A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1477 



alone should be put under intensive forestry in the next 20 years. 

 Perhaps nearly 14 million additional acres in the oak-pine and oak- 

 chestnut-yellow poplar types should be so managed. In this region, 

 also, planting of denuded and abandoned land is likely to augment 

 greatly the total area to be put under intensive forestry. The total 

 may thus reach 40 million acres. This would be about 20 percent of 

 the commercial forest area in the territory, which embraces parts or 

 all of the following States: The Virginias, the Carolinas, Georgia, 

 Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and 

 Oklahoma. 



The land has such high potential production and is economically so 

 well situated that much of it is suitable for intensive forest manage- 

 ment under private ownership; but little of it is now so managed. 



In the longleaf -slash pine type, the usual object of management 

 will be the dual production of naval stores on a continuous basis and 

 wood products to be harvested in intermediate and final cuttings. 

 To attain normal stocking of each property for sustained yield it 

 may be necessary to enlarge the tract by acquisition, to plant the 

 nonforested portion, merely to make well-timed cuttings, or to 

 combine these practices. The operations will consist of (1) thinning 

 overstocked stands, whether planted or natural, getting as much 

 turpentine as possible from the trees to be cut in the years just prior to 

 removal, (2) turpentining the remaining stand by conservative 

 methods, (3) protecting against fire and hogs, and (4) harvesting the 

 worked-out trees and restocking the land either naturally or by 

 planting. Prevention of uncontrolled fire is essential to full pro- 

 duction. Such forestry on the better sites is expected to yield a net 

 annual revenue of $3 to $5 an acre. 



In this type thinning has three objects: First, production of high- 

 quality wood for structural and other purposes; second, promotion 

 of the maximum quantity growth of desired forest products; and 

 third, production of naval stores. On many areas all purposes will 

 be attained. Wli ere wood quality is principally desired, the effort 

 will be to obtain dense wood, or wood with a relatively uniform 

 number of rings per inch, on trees of good form and height. Where 

 naval stores production is the main object good management will 

 dictate wide spacing to obtain rapid diameter growth and wide crowns, 

 as such trees have a high gum yield. This latter plan is being followed 

 to some extent on the Osceola National Forest, Fla. 



In localities where hardwoods grow in mixture with the pines, it 

 will be desirable to control the hardwoods so as to encourage a larger 

 proportion of pine. 



Although slash pine can and does become established on longleaf 

 sites, it is not yet known whether it will persist through a rotation. 

 In order to insure a permanent forest on such sites it may be best to 

 encourage the longleaf in its early years. This may possibly mean the 

 use of carefully controlled fires and the exclusion of hogs. 



In the shortleaf-loblolly-hardwood type the management procedure, 

 in addition to prevention of fire, will be (1) thinning and improve- 

 ment cuttings to remove wolf hardwoods and break up overcrowded 

 groups of small trees, and (2) selective cuttings at intervals of about 

 10 years, removing pine and oak down to a diameter limit of about 

 17 inches. Regeneration in the openings made in the overstory by 

 the periodic cuttings should be effected by natural means, without 



