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bottoms. Black gum is also present in larger quantities, principally 

 among the older growth, while in some places elm, soft maple, and 

 shingle oak form a characteristic mixture. The forest has been very 

 heavily cut over, first for stave wood and more latterly for the white 

 and "water" oaks. Many ties are now being cut in Hamilton County 

 from the remaining stands of pin and shingle oak. 



The bottomlands which are not immediately adjacent to the big 

 streams are not subject to such great inundation, and the soils contain 

 more humus and are thus more fertile. They are easier to convert 

 into good agricultural land, and many drainage projects are now 

 being carried out and the former wet forest lands are being converted 

 rapidly into rich farms. 



Sihicultural Conditions. — The silvicultural conditions of the 

 bottomland type are on the whole poor, owing to the repeated culling 

 out of the best trees. Very often a scattering stand of decayed, limby, 

 crooked, or otherwise defective old trees has been left. Although of 

 little commercial value, these trees are allowed to occupy the place 

 that should be taken by thrifty second-growth timber. Where lumber- 

 ing has more nearly approached the clear-cutting system, the results 

 often have been more favorable, since the young trees, when given 

 room, show very rapid growth. While fire damage was noted in a 

 few cases, the type is, on the whole, free from this source of injury, 

 owing to the wetness of the situation. 



Aside from the scattering overniature trees that have been rejected 

 by lumbermen, and a few areas — some of which are quite extensive — 

 where the trees have been injured by overflow and have later been 

 badly infested by insects, the timber is sound and thrifty, and little 

 subject to insect injury or fungous disease. The oaks are much less 

 liable to be attacked by borers here than on the uplands. Hickory 

 and ash are more or less diseased wherever they occur, and ash is 

 very subject to injury by sessid borers on the bottomlands. Ash logs 

 are perhaps the most seriously injured of any timber when left exposed 

 for a season in the woods. Most of this injury is caused by borers of 

 the genus Neoclytus. 



The young growth on the bottomlands is as a rule abundant, and 

 sometimes forms dense thickets. The usual method of lumbering 

 consists in culling out a certain class of timber at one time and another 

 class at some later time, leaving large or small openings in the forest 

 each time. These openings are seeded to one or several species, and 

 this results in even-aged groups. The resulting stand, therefore, 

 will be, as a whole, many-aged, but composed more or less of even- 

 aged groups, some pure and others mixed, according to conditions. 

 The various oaks commonly reproduce in pure groups of this kind. 



