14 



Range and Habit of Growth. The cottonwood is found 

 growing naturally through the southern Mississippi valley 

 region. It is found in great abundance along the watercourses 

 and on low, rather wet soils, growing in mixture with hard- 

 wood species. The cottonwood requires full sunlight for 

 its best growth. On account of the sparseness of its foliage it 

 is a tree that will allow underplanting of some of the more 

 tolerant species, such as the red cedar, mulberry, white or bur 

 oak. The cottonwood will grow successfully in any soil in 

 which thero is an abundance of moisture, but it makes its best 

 growth in deep, rich soils. Under these conditions the trees 

 make a very rapid height growth, clearing themselves of 



FIG. 170 Lumber cut from cottonwood logs from a planted farm woodlot in 

 Reno county, Kansas. 



limbs readily, and at twenty years of age will have practically 

 attained their height, which will vary from 75 to 100 feet, 

 depending upon the strength of the soil. From this time on 

 the rate of growth in diameter is quite rapid, until the trees 

 are from thirty-five to forty-five years of age. At twenty 

 years of age some sawlogs can be cut from the stand, but the 

 majority of the trees will not reach merchantable size until 

 thirty years of age. The maximum yield is attained when the 

 trees are about forty years of age. The following growth and 

 yield table for cottonwood is taken from Bulletin 24 of the U. 

 S. Department of Agriculture. The data from which this 

 table was compiled was gathered from 1950 saw mills located 

 throughout the Mississippi valley region. 



