1923] Research Program of Forest Experiment Station 73 



a committee of the Southern Appalachian section of the Society of 

 American Foresters. A preliminary study of forest sites has been 

 made by the Forest Service, and a scheme for measuring the qualities 

 of sites by the height growth of dominant trees of certain Appa- 

 lachian hardwood species has been devised. 



Forest succession and the factors responsible for forest types are 

 subjects of interest to both the ecologist and the forester. An under- 

 standing of them is essential to the best management of the forest and 

 cooperation with ecologists in the study of these factors will be wel- 

 comed by the Appalachian Station. 



Tree studies. The object of silviculture is to produce stands of 

 rapid-growing and intrinsically valuable species. This requires knowl- 

 edge of the life habits, reproductive capacities, rate of growth, soil 

 and moisture requirements, susceptibility to and protection from in- 

 juries, and other characteristics of a great number of tree species. The 

 vast field thus presented for work at the station has barely been en- 

 tered. Studies of yellow poplar (Liriodendron tuUpifera) and south- 

 ern white cedar {Charnaecijpans thyoides) are now being made. 



Forest protection. Under this heading are included investigations 

 of sources of damage to the forest, such as fire, insects, live stock, 

 fungi, and weather. Fire is of course the most important source of 

 loss, and two projects are now being undertaken, one to determine 

 the nature and amount of damage under different conditions, the 

 other to discover an effective means of forecasting periods of special 

 fire hazard. Promising results in both studies are being secured. A 

 study of the amount and importance of grazing damage in reproducing 

 stands is also being made. Fungi and insects have not yet been dealt 

 with, but cooperative work on these will undoubtedly form a part of 

 the station's future activities. 



Forest influences. The relation of forests and other vegetative 

 cover to the run-off" of streams, to erosion, to the climate of the region 

 in which they are located, and the effect of forest cover and attendant 

 organisms upon the physical condition of the soil are subjects upon 

 which no work has yet been done by the station. Within a short time 

 studies of the more practical phases will likely be called for, such as 

 the effects of the removal of forest cover upon erosion and the silting 

 up of reservoirs. The study of less immediately applicable phases 

 will probably have to be postponed indefinitely. 



