344 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



in relation to soil moisture and temperature and to evaporation ; their 

 responses in rate of growth and reproduction, including the amount 

 and fertility of the seed supply and its means of distribution; latitude 

 of requirements as to seedbed conditions and climate during germina- 

 tion; susceptibility to frost, drought, and disease; and the capacity of 

 the species to produce sprouts. A thorough knowledge of the be- 

 havior of each species under different light conditions at different 

 periods in its life history and in the different habitats in which it is 

 found is also exceedingly important, both ecologically, as a factor in 

 aggressiveness, and, silviculturally, as a guide in determining the com- 

 position of the best mixture and the measures to be takeji to secure the 

 optimum growth. With this basic information in hand it will be possible 

 to map out lines of silvicultural procedure far in advance of the present 

 possibility of silviculture to put into use. 



Silviculture in the South must some time become intensive, resting 

 on the most systematic and carefully secured data. It is equally true, 

 however, that at this time, when the Forest Service is inaugurating a 

 timber-sale policy in the southern Appalachians, some immediate basis 

 is necessary and must be formulated before cutting methods are put 

 into effect. These two needs indicate two distinct methods of procedure. 

 One is a long-time, intensive investigation of the factors affecting 

 natural reproduction, accompanied by more or less empirical experi- 

 ments. It gets its facts by measuring and experimenting with the 

 known factors of the problems selected for study, and can be pursued 

 to best advantage from experiment stations. The facts thus accumu- 

 lated form the subject matter from which the laws of behavior of 

 species and mixtures under given conditions of site and silvicultural 

 treatment can be formulated. To reach these results entails much time 

 and equipment, and trained investigators must be employed capable 

 of grasping the essentials of the problems and of formulating and 

 interpreting the facts and laws which can be reliably used as a basis 

 for practice. 



The other method consists of extensive, short-time series of ob- 

 servations of the effects of past cuttings with reference to reproduction. 

 Superficial in a great many respects, it still supplies a means of "getting 

 somewhere at once." It might be called an "ecological reconnaissance," 

 but one which may supply just the data needed to build up an im- 

 mediate, general silvicultural poHcy for the present handling of these 

 hardwood timberlands. Such a study cannot yield very many or ver\- 



