HARDWOOD RECORD 



25 



ilaniagerl, is iiiorp immune than most of the 

 other important Appalachian hardwoods. It 

 is much more resistant than chestnut oak or 

 red oak. While in many badly burned sec- 

 tions a large proportion of the old timber is 

 fire damaged, on the average not more than 

 ten or twenty per cent of the trees have to 

 be butted in logging on account of dote or 

 hollowness. 



A great deal of white oak seed is destroyed 

 ' every year by light surface tires. In addi- 

 tion, its seedlings and coppice are burned 

 down to the ground and its reproduction con- 

 fined largely to sprouts from the still living 

 stumps of former growth. On repeatedly 

 burned areas these sprouts become sparse and 

 stunted in development. The burned stumps 

 and roots often become decayed; the fresh 

 crops of coppice are therefore diseased and 

 short lived, and in time the sprouting power 

 of the stumps is exhausted. 



The most common and destructive insect 

 which attacks wounded white oak is the pin 

 worm, the larva of a small, reddish beetle. 

 As a rule, from fifteen to twenty per cent of 

 the white oak in the southern Appalachians 

 is defective because of this insect, reducing 

 seriously the grade and commercial value of 

 the lumber. 



The patch worm also often lowers the 

 grade of white oak lumber and staves by 

 black streaks, ' ' steamboats, ' ' or grease spots 

 formed about the minute liules left in 'the 

 wood by the insect. 



The most serious fungus enemies are mem- 

 bers of the Folyporus group, which attack 

 the heartwood of living trees when entrance 

 can be gained through a fire sear or some 

 other fairly deep wound. The dote originat- 

 ing in this way often extends for several feet 

 iqi the center of the tree, and necessitates 

 heavy culling of the butt log in lumbering. 

 An examination of l,6t)S white oak stumps in 

 Greenbrier county, West Virginia, shows that 

 trees of any size may become rotten at the 

 Imtt. 



In addition to the fungi which destroy the 

 heartwood, there are numerous species which 

 infest the sapwood of dead, weakened, or 

 badly injured trees. White oak is more re- 

 sistant to fungus attacks than chestnut, black 

 oak, red oak and chestnut oak. Decay in its 

 wood progresses slowly, since fungi which 

 enter the tree at the stubs of dead branches 

 usually affect only a small area of heart- 

 wood immediately around the point of en- 

 trance. The ui^per parts of the boles are 

 i generally sound. Cull on account of unsound, 

 wormy timber is, as a rule, much smaller in 

 white oak than in any of the other oaks. 



White oak suffers very little from wiud- 

 tlirow ; Old trees, especially on poor soils 

 and exposed situations, or when weakened by 

 fire, are apt to become wind-shaken at the 

 butt, but white oak is probably the freest 

 of the oaks of the southern Appalachians 

 from this defect. The proportion of shaky 

 timber in the total annual cut is verv small. 



Reproduction by Seed. 



The age at which white oak begins to bear 

 seed, the frequency of seed years, and the 

 amount of seed borne in each seed year are 

 all affected by site conditions, especially the 

 amount of light, of soil moisture, and the 

 depth and fertility of the soil. White oak 

 grown in the open on deep, well- watered soil 

 begins to bear seed when eighteen or twenty 

 years old and often bears heavily nearly 

 every year. In open woods seed bearing may 

 begin at forty years, liut under normal for- 

 est conditions acorns are not produced, as a 

 rule, before the seventieth or eightieth year. 



White oak is comparatively deficient in 

 seed production. (Jood crops arc borne once 

 every four to seven years, and full, heavy 

 crops once every eight to ten years. De- 

 ficiency of seed is often an important factor 

 in limiting the reproduction of white oak. 

 In this respect it is very inferior to yellow 

 poplar, and somewhat inferior to black and 

 red oak and chestnut. A large proportion 

 of the seed, moreover, is destroyed by worms, 

 rodents, birds, hogs and forest fires. All told, 

 probably not more than ten or fifteen jier 

 cent of the total mast produced by white oak 

 escapes destruction from one cause or an- 

 other. Squirrels and crows are active agents 

 in dissemination. They secrete the nuts in 

 the ground; many arc subsequently forgotten 

 and thus left in ideal places for germination 

 and thrifty seedling growth. 



