346 
latter size which had been injured beyond any hope of recovery. As can 
be seen from the final figures, 70% of the stand had been killed, reducing 
the living trees from 632 to 188 per acre. A quarter-acre stand examined 
under similar conditions, but unburned, showed that there were on it 200 
trees six inches and over in diameter, or 800 thrifty trees per acre. 
TABLE 11.—SHOWING FIRE DAMAGE ON 14-ACRE SAMPLE PLOT, BURNED IN 
1917, Section 8, Tr. 8 S., fas 4 W., NEAR AVA. 
sy rare Alive Dead 
White oak? 5.72 sc nts eee aon 16 26 
Blackioak. <a eine emer 8 28 
Dogwood) cj. maar sees oe 7 10 
Rersinimonen aaecemaerteari 1 0 
HLIGKOry::,:ctalea gd sel oyove te tae ees cans 3 6 
Sassafras bc ethos 6 18 
Blackigumn 3 a0 cscs one 2 14 
Mulberry 42.32% 2. Genesee ect a 1 
Wulip tree acres cece ¢ 2 
Belin tacss com pc eps case eae ac eae 1 1 
Cherry ones th ike tos Sone 3 1 
ASH ciao heen eae ee 4 
Motalsyck.ee kn eee eke 47 111 
Per cent killed, 70% 
Note.—The total number of seedlings and saplings ranging in diameter from 1 inch to 8 inches, was 158, 
or 632 per acre. The slope, exposed only in spots, was 30 degrees towards the north, ground grassy, with 
bare soil. Fire had resulted in a succession of sassafras, sumach, and grape-vines, with which the better 
species of seedlings would have to compete for light and growing space. 
EROSION 
Weller et al (20), in speaking of topography and farming in Hardin 
county, say that not over half the total acreage is under cultivation and 
that gullying has followed the abandonment of the land. Steep slopes 
made cultivation difficult and also favored the washing away of the soil 
whose upper layers at least had been enriched by the organic matter 
deposited by the growth of plants and trees. They believe that for the 
future good of the county, “it would be well if all cleared lands having 
slopes of more than 600 feet per mile were reforested.” 
It seems that, in Union county at least, a separation of lands into 
those which will gully and those which will not on the basis of slope alone 
will hardly hold, since we have found erosion to be very serious on some 
long, gentle slopes of not over 5% degrees, while other slopes of 23 de- 
grees have withstood clearing and pasturing without showing serious signs 
of erosion. There are other factors which must be considered, such as 
the character of the soil and subsoil, the maintaining of the humus con- 
tent of the soil by better methods of cropping, and the vigilance of the 
owner in filling up gullies as soon as they start. The disposition of gullied 
lands really brings up the question of an economic survey of such doubtful 
