26 CHESTNUT IN TENNESSEE. 



Cordwood stands should be cut clean, except for seedlings or 

 seedling sprouts of sapling size, which can form a part of the suc- 

 ceeding crop. The best quality sites can probably be utilized more 

 profitably for growing larger timber for ties, poles, and sawlogs. 

 The poorer sites can be most advantageously used for cordwood on 

 account of the generally poor growing conditions. 



Mixed stands which contain only a small proportion of chestnut 

 cannot be profitably managed exclusively for extract cordwood, 

 unless other species can be cut simultaneously with the chestnut 

 for cordwood, or unless the chestnut occurs in large, pure groups 

 scattered through the forest. This would apply to the larger por- 

 tion of the mixed oak and chestnut forest of the Highland Rim and 

 farther west. If single, scattered trees of chestnut are cut in such 

 mixed stands there will frequently be insufficient light for the 

 growth of the sprouts, and this would ultimately result in a great 

 decrease in the proportion of chestnut in the forest. 



Many second-growth stands on good soils contain a variable pro- 

 portion of yellow poplar, ash, white pine, and red oak, which are 

 too small to be very valuable for sawtimber at the age when chestnut 

 is best suited for cordwood, or even for ties or poles. Well-formed 

 trees of these species, particularly the ones with slender stems, 

 might be left. They would interfere very little with the reproduction 

 of the chestnut sprouts, and would increase rapidly in diameter. 

 They would make extremely large and valuable sawlogs by the time 

 the next stand of chestnut sprouts was ready to be cut. 



Pole Ties -At the present time chestnut ties are not cut exten- 

 sively in Tennessee, oak timber suitable for ties being still abundant 

 and comparatively cheap. The use of chestnut ties, however, is 

 increasing so rapidly that chestnut can be regarded as a standard tie 

 wood in Tennessee, as it has already become in many States farther 

 north. In Eastern Tennessee chestnut is cut only into pole ties 7 by 

 9 inches by 8.5 feet long. Smce the ties are hewed and the logs are 

 rarely split, there is considerable waste in the larger logs from the 

 lower part of trees more than 16 inches in diameter. There is also 

 a large waste in small trees in the unused length of stem in the top. 

 (See Table 6.) A 7 by 9-inch tie, 8.5 feet long, contains 3.7 cubic 

 feet of solid wood if it is sawed. The hewed ties contain more 

 wood than this, probably as much as 4.5 cubic feet, on an average. 

 Trees which yield ties with the least waste are those from 14 to 16 

 inches in diameter. In trees below 13 inches, and in those above 



