefore, have five main aspects : The maintenance of the land in a perpetually productive state through the promotion of sound for- estry practices and adequate protec- tion; regulation of the cut to insure method and order in harvesting and to promote continuous production; development, so far as is possible, of Indian forests by Indian people, so that the Indians may receive not only the value of the stumpage but also such profits as may be yielded ; sale of timber not developed or used by the Indians through competitive bids ; and preservation of scenic, recreational, and esthetic values and management of the forest so as to retain its beneficial effects in regulating runoff of water and minimizing erosion. In the management of the Indian forests, however, the Bureau of Indian Affairs must recognize that these for- ests are part of the economic base of the Indians to whom they have been allotted or for whom they have been set aside. Forest management must be correlated with the general economy of the Indians and must occasionally be adjusted to meet the immediate needs of individuals or tribes. The large num- ber of small allotments add greatly to management problems. To achieve the objectives and to obtain the applica- tion, so far as is possible, of sound forestry practices, professional foresters direct the utilization of the forest re- sources on all the larger timbered areas and give general supervision to small sales. Indian forests have contributed sub- stantial amounts of lumber and other products to the economy of the Nation 802062°— 49 26 and have added materially to the in- come of the Indians. From 1910 through 1947 more than 14.5 billion feet of timber, valued at $57,700,000, was cut from these lands. In the cal- endar year 1947, these yields (in thou- sand board feet) were recorded: Commercial cutting under contract, 407,822; sales for local use, 17,067; free use by Indians, 87,580. The total was 512,469 thousand board feet. The stumpage value totaled $2,501,313. THE NATIONAL PARKS AND MONU- MENTS are Federal lands set aside, re- served, and administered "to conserve the scenery and the natural and his- toric objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for future generations." They are in- tended to include not only superlative scenery but historical, geological, and biological areas of national interest and significance. Because they are com- prised, in large measure, of wild lands, they contain substantial acreages of forests, and some of the parks (as the Sequoia in California and the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee) were established pri- marily to preserve outstanding exam- ples of particular forest species or types. The national parks and monuments, including historical and military parks, parkways, and similar units, as of June 30, 1947, contained 20,775,082 acres of Federal lands. Of this area, about 6,960,000 acres bear forests in the usual sense. Because of wide dispersal of the parks and monuments through- out the Nation, the forests therein vary greatly as to type and composition. Represented, among others, are the "rain forests" of the Olympic Penin- sula, the mixed-conifer stands of the central Sierra region, including the giant sequoias, the piny on- juniper types found in the arid Southwest, and the old-growth hardwood and hardwood- conifer mixtures of the Appalachian region. 386 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 Worthy of particular mention from the standpoint of the forests that they include are the Olympic National Park, in Washington, the Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks, in Cali- fornia, and the Great Smoky Moun- tains National Park, in North Carolina and Tennessee. The Olympic National Park, in the lower valleys of its western slopes, con- tains extensive areas of the dense con- iferous forest which has resulted from the heavy rainfall that blankets the coastal portions of the Pacific North- west. Here Douglas-fir, western hem- lock, western redcedar, Sitka spruce, and the true firs grow densely and to great size. An understory of maples, ferns, and other plants combine with the heavy stands of conifers to produce an almost junglelike density. The Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks in the Sierra Nevada region of California contain substantial acreages of virgin conifer forests, including the sugar pine, ponderosa pine, incense- cedar, and white fir. They (especially Sequoia National Park) include also the famed groves of giant sequoias. These trees, the remnants of a once widespread genus, are native to only a narrow belt along the western slope of the central and southern Sierra Nevada. Individual specimens grow to majestic size and great age, and the parks contain several thousand that are more than 10 feet in diameter and 250 feet in height. The Great Smoky Mountains Na- tional Park in the southern Appala- chian Mountains includes one of the few remaining examples of the orig- inal forest of the Eastern States. Ap- proximately 40 percent of its nearly half million acres is in the original forested condition. Higher elevations bear unusually dense forests of spruce, balsam, and some hemlock, while the intermediate slopes are covered with hardwoods characteristic of the Ap- palachian region. In this park are found 130 or more native tree species, some of which grow to record size. By law, national parks and monu- ments are established for the benefit and enjoyment of the people and must be protected and retained in as nearly their natural conditions as possible. Forestry in the national parks is there- fore primarily protective; its chief objective is to avoid or minimize de- struction of the forest by fire, insects, disease, and unwise use by man. Com- mercial use, such as lumbering, is pro- hibited, and cutting of trees is permitted only as a method of fighting forest pests or diseases, or of reducing fire hazards. To combat fire, the National Park Service has developed a comprehensive fire-control organization, centering about the administrative personnel in the parks and monuments. Coopera- tion with agencies protecting adjoin- ing lands, whether public or private, is actively promoted. The National Park Service and the Bureaus of Entomology and Plant Quarantine and of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engi- neering of the Department of Agricul- ture cooperate in the detection and control of insect or disease epidemics, such as bark beetle infestations and the white pine blister rust, which, next to fire, are the greatest enemies of the forests in the parks and monuments. All forestry work, including fire con- trol, is headed by the chief forester in the office of the Director of the Na- tional Park Service. Foresters of the four administrative regions of the Park Service give on-the-ground supervision and technical advice. Trees contribute to the inspirational and scientific values of the national parks and monuments in many ways. They form a pleasing framework for the mountains, lakes, and geological features, provide the beauty and the outdoor environment for camping, pic- nicking, hiking, and skiing, offer a habitat for wildlife, protect the soil in which they grow, and help to regulate the flow of streams. They offer oppor- tunities for study of the growth and maintenance of forests under natural conditions and, where virgin forests have been included, afford examples of some of the original forest types Other Federal Forests 387 which once covered so much of our Nation. FEDERAL WILDLIFE REFUGES are areas of Federal lands which have been established from time to time as game or general wildlife refuges and sanctuaries under State or Federal laws concerned with preservation of our na- tive animal and bird life. The follow- ing, however, relates only to the 3.4 million acres, more or less, of Federal land over which the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior has sole jurisdiction and the primary use of which is the perpetua- tion of indigenous species of wildlife. More specifically, most of the material relates to the 797,000 acres of such land that is forested. These wildlife refuges have been acquired by the Fish and Wildlife Service through direct pur- chase of private lands, through transfer of lands from other agencies of the Federal Government, and through res- ervation of public domain. In assembling its system of wildlife refuges, the Fish and Wildlife Service has followed the policy of acquiring ecological units representative of broad habitat types, primarily for manage- ment to conserve and increase the native wildlife, and, secondarily, to de- termine practical methods of land use compatible with sustaining optimum wildlife populations. In acquisition of waterfowl refuges, for example, neces- sary buffer lands may include blocks of forest which, of course, may also fulfill certain needs of wildlife man- agement. Occasionally, the forest it- self is the vital element and lands are acquired specifically therefor, as in the case of the White River National Wild- life Refuge in Arkansas, where mast constitutes a principal food item of waterfowl. Large areas of forest land are also frequently desirable for up- land game management. Thus the federally owned wildlife refuges in- clude substantial acreages of forest and woodland types. These forest lands are rather widely distributed and include a number of timber types — northern and Appala- chian mixed hardwoods, bottom-land hardwoods in the Mississippi Valley, spruce, balsam, fir, the southern pines, oak, and some of the western pines. About 502,000 acres are currently con- sidered as commercial forest land. The remaining 295,000 acres are either noncommercial in character or are set aside from commercial use because of special wildlife-management require- ments, in compliance with policies on natural areas, or for recreational pur- poses. Included in the forested areas are some old-growth timber and some fully stocked stands of second growth. Generally, however, the timber stands tend to be understocked (because of heavy cutting before they were ac- quired by the United States) and con- sist largely of young growth. The forest lands are administered primarily for restoration and conserva- tion of wildlife or to test or demonstrate practical methods of game manage- ment. To the full extent consistent with these basic objectives, however, the Fish and Wildlife Service endeav- ors to manage the timberlands under sound forestry principles. A substantial part of the estimated 502,000 acres of commercial forest lands are under in- tensive forestry management. Forestry practices must necessarily be corre- lated with the requirements of the animals, birds, or waterfowl which populate the refuges. To this end, se- lective cutting on a relatively short cutting rotation is practiced in most instances, frequently on a group-selec- tion or small-area basis to create open- ings. Specific needs of wildlife, such as den trees or shrubs and trees important for food production, must be taken into consideration and provided for as far as is possible. Policies also call for maintenance of buffer strips of timber along the principal roads, lakes, and streams and other places where esthetic values are dominant. The forest-man- agement program is under the super- vision of trained foresters and the field activities relative to the administration and sale of timber are handled by per- Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 sonnel trained in forestry work. Fire protection is accomplished by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Between 1942 and 1947, the yearly cut from these forest lands averaged 3.2 million board feet of timber, 19,610 cords of wood, and 17,968 posts and ties. Average annual receipt for these products was $46,022. Of necessity, timber cutting must be on a moderate scale until the stands of timber are built up to the highest level consistent with wildlife production on the lands. MILITARY RESERVATIONS of the Army, Navy, and Air Force comprise large areas of Federal land held pri- marily for military purposes. Much of the land is not forested, but a substan- tial acreage either bears forests or is capable of producing them. The Department of the Army ad- ministers some 4 million acres, of which about 1,650,000 acres may be classed as forest land. These forest lands, of course, are widely distributed across the country and, in some in- stances, are only a minor proportion of the installations of which they are a part. Many Army installations, how- ever, contain substantial blocks of pro- ductive or potentially productive forest sites. Included are southern pines, cen- tral and northern hardwoods, and the Douglas-fir type of the Pacific North- west. The southern pine types heavily predominate. While the primary use of these lands is necessarily military, it is the policy of the Department of the Army to con- serve and maintain all of its lands, in- cluding the forests, in accordance with sound agricultural principles. In pur- suance of this policy, the Army intends to develop appropriate management plans for each potentially productive forest area, and to promote timber management and timber-stand im- provement as far as the dominant mili- tary use of the lands will permit. Naval reservations, in the main, are not forested. However, some areas ac- quired for ordnance or training and maneuver purposes include consider- able acreages of productive forest lands which are susceptible of forestry man- agement. Efforts are being made to inaugurate forest management on cer- tain of these areas, to the degree that such can be correlated with the neces- sary military use, with the cooperation of public forestry agencies. The Department of the Air Force administers about 11.4 million acres of Federal land, a large part of which is used by the Air Force under permit or assignment from other agencies of the Government. The Air Force estimates that of this acreage approximately 495,000 acres is now forested or is ca- pable of producing forests. Such area is distributed within nine States, but the major part is located in Florida. Forest resources are being managed, as far as is consistent with the necessary military use, in accordance with plans prepared by Federal or State forestry agencies, it being the intent of the Air Force to use and develop these resources under conservation principles to the extent possible. LAND UTILIZATION PROJECTS were established pursuant to the National Industrial Recovery Act, the Emer- gency Relief Act, and, later, title III of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act. Under such a program the Fed- eral Government acquired about 11.3 million acres of farm, pasture, and woodland which had been abused, eroded, or otherwise so depleted as to be uneconomic for private use and in need of protection and restoration. Many of the projects have since been turned over to States for administra- tion for forestry, wildlife, recreational, and research purposes under long- term agreements. Others have been transferred to Federal agencies for such special purposes as national forests, wildlife refuges, and Indian reserva- tions. Some 7,150,000 acres, however, are for the most part needed and used by farmers who occupy adjoining and intermingled privately owned land to complete desirable land use and eco- Other Federal Forests nomic adjustments. The lands are ad- ministered by the Soil Conservation Service of the Department of Agricul- ture in accordance with title III of the Bankhead-Jones Act (50 Stat. 522), under which the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized and directed to develop a program of land conser- vation and land utilization, including the retirement of lands that are sub- marginal or not primarily suitable for cultivation. The following relates to this last mentioned area and particu- larly to the forested parts thereof. The greatest part of the 7,150,000 acres is devoted to grazing, but in- cluded in the area is approximately 500,000 acres of commercial forest land. Additional acres, of course, sup- port woodlands or stands of pinyon and juniper which have value for local use and as watersheds. Located in 19 States, the forest lands include many of the broad forest types, such as mixed hardwoods, hardwood-pine, and south- ern pines, the post oak and blackjack oak types of Oklahoma and Texas, some ponderosa pine, and limited areas of aspen and spruce-fir forests in New Mexico. Hardwoods and southern pine types predominate. Much of this land had been cut over and often repeatedly burned or heavily pastured before it was acquired by the Government. The timber stands are therefore comprised in large measure of young growth with some residual timber. When acquired, such stands were often understocked and, in the hardwoods, ran heavily to the poorer species because of persistent cutting of the more valuable trees. Fire protec- tion in the intervening years, however, has aided in the natural restocking of many of the most depleted areas. Be- cause much of the land was denuded or consisted of worn-out fields, a large job of artificial reforestation was, and is, necessary. Some 41,000 acres have so far been planted and nearly twice that area remains to be reforested. The general policy of the Soil Con- servation Service is to manage the forest lands under sound forestry prin- ciples to build up to a practical maxi- mum both quantity and quality of the timber stands, with the ultimate ob- jective of regular and sustained pro- duction of forest products. Utilization by local residents, either for domestic needs or as a means of supplementing their incomes, is encouraged. Forestry work on the land-utilization projects, as well as other land-manage- ment activities, is under the general direction of the Land Management Division of the Soil Conservation Serv- ice. Over-all supervision of on-the- ground forestry activities is provided by a regional forester on the staff of each of the several regional conserva- tors. The management and utilization plans are prepared by foresters, who also give training and supervision to the personnel handling sales, planting, and other forestry work. Saw timber and a variety of forest products are sold from the timbered land each year. During the calendar year 1947, some 26.4 million board feet of saw timber, 9,200 cords of pulp- wood, 3,000 cords of fuel wood, 94,000 fence posts, 5,600 poles, and other mis- cellaneous materials were sold for a total of $232,946. The lands also pro- vided forage, habitat for wildlife, and recreational opportunities. THE TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHOR- ITY owns about 485,000 acres of land which lie above the normal full-pool levels of its series of reservoirs. Prac- tically all of the land was acquired in connection with the reservoirs. About 340,000 acres are forested, including some 40,000 acres of plantations. Ex- cept for certain areas dedicated to for- estry demonstration and investigation, the Tennessee Valley Authority retains no lands solely for timber production. It does, however, make such forestry use of the forest areas as is compatible with their primary purposes. The forest lands of the Tennessee Valley Authority are distributed from the mountains of eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina down into northern Alabama and northward 390 Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 through western Tennessee and south- western Kentucky. They therefore rep- resent a fair cross section of the forest types of the Tennessee Valley region. Predominant types are upland hard- woods, pine-hardwoods, and oak. In general, most of the forest lands have been heavily used and abused, having in the past undergone repeated cut- tings, frequent burnings, and heavy grazing. Consequently, many of them are in poor condition from the stand- point of a commercial timber produc- tion, because of the predominance of defective trees and relatively few of the more valuable species. It is the policy of the TVA, in the management of these woodlands, that any timber cutting must be carried on in conformity with sound principles of technical forestry, with selective cut- ting, where such is feasible. Recogni- tion is given in the forest-management procedures to special values such as scenic or recreational utility or to wild- life needs. Some 22,000 acres have been systematically treated with im- provement cuttings. Fire protection is carried out through local or State agencies if possible, or directly by the Tennessee Valley Authority organiza- tion where it is necessary. Timber and forest products are sold on the stump, through competitive bids if the ap- praised value is over $250. In 1947, more than 7.5 million feet of timber, 1,300 cords of wood, and 261,000 lineal feet of poles and posts were sold for about $79,000. Cumula- tive sales total more than 36 million board feet of timber, 21,600 cords of wood, and 1,050,000 lineal feet of poles and posts, with a total value of nearly $346,000. F. W. GROVER is chief of the Division of Land Acquisition, Forest Service, and secretary of the National Forest Reservation Commission. Mr. Grover is a graduate of the School of Forestry, University of California. He entered the Forest Service in 1930, and has served as forest ranger and as national forest and regional office staff assistant. STATE FORESTS STANLEY G. FONTANNA State forests have six uses. They are demonstrations of good forestry prac- tices in growing and harvesting forest products. They produce valuable forest products. They protect watersheds and wildlife. They provide places for recre- ation. Sometimes they are grazed. The sixth purpose, or justification, has to do with the reason why most of them were established — public reali- zation of the need to place under man- agement the forest lands that other- wise would be neglected. Thus, most State forests (meaning, here, forest lands that have actually been desig- nated State forests within the re- spective States and not including State-owned lands, such as game areas, forest parks, or forest lands not under any type of management) have been founded on a base of tax-reverted lands or low-value lands that were bought. In 1885, New York began the ac- quisition of extensive forest land for the Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserves. Other State forests organ- ized at early dates were the Mont Alto in Pennsylvania in 1891, the Pillsbury in Minnesota in 1899, the Clark County in Indiana in 1903, and the Higgins Lake and Houghton Lake in Michigan in 1903. Thirty-six States now have State forests. States have come into possession of land for State forests through grants of land by the Federal Government; tax reversion ; gift, exchange, and pur- chase ; and lease of land from the Fed- eral Government. Federal-grant lands, the remainder of the original Federal State Forests grants to the States for schools, inter- nal improvements, and so forth, com- prise approximately 28 percent of the total acreage in State forests and, ex- cept for 1.3 million acres in Minnesota and small scattering acreages in other States, are found in the Pacific Coast and Rocky Mountain States. In Idaho, Montana, and Colorado, Federal- grant lands comprise the total acreage of the State forests. Tax-reverted lands, titles to which have come to the States through tax delinquency, comprise approximately 3 1 percent of the total acreage in State forests. Except for a few thousand acres in other States, those lands are in Minnesota, Michigan, New York, and Washington. The lands acquired by gift and ex- change comprise approximately 36 percent of the total acreage in State forests. Except in Idaho, Montana, and Colorado, nearly every State that has State forests has acquired some of its lands by purchase; in many States purchase has been the only means of acquisition. Federal-lease lands were originally acquired by the Federal Government in connection with the resettlement program of the 1930's, and have been leased to the State for forestry and other conservation purposes by the Federal Government under the admin- istration of units of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior. As a rule, the leases are long- term and liberal; to all intents and purposes, the lands are administered as State forest lands. Lands so leased comprise but 4 percent of the total acreage in State forests. There are no lands in this category in any State west of the Mississippi; most of them are in North and South Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia. Approximately 14 million of the 16.6 million acres of land in the State forests are in eight States: Michigan, 3.75 million acres; New York, 3 million acres; Minnesota, 2 million; Washing- ton, 1.7 million; Pennsylvania, 1.67 million; Idaho, 950,000; Oregon, 570,- 000; Montana, 520,000 acres. The re- maining 2.6 million acres are in 29 other States. On a regional basis, 15 million of the 16.6 million acres