The percentage of fertility iii white oak 

 seed is relatively high, running from seventy- 

 five to ninety per cent. The acorns ger- 

 minate in the fall, usually before the gi'ound 

 is frozen. If conditions do not at that time 

 favor geruiiuatiou, the seed jjerishes. It is 

 practically impossible to hold white oak 

 acorns over winter for spring planting. 



White oak acorns germinate readily on 

 loose soil if there is a sufficient cover of leaf 

 litter, or if there is shade enough to preclude 

 drying out. Since a certain amount of oxy- 

 gen is required for germination, it will not 

 take place when the seeds are buried too 

 deep or when the germinating bed is poorly 

 drained. 



From a number of causes, therefore, black 

 and red oak possess marked advantages over 

 white oak, and tend, as a rule, to crowd it out 

 of the young growth. White oak reproduc- 

 tion of any character is. relatively scarce, 

 forming usually less than fifteen per cent of 

 the young growth in virgin woods, even on 

 lands where this species may form thirty or 

 forty per cent of the mature stand. In sec- 

 ond growth, after lumbering, the scarcity of 

 white oak is still more marked. 



There are, of course, numerous local excep- 

 tions to these rules. 



Sprout Eeproduction. 



AVhite oak sprouts readilj' from the stumps 

 of seedlings and saplings which have been 

 killed by fire, cropped or trampled by stock, 

 or broken off in lumbering operations. Sprouts 

 of this character are especially abundant on 

 lands subject to frequent fires and form, as a 



rule, seventy-five per cent of all the white 

 oak reproduction in the region. This power 

 of sprouting afresh after each injury seems 

 to be continued almost indefinitely. The 

 stumps of old virgin timber almost never 

 sprout. The thriftiest trees, especially those 

 growing in deep, rich soil, sprout most abun- 

 dantly and retain the power longest. In 

 most localities an age of 120 years marks the 

 limit of vigorous sprouting capacity. Black 

 oak and red oak are somewhat more likely to 

 sprout than white oak, both from the stumps 

 of felled trees and from the stubs of fire- 

 kiUed seedlings, though less so than chestnut. 



In white oak the duration of vigorous 

 growth is greater than in any of its associates 

 except yellow poplar and possibly chestnut. 

 It retains its vigor and resistant qualities 

 to an advanced age. For these reasons white 

 oak in the long run overcomes and replaces 

 in the mature virgin stands the black and red 

 oaks, which have such a marked advantage 

 over it in early life. As a rule, in virgii! 

 woods the proportion of white oak increases 

 steadily in the older age classes. It often 

 forms the bulk of the mature timber in stands 

 where but ten per cent of the young growth is 

 white oak. 



The rate of growth of white oak sprouts, 

 while vigorous, is considerably le.ss lupid t!ia; 

 that of chestnut and of black .jak and red oak. 

 Instances are frequently fo.n d in the 0,1k belt 

 of central and western Teni'essee and Ken- 

 tucky where white oak sprouts have been i;ut- 

 stripped in growth and bad!\ suppressed by 

 black and red oak sprouts of the same age. 



Forest Management. 



Because of its marked deficiency in natural 

 rejiroduetion as compared with other species, 

 the outlook for future supplies of white oak 

 timber under existing conditions is poor. 

 White oak has been more heavily logged than 

 any other of the Appalachian hardwoods ex- 

 cept yellow poplar and walnut, and this has 

 further tended to its replacement by black 

 and red oak, and the perpetuation of white 

 oak in commercial quantities will necessitate 

 the adoption of more consen-ative and far- 

 sighteil management of hai'dwood timber 

 land. 



The price of white oak stumpage is high. 

 Low-grade stumpage, or cull and small trees 

 less than sixteen inches in diameter breast- 

 high, .sells at from $1 to ^'2 a thousand feet 

 at an average distance of live miles from 

 shipping points; while better grades, twenty 

 inches or more in diameter breasthigh, yield- 

 ing a largo proportion of uppers, have, in 

 like situations, a stumpage value of from 

 $10 to .$15 a thousand feet, board measure. 



The first and most essential step in man- 

 agement is protection from fire. This is 

 especially true in the case of young timber 

 and cutover forests, where the danger from 

 fire is very great. The following protective 

 measures, if carried out, should greatly lessen 

 the tire danger: 



The construction, wherever possible, of a 

 permanent system of roads; the prohibition 

 or restriction of grazing and swine herding 



