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JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



have since developed to maturity, and during the past few years have 

 been cut for tree nails, insulator pins, and posts. They had attained 

 a height of 50 to To feet and a diameter of 7 to 16 inches. A single 

 specimen measuring 83 feet in height and producing 16 insulator pin 

 sections, each 57 inches in length. 



Black locust, as a rule, occurs solitary or in small groups, rarely in 

 pure stands. It usually occurs in mixture with chestnut, chestnut oak, 

 pitch pine, black oak, and other species adapted to rather dry mountain 

 soil. It is also common in abandoned fields and along fences. 



Many small black locust trees have been killed by the locust borer. 

 Much defective wood is produced by the locust heart rot, Polyporus 

 riuiosits. and by the locust borer, Cyllene rohincc. Of the two, the 

 borer does by far the most damage. Buttrick^ goes so far as to say 

 that "the locust borer makes the successful cultivation of black locust 

 in America almost impossible." In my opinion, this statement is 

 entirely too sweeping and untenable. Observations and studies show 

 that the locust borer does more damage on slopes with a southern 

 exposure and on dry mountain tops, than on northern exposures and 

 moist ravines. The following figures are offered in support of this 

 conclusion : 



Shorty ridge (northwest slope) 



Top of knob 



Bottom of knob 



First-class wood 

 (cords) 



33 (91.4%) 

 43 (71.7%) 

 52 (75.5%) 



Second-class wood 

 (cords) 



3 ( 8.6%) 

 17 (23.8%) 

 16 (25.5%c) 



These figures show a difference of almost 20 per cent between the 

 amount of first-class wood derived from a moist slope with a north- 

 western exposure and a dry mountain top. Of 342 cords of wood 

 cut, 265 cords (77.5 per cent) were first-class and 77 cords 22.5 per 

 cent) second-class. 



The scattered natural occurrence of black locust, its satisfactory 

 growth in mixture with other species, and the relatively low damage 

 by the borer on the northern and western exposures and upon moist 

 sites suggest that a serious mistake Was made in planting pure stands 

 of black locust in wide openings, and upon lowland sites with a south- 



' Buttrick, P. L. American Trees for Forest Planting in France. Journal of 

 liORESTRY, Vol. XVIII, No. 8. 