are in these sections: The Lake States (Michigan, Wiscon- sin, Minnesota), 6 million acres; the Middle Atlantic States (Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, West Virginia, New Jersey) , 5 million acres; the Pacific Coast States (Wash- ington, Oregon, California), 2.2 mil- lion acres ; the Rocky Mountain States (Idaho, Montana, Colorado), 1.8 mil- lion acres. There are only 660,000 acres in State forests in all of the Southern States; of this acreage, 450,000 acres are in lands leased from the Federal Government. Or, in another classification of areas, the acreage is distributed thus: Saw- timber areas, 21 percent; pole-timber, 34 percent; seedling and sapling, 31 percent; poorly stocked and denuded areas, 14 percent. In the Pacific and Rocky Mountain States, the acreage in saw timber rises to an average of 33 percent; in the Eastern and Southern States, the average drops well below 21 percent. Only five States reported estimated saw-timber volumes in excess of a billion board feet — Washington, 1 2 bil- lion board feet; Idaho, 7.3 billion; Pennsylvania, 3.6 billion; Montana, 2 billion; and Colorado, 1.01 billion. Six States reported saw-timber vol- umes between 100 million and 1 billion board feet: Michigan, 650 million; Colorado, 309 million; Ohio, 250 mil- lion; South Dakota, 250 million; In- diana, 150 million; and Connecticut 109 million. Oregon, New York, and Minnesota did not report saw-timber volumes, but undoubtedly the saw- timber volumes in State forests in each is more than 100 million board feet. The State forests generally are su- pervised by the State forester. The agency with which the State forester is connected varies among States, how- ever. In 21 of the 36 States that have State forests, forestry is a division of a State conservation department or a de- 392 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 partment of natural resources, with the State forester in charge of the division. In seven States, the State forester is the administrative officer of a State board or commission of forestry. In four States, he is the forestry director of the State board of forestry and parks. In Pennsylvania, he is in charge of the Bureau of Forests in the Department of Forests and Waters. In Ohio, he is in charge of the Division of Forestry un- der the over-all administration of the agricultural experiment station. In Montana, he works with the State Board of Land Commissioners. Direct supervision of a State forest in each State is generally exercised by a district forester or State forest supervisor, who may be responsible solely for the man- agement of forest land or who may com- bine management with other duties. In Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Colorado, administration of the State forest lands of Federal-grant origin is a joint responsibility of the State land boards and the State forestry agency. In each of those States the State land board was set up originally to dispose of Federal-grant lands ; how- ever, while a considerable acreage of forest lands in this category was still in State ownership, it was realized that the lands were an asset to the State and should properly remain in State owner- ship under adequate protection and administration. ADEQUATE MANAGEMENT recognizes that the forests have several uses and allocates to each its proper place in the management plan. Elements of forest management that affect each of those uses are protection from fire, in- sects, and disease, and forest inventory. Fire protection on State forests gen- erally is good. Even in States that do not protect all forest lands, State for- ests are well looked after ; in the States that have good over-all protection, State forests as a rule receive extra at- tention. Because most of the State forest lands are in restocking stages, good fire protection constitutes a large part of the management. The .degree of protection from in- sects and disease varies a great deal and depends largely on the probability of losses. In States where white pine is an important timber tree, for example, protection from the white pine blister rust is generally good. In Massachu- setts, the State forestry agency carries on an active campaign against the tus- sock moth. In the Western States, bark beetles receive considerable attention. The adequate management of forest lands for multiple use can only be had from a forest inventory, which classi- fies the lands and furnishes detailed information on timber types, volumes, and growth. Such an inventory was reported by 9 of the 36 States; several others are making an inventory. Management for the production of forest products aims at ultimately at- taining a balance of growth and drain, in well-stocked stands of desirable spe- cies. To achieve the objective, there should be adequate protection from fire, insects, and disease; harvesting of tree crops when they are ripe; im- provement of the stand; and planting where necessary. Management plans based on an adequate inventory are desirable: The type of forest management in the various States depends upon sev- eral factors, namely, a forest inventory, the condition of the forest, and avail- able funds for forest management. Naturally, the States that have inven- tories of their forests have the basis for intelligent management plans and have generally followed through with such a plan. In some States the land carries but little merchantable timber, and inten- sive fire protection (with perhaps some planting and improvement cut- tings) constitutes the chief element of management. In Washington, Idaho, and Montana, on the contrary, there is the problem of overmature timber, and management efforts are directed toward harvesting it. In all States the availability of funds plays a major role. The ability to in- ventory the forests and to hire men State Forests 393 with adequate training and in suffi- cient number for management of the lands has often been in direct propor- tion to the amount of money that could be obtained for those purposes. In many States fire protection has been the primary interest, and State forest management has had to play a sec- ondary role. Practically all States maintain for- est-tree nurseries, but most of the planting stock has gone to private in- dividuals and plantings on State forest lands have not been extensive. New York and Michigan are notable exam- ples of States with well-organized and adequately financed planting pro- grams. Income from the sale of forest prod- ucts from State forests has not been great. That is to be expected from forests that mostly are immature. The largest returns have come from the mature forests of the Western States: Washington reported an annual in- come of $736,000, Montana $455,000, and Idaho $97,000. East of the Missis- sippi, only Pennsylvania, Ohio, Mich- igan, New York, and Florida reported a production of forest products whose value exceeded $50,000 annually. On the whole, the management of State forests would rate from fair to good. Most of the States mark the tim- ber they offer for sale and annually harvest much less than the growth. During the past few years the excellent market has afforded an opportunity for the harvesting of all species of ripe timber and for improvement cuttings. In States in which the forestry agen- cy is a division of a department of con- servation, which also handles State fish and game affairs, the authorities are keenly aware of the relationship be- tween forest management and game management. In Michigan, for ex- ample, cutting and planting plans for State forests require the approval of the local game manager. In New York, the plan of wildlife management has been definitely integrated with forest management. In other States where game and fish affairs are in the hands of an independ- ent agency, cooperation is close be- tween that agency and the forest agency in the management of game on State forests. Practically all States open State for- est lands to public hunting. Because most of the State forests are in the restocking stages and have much young growth and many openings, hunting generally is good. All the States have recognized the value of their forests for recreational purposes. Some of them have built camp grounds, trails, and shelters for use by the public. Roads built for fire- control purposes have made the forests accessible to recreation seekers, who have used the forests in ever-increasing numbers. Especially noteworthy are the New York Forest Preserves, some 2,400,000 acres in extent, which the State constitution requires must be "forever kept as wild forest lands." The area, developed primarily for recreational purposes, has a good sys- tem of camp sites, trails, and shelters. Management for watershed protec- tion is probably most important in the State forests of the Western States, where water supply is of great concern. The maintenance of forest growth on watersheds is recognized as of high priority. In the Eastern States, the value of well-stocked forest land in the upper regions of the drainage basins is being appreciated more and more in soil con- servation and flood control programs. Often the State forests are so located that the management for this purpose assumes great importance. Management for grazing is impor- tant largely in the Western States ; the State forests of Idaho and Colorado are used to some extent for that pur- pose. There is also some grazing on State forest lands in the South. On all of those lands, management requires that grazing be kept under control. As TO THE FUTURE : Only one-third of the States have plans for future acquisition of lands for State forests. 394 Texas, Virginia, Missouri, Indiana, and Wisconsin anticipate small yearly additions by purchase. Minnesota, Washington, and Ore- gon plan to acquire tax-reverted lands from the counties. Massachusetts has legislative au- thorization for acquisition of 500,000 acres, but no appropriation for pur- chase. Connecticut has a goal of 200,000 acres and is adding land by purchase at the rate of 6,000 acres a year. Ohio's goal is 587,000 acres, and for the fiscal year 1945-46 the State ap- propriated $1,800,000 for land pur- chase. California plans to add considerably to its State forest acreage; the legisla- ture appropriated $2,000,000 in 1947 for the purpose. New York's acquisition program contemplates the purchase of 20,000 to 40,000 acres annually. Yearboo\ of Agriculture 1949 Michigan spends $250,000 yearly for blocking in the present State areas, and also acquires considerable acreage annually by exchange. Pennsylvania has a legislative ap- propriation for the purchase of land. STANLEY G. FONTANNA is the deputy director of the Michigan Department of Conservation, a post he has held since 1934. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan, a veteran of the First World War, and a former employee of several large lumber com- panies. He is a senior member of the Society of American Foresters, presi- dent of the Association of State Forest- ers, chairman of the Joint Committee of Society of American Foresters and Charles Lathrop Pack Forestry Found- ation on State Forestry Administration Surveys, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Charles Lathrop Pack Forestry Foundation. COMMUNITY FORESTS GEORGE A. DUTHIE Community forests are the wood- lands that are owned by the cities and townships, school districts, counties, or another public body in a State. They are of many types, but they are all alike in that they are maintained for the public benefit and use. They have many purposes, but they are all an expression of the Americans' innate love for trees and belief that there is a close relationship between forests and good living. Many kinds of communities have public forests, but they have in com- mon a progressive citizenship that is alert and resourceful in making it a good place to live in. The character of community forests differs according to ownership and purpose. County and township forests have about the same pattern. City and town forests, distinctive from county forests, have the greatest variations in size and type; sometimes they are large tracts that protect municipal water sources; sometimes they are only small areas, in or near a town, and were planted so as to beautify the environs. School forests are mostly used for edu- cational purposes. Among organization forests are those maintained for the public use by churches, service clubs, the Boy Scouts, 4-H Clubs, and simi- lar groups. In brief, community for- ests are public forests that are not Federal forests or State forests. The 3,113 community forests in the United States cover 4,413,950 acres. Of the 1,121 municipal forests, about one-fourth are for watershed protec- tion. There are 1,279 school forests. County and township forests together number 617, organization forests 96. THE COUNTY AND TOWNSHIP FOR- ESTS are the most extensive. They ac- Community Forests 395 count for half of the area of all com- munity forests. They vary in patterns and purposes ; some of them are mostly for recreation; others emphasize the growing of timber. Eleven miles south of Champaign- Urbana in Illinois is the Lake of the Woods, a 260-acre tract of woodland, open fields, and water bordering the historic Sangamon River. Here one will find a spring-fed 18-acre lake for swimming, boating, fishing, and skat- ing; a playing field for all types of out- door sports ; picnic grounds on the lake shore; camping spots on the river; and equestrian and nature trails through the upland woods. It is Champaign County's newly organized forest pre- serve district. Although small in area, it has fine possibilities for expansion as more woodland areas are added along the river. The public schools are en- listed in a long-range conservation program for the forest, and the school children of the county use it in first- hand studies of the natural sciences. The method of financing the forest is both simple and direct. Twenty-year bonds were issued to buy the land and improvements, at a cost of about $80,- 000. A special tax levy yields an an- nual fund of about $30,000, for use (during the first 5 years) to extend and develop the forest and, later, to retire the bonds. A commission of five men, who serve without compensation, man- ages the forest. It is under the direct supervision of a resident forester-care- taker. There are ten such forests in densely populated Illinois. The most extensive is the Cook County Forest Preserve, which lies within the metropolitan area of Chicago. In Wisconsin another pattern is fol- lowed. Great areas of cut-over pine- lands had been abandoned after being stripped of timber; the waste land re- turned no taxes or revenue. In many northern counties, the productive tax- able property could not support the local governments. To meet this situa- tion, many counties availed themselves of the relief offered by the Wisconsin Forest Crop Law. Under a cooperative arrangement with the State, 10 cents is paid yearly from the general fund for each acre in the county forest to help support the local government. An- other 10 cents an acre is paid annually to the county from the State forestry funds for improving and developing the forest. The State also furnishes technical supervision of the cutting of timber to insure a consistent forest policy and a uniform standard of management. In return, the State is reimbursed by a 50-percent severance tax when forest products are harvested. It is in the nature of a share-crop re- lationship between the county owner and the State. Twenty-eight counties have set up crop-law forests, which have a com- bined area of more than 2 million acres. Some of the counties 20 years ago faced bankruptcy ; under manage- ment, the forest lands now yield reve- nues that in time may absorb a major part of the tax burden. The annual return now is more than $150,000. The forests also furnish opportunities for public recreation. This income is from forests that but a few years ago were waste land ; a large part of the new forest cover has come from hand-planted seedlings. The fu- ture prosperity of the crop-law commu- nities, then, seems extremely promising. The pulpwood markets are clamoring for the wood that is growing in those young trees and that will soon be ready to market. The philosophy of government that supports a county forest program was well stated in a resolution adopted in Allegany County, N. Y., that provided for establishment of a county forest sys- tem of 2,500 acres on the following premises: Large amounts of idle land not paying taxes are not contributing to the welfare of the county; these lands are contributing to an erosion problem and costing the county large sums annually in clogged stream chan- nels, highway maintenance, and loss of revenue; the areas are too small to be managed under the State forest 396 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 program; a large industrial user of for- est products will eventually be lost un- less a precedent is established for the management of all forest lands in the county according to good forestry prin- ciples; the county itself is a large user of wood products for which a depend- able future source must be planned; the county can sup-ply its own needs and at the same time stabilize local employment through its forest plan; the recreational value of the Allegany County hills has been neglected; and finally, forestry is a paying proposition, and we owe it to ourselves and to our heirs to leave the county in a better and more stable position, as regards its natural resources, than we found it. The county forests of New York con- stitute a State-wide system that com- bines a high degree of recreational development with timber production. Fifty-two of the counties have forests. From 2 million to 5 million trees have been planted by each of these coun- ties. Some of the stands are now being thinned by the first cutting of pulp- wood, fuel wood, poles, and Christmas trees. From now on they will yield a steady revenue to the counties. There are very few counties in the United States that do not have some land that presents an administrative problem. Cut-over land, submarginal farms, spoil banks remaining from mining operations, swamps, eroding mountain slopes, deep gorges and gullies, and sand dunes are the lands that private owners cannot afford to hold, problem land that nobody wants. Such lands often become tax delin- quent and a burden to the tax-paying public. In public ownership under the proper forestry management, they be- come an asset instead of a liability. Where they occur in very large areas, they may be incorporated into national or State forests, but small and scat- tered tracts are best developed into county or township forests under the administration of the local government. Dispersal of the forest units through- out the county does not present a seri- ous problem in county administration; from the standpoint of making recrea- tion areas accessible to everyone, the dispersal is an advantage. ABOUT ONE-THIRD of all municipal forests are watershed forests. They are maintained on the land from which the municipalities obtain their supplies of domestic water primarily for the purpose of keeping a vegetative cover to protect it from erosion. On them, other uses — the production of timber, game protection, recreation — must be managed so as not to interfere with the main purpose. On some watershed forests the reluctance to open up the areas to public travel or to the utiliza- tion of the timber is due to danger of erosion and pollution. Construction of roads and skid trails is usually accom- panied by some erosion of the cut banks, and the silt from those areas where the ground cover is broken washes down into the reservoirs. Tim- ber cutting, therefore, does create spe- cial problems for the waterworks engineers which require special logging methods designed to prevent erosion. Likewise the construction of roads through the areas must be accom- panied by special treatment of the cuts and fills to prevent silting. From the standpoint of timber production, the watershed forests have a higher po- tential than most other community forests. Municipal forests that are not iden- tified with the water system are largely managed for recreation. On some other watershed forests, arrangements have been made for in- tensive human use without contami- nation of the domestic water. The city of Springfield, 111., has an intensively used municipal forest of 4,300 acres, from which the city de- rives water, electric power, and a revenue of more than $50,000 a year from recreational and residential use. A crop of young timber grows on a part of the fields and hillsides. There is a game preserve where wildlife is propagated. Manchester, N. H.3 has a municipal Community Forests 397 watershed forest of 5,200 acres. Its planted timber is harvested under the direction of resident foresters who know from year to year just how much timber can be taken from the stands. The timber brings in from $10,000 to $30,000 a year. The recreation areas are heavily used. Where domestic water is not in- volved, the dominant uses of municipal forests usually are for recreation, tim- ber production, education, and beauti- fication. Such a forest is the 10,000-acre Rocky River Forest in Cleveland, whose highways, scenic beauty, archery fields, bridle paths, walks and camp grounds and picnic places thousands of persons enjoy. LET THE CHILDREN GROW UP WITH THE TREES is a slogan that many schools have adopted. The relation of forests to our way of life is better un- derstood by children who have an opportunity to experience that rela- tionship through the management of the school forest. Wherever the pro- gram of education in a school has been related to experiences in the forest, edu- cation has been benefited. The music teacher who gathered her class at the foot of tall pines in the school forest to let the children discover for them- selves that there is music in the rustle in the treetops was teaching a lesson in music appreciation not soon for- gotten. The children named it the song of the pines; by trying to catch its mood and meter as the teacher played the song of the pines on her violin they learned the elements of true music. The teachers of mathematics and manual arts who led their pupils in surveying a location for a shelter house on their school forest, designing the building and drawing up specification and bills of material for its construc- tion, were teaching practical lessons that had great appeal for the boys in their classes. The girls in the domes- tic science classes, who worked out a practical menu that they could pre- pare and serve in the field to the boys who were planting trees in the school forest, were learning lessons in the art of homemaking. Such projects give point to another slogan observed on the signboards of some school forests, "Youth develops where youth builds." The work the children do in devel- oping the school forest property and the experiences they have in their ex- cursions to the forest create enthu- siasms that take academic drudgery out of school work and make it attrac- tive. If the school forests had no other function than that of a laboratory for work that gives vitality to the school teaching, they would serve an impor- tant purpose. Approximately 1,300 schools have their own forests. Many more have the privilege of using mu- nicipal, county, or private forests for educational projects. The Al Sihah Boy Scout Forest at Macon, Ga., is an example of the or- ganization forest. In 1923 a Masonic lodge started it for the Scouts on a tract of 236 acres of cut-over wood- land. Title to the property is vested in the Boy Scout Council. At the end of 16 years the stands were ready for the first improvement cutting. In the next decade, the annual cut has averaged well over 100,000 feet, which has been sold at stumpage prices up to $20 per 1,000 feet. The profit from the sales has been used to improve a similar forest of 500 acres for Negro Scouts. It is known as Camp Benjamin Hawkins. After the First World War, the planting of trees as memorials was very popular. Since the Second World War, the idea has increasingly found expression in the dedication of com- munity forests as living war memorials. As a war memorial, the forest at the same time fulfills the other functions of a community forest. Its role as a memorial adds to its prestige as a pub- lic institution. It combines well the qualities that are desirable in a me- morial— attractiveness, long life, use- fulness, and appropriateness. The me- morial forests already dedicated to those who fought in the war range 398 Yearboo\ of Agriculture 1949 from small groves to extensive forests of 64,000 acres. Public spirited citizens, chambers of commerce, and veterans, sportsmen, women's organizations, and others have sponsored or founded them. They are owned by counties, cit- ies, towns, villages, and schools. VALUES OF TWO TYPES accrue from the public forest — the social-economic