1923] Research Program of Forest Experiment Station 75 



upon to furnish the data necessary to transform the generally culled, 

 fire damaged, poorly stocked forests of the Southern Appalachians 

 into a working stand of thrifty, actively producing second-growth. 



The studies of natural reproduction and methods of cutting are 

 especially dependent upon a knowledge of the physical and biological 

 factors of the environment and of the characteristics and requirements 

 -of the various tree species. Until this knowledge is at hand, the in- 

 vestigation must be, to a greater or less extent, empirical. Two pro- 

 jects are now under way, one a study of natural reproduction on cut- 

 over and burned lands in the spruce type, the other a study of repro- 

 duction in the hardwood types following different methods of cutting. 

 Work on the latter study will be centered, for the present, upon 

 permanent sample plots, which will be established on areas on which 

 logging is in progress. In these plots different cutting methods wiU 

 be practiced, and records will be kept of the progress of the succeed- 

 ing reproduction by means of numerous small quadrats. Such experi- 

 ments will involve repeated observations extended over a period of 

 years. The results will not be wholly conclusive because of our ignor- 

 ance at the present time of the relative significance of the several 

 factors which will affect them. Some results of value are practically 

 assured, however, and it is within the bounds of possibility that data 

 secured meanwhile in the studies of species and of the environmental 

 factors will furnish the means of correctly interpreting the sample 

 plot results. In this, as in other lines of forest research, the assistance 

 of ecologists and plant physiologists may be of the greatest benefit. 



To carry out the program thus briefly outlined the Appalachian 

 Station, with its small staff and its large field of operations, cannot 

 depend entirely upon its own efforts. It must have the cooperation 

 and the counsel of interested and progressive men in the sciences as 

 well as in the industries which are represented in the region. To 

 this end the station would like nothing better than to enlist the interest 

 and, to the extent of its facilities, the active participation of those 

 members of the Academy who are engaged in related lines of work. 



ASHEVILLE, N. C. 



