NOTES 



755 



occurred in trees between 20 and 30 inches d. b. h. The average d. b. h. 

 of the stand was about 24 inches. Practically all trees were mature. 

 The average rate of growth of trees examined on sample area No. V 

 was one inch in diameter in seven to nine years until the last fifty years, 

 when the rate of diameter growth dropped to one inch in twenty-five 

 years. 



Evidence of decay differed in trees. In some cases it was evident in 

 the top only; in others in the stump only. Of the 52 trees affected the 

 following figures show the location of the decay and its importance 

 economically by the percentage of logs: 



This little table seems to indicate that soil depth is indirectly the 

 cause of heart rot, the fungus gaining entrance through mechanical 

 injury in the top and working downward. Fire scars and other injuries 

 to the lower portion of the trunk seldom resulted in material damage to 

 the tree. James B. Saxton. 



New Jersey "Scrub-oak" Responds to Care 



For several years State Forester Alfred Gaskill has been urging 

 owners of woodland to give their timber a little care and attention, in 

 order that its value and productiveness might be increased. It has been 

 the practice in this State and elsewhere to cut off the woods without 

 care or thought of the future, and then allow Nature to do the best she 

 can in replacing the abused timber growth. The following results of 

 a "thinning" experiment in the so-called "scrub-oaks" of Burlington 

 County prove that such attention is profitable. 



In February, 1912, a portion of the Lebanon State Forest, six miles 

 southeast of Pemberton, N. J., was selected for the demonstration. 

 The tract, consisting of a rather dense stand of young oaks from ten to 

 twenty feet tall, growing on sandy .soil of low fertility, was purchased 

 in December. 1909. for $6 per acre. Such stands are common through- 