benefits and the revenues from forest products. The social benefits are more important; they can be measured in pleasure, health, improved standards of living. The first cash returns usually come from improvement cuttings, which consist of removal of defective trees left over from previous logging or of in- ferior species that have taken possession of the land. Next comes the thinning of the new stands. The first thinning may be Christmas trees, which are taken out 5 to 10 years after planting. Subsequent thinnings for pulpwood, fuel, posts, and poles come along at short intervals to release the ultimate crop trees from crowding. And so, from small beginnings, year by year, decade by decade, the forest income builds up if it is managed prudently. The city of Oneonta, N. Y., started a municipal forest of 1,200 acres in 1911. For the first two decades the value of the cut averaged $152 a year, but in the third decade the average annual income increased to approxi- mately $600. The Troy town forest in Maine, started in 1938, consists of 1,000 acres of abandoned farms. Withdrawn from settlement and devoted to intensive forestry, it has yielded a net income of 89 cents an acre a year, compared to the average tax of 33 cents an acre. Six years after the forest was estab- lished, a fund of $4,000 had accumu- lated from the forest receipts toward a new school building. The school forest at Minocqua, Wis., consisted of 240 acres of brush land. The first year the school fund was en- riched by $400 received from an im- provement cutting of aspen pulpwood. The nature of the benefits to be de- rived from these public forests are such that they deserve a place in modern community planning. George A. Duthie is chief of the section of State and community forests in the Forest Service, which he joined in 1909. For 21 years he was employed in the administration and supervision of national forests in Colorado, Wyo- ming, and South Dakota. He is a graduate of the University of Michi- gan. ARBORETUMS, PLACES OF BEAUTY AND SCIENCE W. H. LARRIMER, ERNST J. SCHREINER To the person who has a piece of ground, a few dollars, a love for trees and nature and beauty, a collector's instinct, and an interest in science, we should like to recommend that he start an arboretum. Few things, we think, are more worthy of effort, more pro- ductive of abiding satisfaction and accomplishment, and more enjoyable than a collection of trees of one's own. An acre is ample for 20 or 25 speci- men trees and many beautiful shrubs. Five acres is plenty for a really repre- sentative collection of trees, which can be underplanted with flowering and fruiting shrubs that will bring bird life and bird songs practically into the home. How much one pays for the trees depends on how much one wants to pay. A few pennies spent for seedlings, to which are added materials started from cuttings and gifts from neighbors, will provide the beginning. Almost everyone collects something, and enjoyment people get out of their collection — whether trees, stamps, or Arboretums, Places of Beauty and Science 399 first editions — derives in large measure from its completeness. And so the col- lector of trees and shrubs will do well to set up an objective. It might be to grow one of each of 10, 15, or 20 dif- ferent species. It might be to grow rare trees, like the franklinia or the off- spring of historic trees, such as the Mount Vernon Pecan or the Evange- line Oak. Or it might be to obtain a complete collection of the native trees and shrubs of his county or State. In the Northern States, such a collection will not be excessive in number of specimen plants, but farther south it will entail a great many species. If the objective were to grow all the species of one group of trees, such as pines, maples, or oaks, then the size of the collection would depend upon the group of trees one selects. Keen enjoyment comes from the search for new specimens to add to a collection. The collector can get some specimen trees from commercial nurs- eries. But for many rare types — and this is one of the joys of collecting — he will have to get seeds, possibly from some public arboretum, and to grow the seedlings himself. The collector of native trees might collect seed or wild seedlings on trips through his home State, or on his travels anywhere. Some of them, gathered at a distance, will not grow, perhaps, but that is a part of the art. An excellent example of a personal arboretum is the Hemlock Arboretum in Philadelphia. The owner, Charles F. Jenkins, aims to grow all the various growth forms of the native eastern hemlock, which are mostly slow-grow- ing or dwarfed forms. His collection in 1948 included 190 specimens, rep- resenting 40 varieties. MUCH THE SAME, except in owner- ship, is the community arboretum, which deserves the consideration of garden clubs, service clubs, and other organizations interested in the enrich- ment of community life. Undeveloped park areas or other community prop- erty is suitable for an arboretum. A community arboretum should not be confused with a community park that is provided for physical recreation; it cannot become a dual-use area, play- ground and arboretum. Sections of new parkways on the outskirts of towns and cities are excel- lent for arboretums. Such parkways are high-speed arteries, but arboretum areas up to several miles in length can be safely established on long and rela- tively narrow side strips that need tree planting. Eventually, arboretum areas should be incorporated in the plans for new highways, with provision for additional land where it is required. Visitors to such an arboretum need not interfere with traffic on the main high- way; suitable parking areas can be pro- vided in places where the aboretum strip is relatively narrow. A better ar- rangement for wider strips is to build a gravel side road through the arbore- tum, parallel to the main line of travel and wide enough to permit parking without interference to traffic. Many people in towns undoubtedly would enjoy periodic visits to a park or parkway arboretum. School chil- dren could be brought out in busses for nature study. If the arboretum is properly identified by signs, many travelers would take time to leave the highway and drive slowly through the arboretum strip. No arboretum should be started until a plan has been well thought out and formalized on paper. Such a plan should define the purposes to be served, which, in general, determine the space required, what and how to plant, and the costs of establishment and maintenance. The plan should indicate how the project is to be financed. Advice, when it is needed, can be had readily from nurserymen, gardeners, landscape architects, and various other specialists, professional and amateur. The person, group, or community that establishes an arboretum follows a long and interesting tradition. The dictionary definition of an arboretum as "a botanical garden of trees" indi- 400 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 cates that their history is part and parcel of the history of botanical gar- dens. Such collections of trees, ar- ranged as specimens or in the natural groups and authentically named and maintained for educational, esthetic, reference, and research purposes, have found a place in the botanical gardens of all countries. WE HAVE RECORDS of some ancient botanical gardens, and it is a safe as- sumption that trees, and thus arbore- tums, were an important part of at least some of these gardens. History records that, 2,800 years be- fore the birth of Christ, the Emperor Shen Ming had a garden in which he grew medicinal plants ; and that Thot- mes III, the ruler of Egypt, had a pleasure garden planned by the head gardener of the Temple of Karnak about 1500 B. G. Aristotle, the great teacher of antiquity, developed a bo- tanic garden at Athens about 340 B. G. in which he taught his students. It would appear that these ancient gar- dens were established for three pri- mary reasons — utility, pleasure, and instruction. A wide historical gap exists between the ancient gardens and the botanical gardens of the Middle Ages. As learn- ing returned to Europe with the close of the Dark Ages, gardens were estab- lished for the utilitarian purpose of growing and testing medicinal herbs. One such was a medicinal garden at Salerno, Italy, in 1309, which has long since disappeared. Some of the medic- inal gardens eventually became bo- tanical gardens and arboretums. In Italy, botanical gardens were started in Pisa in 1543 and in Padua and Flor- ence in 1545. Botanical gardens were established in Germany at the Univer- sity of Leipzig in 1542 and at the Uni- versity of Heidelberg in 1593. A tree planted a few years after the establish- ment of the botanical garden at Leiden, Holland, in 1587 was still standing a few years ago. One of the oldest botanical gardens in France has been in existence at Montpellier since 1593. The world famous Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, London, has a par- ticularly large collection of arboretum material. It originally comprised two royal estates, which were first com- bined in 1802 and became a national garden in 1841. It has been said that probably the largest number of tree and shrub species which has yet been gathered is to be found at Kew. Tokyo had a well-established garden in 1684. A botanical garden apparently existed on the outskirts of Manila in the Philippines before 1787. Although arboretums were usually a part of botanical gardens, some early collectors were primarily interested in trees for purposes of ornament and for- estry. Rene du Bellay, Bishop of Mans, made a collection of trees at Touvoye, France, about the middle of the six- teenth century; the contemporary bot- anists called the collection the richest and the most beautiful in France, Ger- many, and Italy, but it has long since disappeared. About two centuries later, Duhamel du Monceau planted approximately 1,000 species of trees and woody plants from Europe and North America in the first arboretum established for scien- tific purposes. His arboretum and pub- lications led to the introduction of many exotic trees into French parks and plantations. Some of his specimens are still living. Pierre Philippe Andre de Vilmorin was especially interested in the dif- ferent geographical varieties of the principal timber trees of Europe. In 1825 he started an arboretum at Les Barres, France, which became one of the most important tree stations in Europe. Vilmorin planted the different races and forms of the principal Euro- pean timber trees and a number of in- troduced species in large plantations. The property became the Arboretum National des Barres through purchase by the French Government about 1856. An arboretum was established at Segrez, France, in 1857 by Alphonse LavaHee, which, by 1875, had become one of the largest collections of woody Arboretums, Places of Beauty and Science plants. One of the most interesting col- lections of the oaks of Europe and southwest Asia was started by G. Al- lard near Angiers, France, in 1858. IN THE UNITED STATES,, Robert Prince, an early settler at Flushing, Long Island, started a garden and arboretum, which was called the Lin- naean Botanical Garden after 1793 and became well known internation- ally. It was continued until 1870, by five generations of the family. Among other things, Prince is credited with planting the first Lombardy poplar in America. The fame of the garden is indicated by the fact that after the Battle of Long Island, in August of 1776, the British Gen. William Howe placed a guard around the Linnaean Garden to protect the trees and plants from the hazards of war. The Linnaean Garden had a strong influence on American horticulture and forestry. The first botanical garden in New York City was located on Murray Hill as early as 1656. Little is known of the original garden, but in 1801 Dr. David Hosack purchased 20 acres of land in the locality and established the Elgin Botanical Garden at what is now a corner of Fifth Avenue and Forty- seventh Street. In 1810 the property became the Botanical Garden of the State of New York ; it was later trans- ferred to Columbia University and was finally abandoned as a botanical gar- den for lack of funds. John Bartram, who was a Pennsyl- vania farmer and one of the most interesting figures among our early American botanists, is generally cred- ited with the establishment of the first arboretum in the United States. It was Bartram who discovered in Georgia in 1760 the franklinia tree, a beautiful plant that has disappeared from the wild. Today it is to be found only in arboretums and private gardens. He was honored in his own time by ap- pointment as botanist to the King of England for his labors in collecting and forwarding plant material to England. Bartram built a house in 1731 on the 401 banks of the Schuylkill River at a loca- tion now the south end of Fifty-fourth Street, Philadelphia; it was there he started his arboretum. A large ginkgo, or maidenhair-tree, in this garden is said to represent one of the first trees of this species introduced into America in 1784. Bartram's Garden has been restored as a public garden after being neglected for many years. A REGENT SURVEY of public arbore- tums of the United States listed almost a hundred. Besides those that are more or less formally established, hundreds of small groves or plantings have speci- men plants that are identified and labeled. Given time and sufficient in- terest, it is entirely possible that some of these "seedlings" may grow into formal arboretums. Many arboretums are started in just this way. Arbore- tums are not natural steps in ecological successions ; to survive, they must have continuous care and attention. Of present-day arboretums in the United States, the Arnold Arboretum in Boston has exerted great influence on our knowledge of trees and shrubs. It is devoted entirely to materials hardy in that region. Two of the best known botanical gardens, which also include extensive arboretums, are the Missouri Botanical Garden, which dates from 1859, and the New York Botanical Garden, which was established in 1894. The Park Department of Rochester, N. Y., has developed its arboretum in the city's Highland Park into one of the large collections of trees and shrubs in the United States. The collection of poplars at Highland Park, one of the best in the country, made possible hybridization work with poplars. THE VALUE of living collections of plants as an aid to scientific teaching and investigation began to be recog- nized about the seventeenth century. Interest in the use of trees and plants for decorative purposes and landscap- ing, and with it the desire to possess rare and unusual forms, developed 802062° — 49- -27 402 even more slowly. It was not until the middle of the eighteenth century that this aspect had become sufficiently popular to interest men of means to become the patrons of horticultural science. Then the world was searched for new and rare species and the pa- trons financed the publication of some magnificently illustrated volumes. And so, as the functions of botanical gar- dens and arboretums were gradually multiplied, the scientific and educa- tional aspects became more and more important. From the writings of several men we have taken ideas on how arboretums should serve the public: To grow a complete collection of the best hardy plants so that the public may become acquainted with their names and characteristics. To test and introduce new plants and varieties in order to increase the productivity, economic importance, and beauty of the region. To maintain research; to provide a laboratory for the students of botany, horticulture, forestry, as well as nature study; and to provide collections of tree species for scientific breeding. To serve as a laboratory adjunct to the schools, garden clubs, and other or- ganizations; to disseminate knowledge of plants and the culture of plants through lectures and publications ; and to provide recreational stimulus to the public. To conserve the native plant life of the region. To train gardeners. To cooperate with related institu- tions and agencies for the extension of knowledge. No single arboretum can necessarily fulfill all of those functions; the func- tions of an arboretum depend on the available area and funds — and some- times on the conditions under which the funds are granted. An arboretum should never become a public park, in the sense of a recrea- tional or picnic area where people can wander at will over the land. An arboretum should be laid out with Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 adequate footpaths leading to speci- men plants, and visitors should be re- quired to stay on the paths — extensive trampling results in packing of the soil and finally to degeneration of the trees themselves. Trees and shrubs should be clearly labeled with their name and their native habitat. Addi- tional interesting information may be given for many trees, such as the offspring of historic trees or the special uses of some trees. Arboretums are of great importance not only to the landscape practitioner but also to the forester. Most of the forest schools and forest research insti- tutions of Europe have arboretums of timber trees and, in the United States, some of the forest schools and forest experiment stations also maintain such collections. The arboretum of the Cali- fornia Forest and Range Experiment Station, near Placerville, Calif., is one of the largest collections of pines in the world. It was established in 1925 as a breeding arboretum for the im- provement of this group of timber trees. It is a good example of a highly specialized arboretum containing spe- cies of pine from all over the world. At present, the forest-tree breeding work in the eastern United States is being carried on at Philadelphia, a community that is particularly rich in blooming specimens of many tree spe- cies because of its favorable climate and because of the great interest in botany of some of its prominent early settlers. Men like Bartram made Phila- delphia a center of botanical studies even before the Revolution, and the continued interest of the owners of estates has given us a heritage of na- tive and exotic tree species that now makes hybridization work possible. W. H. LARRIMER, a forester, has worked in the Department of Agricul- ture for 35 years, and has done field work in every State. ERNST J. SGHREINER has done re- search in tree breeding since his graduation in 1924 from Syracuse Uni- versity. THE NATIONAL ARBORETUM 403 B. Y. MORRISON The National Arboretum in the Dis- trict of Columbia was established by Act of Congress approved March 4, 1927. Under this act the Secretary of Agriculture was authorized and di- rected to establish and maintain a National Arboretum for purposes of re- search and education concerning tree and plant life. Under authority of the act the Secretary of Agriculture has appointed an Advisory Council on the planning and development of the Arboretum. The Council at present consists of 15 members, representing national organizations, including nurs- erymen, garden clubs, educational institutions, and others interested in the aims of the Arboretum. Since its beginning the responsibility for the development and administra- tion of the Arboretum has been as- signed to the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering. When land purchases now in process are completed, the National Arbore- tum will occupy an area of about 410 acres located in the northeast section of the District of Columbia, bounded on the west by Bladensburg Road, on the south by M Street, on the east by the Anacostia Parkway, and somewhat irregularly on the north by R Street, Hickey Lane, and New York Avenue. Its soils are somewhat varied and its terrain is so diversified that there can be found sloping sites with almost any desired exposure. Originally composed of some forty- odd parcels, some of which had been farmed, it is now integrated into a single whole with the tree-covered mass of Mount Hamilton along the western border, the broad, inner, rela- tively flat, central portion diagonally traversed by Hickey Creek and its tree-covered banks, and on the eastern borders the steep and tree-covered slopes of Hickey Ridge, which over- looks the broad expanses of the Ana- costia Parkway, with the Maryland hills in the distance. The area is served by a system of roads that give access to all parts in case of fire, nuisance, and other emer- gency. These will be modified from their present purely functional design when the current studies are completed and several large areas now devoted actively to nurseries will be returned to their proper uses. In the planning now under way, the Arboretum site will be organized and operated much as is the National Zoological Garden, or any one of the national museums. This will mean that there will be a major portion of the area open to the visiting public during all work hours, a smaller section de- voted to the nursery and service areas in which the public would not be in- terested, and a large building to house scientific research, the laboratories, and collections of herbarium materials, all of which will be the concern of the technical staff and of visiting scientists and students only. These three divisions will be somewhat separated. The Arboretum is not open to the general public at the present time, but students can arrange to work in the herbarium, which is now housed at the Plant Industry Station at Beltsville, Md., or by appointment in advance may see the living plant collections during working days. Since there is considerable active construction under way and there will be more construc- tion for the next few years, it is hoped that the public will be understanding. As in all proper arboretums, the major interest lies in plants themselves, with attention to woody plants only, be they tree or shrub, provided only that they are hardy and successfully grown in this climate. With species, natural forms and variations, as the base, the collections will be enlarged to include not only those variable forms worthy Yearbool^ of Agriculture 1949 The National Arboretum 405 of horticultural but not taxonomic rank, but as well all clonal material of hybrid or other origin. No attempt will be made to maintain varietal collec- tions of the cultivated fruits and nuts that are maintained better elsewhere. Because of the somewhat restricted area available for planting, it has been decided (1) that, because the Park system of the District contains larger acreages that must be kept to native trees, the Arboretum may turn its major attention to exotics; (2) that the arrangement of flowering and other materials shall be such as to throw sea- sonal emphasis on different parts of the Arboretum; and (3) that the plant- ing plans shall depend for their major success on those species known to thrive in this area, with the less beautiful and those of dubious hardi- ness placed in secondary relationships. In the permanent plantings that have been established, only the large azalea collection approaches the state of effective display. This, however, is still in progress, with certain altera- tions contemplated in the setting of the evergreen azaleas and additions to the collections of the deciduous species. In contrast, the collections of mag- nolias and hollies and that of crab apples give no suggestion of what the effects will be, even in 10 years. The flank of Hickey Ridge, sloping to the south, gives a wonderful opportunity for their display, with the evergreen hollies and the evergreen magnolias the distinctive setting for the oriental magnolias that flower before their leaves, and the dark grassy meadow at the lowest level the finest base for the spring-flowering crab apples. For the minor beauties to be found in the collections of the Leguminosae, little need be said, save that most visi- tors are surprised at the diversity of the redbuds. The maple collection is equally modest in its appeal, but some day we hope will boast a small grove of Acer griseum, the Chinese species with yellow bark that peels off easily. The conifers that thoroughly enjoy our climate are not too many, but with major emphasis laid upon the juniper, the true cedars, the pines, the hemlocks, the yews, and their close relatives, one may gloss over the firs and spruces, most of them homesick for their mountains. Whether or not the Metasequoia glyptostroboides, recently introduced into cultivation and represented in the Arboretum by several hundred seed- lings, still in a cold greenhouse, will accept an outdoor site remains to be proved, but there is evidence that the lacebark pine, named for the famous botanist-collector, Bunge, will some day give us a fine grove with its syca- more-white trunks supporting dark- green, needle-covered crowns, not to be matched elsewhere. There will be a small valley, looking down from Hickey Ridge, covered with cryptomerias. In their