ONE CORD AN ACRE A YEAR 



755 



by pine. It is a common local practice to clear-cut such stands of young 

 oak for cordwood when from 15 to 25 years of age, after which an- 

 other dense stand immediately takes its place, largely from sprout 

 reproduction. The trees are generally so crowded that growth is very 

 slow, particularly after the first 10 or 15 years. 



To determine the possible rate of growth of oak in this sand region, 

 a typical 20-year-old, crowded stand was selected on the Lebanon State 

 Forest in Burlington County. In the winter of 1911-12 two similar 

 1-acre plots were carefully laid out and measured ; one (A) was thinned 

 of crowding and suppressed trees, while the other (B) was left to serve 

 as a check plot. The cost of the thinning was more than paid for by the 

 sale of the wood. In the spring of 1919. after seven season's growth, 

 both plots were again measured to determine results, which are tabu- 

 lated in Table 1. 



Table 1. 



By actual measurement it has been demonstrated that a cord of piled wood of 

 this size (trees from 2"-6" D. B. H.) contains about 65 cubic feet, as calculated 

 from the volume table on page 121, Woodsman's Handbook, instead of the con- 

 verting factor generally used of 80 cubic feet = l cord. 



These figures in Table 1 show that the thinned acre (A) increased 

 from 5.5 cords in 1912 to 12.3 cords in 1919, or a gain. of practically one 

 cord per acre per year, whereas the check acre (B) only increased 

 from 9.5 cords in 1912 to 10.6 cords in 1919, or a gain of 1.1 cords 



