3 JOURNAL 01' FORESTRY 



or more logs per tree, "lower slope" two logs, "upper slope" one log, 

 and "ridge type" no saw timber. The use of a measure of height in 

 classification is thus not an entirely new and untried idea in this region. 

 This basis, however desirable for estimating, fails to classify sites in 

 terms of productivity, at least in the detail necessary for management. 

 Within a single type the age and average or dominant height of the 

 timber have, however, long been used for classifying sites. Professor 

 Roth's - suggestion of a general site classification on the basis of 

 height made it appear possible to go beyond this and prepare a single 

 system of site classification, useful for immediate needs, to be applied 

 not to individual types but to the forest as a whole. 



The plan proposed by Roth involves the recognition of certain 

 "standards," each representing a group of species which reach closely 

 similar heights at a given age (100 years is suggested by Roth). Tall 

 species, like "the Pacific coast giants on their native sites" would fall 

 in "Standard a" ; "Standard b" would include, among hardwoods, 

 "yellow poplar, chestnut, black oak. red oak, and probably most of the 

 good, hardwoods in southern Michigan and the Ohio Valley" ; the 

 hardwoods falling in "Standard c" would include "white oak, hickory, 

 yellow birch, sugar maple, beech in northern woods." Each standard 

 would include a number of sites, which Roth would number from I 

 (best) to IV (poorest), based upon the height attained at 100 years 

 by the species representing the standard when found under different 

 environmental conditions. Although Roth's plan contemplates a 

 country-wide classification on broad lines, the general idea of site 

 classification upon the basis of height which it suggested appeared to 

 furnish a good working basis for a classification of the Southern 

 Appalachian forests. Plans were accordingly drawn up and field work 

 undertaken in the summer of 1917 by the writer and Russell Watson. 



THEORY AND METHOD OE THE STUDY 



It has been customary to regard site as a subdivision of type. The 

 point of view of this study was the reverse; a given "site" was regarded 



2 "Concerning Site," by Filibert Roth. For. Quart., March, 1916, Vol. 14, 

 No. 1, pp. 3-12. See also : 



"Site Determination, Classification, and Application," b}' Russell Watson. Jour, 

 of For., May, 1917. Vol. 15, No. 5, pp. 552-63. 



"Height Growth as a Key to Site," by E. H. Frothingham. Jour, of For., 

 Nov., 1918, Vol. 16, No. 7, ly). 754-60. 



"Jack Pine," by W. D. Sterrett. U. S. Dept. of Agr. Bulletin 820, pp. 16-18. 

 1920. 