earliest years they will recall some reforested slope in Japan. Two hundred years from now, the visitor will gasp at their huge trunks as the visitor to Nikko may today. Nearby a flat-topped valley will show off the cedars from Mount Atlas, the Lebanon, and North India, with a thought perhaps for Kipling as one looks at the Deodars. Beyond these another valley for the other Indian pine, dedicated to Griffiths, another indefatigable botanist-collector, with its long, drooping needles colored like those of our own white pine, largely planted over the crown of the ridge. These are all details. To name the 600,000 sheets of herbarium specimens and the 2,000 living species and forms is a dull business and pointless, for tomorrow and each succeeding year there will be more. What one finds or learns at this place, as in any other collection, will depend entirely upon the visitor. No one will ask or expect the impossible. B. Y. MORRISON is head of the Di- vision of Plant Exploration and Intro- duction, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, Beltsville, and acting director of the National Arboretum. "Trees join earth and building and sky in harmony." Insects, Diseases, Parasites INSECTS IN THE FOREST: A SURVEY F. C. CRAIGHEAD, JOHN M. MILLER NATURE has always used insects for her own purposes in forests. Some insects are housekeepers. Some are only incidental parts of the forest environment. Some merely prune trees. Others kill living trees, but even they do not destroy the capacity of the forest to restock and produce new stands of trees. We have convincing evidence that vast areas of mature timber were demolished in the past by insect hordes, only to regenerate after the epidemics had run their course. This was nature's way before man went into the woods. Even primitive man could not have been greatly worried by the insects that killed the forests where he got shelter and meat: Wood was plenty for all; time was plenty for young trees to grow up. But in modern civilization those things have changed : Now the activity of destructive insects upon the trees and in the forests does matter; great areas have been cleared of forest growth for agriculture ; increasing pop- Above: Among enemies of forests are bark beetles and dwarf mistletoe. ulations have increased the use of wood. Now in his search for timber stands to meet the need for sawlogs, pulp, and box shocks, the lumberman finds some areas where insects got there first and harvested the pick of the crop. For the forest resources and the com- mercial and esthetic values involved, we have joined battle, insects versus man, and man, for all his science and machines, is not yet the winner. A reason why that is so is to be found in the nature of the insect infestations. Insect populations and the timber losses they create fluctuate from year to year; only sporadically do spectacular outbreaks occur. The insects normally are present in the forests in small num- bers and only occasional trees are in- jured or killed. A sort of natural bal- ance seems to persist under which the processes that permit forests to reach maximum production go on uninter- rupted. Then, all of a sudden, some- thing happens to disturb this balance. A destructive insect pest appears in great numbers over wide areas and for several years its ravages may continue 407 408 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 until a high percentage of the forest stands has been killed. Then, even more suddenly than it appeared, the epi- demic subsides. This sporadic behavior of forest-in- sect populations indicates that complex factors govern the abundance of cer- tain species in the forest. Parasites, predators, unfavorable weather, resist- ance of the trees due to growth vigor, all tend to hold populations in check. On the other hand, conditions that will tend to weaken the trees, such as drought, preponderance of a favored food tree, failure of parasites and pred- ators, overmaturity, and windfalls and slash, all provide favorable conditions for the destructive species to breed up in numbers. Man, himself, has at times aggravated serious insect outbreaks by his method of using the forest. Although science has not yet been able to uncover and appraise all the factors that influence the abundance of forest-insect populations, it has shown that there are dominant conditions that must be taken into account in main- taining productive forests free from ex- cessive losses due to insect pests. The most successful control methods that have been developed up to the present time (and no doubt those that will be used in the future) are based upon the strategy of using nature's methods as far as possible in holding down destruc- tive insect populations. Furthermore, the kinds of insects that attack forest trees include many species that vary widely in their habits and in the character and amount of damage they do. Some insects attack only the flowers; others the cones and seeds. The activity of these insects does not damage the tree itself, but at times so much of the seed crop is destroyed that reproduction of the forest is re- tarded. Sucking insects, such as scales and aphids, attack foliage and stems; they rarely kill the tree outright but gradually weaken it and slow down the growth rate. The most effective tree killers, however, are the defoliators and bark beetles, whose activities destroy vital plant organs and bring about an immediate and often fatal effect upon the growth functions of the tree. Other insects that cause great damage are ter- mites and some wood borers, which feed only on the wood after the tree is dying or dead and destroy material that otherwise could be put to use. Trees are defoliated mostly by the larvae of certain moths and sawflies and to a lesser extent by both the adult and larval forms of some beetles. De- foliators can kill trees by depriving them of foliage, thus stopping the man- ufacture of the plant food so that the trees slowly starve. Some of the historic defoliations of the past have been re- corded not only in the chronicles of the time but also in the annual rings of sur- viving trees. Outbreaks of the spruce budworm in the New England States and of the fir tussock moth in the West are recent examples of widespread de- foliating epidemics. Insects that feed between the bark and wood find their nutrition in the sugars and starches that are in solution in the cells of the inner bark and cam- bium. To reach these they mine through the corky bark into the inner bark layer, where they introduce fun- gi that develop in the sapwood and stop the flow of the sap. The leaves, deprived of water, quickly wilt and the tree dies. Bark beetles make up the bulk of the destructive cambium feed- ers. Certain species of bark beetles are particularly adapted to mature stands of pine and in a number of Western States take a heavy toll from virgin forests that are the main reserve of timber supplying the Nation's need for high-quality soft pine. In some regions during the past two decades these insects have destroyed more merchant- able timber than was cut by the saw- mills and destroyed by fires, combined. Characteristic of the bark beetle infes- tations is their capacity to flare up into epidemics of spectacular proportions. Termites and wood borers do not kill or damage living trees and, in na- ture's economy in the forest, may be of benefit in that they accelerate the deterioration and decay of dead trees Insects in the Forest: A Survey 409 and snags, which are thus returned to the soil. They compete with man, however, when he decides to utilize the tree, and attack the wood both during the process of manufacture and after it is in the finished product. Termites and wood borers in their concealed ways work along method- ically year after year. Their destruc- tion never flares up in spectacular peaks, but the annual attrition is none- theless disturbing and serious. Pin- hole and worm-hole borers attacking green logs lower grades of lumber; powder-post beetles in tool handles, furniture, and flooring render quanti- ties of finished material worthless ; the old-house borer in the rafters of barns and houses and termites in telephone poles and foundations of buildings claim an annual depreciation requir- ing c'onsfant vigilance and replace- ment of the damaged wood products. ESTIMATES OF THE MONETARY VAL- UE of wood material and esthetic values that are destroyed annually by forest insects are subject to many reserva- tions. The money value of the forest products varies like that of other com- modities, according to demand, avail- ability, and the buying power of the dollar; and the esthetic value of trees that are killed in parks and recrea- tional areas can seldom be expressed in terms of money. Although some esti- mates have been made which indi- cate that Nation-wide timber losses run into millions of dollars annually, they are based on too many assump- tions to be of value in this discussion. However, if we consider only the actual board feet or cubic volume of timber that is killed by insects, we find that this can be measured with consider- able accuracy for specific areas and periods. Forest-insect surveys have been made to compute the volume of timber destroyed in many areas that have suffered from bark beetle and de- foliator epidemics. Such surveys have been made in the New England States, where the spruce budworm destroyed 250 million cords of fir and spruce, and in the Western States, where bark beetles killed 45 billion board feet of pine in recent epidemics. All in all, these varied insect activi- ties, involving tree seeds, the natural restocking of the forests, the forest plantations, second-growth and mature stands of timber, green logs and lum- ber/ telephone and telegraph poles, cross ties and buildings, create a sub- stantial loss that must more and more be reckoned with and prevented as our timber resources become smaller. This loss is often compared with that from forest fires even though all such com- parisons are difficult and incomplete. PREVENTION is the starting point. If he is sufficiently interested and acts in time, man can save for his own use much of the timber that insects will otherwise destroy. There are two ways of going about it. One approach is to initiate repres- sive measures against the insect popula- tions that are causing the losses. In the case of bark beetles, the broods are destroyed by peeling and burning the infested bark or by applying a toxic penetrative spray to the bark surface. In the case of defoliators, that usually involves spraying the trees with chemi- cals which will either kill the insects on contact or poison them through their food. These repressive measures have been termed direct control. The second approach is to prevent the build-up of destructive insect popu- lations by preventing conditions in the forest that are favorable to their in- crease. Healthy, rapid-growing stands of timber are less susceptible to in- festations of the defoliators and bark beetles than are the slow-growing ma- ture stands. Logging out the more sus- ceptible tree species in a mixed forest, selective logging in pure stands to take out the most susceptible trees, thin- nings to encourage more rapid growth, and regulation of slash conditions to remove favorable breeding ground for the insect populations, all reduce the chances that insect populations will become destructive. These are meas- 4io ures that can be attained through for- est management. In the case of forest products, changes in methods of man- ufacture and storage often completely avoid the attack of wood-boring in- sects. Those preventive measures have been termed indirect control. Two OF THE SO-CALLED insect dead- enings occurred in widely separated forests about 1895. One was in the spruce forests of West Virginia, the other in the ponderosa pine stands of the Black Hills of South Dakota. A. D. Hopkins, State entomologist of West Virginia, conducted studies in both cases and determined that two closely related species of tree-killing bark bee- tles were involved. He recommended the destruction of the bark beetle broods under the bark before they could de- velop into winged beetles and fly off to attack more green trees. The trees that contained living broods of the beetle were located, felled, and barked or burned. For every tree so treated two or three green trees were saved from attack. Many projects have been undertaken since that time, in all costing some- thing more than 12 million dollars up to 1949. Insect control in all cases has been the responsibility of the land- managing agencies on the land under their jurisdiction, but the many tech- nical matters forming the basis for this control work made it necessary, partic- ularly in the larger projects, to assign entomologists to supervise the activi- ties. Entomologists have also assumed responsibility for detection surveys and the recommendation as to when and where and how control work should be done. As bark beetle control increased, it became more and more evident that successful operations depended not so much on the control method used as upon a complete knowledge of the bark beetle situation on the immediate and surrounding area. A complete picture of the extent of the infestation — whether it was increasing or decreas- ing, the points of greatest concentra- tion, the direction of spread — proved Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 to be absolutely necessary. It was also necessary to have a broad general knowledge of the insect population throughout all susceptible timber types so as to be able to recognize outbreaks in their early stages and make recom- mendations for control before the in- festation was completely out of hand. Such information could only be ob- tained by the careful surveys made by skilled technicians. This unquestion- ably became the function of the en- tomologists. It is too bad that neither funds nor trained men have been avail- able to make these surveys sufficiently extensive or of the needed accuracy. The inadequacy of the present survey system is illustrated by the outbreaks that existed during the seasons of 1947 and 1948. THE ADOPTION BY CONGRESS of the Forest Pest Control Act on June 25, 1947, should mark the beginning of a new era in the prevention of the exten- sive losses caused each year by forest insects. This law provides authoriza- tion for adequate surveys of all forest regions of the United States on both public and private lands. This act rep- resents the culmination of a long effort on the part of industry, foresters, and entomologists. It was foreseen by those instrumental in planning and shaping this legislation that adequate surveys and prompt control would gradually improve our knowledge of the insect situation so that the recurrence of such widespread outbreaks as occurred in 1947 and 1948 should be largely pre- vented. WITH DEFOLIATORS, direct control of infestations in the forest has been much slower in its development. Such insects as caterpillars and sawflies that injure or kill trees have always been difficult for the entomologist or forester to deal with. Defoliator outbreaks develop rap- idly and the damage may often be com- plete before the outbreak is noticed. Insecticidal sprays have been expensive to apply and the equipment designed for street or orchard trees was imprac- Insects in the Forest: A Survey tical in the woods. Early attempts with airplane dusting and spraying were un- satisfactory. Before the development of DDT, several attempts were made in Canada and the United States to con- trol leaf feeders with the then common insecticides — lead arsenate and cal- cium or cryolite — by dusting from the airplane or the autogiro. Those experi- ments were of much technical interest but developed little of practical value. We now know that those attempts failed because of the lack of a suitable insecticide. THE DEVELOPMENT of DDT during the war and several more remarkable insecticides since then — among them benzene hexachloride and chlordane — has presented an entirely new concept of the practicability of insecticidal con- trol of forest insects. The toxicity of the arsenates or cryolite was so low that 15 to 30 pounds an acre was needed to obtain the same degree of control as can be achieved with l/^ to 1 pound of DDT. During the season of 1947, more than 500,000 acres of forest land was treated in various parts of the United States with DDT at a rate of a pound an acre. Satisfactory control resulted at costs ranging from $1 to $3 an acre. Much more remains to be done in per- fecting equipment and improving the technique of application, but it seems safe to generalize that the control of defoliator outbreaks in the future will be a sound and economical forest oper- ation. On the average, from year to year more than 2 million acres of forest land is defoliated annually. This en- tails the destruction of 10 to 75 percent of the trees in outbreaks of many differ- ent insects and in all cases a tremen- dous reduction in growth in the trees not killed outright. It does not appear too optimistic to hope that more than one-half of this loss can be prevented by aerial spraying with the new chem- ical weapons supplied by science. THE DIRECT METHODS of insect con- trol just described are not always en- tirely satisfactory for several reasons: 411 They are expensive; they are not al- ways so effective as desired; they are strictly alleviative, that is, they do not alter the underlying causes of insect outbreaks. Dr. Hopkins fully recog- nized these disadvantages in his ear- liest efforts and again and again pointed out the advantages of adopt- ing practices that would make condi- tions unfavorable for insect attack. He fully appreciated the impossibility of applying the methods that were then being developed for the control of gar- den- and truck-crop insects to forested areas. He made many suggestions for the control of insects affecting crude and finished forest products — prac- tical suggestions based on operational procedures. As early as 1913, entomologists of the Department of Agriculture pointed out that infestations of the gypsy moth in the New England States gained momentum in stands of hardwoods composed largely of "favored" species. The idea was then proposed that for- ests within the gypsy moth zone be managed so as to increase the propor- tion of unfavored host species. Similar findings, published in 1924, resulted from studies of the spruce budworm in Canada. Basic points to consider in managing the spruce-fir type to lessen the destructiveness of spruce budworm outbreaks were found to be the pre- dilection of the spruce budworm for fir, the tendency of fir to regenerate at the expense of spruce ( so that fir domi- nated in the cut-over stands), and the ability of younger, more vigorous trees to withstand defoliation. In studies of pine bark beetles much research has been pointed toward find- ing preventive control measures. So far it is only with the western pine beetle in the ponderosa pine that any specific method of management has been found and proved to be practicable and ef- fective. In that case it was the predilec- tion of the beetle for certain susceptible trees in stands of ponderosa pine that served as the key to management con- trol. Studies of the characteristics of many thousands of beetle-killed and 4I2 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 surviving trees revealed that the mor- tality of pines from western pine beetle attack is closely related to growth vigor — the more vigorous the tree the less likelihood of its becoming a victim of the beetle. Further studies showed that suscep- tible and resistant trees could be recog- nized by visible characters connected with the form and condition of the crown and that pine stands could be classified according to these characters. By using this tree classification as an index to relative resistance and suscep- tibility, it is now possible to log selec- tively the more susceptible trees and reduce greatly the hazard of western pine beetle infestations. IN WOOD PRODUCTS, the prevention of insect damage is much simpler than preventing damage in the forest itself. Some types of damage (like defects in the standing trees) are in a sense un- preventable, but by far the greatest amount of injury to this class of mate- rial comes after the tree is felled — to the green logs, to seasoned logs, to sea- soned lumber, or to the product in use, whether it be cross tie, pole, sill, floor- ing, rafter, or implement handle. To a great extent this type of damage can be prevented. Its occurrence is a sign of carelessness — usually insufficient pre- caution. Thus, if the log is attacked in the woods by borers, the simplest rem- edy is to get the log sawed more quick- ly; if injury occurs to the green lumber, more rapid seasoning is necessary. Damage that occurs to the product after it is in use (such as termite dam- age to cross ties and telephone poles or Lyctus damage to flooring or imple- ment handles) can frequently be pre- vented by attention to construction details, proper storage, or by treatment with preservatives and insecticides. MANY SUGGESTIONS have been made in the past three or four decades for the prevention of forest-insect outbreaks through forest management in many types of stands. They have all been made with the realization that they are more or less experimental and need the test of practical application. They are based on the known facts concerning life histories and food preferences of the insects, considered in connection with the silvicultural characteristics of the tree. Forest-management steps so as to control species or age classes in the interest of insect protection require a distribution of cutting over forest prop- erties which heretofore has rarely been possible. An adequate system of tim- ber-hauling roads is essential to apply such cutting measures in the places where they are necessary. In addition to affording an opportunity to place timber stands in a more resistant con- dition to insect epidemics, adequate road systems make it possible to salvage recently killed and highly susceptible trees before deterioration, which ren- ders them worthless, occurs. Control of such epidemics as do occur in the in- cipient stage is also facilitated by ade- quate transportation facilities. The importance of road development for application of stand management to reduce hazards from insect epidemics, to check the spread of epidemics, and to salvage killed or infested trees is now being recognized by both public and private forest-land managers. Progress in solving insect-control prob- lems through management practices will depend to a large degree on the extension of permanent access-road systems into national forest lands and other ownerships where forest manage- ment is being applied. Looking back some 40 years in the practice of forest entomology — from the beginnings by Asa Fitch and A. S. Packard, through the intensive biolog- ical inquiry of Dr. Hopkins, which formed the backbone of effective bark beetle control as well as the basis for suggestions for silvicultural methods of preventing damage, to the coming of modern insecticides and airplanes — one cannot help but wonder what is ahead. Will it be the prevention of wide- spread destruction of our resources by The Key to Protection 413 the adoption of such good forest man- agement that insects cannot develop to injurious proportions? Will adequate surveys so completely cover all susceptible forest types that insect epidemics will be caught in their incipiency and quickly suppressed by well-timed control measures? Or will human nature be much the same tomorrow as today and continue to take a chance on the unseen ( though somewhat predictable) future and wait for the worst to happen? Probably some of each will prevail. Our detection system will become bet- ter, good management will come to pass on more and more acreage, and there will be plenty of opportunity for the direct-control enthusiast. It now seems inevitable that we are going to enter an era of cheaper and more effec- tive direct control that would have seemed utter fantasy a few years ago. Mechanical devices and versatile power units are taking the hand labor out of bark beetle control, and mar- velous insecticides are spread quickly over thousands of acres by airplane at costs that are a mere fraction an acre of the values at stake. Certainly for today the possibilities in chemical and mechanical methods of control look far brighter than the possibilities for silvi- cultural methods of prevention. In the meantime, it seems to us that more and more reliance must be placed on these direct measures of control and more effort must go into their improvement. At the same time, our detection sur- veys must be greatly strengthened and our research into biological and silvi- cultural methods of preventing damage must be pursued diligently for a more propitious future. F. G. GRAIGHEAD has been in charge of investigations of forest