32 



BULLETIN No. 82. 



CONTENTS OF SECOND GROWTH YELLOW POPLAR IN BOARD 



FEET BY THE SCRIBNER LOG RULE. 



Fairfax County, Virginia. 



This table was prepared by W. W. Ashe. 



Sweet Gum 



This species is found in wet situations all over the State, but oc- 

 curs most abundantly in the gum swamps of the Coastal Plain region 

 where it is decidedly a prevailing species. (See figure 3.) Trees un- 

 der 10 inches in diameter are of little value for anything, not even for 

 fuel, though lately gum is beginning to be substituted for tulip poplai 

 for pulpwood. Trees 10 inches and up bring excellent prices in Dela- 

 ware for veneering purposes, as gum is the chief species used for straw- 

 berry boxes and peach baskets. The species reproduces itself fairly 

 well both from seed and by sprouts after clear cutting ; it always de- 

 mands full sunlight for its best reproduction and development. As a 

 tree for commercial timber growing it is fair, but not in the same class 

 with loblolly pine and tulip poplar, and where artificial reproduction 

 is to be resorted to one of these more valuable species should be used. 

 However, wherever sweet gum grows naturally as in gum swamps, it is 

 a profitable species to allow to grow to merchantable size. The follow- 

 ing table indicates the rate of growth in diameter of dominant sweet 



