THINNINGS IN LOBLOLLY PINE AT A PROFIT 



By J. a. Cope 



Assistant Forester of Maryland 



In a previous article ^ reference w'as made to a cutting and splitting- 

 machine which functioned so effectively in the conversion, of inferior 

 hardwoods and small pines to merchantable cordwood, that the lumber 

 man was able to clean up his cutover loblolly pine land at an actual 

 profit. After having the practicability of this machine demonstrated 

 to the writer so conclusively, the thought naturally occurred why 

 would it not be equally practical to employ it in rendering merchant- 

 able the thinnings from a growing stand of pine? 



Fortunately there was close at hand a vigorous young loblolly pine 

 thicket, several acres in extent, and the lumberman was very willing 

 to co-operate in having a demonstration thinning made on a sample 

 acre. 



This stand had come up on an abandoned field, the seed blowing in 

 from adjacent old timber. The soil was a sassafras sandy loam, which 

 is a pretty good indication of Quality I site for loblolly pine on the 

 Eastern Shore of Maryland. At the time of making the thinning, the 

 thicket contained 1,810 trees to the acres, counting those trees 2 inches 

 d. 1). h. and over. The heights for the three crown classes were ob- 

 tained 1)y actual taping, with the result that dominants fell in the 40- 

 foot height class, intermediates fell in the 30-foot height class, over- 

 topped fell in the 20-foot height class. Using cordwood volume tables 

 made especially for ^Maryland loblolly pine, these _ 1.810 trees gave a 

 yield of 26.5 cords. 



A careful ring count of trees in all crown classes established the age 

 of the stand as 14 years. Certainly this is a very excellent showing, 

 and compares favorably with the best yields of Quality I sites for 

 loblolly pine in North Carolina.^ 



In making the thinning, an effort was made to give the dominants 

 growing, space without at the same time opening up the forest floor to 

 the light. This resulted in the marking of all overtopped, about 70 



Journal of Forestry for April, 1921, pages 399-401. 

 Loblolly Pine, by W. W. Ashe, page 89, table 35. 



759 