insects, in the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine of the United States De- partment of Agriculture, since 1923. He has been with the Department since 1912, except for 3 years spent in Can- ada working on forest-insect problems with the Dominion Entomological Branch. He is a native of Pennsyl- vania. Dr. Craighead is a graduate of Pennsylvania State College, and holds advanced degrees from George Wash- ington University. JOHN M. MILLER is a native of Cali- fornia and has been associated with forestry and forest-insect problems in a number of Western States since his graduation from Stanford University in 1908. He has wide experience in forest-insect control and has published numerous papers on research and con- trol phases of his specialty. He has been with the Department of Agriculture since 1907. THE KEY TO PROTECTION S. A. ROHWER Until research developed informa- tion on pests of our forests and devised means of combating them, there was little of immediate practical value that could be gained from knowing where the pests occurred. Fortunately we now know procedures which can be used to control many of the more common and most destructive pests. By using these methods we can prevent the develop- ment of outbreaks that would cause de- struction and losses over wide areas. The key to any effort to protect our forests from these or any of the numer- ous insects and diseases that attack them is a knowledge of where the pest occurs and how abundant and aggres- sive it is. This is fundamental. It is comparable with criminal and military intelligence. All types of programs to combat common enemies employ the principle of knowledge of its where- abouts and strength. To combat suc- cessfully the fbrest pests we must know Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 ESTIMATES OF TOTAL VOLUME OF TIMBER KILLED BY PINE BARK BEETLES DURING VARYING PERIODS UP TO 1946 (IN THOUSAND FEET BOARD MEASURE) Volume of Species Insect Region affected Period timber killed Ponderosa pine Western pine beetle . . . Pacific States 1921-46 25, ooo, ooo Do Black Hills beetle Rocky Mountains 1895-1946 2, 500, ooo Do Mountain pine beetle do 1910-46 5, 500, ooo do California 1921-46 3, 500, OOO do Pacific Northwest 1921-46 750, ooo do Northern Rocky Moun- 1910-46 3, 500, ooo tains. do Rocky Mountains 1910-46 6,000,000 do Pacific coast 1921-46 1,000,000 Sugar pine Western white pine. Do.. Lodgepole pine. Do.. where they occur. Thus detection sur- veys are the first step in any effort to protect forests by controlling destruc- tive insects and diseases. The initial procedure in protecting the forest from pests is basically the same as that used to prevent destruc- tion from fire. In many respects, how- ever, pest control differs from fire control. It is well established that oc- currence of infestation or infection on a few trees does not necessarily mean that important destructive loss will fol- low unless control measures are ap- plied. It is important that this be recognized as it has a significant rela- tion to any program of forest-pest con- trol and survey designed to provide a basis for action. It emphasizes the es- sential role of the entomologist and pathologist in the survey program. Facts assembled on the occurrence of forest pests must be appraised on the basis of knowledge of their behavior and development. Such appraisal is the second essen- tial step in any program to combat in- jurious forest insects and diseases. It provides the basis for any decision to combat the pest. It has an important bearing on the type of data the survey should develop. DETECTION AND APPRAISAL METH- ODS differ with the pests. The wide differences in habits and appearance of the numerous kinds of insects and diseases destructive to forests make it impossible to use any single or simple procedure in carrying out inspections to detect their presence and determine the significance of their occurrence. Methods used in making surveys will also differ in various sections of the country. Practices will necessarily dif- fer with the objective sought. To PROTECT WHITE PINE from the destructive introduced disease — white pine blister rust — the detection of the disease organism is secondary to the location of the currant and gooseberry bushes on which the disease must spend part of its life. The spores of the disease produced on white pine are hardy and remain viable much longer, even when carried long distances. Protecting white pines from the disease is largely a matter of detecting and destroying currant and gooseberry bushes that grow among or adjacent to the pine trees. Hence, surveys for currants and gooseberries are a part of white pine blister rust control. IN THE CASE of another introduced pest — the gypsy moth — where its eradication in designated areas is the objective and the basis of preventing natural spread to new sections, inspec- tions for the insect pest must be de- tailed and provide complete coverage. Research has developed ways to do this effectively and without undue cost. An important feature of such surveys includes application of knowl- edge that the winged free-flying males are attracted to extracts made from The Key to Protection 4*5 the tip of the abdomen of the wingless female. It is thus possible to trap the males and determine with reasonable ac- curacy whether the insect is present in any area. With this knowledge, in- tensive search for egg clusters provides data on where and how abundant the pest is. WlTH THE MORE DESTRUCTIVE NA- TIVE insect pests such intensive inspec- tions are not needed. Here the objective is to keep informed as to the areas where the pest is developing in num- bers sufficient to cause important loss. The fact that intensive inspections to locate all infestations are not required does not mean, however, that the task is simple. Restricting surveys to the forest pests, of known importance still re- quires many observations and the use of much technical knowledge. THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT KINDS of important pests, and the habits and method of attack of these are widely varied. The habits of the various tree- killing bark beetles, although similar as to general pattern, cause different symptoms. The fading, browning, and reddening of the foliage of injured trees provide a valuable index of the presence of many forms, such as the deadly western pine beetle. Attacks of the equally destructive Engelmann spruce beetle, however, are not fol- lowed by the browning and reddening of foliage. A group of red-top trees killed by the mountain pine beetle in a lodgepole forest is often the sign of the beginning of an outbreak. Grouped red-top trees killed by the western pine beetle in a ponderosa pine forest in Colorado may indicate the subsidence of an outbreak. Only the trained, ex- perienced entomologist can distin- guish the potential difference between groups of like superficial appearance. Many species of insects defoliate trees and here the significance of an infestation may depend on the kind of insect and the type of forest. Where more than one species of insect is present, and this frequently occurs, the proportion of each in the mixture may have an important bearing on the potential damage of the infestation. IN ALL KINDS OF INSECT INFESTA- TIONS, and especially those where leaf feeders occur, observations on the pres- ence of natural enemies need to be recorded. The presence and abundance of parasites, predators, and disease often have an important relation to the development of the primary pest. Illustrations of this nature could be multiplied but would only give added emphasis to the various matters which need to be considered and made part of a survey program to determine the presence and status of forest pests. To secure facts on new and little-known insects and diseases which are or may be injurious to our forests requires an even greater use of specialized infor- mation. The importance of obtaining data on the presence of lesser known species must not be overlooked. No one can forecast when another blight, as destructive as the one which killed the chestnut, may appear. Nor should we fail to be alert to the presence and de- velopment of infestations of species which in themselves may be of only secondary importance, yet when pres- ent with other organisms have a pri- mary place as forest pests. THE RELATION BETWEEN BARK BEE- TLES and the Dutch elm disease illus- trates how the combinations of pests change the significance of each. The smaller of two well-known bark beetles native to Europe has been known to be established in the United States since 19 10, long before the Dutch elm disease was found here. Although it fed on elm shoots and developed in the branches, it was not of any particular signifi- cance, since it lived in dead and dying branches. When the disease was intro- duced, the habits of living in branches and feeding on young shoots provided a ready means of carrying disease from the infected to healthy trees. The two pests combined make formidable ene- 416 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 mies to our elms, and control of the beetle becomes of first importance. SURVEYS TO SECURE DATA on specific pests are always less complex. Where the plant is an annual one, as is the case with many of our agricultural crops, data needed may require fewer observations. Even here there is need for specialized technique and sampling. When the many kinds of trees and numerous kinds of pests are involved, however, the problem increases in com- plexity. It is therefore necessary to simplify the task as much as possible. In planning, organizing, and executing procedures we should emphasize the known importance of the pests. Pests of first importance should have first attention. This principle has been the basis of the surveys on native forest pests that have been carried out. It should be followed in the future. ESSENTIAL TO ALL FOREST-PEST SUR- VEYS are on-the-ground observations. These provide data on the presence of numbers of the pest and the environ- mental factors that affect its develop- ment. This calls for a system of collecting and recording the observa- tions made by those who frequent the forests and are interested in and con- cerned with their protection. Survey programs are designed to receive and record their observations. Rangers, timber cruisers, and spotters provide useful and important records. The data they supply have been of material help. What they have done, however, has not been as extensive as needed ; for many sections and areas there are few observ- ers, and the means of assembling the records are inadequate. Ways should be devised to encourage and improve such reports. To examine each year, even in a casual way, all forest areas for the oc- currence and development of infesta- tions of just the known injurious forest pests is a large order — an objective it is scarcely practical to attain now. Fortunately it is not yet necessary to do this to obtain data needed to secure reasonable protection of our forests from pests. Many factors influence the behavior and development of the na- tive insects and diseases injurious to our forests. Even the weather plays an important part. Entomologists and pathologists use their knowledge and understanding of these numerous fac- tors in planning surveys. THEY CONSIDER also the composi- tion, age, value, and location of the forests. It has been discovered that for at least certain forest types the forest area may be classified into units of de- gree of hazard ; for example, the large area in eastern California and Oregon covered by the predominant yellow pine forest type. Such discoveries and the classification of the forest types in units have made it possible to deter- mine with reasonable accuracy the fre- quency of surveys needed to appraise the status of the principal pests. Research in several areas of differ- ent forest types has established that frequent inspections of sample areas provide information on trends of de- velopment of infestations applicable to large areas. Thus an intensive sur- vey of limited sections may suffice for extensive forest areas, except during periods when outbreaks of the pest are beginning to develop. DEVELOPMENTS IN AVIATION have supplied a new means for making re- connaissance surveys to secure prelimi- nary data on the occurrence and development of outbreaks of insect pests, and perhaps for a few diseases. Observers familiar with the symptoms caused by injurious insects and diseases can, in a short time and at relatively low cost, secure valuable data on pest conditions that occur over wide areas. A few well-timed flights over areas infested and threatened by the recent outbreak of the tussock moth in the Idaho area aided greatly in locating and appraising the extent and intensity of infestation. Extensive, inaccessible areas of lodgepole pine have been quickly examined to locate red tops, Four Billion Feet of Beetle-Killed Spruce 417 the telltale indication of bark beetle infestations. There is still much to be learned concerning the place that the recent developments in aircraft and aerial photography will have in forest- pest surveys of the future. The timing and frequency of the flights will be important. CURRENT EXPERIENCE suggests air- craft and aerial photography will prove to be a valuable adjunct to the survey technique and that for certain of the important pests they make it possible to detect the presence and accurately estimate the extent of infestation more promptly. It is reasonable to assume, however, that detailed on-the-ground inspections will still be required to secure exact data needed to appraise the potential significance of the infestation. Helpful as all known procedures are, it is clear that the practices of detecting infestations and infections of insects and diseases injurious to our forests need to be improved. More than this, we must use to a much greater extent the knowledge we now have if the destructive importance of the pests are detected in stages of in- cipiency. Early discovery of a poten- tially destructive infestation permits action that will prevent important loss and greatly reduce the cost of control. S. A. ROHWER is assistant chief of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine in the Department of Ag- riculture. FOUR BILLION FEET OF BEETLE-KILLED SPRUCE N. D. WYGANT, ARTHUR L. NELSON Ten years or so ago the Engelmann spruce forests in the higher Rocky Mountains of Colorado were a sight to behold. They were a reservoir of un- exploited virgin timber, the summer homes and playground of thousands of people who love the mountains. Tall, green, silent, majestic, these forests were a gift of God, an important asset to our natural wealth and welfare. Today, on much of that ground stand millions of dead trees — graceless, lifeless, valueless. They will stand there 20 years more, ghost forests and tragic evidence of how fast and silently a tiny insect can do its damage when once a combination of favorable factors brings about a sudden increase in its numbers. THE INSECT is the Engelmann spruce beetle, the Dendroctonus engelmanni Hopk. Without the spectacular fea- tures of smoke or fire or explosion, but as devastatingly, the beetle built up its population, mostly in the inner bark of living trees, where it fed and bred. Those trees died; then new beetles 802062° — 49 28 emerged and attacked other trees. No person even suspected what was hap- pening until the outbreak was well under way and approaching its peak. Then it was too late to do much: Be- tween 1942 and 1948, 4 billion board feet of stumpage had been killed. Four billion board feet can furnish lumber for 400,000 five-room frame houses. The value in standing trees is estimated at 8 million dollars. It might someday have been made into products valued at 200 million dollars. The in- sects were more destructive than forest fires — in the 6 years, 16 times more timber was destroyed than was killed by fire in the past 30 years in the Rocky Mountain region. And to those who love the moun- tains and the trees there was another kind of heartbreaking loss: Damaged for a generation were parts of our most beautiful National Forests, the White River, Grand Mesa, Routt, Arapaho, Uncompahgre, San Juan, and Dixie. On a large part of the White River National Forest, nearly all spruce of 4i8 Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 saw-timber size — 2,900 million board feet of it — was killed. IN ITS ADULT STAGE, the Engelmann spruce beetle is a small, cylindrical, hard-shelled beetle, about one-fourth inch in length, about the size of an ordinary housefly. When the adults leave the dead trees and start to fly in June and July, they are reddish brown to black in color. They soon settle on recently felled or standing green trees and bore through the outer bark into the living inner bark. This attack ex- tends over most of the lower main stem of the tree. The beetles work in pairs of male and female, each pair raising separate broods. The female makes the en- trance, followed by the male, and bores a tunnel between the bark and wood, which usually extends in a vertical di- rection and parallels the grain of the wood. This tunnel is known as the egg gallery. The eggs are laid in alternate groups along the sides of the gallery, and the galleries are packed with bor- ing dust mixed with pitch. There are usually 3 to 4 groups of eggs and a total of about 125 eggs in each gallery. On the average there are from 6 to 8 such egg galleries for each square foot of bark. When the eggs hatch in 3 or 4 weeks, the larvae feed on the succulent inner bark and cut mines that run at right angles to the egg gallery. This larval feeding continues through the late summer and fall. When winter arrives they are still in the inner bark, where they become dormant. The following spring the larvae re- sume feeding. As summer advances they become mature, transform to pupae, and then into adult beetles. This new adult stage is reached by mid- summer, and the beetles first start feed- ing on the inner bark of the tree in which they were reared. By August or September they appear to be mature. Then some of the beetles emerge and congregate under the bark around the base of the tree. Others remain under the bark where they developed. In both cases they rest quietly during the sec- ond winter, and when warm weather returns the following spring they are ready to take flight and attack other living trees. While the development of the insect is going on, the trees that have been attacked die, usually by the end of the first season of the attack. Death of the trees is caused by the girdling action of the egg galleries and the larval mines and by a blue-staining fungus that per- meates the sapwood and stops sap con- duction in the tree. This fungus is carried by the beetles and is always found in trees that are successfully at- tacked by the insects. The foliage of Engelmann spruce does not change color until about a year after the trees are attacked; then it fades to a yel- lowish green and the needles drop within a short period. IN NATURE many forces operate to keep beetle populations at a low level over long periods. There is always a high mortality during the brood-devel- opment period from eggs to new adults. The number that reach the full-grown larval stage has been found to average from 215 to 360 to the square foot of bark. By the time the new adult stage is reached and the beetles emerge, this average has been reduced to about 150 to the square foot. These averages vary widely. The larger trees tend to pro- duce heavier emergence than smaller trees. Then, when the beetles take flight, they are exposed to all sorts of hazards from wind, weather, and birds. The factors that tend to limit beetle populations are parasitic and preda- tory insects that feed on the broods while they are developing in the inner bark; woodpeckers, which locate the infested trees and chip off the outer bark to feed on the broods that are thus exposed; and good growth condi- tions in the spruce stands where young and vigorous trees predominate. Wood- peckers are especially effective; when they are abundant they destroy 45 to 98 percent of the brood. Among the conditions that favor Four Billion Feet of Beetle-Killed Spruce 419 multiplication of beetle populations are windfalls and overmaturity of the spruce stands, since the insects prefer to attack the larger mature trees and produce heavier broods in them. Large bodies of windthrown timber provide highly favorable conditions for the build-up of beetle populations, because green trees that have been blown over have been seriously disturbed in their crown and root functions and can offer little resistance to the attacks of the in- sects. After strong populations have de- veloped, they will attack green stands of spruce regardless of their condition, and heavy losses usually continue until natural control factors again gain the upper hand. PREVIOUS OUTBREAKS of the Engel- mann spruce beetle occurred in the Rocky Mountain region, but most of them were so long ago that their exact extent is not known. In 1907, A. D. Hopkins, of the Department of Agri- culture, found evidence on the White River National Forest of an outbreak that occurred 20 to 25 years earlier. He also estimated that severe outbreaks oc- curred on the Pike National Forest about 1855 and on the Lincoln Nation- al Forest in New Mexico about 1890. An outbreak that killed nearly 100 per- cent of the spruce volume swept over the Aquarius Plateau in Utah between 1918 and 1928. A localized outbreak was reported in the northwestern part of Yellowstone National Park in 1937. Apparently none of these earlier out- breaks even approached in intensity and total volume of destruction the one that started in Colorado in 1942. Circumstances beyond the control of foresters and entomologists caused this spectacular outbreak. Several factors made conditions favorable. In June 1939 a severe windstorm swept from the southwestern corner of Colorado, in a northeasterly direction, across the mesa-type plateaus in the State. On thousands of acres many of the shallow- rooted Engelmann spruce blew over. Many of the roots on the down side remained in the soil to keep the trees alive for several years or until the beetles made their attack. As a native species, the Engelmann spruce beetle was present in small numbers in deca- dent trees in the forest. Those down trees proved to be a fertile breeding place for them. By 1942, this breeding material had been consumed and the beetles had built up great populations. With a pre- viously unknown reproductive force, coupled with an apparent lack of activity of natural control factors, the beetles invaded the standing spruce. By 1943, when the infestation was first discovered, the number of infested trees was so great that control by de- stroying the insects with fire or insec- ticides was economically and physically impossible. The problem then became one of determining the extent and se- verity of the outbreak so as to prevent its spread into other spruce forests, sal- vaging the dead timber, and studying the life history and habits of the beetle as a basis for development of control measures. PLANS WERE MADE in 1943 for a sur- vey of the spruce type in Colorado to determine the extent of the outbreaks and their progress, what action should be taken, and whether spread of the in- sect into nonaffected areas could be prevented. A person who has not visited the high Rockies in Colorado can hardly realize the difficulties of making a sur- vey and carrying out control measures in the spruce forests. Engelmann spruce grows at elevations of 9,500 to 11,500 feet, generally in rugged terrain — ex- cept for the forests on plateaus — and in places where few roads have been made. Many of the areas can be reached only by a trail, and then often with as much as a full day's travel on pack animals from the end of a road. An attempt was made in 1944 to use an airplane to scout the forests and locate the incipient outbreaks, but the infestations could not be detected from above because of lack of foliage dis- coloration. Nor could incipient out- 420 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 breaks be detected from lookouts and vantage points. The technique finally developed to detect the infested and killed trees re- quired sample lines to be run through the various areas and the trees viewed at close range. Such a survey has been made annually since 1944, with a crew of three to six men. In addition, a close watch for infestation has been kept by the forest rangers during their sum- mer travels. Although coverage has not been so complete and thorough as one would like, a fairly accurate picture has been obtained of the progress of the outbreaks. The spruce losses have been phe- nomenal for such a short period. The end of the losses on the White River, Routt, and Arapaho National Forests is not yet in sight. The surveys indicate a serious flight