Planting a Small Southern Woodland 



213 



his own observations, from the for- 

 ester, and from others, and reach his 

 own conclusions. 



SPACING s vary from as close as 3 by 

 3 feet to 10 by 10 feet, and even wider. 



Narrower spacings, say 5 by 5 feet 

 and closer, are usually intended for 

 erosion-control purposes or Christmas- 

 tree culture. The primary objective is 

 to get the ground protected from rain 

 and washing as soon as practicable. 



Intermediate spacings, 6 by 6 feet 

 to 8 by 8 feet, are primarily for timber 

 production. 



Wide spacings, 10 by 10 feet and 

 wider, are sometimes used for the pro- 

 duction of naval stores. 



Close spacings grow more wood per 

 unit of area than wide spacings because 

 trees use the soil moisture and sunlight 

 more completely. 



C. H. Coulter, the State forester of 

 Florida, reported a growth of 34.8 

 cords to the acre on a 13 -year-old slash 

 pine plantation spaced 8 by 8 feet, and 

 20.2 cords for one planted 12 by 12. 



Closely planted trees, however, must 

 be kept thinned so as to retain a third 

 or more of the length of the stem in 

 green crown; otherwise, the produc- 

 tion of wood will slow down. Many 

 planters who desire to grow wood prod- 

 ucts space the trees so that the first 

 thinning will be made when a sub- 

 stantial proportion of the trees reach 

 the size for the product desired. Thus 

 an owner in the South who plans to 

 make his first thinning for a pulpwood 

 market might plant on a 6- by 6-foot 

 spacing or thereabouts. His first thin- 

 ning would be made at the end of 15 

 to 25 years, depending on the soil. 



Men of the Forest Service planted 

 2 acres on an abandoned field on the 

 Apalachicola National Forest in Flor- 

 ida on a 6- by 6-foot spacing using 3- 

 year-old wild slash pine seedlings. Pulp- 

 wood was the first in the series of 

 expected products. Exceptionally rapid 

 growth made it necessary to thin the 

 planted stand 11 years after planting. 

 The cut on a selective basis removed 16 

 cords an acre and left 22 cords an acre. 



Numerous plantings at that spacing 

 have been thinned profitably at 15 and 

 20 years of age. 



An owner who plans to make his 

 first thinning for saw timber would 

 choose a wider spacing, say 8 by 8 

 feet, and expect to thin at 30 to 40 

 years. The first sawlogs from planted 

 stands in the South have not yet been 

 cut, although Jim Fowler, M. L. Shaw, 

 and others have some trees of sawlog 

 size in stands 20 years of age. 



A naval stores operator who plants 

 slash or longleaf pine might prefer a 

 wide spacing so as to produce long, 

 large, green crowns for the maximum 

 production of gum. C. W. Sinclair, of 

 Madison County, Fla., was able to 

 turpentine 90 trees an acre, all 9 inches 

 or larger in diameter, at 13 years on a 

 12- by 18-foot spacing. Most foresters 

 recommend a moderately close spacing 

 to assure fairly complete utilization of 

 the site and also to assure the natural 

 pruning of branches. The products 

 such as pulpwood, naval stores, poles, 

 and sawlogs would be harvested as they 

 became available. 



PLANTING ON LANDS that have been 

 cultivated is usually done without 

 special preparation of the planting site. 

 Plantings on cut-over forest land may 

 likewise be made without prior prep- 

 aration of the site, other than perhaps 

 burning off the accumulated grass, 

 weeds, and brush. Removal of such 

 trash exposes the bare soil and makes 

 the planting operations more conven- 

 ient. Competition for the young trees 

 is reduced, and the fire hazard is tem- 

 porarily eliminated. Loosening the soil 

 in cut-over forest land likewise aids 

 seedling growth. Seedlings almost in- 

 variably grow better in loosened soil 

 as evidenced by their growth along 

 road banks. Mr. Coulter found that 

 seedlings on an old field grew substan- 

 tially better than trees on adjacent un- 

 broken forest soil. Earl Porter, of the 

 International Paper Co., found that 

 woods soils, broken with a heavy 

 harrow 3 months before planting, pro- 

 duced trees that at the end of 4/ 2 years 



