386 Forestry Quarterly. 



for long-leaf have therefore a special value as indicating the 

 smallest returns that can be expected from growth on stands left 

 for a second cut. 



In deciding on the amount and kind of timber to leave stand- 

 ing, the owner may have in mind only the second crop. In this 

 case he will remove all his old timber and large sizes, leaving 

 only the smaller diameters, and might attempt the operation on 

 the basis of a diameter limit high enough to secure a reserve of 

 the size desired. But there are decided objections to this method, 

 even from the standpoint of the second crop. A diameter limit 

 ignores the two main factors which will give value to the second 

 crop — soundness and ability to grow. It also ignores the matter 

 of distribution or spacing of the trees left, upon which growth 

 in the next period largely depends, and it tends to leave large 

 blank areas which will not seed up, so that the seedling crop is 

 not fully secured. The results of cutting to a diameter limit must 

 therefore be very disappointing, and the value secured at the end 

 of twenty years must fall far below the results which might be 

 secured on the same area, leaving the same amount of timber 

 standing, provided an intelligent system of selection is used in 

 the first cutting. 



It is not generally realized that in many longleaf forests at least 

 one-fourth of the area is covered with thrifty, young timber 

 below 14 inches on the stump, ranging in size down to seedlings. 

 Measurements of sixteen 40-acre plots taken in stands which 

 averaged 9,500 feet showed 25 per cent., or ten acres for every 

 plot, fully stocked with young pines. How many timber owners 

 have any accurate knowledge of the area of virgin forests already 

 restocked with young growth, or any conception of its possible 

 future value? For lack of this knowledge it happens that most 

 of this young growth is frequently wiped out during logging, 

 when much of it might be saved if it was looked upon as having 

 a value. 



The mature timber, above 14 inches on the stump, is seldom 

 if ever even-aged. On the area of a forty usually are found 

 groups of overmature trees, or single trees, 25 to 40 inches in 

 diameter, in many cases decaying rapidly and bound to disappear 

 before long. Below these in size come a much larger number of 

 smaller and younger trees which make up the main stand, rang- 

 ing from 12 to 25 inches. The heights are equally variable, rang- 