of beetles from the cen- ter of the White River National Forest outbreak to the east across the Colo- rado River into extensive spruce stands. The outbreak on the Gore Range on the Routt and Arapaho National For- ests is rapidly moving northward. The outbreak on these two forests has gained much of its momentum from flights of beetles across the Yampa River Valley. A large beetle population remains on the White River National Forest, however, and the continuation of a mass flight there is still not beyond pos- sibility. In 1946, at the end of the at- tack period, 77 percent of the spruce was killed on that forest north of the Colorado River. Nearly all the remain- ing trees were killed in 1947. The beetles have exhausted their food sup- ply on the White River National Forest, and whether they will perish within the infested area or fly to new areas remains to be seen. The outbreaks on the part of the White River National Forest that lies south of the Colorado River, and on the Uncompahgre, Gunnison, and San Juan National Forests in Colo- rado, and the Dixie National Forest in Utah started to decline in 1946. They reached an endemic status in 1947, even though ample host material re- mained for the insects to attack. Natural control factors, aided by arti- ficial control on the Dixie and Gun- nison National Forests, reduced the outbreaks faster than they arose. Active outbreaks continued in 1948 on the Grand Mesa National Forest and on the Gore Range on the Routt and Arapaho National Forests. Log- ging of the infested trees and burning of the infested slabs at the mill pre- vented the Grand Mesa infestation from becoming more severe. A similar plan was applied to the Arapaho and Routt infestations. IT WAS EVIDENT in 1943 that cutting must be immediate if this beetle-killed timber was to be used for lumber, since it was doubtful if it would remain usable for that purpose for longer than 3 or 4 years after attack. Every appli- cation to purchase beetle-killed spruce was granted. An aggressive campaign was started to interest more operators. Small operators soon began cutting in most of the accessible areas. Lack of capital and the difficulty of obtaining proper equipment and labor kept pro- duction low. Results have been disappointing when weighed against the large volume of killed timber. It was estimated that by January 1949 about 100 million board feet had actually been salvaged, or less than 5 percent of the operable volume of insect-killed timber. The 4-billion-board-foot loss of tim- ber represents better than 20 percent of the Engelmann spruce timber in Colorado. The rough mountain terrain and distance to railheads and markets make about half of this timber inac- cessible and nonoperable from an eco- nomic standpoint. Much of the 2 billion board feet considered operable actually requires the construction of roads to make it accessible for salvage. Sparse populations, limited funds, and the ruggedness of this mountain country have governed the location of routes of travel between communities. Few roads have been built to open up Four Billion Feet of Beetle-Killed Spruce resources, and much of the timber re- mains out of reach. Roads are needed to harvest the dead spruce and also much of the ripe green timber. During the war, some so-called tim- ber-access roads were built, including the 14 miles to open up Glinetop Mesa. A 20-mile, 16-foot surfaced road has since been built that opens up 150 mil- lion board feet of spruce timber on Coffee Pot Mesa. Surfacing of forest- development roads also has been un- dertaken, permitting salvage of more and more of the bug-killed spruce. The primary need in the insect- killed area is for more timber-hauling roads. It is estimated that a million cords of pulpwood can be made ac- cessible on the White River National Forest alone by an expenditure of $750,000 for access roads. The insect-killed timber can be used for lumber if salvaged within 3 or 4 years after being attacked. The tree dries and cracks open up the stem. Where the woodpeckers have removed some of the bark, the cracking or checking process is speeded up on the time during which the timber can be salvaged for lumber is reduced. Dead timber no longer suitable for sawed products has been proved to be usable for making paper. Sample car- loads have been tested by some of the mills in the Lake States. The reports are that the dead spruce is entirely sat- isfactory if minor changes are made in processing. Since there is no pulp or paper industry in the central Rocky Mountain region, it is logical that this spruce should be used to help alleviate the shortage of pulpwood in the Lake States. Many of these pulp and paper companies are looking forward to the day when their own forests will sustain their plants. In the meantime, the next 10 to 15 years is the critical period, and if the dead Engelmann spruce can help a part of the industry over this trying period, it will have served a useful purpose. Insect-killed spruce is expected to re- main usable for pulpwood for 15 years or more. The development of a pulp- 421 wood-logging industry in Colorado is now in the early stages. Small operators are trying their hand at it. One Wis- consin pulp and paper company has sent in its own crews and equipment to test the feasibility of logging and ship- ping the dead spruce to its Wisconsin plant. Another has purchased 43,000 cords of which about 6,000 cords were cut by the end of 1948. One of the dif- ficulties in getting local operators to cut pulpwood was their lack of experience and proper equipment to handle 100- inch pulpwood sticks. Also, as long as the dead timber could be made into sawed products, there was more profit in such products than in producing pulpwood. Except in limited areas of recent attack, the latter is no longer the case, and with experience and more specialized equipment available the production of pulpwood by local opera- tors should increase, provided the selling price permits a profitable opera- tion. Freight rates from Colorado points adjacent to the bug-killed timber to mills in Wisconsin have been estab- lished at $15.12 a cord for a minimum carload of 24 cords or more. This makes for high-priced raw material when the cost of production ($15to$16a cord) is added. An added difficulty is a marked scarcity of gondolas large enough to carry the minimum load of 24 cords. Railroad officials are not too optimistic about relief from this situa- tion and, so far, changes in the freight rate to cover lower minimum carload- ing have not been favored. A permanent industry can hardly be built on the basis of salvaging insect- killed timber alone. Perhaps local in- dustries might be established which could use the dead wood that is sal- vageable, then continue to operate on green timber. Felt-pulp plants for mak- ing roofing paper have been suggested. Other possibilities for better utilization include chipping in the woods and shipping baled chips to pulp or chem- ical conversion plants. So far, the most promising and practical outlet seems to be the shipment, as wood, to exist- 422 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 ing pulp mills. The practicability of a pulp mill in Colorado using dead and green wood is being explored. SEVERAL LESSONS have been well learned. Underlying the rapid develop- ment of this outbreak was the great windfall of 1939. This sort of disaster is something that can neither be fore- seen nor prevented, and it may happen again. The aftermath of heavy bark beetle losses can be prevented, how- ever, if measures can be taken in time to prevent the build-up of populations. Where it is feasible, the salvage of all windthrown timber within 2 years after it is blown down will deprive the beetles of their favorite breeding material. Direct-control measures applied be- fore an infestation becomes general over a large area should prove effec- tive. We know that the insect can be destroyed by peeling and burning the infested bark, by burning the infested logs, or by the application of toxic penetrating sprays. For example, a mixture of oil and orthodichloroben- zene has proved to be effective when applied to the bark of infested trees or logs. Further research may develop new methods and insecticides which can be applied from the air so as to reduce costs and permit their use over difficult terrain. Basic to any use of direct-control methods is a well-organized system of surveys that will detect the local cen- ters of infestation and present a com- prehensive picture of the infestation before heavy increases occur. Research may also point the way to forest-management practices based on an adequate knowledge of the ecology of Engelmann spruce stands and the role of the beetle in their natural ro- tation. There is a good possibility that the Engelmann spruce beetle can be held in check by indirect methods. In- dications are that in healthy growing forests severe epidemics are less apt to occur. More access roads will permit cutting to take place in the most over- mature and decadent timber. Sanita- tion cuts apparently must first be made without too much consideration of a sustained-yield policy for management of the species. Until we know more about the forces that bring these sudden uprisings of bark beetle populations and can devise either direct or indirect methods of dealing with them, Engelmann spruce stands will continue to be sub- ject to the hazards of devastating beetle-caused losses. In this most re- cent outbreak in Colorado, the best we can do now is to accept what the beetles have left us in the forest and strive for better ways of controlling the beetles next time. N. D. WYGANT is an entomologist in charge of the Forest Insect Laboratory in Fort Collins, Colo., in the Division of Forest Insect Investigations, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine. A graduate of Purdue University and New York State College of Forestry, Dr. Wygant joined the Department in 1935. He has worked on insect prob- lems affecting shelterbelts in the Great Plains and the bark beetle and other forest-insect problems in California and the central and southern Rocky Mountain region. ARTHUR L. NELSON is assistant regional forester in charge of the Divi- sion of Timber Management, State and Private Forestry, Forest Service, Denver. After graduation from the University of Minnesota, he entered the Forest Service in 1923 and was assigned to timber-survey work on the Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming. He worked on the Black Hills, Routt, and Roosevelt National Forests; sub- sequently he was supervisor of the old Leadville Forest and the Nebraska, Rio Grande, and Ouachita National For- ests. From 1941 to 1944 he was assist- ant chief of the Division of Timber Management in Washington, D. C. For further information about re- search, the reader is referred to other articles in this chapter, Insects, Dis- eases, Parasites, and to the chapters on Company Forests and The National Forests. 423 THE SPRUCE BUDWORM R. C. BROWN, H. J. MAC ALONEY, P. B. DOWDEN The spruce budworm is a small, foliage-feeding caterpillar that peri- odically kills an immense amount of spruce and balsam fir in the Eastern States and Canada. It is serious in jack pine in the Lake States, and in Doug- las-fir, alpine fir, white fir, Engelmann spruce, blue spruce, lodgepole pine, and ponderosa pine in the West. It is native to North America. Rec- ords of its ravages in the East date from about 1805. It appeared again in epidemic proportions about 1880. The first outbreak to be studied carefully began in Quebec in 1909, appeared in Maine in 1910 and in New Brunswick and Minnesota in 1913, continued for nearly a decade, and destroyed more than 250 million cords of spruce and fir pulpwood. About 30 million cords were killed in Maine; in Minnesota, more than 20 million cords were destroyed. But all that devastation, all that de- struction may be nothing compared to a current outbreak in Canada that be- gan to assume epidemic proportions in 1935. By 1944, it was estimated, 125 million acres in Ontario were infested. In 1945, an official of a Canadian pulp and paper company said, the insect killed enough timber to supply all Canadian pulp mills for 3 years. By 1947 most of the mature fir and a considerable part of the white spruce on an estimated 20,000 square miles had been killed, with less intense dam- age over a much larger area. The dead trees have created a tremendous fire hazard; large areas affected by the budworm already have been burned. The memory of the previous out- break in Maine and the present situa- tion in Canada have caused great alarm among owners of timberland and officials of the pulp and paper industry in the Northeast. At stake in the region are nearly 19 million acres of spruce- fir and more than 100 million cords of pulpwood. On that timber supply de- pend more than 90 mills, which have an annual capacity of 3l/2 million cords, employ more than 55,000 work- ers, and manufacture goods worth more than 300 million dollars annually. BECAUSE OF THE SERIOUS THREAT to the pulp and paper industry, the tim- berland owners asked Congress for funds to find ways to control the insect and to prevent widespread damage such as had occurred in Canada. The funds were voted, and in July 1944, two units of the Department of Agriculture, the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine and the Forest Service, be- gan a program to study the problem in all its phases and develop a plan of action for the Northeast. Surveys in which the States cooperated indicated that few specimens of the spruce bud- worm were present then in New Eng- land forests. But in 1945 we discovered an infes- tation in the Adirondacks of New York. The next year we found many more, and an outbreak seemed imminent. In 1947 and 1948, however, the popula- tion of spruce budworm dropped mark- edly. Over most of the area, defoliation was not severe enough to cause appre- ciable damage to spruce and fir. Dur- ing 1945, 1946, and 1947, the insect re- mained at an extremely low population level in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The 1948 survey showed a low degree of abundance in Vermont and New Hampshire but a definite increase in Maine. No report of unusual abun- dance of the budworm has been re- ceived from the Lake States. Extensive outbreaks were in progress in 1948 in the southern, central, and northern Rocky Mountain regions and in Ore- gon and Washington. From 1945 to 1948 intensive studies in biological and natural control of the insect were conducted in New York. Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 SPRUCE BUDWORM SITUATION 1948 Serious tree mortality Medium to heavy defoliation Light defoliation Plots and experimental areas were es- tablished in the Northeast to determine the degree of defoliation and damage caused under different forest condi- tions. In the Rocky Mountains there are several species of parasites of the budworm that do not occur in the East ; several colonies of those parasites were obtained and released in eastern for- ests in the hope that they would be- come established. THE SPRUCE-FIR STANDS in the Adirondacks, relatively small in area, usually are surrounded by hardwoods. Such stands seem particularly favorable for natural control. Winter mortality during 1946-47 was approximately 75 percent. Aggregate parasitization by in- sect enemies ranged from 64 to 86 percent in different area. The total aggregate mortality from winterkill and parasites ranged from 83 to 98 percent. Insectivorous birds also destroyed large numbers of budworm larvae and pu- pae. Certainly those factors of natural control contributed tremendously in bringing about the decline in budworm infestation in 1947 in New York. THE SEASONAL HISTORY of a pest must be known before control meas- ures can be undertaken. The adult of the spruce budworm is a small moth with a wing spread of seven-eighths of an inch. Its general color is grayish with brown markings. In the Northeastern States the moths start emerging from their pupal cases about July 1 . The females deposit their pale-green eggs on the foliage in masses of 10 to 50 or more, where they overlap like the scales of a fish. One female may lay several of these egg masses and on the average produces about 175 eggs. The incubation period lasts about 10 days. After the eggs hatch, the young cat- erpillars crawl about until they find suitable places under bark or bud scales to spin silken weblike coverings, or hibernacula, under which they spend the following fall and winter. These tiny larvae do not feed until they be- come active in late April or early May and leave their hibernacula. At first they are an orange yellow; later they turn brownish. They mine the old nee- dles first; then they enter the opening The Spruce Budworm 425 buds, where they feed on the tender young needles which are just starting growth. They also feed on spruce and fir pollen. As the new shoots elongate, the larvae tie the needles together with silken threads and thus form shelters within which they feed. By late June they are full-grown, reddish brown in color, and start forming the pupal cases, which are attached to the twigs. The pupal period lasts 7 to 10 days, after which the moths emerge and start laying eggs — a new generation is under way. The spruce budworm may spread over long distances to new areas by flights of the moths. Records of the 1910-19 outbreak show that in July 1911 swarms of moths appeared in Philadelphia and in 1912 and 1913 they were abundant in Connecticut. Those localities are outside the general spruce-fir range, so the presence of the moths there had significance only in showing how far they travel. The regions where extensive tree mortality has already occurred in the present outbreak and the extent of the active infestations are shown on the accompanying map. There is no record of a flight of moths in 1944 from Can- ada that might have caused the out- break conditions discovered in New York in 1945. Apparently, though, a heavy infestation arose simultaneously over an area of approximately 3,000 square miles, and careful study of the area in 1945 pointed strongly to the possibility of a widespread flight of moths in 1944. DURING AN OUTBREAK PERIOD, a heavily infested tree may harbor thou- sands of caterpillars. Except when the young caterpillars first resume activity in the spring and form mines in the old needles, the new foliage is the pre- ferred food and it is entirely devoured before the old foliage is eaten. In heavy infestations the trees first exhibit a scorched appearance. Later they turn grayish as the foliage disap- pears. Finally dead tops become evi- dent. A heavy defoliation for several years will reduce the volume of foliage to a degree where many of the cater- pillars die from starvation and the bud- worm population declines, but in the meantime many of the trees will have died. Following the decline of the in- sect in a particular area, the loss of trees continues for several years, be- cause secondary insects and fungi have a part in killing weakened trees. The feeding habits of the spruce budworm determine to a large measure the damage in various types of stands. The caterpillars show a definite pref- erence for fir in that they develop readily on both old and current growth. Although the budworm feeds readily and develops rapidly on pollen from fir trees, the presence or absence of abundant staminate flowers has little effect on the budworm population in the forest. The lack of synchronism be- tween budworm development and opening of buds and the poor survival on old foliage of red and black spruce indicate that these two species are less favorable food plants than balsam fir. This fundamental information on the biology and feeding habits of the spruce budworm and the fact that mortality in all species of attacked trees is directly proportional to the lack of vigor at the time of defoliation give us a basis for formulating methods for the silvicul- tural control of this insect. Investigations made during and after the disastrous outbreak of 1910- 19 in New Brunswick and Maine in- dicated that the greatest mortality of trees occurred in the red spruce-balsam fir type, particularly where the fir pre- dominated and was overmature. Little damage occurred in the mixed hardwood-spruce fir stands, where the hardwoods overtopped the conifers. White and black spruce appeared to suffer less from attack than red spruce and fir. THE RESULTS of the earlier studies and the intensive work of Canadian and American entomologists during the present outbreak point the way toward a possible solution. 426 Yearbook, of Agriculture 1949 To view the problem in perspective, one might well review some of the fac- tors that have brought about the pres- ent condition of the spruce-fir forests. Because spruce is far more valuable for lumber and pulp than balsam fir, it has been cut more heavily in logging and pulpwood operations and its pro- portion in the forests has thus been re- duced. Balsam is far more aggressive than spruce in seeding-in after a cut- ting operation, fire, or wind damage. Foresters repeatedly have observed that after a serious budworm outbreak the succeeding stand invariably contains a higher proportion of balsam. Man's ac- tivity and the spruce budworm, there- fore, have often contributed to a grad- ual conversion from a forest containing a high percentage of spruce to one in which balsam predominates and which is far more favorable for the budworm. In view of such points, then, what can be done through silvicultural prac- tices to increase the resistance of the forest to spruce budworm attack? There appear to be three general procedures: To clear cut mature and over-mature balsam stands; to operate balsam stands on a short rotation; to try to increase the proportion of spruce in the stand. The first and second would be aimed at keeping existing stands of fir as young and vigorous as possible. Mature and overmature balsam fir trees suffer most during an outbreak. It is not be- cause their foliage is more palatable to budworm caterpillars than the leaves of more vigorous trees, but because they are low in vigor and cannot sur- vive severe defoliation. The clear cut- ting of such stands should be given first priority in a plan of action. In a long-range program to build up the resistance to future budworm out- breaks, consideration needs to be given to two major types of stands, those that are predominantly balsam fir and those that contain an appreciable proportion of spruce. In a stand that is mostly balsam, cut- ting on a rotation of 30 or preferably 20 years will help to maintain the stand in a condition of high vigor. Such a stand may harbor a heavy population of bud- worms, but it will suffer much less than a stand of low vigor. The operation of such a stand on short rotation will at the same time greatly increase the ulti- mate yield. Where spruce occupies an appre- ciable proportion of the stand, every effort should be made through cutting operations to increase the proportion of spruce and at the same time save only the balsam firs that are very vigorous. In order to demonstrate these cut- ting methods, experimental areas are being established jointly by the Forest Service, the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, the States, and the owners of timberland in the Northeast. The areas are cruised and marked by the Federal agencies and operated by industry. They are located in several parts of the region, so that the influ- ences and different site and stand con- ditions can be observed. In these silvicultural operations, the latest findings from the biological stud- ies are put into practice. We hope that the experimental areas will become a pattern for future commercial opera- tions so that resistant forests eventu- ally will be established all over the Northeast. IN SUM, then, we know that each new epidemic is far more disastrous than the last, and that now the spruce- fir resources of this country and Can- ada are in jeopardy. Aerial applications of insecticides offer new possibilities for controlling defoliators like the spruce budworm; further attempts to control the insect over extensive areas by aerial spraying are now in progress and will be con- tinued during the present outbreak. But all studies and observations by entomologists and foresters suggest that the ultimate solution lies in managing the forest so as to maintain high vigor in balsam fir stands and, where con- ditions permit, to increase the propor- tion of spruce. Every effort should be made to obtain the basic biological Pine Bar^ Beetles 427 information useful in developing silvi- cultural practices that will create conditions unfavorable for the develop- ment of outbreaks or minimize damage during an outbreak. R. G. BROWN is an entomologist in the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine. He was graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1922 and has been in the Bureau since 1925. In 