20 CHESTNUT IN TENNESSEE. 



sity of leaving seed trees of this species in those places where it is 

 necessary to restock with seedlings. 



Culling consists in cutting the larger trees and leaving the 

 smaller ones to grow. Its practice is based on the theory that small 

 trees growing near or beneath large trees will recuperate after the 

 cutting of the larger trees and make accelerated growth. This is 

 by no means invariably the case, and when such small trees have 

 passed through a protected period of suppression their rate of 

 growth is permanently impaired. If suppression is not of too long 

 duration more than 35 years and if the trees are growing in 

 good soil, they will recover. Their rate of height growth, however, 

 will not be so rapid and their rate of diameter growth will seldom 

 equal that of trees which have grown thriftily from the first. Cull- 

 ing must be relied upon chiefly in cutting forests which can not be 

 thinned, and where there is no market for small wood. It enables 

 moderate cuttings of large timber to be made at comparatively 

 short intervals 15 to 25 years but it fails to develop the max- 

 imum increment. It is suited particularly to seedling stands, since 

 the partial light is unfavorable for the growth of sprouts, but very 

 favorable for the early growth of seedlings. It is the method which 

 must be used in managing a great portion of the mountain forests 

 of large and old chestnut which are cut to a diameter limit. It is 

 desirable to fix a diameter limit, but this, however, should not 

 always be closely adhered to. In some cases it should be used in the 

 nature of a general guide to the cutting limit. Where only saw- 

 timber can be taken, and many large, unsound trees are left, a diam- 

 eter limit for chestnut of 18 inches is not too high. When poles and 

 ties can be cut the limit can be lowered to 14 inches. 



UNEVEN- AGED STANDS. 



The situation of a forest in reference to transportation facilities, 

 the possibility of close utilization, and the rapidity of growth deter- 

 mine the method of management and consequently the character of 

 the cutting. 



Tracts so inaccessible that there is no present or prospective 

 market for small material should be managed primarily for saw- 

 timber, which can stand a higher cost of logging and transporta- 

 tion. In cutting old timber on tracts which are to be managed pri- 

 marily for sawtimber, the trees should be cut to a diameter of not 

 less than 18 inches breast high on good sites and 14 inches on poor 



