DISPOSAL OF INFECTED SLASH 53 



given the fact that the spread of infection from the slash to the sur- 

 rounding stand would have some bearing upon the intensity of the 

 diseases present in the surrounding stand when the reproduction 

 reaches its infection age. The cutting of low stumps is desirable from 

 the viewpoint of leaving as little infected material on the area as 

 possible, and the burning of infected stumps by constructing piles over 

 them whenever possible is good forest hygiene. 



Close utilization of forest products in many cases aids in leaving a 

 minimum of infected material on the area after logging. The close 

 utilization of the infected portions of western red cedar (especially 

 the butt logs) for fence posts and shingle bolts, as practiced by the 

 Forest Service, leaves very little of this material for fruiting bodies 

 to develop upon. The utilization of cull butts of western larch and 

 other species for fuel in the camps and in the engines of the logging 

 trains, donkeys, skidders, etc., also greatly aids in cleaning up the 

 logging area of infected material. Special sales for cordwood and 

 other products are negotiated by the forest officer after the area has 

 been logged over. This removes snags, cull butts and windfalls, and 

 among these many are utilized which were rejected in the logging 

 operation on account of heart-rot. 



The second group, composed of the lodgepole and western yellow 

 pine types, is found to favor the development of fungi to a lesser 

 degree than the first group. This is due to the more open, drier 

 bites upon which the tree species composing it are found. No inferior 

 species comparable to the undesirable hemlock and grand fir are to 

 be encountered in these types, and, in the case of lodgepole pine sales, 

 a closer utilization of the products of logging, particularly in the 

 Deerlodge National Forest, leaves less slash upon the area. On 

 certain sales in open stands and on comparatively dry sites where the 

 brush is to be lopped and scattered, the infected slash could safely be 

 left in position, and no special attempt made for its removal. This 

 is particularly true for south and southwest exposures. 



In all cases where disposal of the infected material is planned, such 

 material infected by the most dangerous fungi should be disposed of 

 first. Such sound culled material as crook, wind shake, lightning 

 and frost crack injury, broken parts of the trunk, resinated and 

 swelled butts, etc., do not present the need for disposal to as great 

 an extent as do all forms of infected slash. The infected material, 

 if left in moist shaded situations and not disposed of, will produce 

 sporophores and form an infection menace, while the chances for 

 the sound slash to become infected by tlie more harmful wood- 