1935 he was put in charge of the Division of Forest Insect Investi- gations laboratory in New Haven. H. J. MACALONEY assists Mr. Brown at New Haven and has charge of stud- ies in the application of biological in- formation as it affects silvicultural practices. He was graduated from the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University in 1923 and has been in the Division of Forest Insect Investigations since 1925. P.B.DowDEN also assists Mr. Brown. He was graduated from Massachusetts State College in 1923 and has been with the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine since that time. He is in charge of the biological-control in- vestigations on forest insects conducted at the New Haven laboratory in Con- necticut. PINE BARK BEETLES F. P. KEEN Pine bark beetles are small, dark- colored, hard-shelled insects of the size of a grain of rice or a medium-sized bean. They bore under the bark of vari- ous pines and dig egg tunnels, mostly in the inner bark, which cut the cam- bium layer — a tree's most vital tissue. Eggs laid along the sides of these tun- nels hatch into small, white, legless grubs. Under the bark also the attack- ing beetles introduce fungi, blue stains, and yeasts, which penetrate the sap- wood and plug the sap stream from roots to foliage. The tree is hurt in the same way that an animal would be in- jured or killed if worms were to bore into it and stop up all veins and arteries. When the larvae complete their feeding in the inner bark, they change into pupae, the resting stage, then to new adults. These adults later emerge from the bark and fly off to attack other pines. Thus they perpetuate their species and continue their destructive course. The new adults may attack the green trees nearby, or they may fly several miles to find trees to attack. A great many different kinds of beetles work into and under the bark of pines. The most destructive bark beetle enemies of American forest trees are the so-called pine beetles (Den- droctonus spp.), which attack primar- ily the more mature trees, and engraver beetles (Ips spp.), which prefer young trees or the tops of older ones. Species of Dendroctonus and Ips are found throughout North America. The more important species of Dendroctonus that attack pine are the western pine beetle (D. brevicomis Lee.), which attacks ponderosa pine and Coulter pine in the Pacific States, Idaho, Montana, and British Colum- bia; the southern pine beetle (D. frontalis Zimm.), which attacks all species of pines and spruce from Penn- sylvania south to Florida and west to Arkansas and Texas; the mountain pine beetle (D. monticolae Hopk.), which attacks lodgepole pine, western white pine, sugar pine, and other pines in the Pacific States and northern Rocky Mountain regions; the Black Hills beetle (D. ponderosae Hopk.), which attacks ponderosa and lodgepole pines in the southern and central Rocky Mountain regions and in the Black Hills of South Dakota; the Jeffrey pine beetle (D. jeffreyi Hopk.) , which attacks Jeffrey pine in Califor- nia; and the turpentine beetles (D. 428 Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 valens Lee. and D. terebrans Oliv.), which attack all species of pines but usually can overcome only weakened and injured trees. The engraver beetles (Ips spp.) at- tack all species of pines, breed readily in the tops of recently felled trees and in slash, usually develop large popu- lations, and then move into the tops of living pines, frequently killing trees in large groups. Various species are found in different parts of the coun- try, but they all have similar habits. Forestry was young in America when it was discovered that pine bark beetles were forest destroyers of the first magnitude. In the first official report on forestry, submitted to Con- gress in 1877, Franklin B. Hough, the first Government forest officer in the United States, directed attention to the considerable injury done to the pines of South Carolina by bark beetles, and referred to an occurrence of their activity as early as 1802. Again, during the first survey and classifica- tion of lands of the newly created For- est Reserves by the United States Geological Survey in 1898, H. B. Ayres reported serious damage caused by pine beetles to the white pine stands in Montana. In 1900 the first field or- ganization of foresters, working under Gifford Pinchot, found bark beetles killing thousands of trees in the Black Hills. As a result of this epidemic, which killed more than a billion board feet of pine timber, Dr. A. D. Hop- kins, State entomologist of West Vir- ginia, was called on to investigate and recommend measures of control for this and other forest pests. So began in the United States a problem in forest protection that ever since has challenged the ingenuity of entomologists and foresters. For it quickly became evident that these were not isolated cases of insect dam- age but typical examples of what a group of insect enemies could do in many forest stands. Over a long pe- riod, the havoc that bark beetles have wrought has resulted in a greater total drain of commercial pine timber than has been sustained from any other destructive agency. IN PRIMITIVE, UNMANAGED FOR- ESTSj pine bark beetles act as nature's forest managers and loggers. Young stands that have become too crowded and suffer from competition and stag- nation are frequently thinned by out- breaks of engraver beetles. In the older stands, the weak, intermediate, and suppressed trees are cut out by pine beetles. And as growing forests reach maturity, the old trees that have es- caped fire and storm are harvested by pine bark beetles, and young trees then come up to replace them. In the development of forest succes- sion, pine beetles often have a promi- nent part. When fir-hemlock stands of the Cascade Mountain Range are wiped out by fire, for example, lodge- pole or western white pine come in as temporary species to reestablish a forest cover. When these stands get to be about 100 years old, the more tolerant fir and hemlock again become estab- lished under them. Then the mountain pine beetle appears to act as nature's forester. An epidemic conveniently eliminates about 95 percent of the pine overstory and thus aids the process of reestablishing the fir-hemlock climax. On the other hand, the western pine beetle in ponderosa pine makes a selec- tion cutting of certain intermediate, suppressed, and codominant trees that are growing too slowly. In the forest, group killings make holes, which are filled in by young seedlings. This proc- ess tends toward the development and maintenance of uneven-aged stands. The trouble is that beetles are crude forest managers. Often they go too far in thinning and eliminating competing trees. They kill and waste much sound lumber. Holes left in the forest stand may take many years to fill. If we are to maintain and utilize our forest re- sources, we cannot afford to allow these natural processes to run their course, and yet we are often responsible for starting and encouraging them through forest mismanagement. Pine Bar^ Beetles 429 BECAUSE BARK BEETLES are con- stantly at work in pine forests — thin- ning, harvesting, and wiping out entire stands of timber to make room for new ones — they destroy on the whole a vast amount of commercially valuable tim- ber. In the long run they are no threat to forest perpetuation, but they do take a tremendous toll of wood that we need badly. In some pine areas, this loss oc- curs as a slow but steady annual drain of merchantable trees spread over a long period of years. In other areas, the losses are more spectacular because they result from epidemic infestations that kill a fairly high percentage of the stand in just a few years. But regardless of the rate at which they occur, these beetle-caused losses affect directly the potential lumber output of pine-pro- ducing areas and indirectly the taxable wealth and pay rolls of entire commu- nities. Estimates based on surveys in the major pine regions of the Western States are that during the period from 1926 to 1946 the western pine beetle, the Black Hills beetle, and the moun- tain pine beetle killed over 50 million board feet of pine. Just as important is the damage the beetles cause to scenic and property values in our parks and summer-home areas. Mainly for that reason do peo- ple lament the extensive outbreaks of mountain pine beetle in lodgepole pine and white pine stands of Yosemite, Grater Lake, Mount Rainier, Glacier, and Yellowstone National Parks. True, those forests will be replaced in time by other forests of the same or different types, but for many years these ghost forests of white snags are gaunt lessons of forest destruction rather than forest preservation. Another bad feature is that the snags left by the beetles increase fire hazards. Vast areas of beetle-killed lodgepole pine are a particularly criti- cal fire menace; some of the worst forest fires on record have occurred in these bug-killed localities. THE CAUSES of epidemics of pine bark beetles we do not fully under- stand— any more than we understand the reasons for grasshopper plagues or influenza epidemics. We do know that bark beetles can increase their popu- lations at a lightning rate — 10, 20, even 500 to 1 in a single generation — but usually natural factors like para- sites, predators, unfavorable weather, or the lack of suitable food keep them from doing so. When susceptible host material is abundant, however, and natural controls are ineffective, then beetles reproduce to capacity, and an outbreak occurs. Probably the most important factor in building up beetle populations to epidemic numbers is an abundance of suitable breeding material. Just a for- est of pine trees is not enough. The beetles prefer certain trees that are in a susceptible condition for attack. Such trees are the ones that are making poor growth or those that are injured and weakened by fire, wind- storms, and by other causes. Recently felled trees are especially attractive to the beetles. Weakened trees can offer little resistance by pitch flow when the beetles attack and bore through to the inner bark. When their populations are low, the beetles continually select and thrive in those weak trees; when the beetles find many such trees, they usually multiply rapidly. Either nat- ural causes or disturbances of forest conditions brought about by man's activities can cause an abundance of this susceptible host material in pine forests. Fire-weakened trees are often fa- vored as breeding ground by certain bark beetles, which then turn out large populations that threaten sur- rounding forests. To the extent that man fails to control or is responsible for forest fires, he can be charged also with the pine bark beetle damage. Drought frequently weakens pine trees and makes them susceptible to attack. Defoliating insects also slow tree growth, reduce vigor, and make trees an easy prey to the beetles. Most pine stands also become more sus- ceptible as they reach maturity. 430 In any pine forest a rapid increase of bark beetles may develop in any of these various types of favored food ma- terial. When the supply of susceptible trees becomes exhausted, the beetles are forced to turn to healthy and vigor- ous trees, which they overcome by sheer force of numbers. Bark beetle epidemics, once they develop, continue until brought under control by natural forces or by artificial-control measures. THE NATURAL-CONTROL FACTORS keep some in check. Besides the limita- tions of food supply, disease, and un- favorable weather that restrict the populations of bark beetles, they have a number of insect enemies. Parasites and predators feed upon and destroy the bark beetles. Also, many species of birds catch beetles when they are in flight. Certain species of woodpeckers go after beetle larvae which are in or under the bark. Bark beetles can stand heat up to about 120° F. and so they are rarely killed by hot weather, unless on the top side of a log fully exposed to the sun. But they cannot stand subzero tem- peratures, unless they have had time to acclimatize themselves. Overwintering broods of western pine beetle start to die at about 5° and are hard-hit at -20°. And so it is that while the vigorous broods, free from too many parasitic insects, predators, and woodpeckers, are necessary for an outbreak, they must also have ample breeding grounds of slash, windfalls, drought-stricken trees, or susceptible stands. If both sets of conditions are favorable, a major epidemic is inevitable, and much tim- ber will be sacrificed to the hungry hordes. Fifty years of research has brought real progress in our ability to deal with the infestations. Many control methods have been tried. Some have been ef- fective. Newer methods have been found and put to good use. Most sig- nificant of all advances is the grow- ing interest and activity of private and public owners of pine forests in Yearboo^ of Agriculture 1949 bark beetle control as a conservation measure. THE FIRST OFFENSIVES against the beetle infestations were designed to de-r stroy the beetle populations in infested trees and thus to prevent them from emerging and attacking more trees. The strategy was based on the concept that dead beetles cannot kill trees. On an area to be protected, infested trees were located in the fall, winter, and spring when the beetles and their broods were dormant. Then the insects were destroyed, usually by felling the dead trees and burning the bark. Beginning with the relatively small project to control the Black Hills bee- tle in 1905, a long series of control campaigns have been carried on. The work has involved nearly all species of pine beetles and pine-producing re- gions. Some of the work has consisted of small routine control jobs, under- taken and completed by local forest officers or owners of summer homes; others have been large cooperative projects over thousands of acres, made possible by many individual owner- ships. During the period of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the battle was carried on as part of the forest-conser- vation program wherever serious in- festations were encountered. Recent outbreaks of mountain pine beetles and Black Hills beetles in the northern Rocky Mountains have again led to the initiation of large-scale projects. In their unceasing effort to find new and better ways of disposing of the beetles, entomologists have ex- plored all possibilities — from the sim- ple expedient of hitting the beetles with an ax to radio waves and com- plicated electrical traps, from burn- ing the infested bark to hauling infested trees out of the forest area and dunking them in millponds. Toxic oils sprayed on infested bark have been used to avoid the costs and fire hazards of peeling and burning it. Fuel-oil solutions of naphthalene, orthodichlorobenzene, and of paradi- chlorobenzene have proved effective Pine Barl( Beetles 431 against the mountain pine beetle, the Black Hills beetle, and Ips in lodgepole pine and other thin-barked trees. New insecticides, especially DDT, have greatly increased the effectiveness of oil-spray formulas. Burning unpeeled infested trees with the aid of cheap fuel oils, and even with "goop," de- veloped for use in incendiary bombs in the Second World War, also has been tried. Infested lodgepole pines have been burned while still stand- ing by spraying the trunks with fuel oil, igniting it, and following up with more oil until the bark was thoroughly charred. Where conditions permitted, power saws and bulldozers have been used to fell, move, and prepare trees for burning. Mechanized equipment has been used to haul infested trees to the sawmill where the infested bark was destroyed and the logs converted into lumber. All these methods have limitations. No one method has been developed that can be used under all conditions. INDIRECT CONTROL can help. About 1924, entomologists and foresters began working on a different approach. They studied the characteristics of trees that were attacked by the western pine beetle and found that the beetles pre- ferred to attack slow growers and trees below normal in growth functions. Such trees could be distinguished eas- ily from healthy, vigorous trees in the form, density, and thrift of the crowns. An off color of the needles and dieback of twigs, limbs, and tops further indi- cated susceptibility. The entomologists learned from their studies and experi- mental selective-logging operations that losses could be lessened by remov- ing part or all of these susceptible trees from the stand. The term "sanitation salvage" has come into use to desig- nate this new type of control. Timber companies, which were quick to try it, found that the practice could pay its way through the sale of lumber prod- ucts from sound but vulnerable trees that otherwise would be killed by beetles and left to rot in the woods. Sanitation salvage has given excel- lent results in controlling western pine beetles. Areas so salvaged a decade ago still show a substantial differential be- tween the number of trees attacked and the losses on untreated areas. This 10- year period, however, does not include any test of the method during an epi- demic infestation. What will happen then remains to be demonstrated. So far, the criteria by which high- risk trees can be distinguished have been developed only for the ponderosa and Jeffrey pines found in forests east of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains. Studies are under way to develop similar criteria for indirect control of bark beetles affecting other pine types, which for the present can only be controlled through the applica- tion of direct-control measures. A method similar to sanitation salvage has been developed and is being put into practice for western white pine stands in Idaho, where selective log- ging of low-vigor trees reduces the amount of timber killed by the moun- tain pine beetle. The continuing search for new and better methods to control the pine bark beetles seeks to keep pace with the de- velopment of sound forest-management practices and is in the direction of im- proving methods of surveys to detect outbreaks in their early stages and to determine the susceptibility or bark beetle hazard of various pine stands, developing better methods of direct control, particularly through the use of the newer insecticides, and developing forest-management practices adjusted to avoiding or limiting bark beetle out- breaks. Use of the airplane in the surveys is a new development that will make possible the detection of small out- breaks in inaccessible areas before they develop into large ones. Surveys from the ground will always be neces- sary to follow up aerial observations. Of greatest value to the entire survey system is the study and classification of pine areas according to expecta- tion of bark beetle infestations. This 432 Yearboo\ of Agriculture 1949 classification of pine stands, known as a hazard survey, has been carried out only for a small part of the ponderosa pine region. This work is basic to plans for control through management and is needed throughout much of the western pine region. The possibilities for finding better chemical methods for destroying bark beetles have by no means been ex- hausted. During the war, many new insecticides came into prominence, among them DDT, benzene hexachlo- ride, and chlordane. They are now being tested in forests, and it is prob- able that a place will be found for some of them in the control of bark beetles. But the greatest hope lies in better forest management. Pine silviculture must take into account the habits of the beetles themselves; by studying this behavior, we should obtain a bet- ter understanding of nature's methods of thinning, pruning, and harvesting. Then, by "beating the beetles to it" and imitating nature at her best, we should be able to develop sound silvicultural practices which will avoid further de- struction from these small insects. F. P. KEEN, a graduate of the Uni- versity of California, is senior ento- mologist of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine in charge of the Forest Insect Investigations Labora- tory at Berkeley, Calif. His experience with bark beetle problems in the west- ern pine region covers 34 years. He is author of a number of technical pa- pers and bulletins on forest insects. In 1947 he received the Department's Superior Service Award for his devel- opment of a ponderosa pine tree clas- sification, which is used as an index to the susceptibility of pine stands to bark beetle damage and as a guide to tree selection on timber sales. INSECTS IN WOOD PRODUCTS THOMAS E. SNYDER Insects attack the forest tree in all stages of its life, from seed to maturity. The log that is cut from the tree also is vulnerable in all its stages to attack by other kinds of wood-boring insects — while it is still in the woods, while it is green or seasoned lumber at the mill, or is being stored, or, indeed, after it has been put to use in a house, barn, or a manufactured item. The insects that bore into lumber cause losses of many kinds and degrees. Sometimes much of the wood is riddled by holes. Sometimes it is entirely pul- verized so as to be completely unusable. Sometimes only the quality of the wood is lowered by the holes so that the grade is reduced. Certain stain fungi, carried by bark beetles and borers, discolor the logs and lumber; they do not affect performance, but the wood becomes unsuitable for outside and decorative purposes. After the lumber, pole, or other wood product is in use, insect damage is even more serious, because then the loss includes the costs of pro- duction, seasoning, storage, and re- placement. Two TYPES OF INSECTS are prima- rily responsible. One requires wet wood ; the other dry wood. Sometimes the injury is one caused by the adult beetles which fly to the log or lumber and bore directly into the wood. At other times the damage is caused by the young hatching from eggs laid under the bark or in the wood. Adult ambrosia beetles — so-called because they require green or moist wood within which they raise fungi for food — rapidly penetrate green logs and lumber. The males may assist the fe- males in forming new colonies, and the fungus is raised for the young to eat. They have the beginning of a social Insects in Wood Products 433 life, but do not develop different forms or castes as do the true social insects, the termites, ants, and bees. The holes, not more than one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter, are made by the adult beetles. They riddle the wood, and near them the wood is stained black. Seri- ous losses to tight cooperage or barrel stock and balsa wood for marine life rafts and a lowering in grade of valu- able lumber for veneer to be used in houses, boats, or airplanes result from their boring and staining. Larger holes — more than one-fourth of an inch in diameter — are caused by the young of large beetles. These young are called sawyers because their borings in green logs result in piles of sawdust, as if the wood had been sawed by man. Their gnawing can be heard, and their activity is so conspicuous that it is hard to convince a tree owner that it was not this insect that killed his pines. Actually, it was the small, grain-sized bark beetles, often associated with a stain fungus, that girdled the inner bark and shut off the food and mois- ture supply of the tree and caused its death, thus preparing it for the larger borers. Some types of insects need dry wood for their food. Among them are many kinds, sizes, and shapes of powder-post beetles, which pulverize wood and have other odd habits. One kind specializes in boring into wine and whiskey bar- rels. Another drills into and around lead-sheathed cables, unmindful of the short circuits that result when moisture penetrates the insulation. Some years ago one kind, like a weevil, damaged the trusses in the roof of the White House. An odd lot, indeed. An extremely destructive kind is the Lyctus powder-post beetles, small, winged beetles that lay their elongate eggs in the pores of the sap wood of certain large-pored hardwoods but do not attack the heartwood. They go after dry or seasoned sapwood of such hardwoods as hickory, ash, oak, and walnut lumber; manufactured prod- ucts like tool handles, gun stocks, tent stakes, wooden artillery wheels, wagon spokes, oars, and other products stored for long periods; and, sometimes, fur- niture, woodwork, flooring, and timber in homes. The young reduce the wood fibers to a powder from which all strength is gone. The presence of these insects is usually betrayed by small piles of fine powder expelled from the bur- rows by the young. These beetles relish items like dry ax handles because they find the wood rich in starch and quite suitable for raising their families. But the ones that give householders the most gray hairs and sleepless nights are termites, the most destructive of all. In the United States they are of two main types. The subterranean kind, which is the