242 THE FORESTS OF PRINCE GEORGE S COUNTY 



the reason that if the wood is thick enough (full J stocked) there 

 will not be sufficient light for grass to grow, hence little feed for 

 cattle. On the other hand if the wood is open enough to permit 

 grass to grow, it is usually because the young trees have been killed 

 out by the browsing of cattle, hence poorly stocked and producing 

 little growth. If the wood is to be thickened up by young growth 

 to produce a full yield, cattle must be excluded to give the seedlings 

 a chance to start. In other words, it is out of the question to expect 

 the woodlot to furnish pasturage and at the same time grow a full 

 crop of timber. The killing of young growth is not the only damage. 



DESTRUCTIVE METHODS OF CUTTING. 



Owing to the former low prices of standing timber it was not profit- 

 able to cut any but the best trees and hence, for 50 years or more, 

 there has been a repeated culling of the forest. At first the best of 

 the walnut, cherry, and poplar that Avas most accessible was cut, 

 then, as timber prices advanced, and logging appliances were 

 improved, new areas were invaded and the best of the white oak was 

 gotten out. Later the same tracts were given over to logging opera- 

 tions in which all good timber was cut out by portable mills. With 

 the advent of tie cutters and buyers of telephone and telegraph poles 

 even the smaller oaks and chestnuts have been culled from most of 

 the stands. With the constant cutting of the valuable species the 

 forest has largely changed from one in which the desirable kinds of 

 trees formed the principal stand to one in which such trees have 

 been supplanted largely by inferior ones. In other words the cut- 

 ting was for immediate returns and little or no attempt was made to 

 suppress the undesirable species and to encourage the desirable ones 

 in the future growth. Cheap timber led to extravagant waste, so 

 that after logging operations were over, the ground was strewn with 

 big tree tops and brush so that the fires, which usually followed sucli 

 operations, were so intense as to complete the destruction of the 

 stand. 