worse, requires much moisture and attacks wood indirectly from the moist soil. The dry- wood termites directly attack dry wood. They are injurious only in southern Califor- nia and Florida and normally do not occur in the Northern States. Termites damage buildings of all types, various kinds of stored materials, poles, posts, derricks, mine props, and many another. By their boring, also, they riddle or corrode with their moist excrement many materials that they cannot eat. Often, however, termites can be easily and cheaply controlled. PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES in han- dling the green wood and lumber can eliminate much of the damage by the insects that prefer them. The meas- ures are rapid moving, seasoning, sort- ing, and periodic inspection. The logs should be handled quickly, with a minimum of delay between fell- ing the log and stacking the lumber for drying. Drying the lumber, in the air or in a kiln, will stop the insects from boring. Any damage that has been done to the wood usually will not af- fect its strength. It is termed "sound wormy grade." As for the beetles that prefer sea- soned wood: Because only the sap- wood is susceptible to them, sapwood and part sapwood should be sorted and piled separately from the heartwood. The stacks of sapwood then should be 802062° — 49- -29 434 dated so that the oldest or longest seasoned wood can be used first. The drier the wood, the more appetizing it is to the powder-post beetles. Further protection can be gained by periodic inspections of the stock so that infested material can be removed for burning or treatment. This is a live- worm defect, and the insects will con- tinue to bore until the product is destroyed or they are controlled. SOME WOODS have chemicals in their cells that protect them from insects, and heartwood is more resistant than sapwood. So, because insects are ready to pounce even after the wood is safely through storage and has been put to use, it is sensible to select carefully the species and grades that fit exactly the purpose at hand. Whenever possible, one should use the heartwood of the more naturally durable or insect-resistant and rot-re- sistant woods instead of the perishable woods. Resistant woods like founda- tion-grade redwood, the southern tide- water red cypress, and the mahogany contain alcohols, alkaloids, gums, res- ins, or bitter essences that makes them distasteful to boring insects. Some kinds of wood that are not subject to attack by certain wood borers but are adapted for the same use should be substituted for susceptible kinds. For example, yel- low pine or Douglas-fir can be used instead of oak for storage pallets to prevent losses by Lyctus powder-post beetles. The relative termite resistance of certain native and exotic — particularly tropical American — untreated timbers has been determined by long-time serv- ice tests conducted in the United States and in the Canal Zone. Among those commercially available in the United States are close-grained heartwood foundation-grade Califor- nia redwood, southern tidewater red cypress, and very pitchy southern long- leaf pine. The information from the long-time service tests also permits the recommendation of naturally resistant woods for use in building or bridge Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 construction where chemically impreg- nated timber is not locally available, especially in the various tropical re- gions of the world. Greenheart, man- barklak, and guayacan of the Americas, teak and sal of India, molave and ipil of the Philippines, and cypress-pine, brush-box, and turpentine wood of New South Wales are a few of the woods found to be termite-resistant. TERMITE-PROOF FOUNDATIONS can be constructed — on the basis of field research on the habits of termites and their control. The research, including studies of proper drainage of building sites, grading necessary to secure suffi- cient clearance between construction timbers and the earth in which ter- mites live, the role of wood debris in the soil, soil moisture, temperature and humidity in the building of earthlike shelter tubes by termites over founda- tions, and measurements and exact location of ventilation openings, has led to safe construction. Sound foundations can be con- structed by the use of proper grades of mortar for masonry units and im- penetrable coal-tar pitches for sealing expansion joints and vertical piping that project through concrete. Porches, steps, and the like that have an earthen fill can be sealed off or separated from the main structure. On the basis of tests of mortars, expansion- joint seals, and barriers, specifications for termite-proof foundations have been written for various government agencies charged with housing con- struction. The measures recommended will protect structures from attack by termites for a slight additional cost. Ad- vice given on the job to Federal housing officials proved particularly useful be- fore and during the Second World War and resulted in more durable buildings than those erected at the time of the First World War. NEW BUILDING MATERIALS Were tested for the Housing and Home Fi- nance Agency in an effort to speed postwar construction. Many proved to Insects in Wood Products 435 be more or less susceptible to termite attack. In accelerated laboratory tests, the research men discovered the sus- ceptibility to termite attack of light wall panels made of paper honeycomb, impregnated with a synthetic resin and covered with thin sheets of aluminum ; fiberboard made from palmetto; and wall panel made of pressed excelsior, bonded with an inorganic cement. Such materials need not be considered unsuitable for construction, but they do need further chemical protection or should be used in buildings for which termite-proof construction has been provided. Some of the honeycomb pan- els apparently become weakened more rapidly than untreated wood. SOMETIMES CHEMICALS must be used — sprays, dips, wood preservatives, soil poisons, poison dusts, or toxic fumigants. Chemicals suitable for pre- serving structural timbers have been available for years, but only recently were effective and lasting chemicals discovered for use as sprays or dips to protect green logs as well as green and seasoning lumber from borer attack. DDT and benzene hexachloride in oil solutions are effective in preventing attack by bark beetles, sawyers, and ambrosia beetles in green logs and lumber. Benzene hexachloride is better than DDT against ambrosia beetles. Borax and microfine sulfur in water solution or suspension have been rec- ommended to the Army for use as pro- tective dips against Lyctus powder-post beetles for unseasoned implement han- dle stock. For seasoned tool handles, penta- chlorphenol in oil solution has been specified as a preventive dip. Solutions of DDT are effective in protecting bamboo and tool handles, but such preventive dips do not stop rot or decay. The pentachlorphenol protects against both insects and decay. Powder-post beetles infesting build- ings or furniture can be controlled by pentachlorphenol sprays. Tests in this country and in the Tropics of new chemical wood preser- vatives disclosed that copper naphthe- nate and pentachlorphenol protect ammunition boxes, crates, pallets, and the like from attack by wood-boring insects. The arsenicals and pentachlorphenol give effective protection against ter- mites when used as integral treatments during manufacture for fiberboards. Poisoning the soil about the founda- tion of buildings is useful as a supple- mentary treatment against termites where structural insulation is not prac- ticable. Suitable for such a purpose are arsenicals, chlorinated phenols, chlori- nated benzenes, DDT-in-oil solution, and many other chemicals. Different types of soil and moisture conditions, types of construction, and cost deter- mine which to use. Only odorless soil poisons should be used in places where food is near or in enclosed areas that are poorly ventilated. Government research men and mem- bers of the National Pest Control Asso- ciation have written standard specifi- cations for the control of termites in buildings. Included were structural and chemical methods of protection, some- what as outlined here. The specifications have helped the industry and the public — all hands ex- cept the termites. In southern California members of the pest-control industry recently con- ducted cooperative tests with the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quar- antine to discover more effective liquid chemical sprays or dusts for the control of dry-wood or nonsubterranean ter- mites. During these experiments it was shown that isolated buildings tightly sealed with heavy paper can be rid of the dry-wood termites or powder-post beetles by fumigation with heavy dos- ages of hydrocyanic acid gas or methyl bromide. Fairly long periods of fumi- gation and forced aeration are re- quired. This is dangerous work that should be done only by professional fumigators. Special precautions must be taken to protect the building, ma- terial stored therein, and human life. 436 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 Even though this method requires pro- fessional assistance, it is more effective, practicable, and cheaper in destroying heavy, hidden, deep-seated infesta- tions than the use of liquid chemicals or poison dusts or the replacement of infested areas with chemically impreg- nated wood. Fumigation will not pre- vent reinfestation. THOMAS E. SNYDER, a senior en- tomologist in the Division of Forest Insect Investigations, Bureau of En" tomology and Plant Quarantine, has devoted 40 years to the study of insects that attack forest products and ways to control them. He has published numerous articles on termites, powder- post beetles, ambrosia beetles, and the chemical wood preservatives. Dr. Snyder is an authority on the classifi- cation of termites. He has degrees from Columbia, Yale, and George Washington Universities. CONTROLLING THE TUSSOCK MOTH PAUL H. ROBERTS, JAMES C. EVENDEN In the field headquarters at Moscow, Idaho, a tense group of men were wait- ing for the signal that was to start the greatest of all airplane offensives against an insect. It was 3 o'clock on the morning of May 22, 1947. The sun had not yet limned the mountain maj- esty of northern Idaho and neighbor- ing Washington or the desolation wrought in the forests by the tussock moth. The report came: Weather clear; wind velocity 5 miles an hour. It was relayed to the Laird Park air- strip and the municipal airport at Moscow, the seat of the University of Idaho, and nearby Pullman, the seat of Washington State College. At 3 : 20 a. m. the big C-47 trundled onto the runway, roared through a short take-off, then rose and turned toward the rough terrain of Moscow Mountain to spread 1,000 gallons of DDT spray over 1,000 acres of infested fir timber. The Ford trimotors followed. Simultaneously the small planes at the Laird Park airstrip went out, one at a time. They were after the Douglas-fir tus- sock moth (Hemerocampa pseudot- sugata McD.), which early in 1946 appeared in epidemic proportions throughout a large forest area near Moscow, Idaho. A native of north- western United States and southeast- ern Canada, the small insect can kill its preferred hosts, Douglas-fir and the true firs, in a year if it destroys all the foliage; partial defoliation may result in serious top killing and the death of trees if it continues for several years. In its life cycle this insect produces but one generation each year. Eggs are laid in August and September and hatch the following spring in late May. The tiny caterpillars are active and will travel relatively long distances in search of food. They become full-grown by late August, pupate, and transform to new adults in about 2 weeks. As the female moths are wingless, eggs are usually laid on or near the pupal case from which the moths have emerged. Any widespread distribution of an in- festation must be by means other than the flight of adult moths. It is known that the young, hairy caterpillars are carried long distances by air currents. When disturbed, they drop from the limbs and hang suspended on a fine silken thread often 5 feet or more in length, which they spin as they fall. This thread and the body hairs of the caterpillar offer considerable wind re- sistance, and air currents of about 10 miles an hour will carry them away. By early summer of 1946 whole mountainsides appeared brown from defoliation of trees by the insect. In the Idaho territory these brown areas intensified public concern as to reme- Controlling the Tussoc\ Moth 437 dies. On July 15 the Moscow Chamber of Commerce called a meeting for a discussion of the situation. Owners of timberland, private citizens, and repre- sentatives of lumber companies, the Idaho State Forestry Department, University of Idaho, the State Exten- sion Service, the Forest Service, and the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine attended. They decided that it was too late to attempt control action in 1946 and that a survey should be made of the situation by the Forest Service and Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine. The two agencies gave a joint report at the annual meeting of the North Idaho Chamber of Commerce in Mos- cow on November 21. The primary facts disclosed were: (1) Within a gross, area of about 500,000 acres, 350,- 000 acres with an estimated stand of 1,518,000 thousand board feet of the Douglas-fir and white fir timber were infested and an additional 1,182,000 thousand board feet were threatened; (2) the economic values involved (in- cluding, but not limited to, stumpage, lumber, pay rolls, and taxes) were more than 100 million dollars; (3) aerial spraying with a DDT solution was the only feasible means of control on the rugged terrain; (4) the esti- mated cost of control was $1.70 an acre; (5) to hold down losses the oper- ations would have to be accomplished between May 20 and June 30, 1947— May 20 because it was about the date of general hatching of the tussock moth caterpillars from the egg masses, and June 30 because after that date de- foliation of trees would occur to a de- gree that would perforce kill much of the timber stand. The report contained many other details, including a description of the fir tussock moth; estimates of flying altitudes above timber for different types of planes ; need for aerial photo- graphic maps ; estimated days of flying weather and hours of flying weather per day between May 20 and June 30 ; and the need for supplementary air- strips. The meeting heartily approved the recommendations for action. This was the first of a series of steps that pre- sented an inspiring example of varied interests that were quickly knit together and acted on decisively, forcibly, and in complete unity for the accomplish- ment of an objective. The report was presented to Depart- ment of Agriculture officials in Wash- ington on December 6 and to other groups in December and January. It was presented to the Idaho State Coop- erative Board of Forestry, which rec- ommended that the State cooperate with the private timberland owners and the Federal Government in control of the infestation. Idaho Senate Bill No. 118, enacted on February 18, cleared the way for cooperative action by the State and Federal Governments. The Idaho State Legislature on March 4 appropriated $210,000 for cooperative forest-insect and pest control. The di- rectors of the Potlatch Timber Protec- tive Association decided unanimously that the Association should carry its share of the costs. Congress appropri- ated $395,000 for the work. The essential preparatory measures were many and varied. The nature of the task required administration by one agency; the major timberland owners agreed that the Department of Agri- culture should be the one. Accordingly, the Forest Service and the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine proceeded within their means and ex- isting authorities. The Forest Service delegated responsibility for the admin- istration of the project to the regional forester of the Northern Region at Mis- soula, Mont. The Bureau of Entomol- ogy and Plant Quarantine delegated responsibility for the entomological phases to their regional forest entomo- logist at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The regional forester designated a project leader for the Forest Service. All preparatory action was carried on by the project leader and one assistant and the leader for the Bureau of Ento- mology and Plant Quarantine, with the help of the regular divisions of the 438 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 Forest Service and those of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine. Most of the area in need of treat- ment was in Idaho. An area of about 4,000 acres just over the line in south- eastern Washington also had to be treated because otherwise the prevail- ing winds would make it a source of reinfestation in Idaho. An area of about 14,000 acres in the Blue Moun- tains in Oregon was listed for treat- ment if funds were sufficient. Cooperative agreements with all the States concerned were essential to set up authorities and responsibilities for various phases. A formal agreement with the State forester and the Land Board of Idaho was signed on April 17, 1947. The most important items of the agreement were: The regional forester at Missoula was designated as agent of the State of Idaho to con- duct all phases of the control opera- tions; the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine was to be responsible for the entomological phases ; the State was made responsible for collections of contributions of funds for control from private landowners; the United States was relieved of any public liabilities arising from application of spray on State and private lands; a general formula was set up for sharing costs among private landowners, the State, and the Federal Government; and the spray formula was established as "not more than 1 pound of technical DDT in solvent and fuel oil to make 1 gal- lon of spray, to be applied at the rate of 1 gallon per acre." Less detailed agreements were made with the State foresters of Washington and Oregon. Aerial maps were essential for use of the pilots, for the delineation of in- fested areas, and for various other con- trols. Contact prints scaled to about 3J/2 inches to the mile and enlarge- ments to 6 inches to the mile were assembled and prepared for use. Their value was increased by adding section lines. Surveys to determine suitability and location of temporary airstrips were made, and seven such strips were con- structed by the Division of Engineer- ing in the Forest Service. The surveys and construction work were hampered by snow and wet ground. The last of the strips was completed shortly after spraying operations began. The award on bids for aerial-spray- ing contracts had to be made far enough in advance of the scheduled date of initial spraying operations to allow the flying contractors time to construct and install the spraying equipment. The preparation of bids was difficult because there were no previous contracts to serve as a guide and no definite specifications for spray apparatus for such a job existed. The invitation to bid stipulated that the spray apparatus must regulate appli- cation to 1 gallon to the acre and would be subject to flight tests before the start of control operations. Bids were opened on April 14, but were not finally accepted until immediately after the appropriation of the Federal funds. The contractors, despite the short period available for construction and installation of spray apparatus, were ready to fly on May 20. Procurements of DDT and the fin- ished insecticide were handled by the Washington offices of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine and the Forest Service. The quantities of insecticide (350,000 gallons) and the time limit heavily taxed available sup- plies of DDT and the capacity of the mixing equipment of the contractors. Arrangements were made with traffic managers of the railroad companies to red-tag manifest the spray tank cars and deliver the spray on a schedule which would minimize loss of the limited flying time. Truck tractors and tank trailers for delivery of spray from the railhead to the airfields were essential. The only source from which these were obtain- able was the Army Air Force, which lent the equipment it had at the Spokane Army Airfield. Arrangements were made with the Weather Bureau to establish a 24-hour Controlling the Tussock^ Moth 439 weather service at field headquarters in Moscow. June is a month of uncertain weather conditions in this area. Weather records over a period of years were analyzed and used as a basis for the over-all plans. Even so, there was uncertainty. Abnormal rains and wind occurrence and velocity would seriously reduce favorable flying time. A detailed survey of the general area of infestation was necessary in advance of spraying to delineate the areas to be sprayed on aerial maps for use of the pilots, to subdivide the infested areas into spray-application units, and to determine accurately the acreage to be sprayed. Because of snow and im- passable roads, this precontrol survey was not completed until June 20. Arrangements were made with the University of Idaho for a field head- quarters in the university buildings. Of- fice space and sleeping quarters were provided in one building. Selections were made of administra- tive and operations personnel to be de- tailed from the national forests and the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine to the project a short time in advance of spraying operations. All transportation and office equipment and supplies, radios, tents, bedding, and other equipment were obtained from Forest Service and Bureau of En- tomology and Plant Quarantine stocks. Purchases were then made of a small amount of special items, such as glass plates for spray checking, cleaning sol- vent for the glass plates, and small amounts of lumber for tent platforms. During this preparatory period and the course of control work, the Idaho State Forestry Department assembled data on landownership and collected funds from the timberland owners. The organization of the Federal ad- ministrative and control forces pre- sented some new problems. Two major decisions, made early in the prepara- tion stages, materially simplified this task. The first was that the Forest Serv- ice and Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine would not handle any phase of the operations which dealt directly with flying. The delivery of spray by tank truck from the railhead to the airfields was a responsibility of the contractor. Spray-material con- tracts provided for delivery of the fin- ished insecticide in tank cars so that there would be no need for mixing the DDT in solvent with the fuel oil at the project delivery point. The second de- cision was that artificial marking of flight lines would not be attempted. These decisions left four primary ac- tivities upon which the Federal admin- istrative and control organization would be based: ( 1 ) General administration and su- pervision, including, but not limited to, facilitating delivery of insecticide on schedule and keeping records of all shipments, deliveries, and use; daily record of expenditures and obliga- tions; daily progress record of acreage sprayed ; the maintenance of radio and other noncontract equipment ; pay rolls and payments to flying contractors and others. ( 2 ) Information and public contacts, including cooperation with representa- tives of the State forestry department, extension service, and others in the or- ganization of meetings of timberland owners in connection with collection of contributions; furnishing information to representatives of newspapers and periodicals, newsreel companies, inde- pendent writers; investigation of com- plaints; and other details. ( 3 ) Checking spray application and completeness of coverage in accord- ance with the terms of the flying con- tract; also checking the tussock moth kill success. (4) Weather predictions. The Federal agencies' organization for those purposes required the services of 35 persons at the peak of operations. These preparatory actions were the most critical phases of the control job and were essential to its success. Forest Service and Bureau of Ento- mology and Plant Quarantine person- nel moved into field headquarters and outlying field stations on May 10, set up offices and other temporary quarters, 440 Yearbook^ of Agriculture 1949 NUMBER AND TYPE OF PLANE, THEIR ASSIGNED FLYING SPEEDS, SWATH WIDTHS, AND SPRAY-LOAD CAPACITY, AND MAXIMUM FLYING HEIGHT ABOVE TREETOPS Type of plane Height Spray Spray above Planes Speed load Swath Delivery treetops Miles Gallons per per Number hour 140 Gallons I.OOO Feet 400 minute 112 Feet 100-150 2 QO 400 3OO 100-150 I QO 3OO 2OO 36 50-100 Travelair . 2 QO 2OO 2OO 36 50-100 I 85 I5O 175 32 50-100 4 80 7