CHESTNUT IN TENNESSEE: 



35 



stands are thinned, the yield can probably be doubled in the same 

 time. For these reasons chestnut is one of the most promising 

 trees for forest management. 



To obtain the best yields from chestnut stands, protection from 

 fire is absolutely necessary, because the trees, and particularly the 

 young trees, are extremely sensitive to fire injury. It is also neces- 

 sary to protect young stands from cattle, since considerable damage 

 results from browsing the foliage and young shoots.. 



In order to develop the maximum producing value of the forest, 

 different methods of cutting should be used in different types and 

 classes of forest. Large sawtimber should be grown only in the 

 coves and on other good situations. Inaccessible old stands which 

 can be used only for lumber should be cut to a relatively low diame- 

 ter limit (16 inches) , the large, unsound trees being left for possible 

 future cutting for extract wood and for seed trees, and the smaller 

 trees for increase in growth. Seedling stands are desirable and 

 would be encouraged by this method of cutting. When extract wood 

 can be sold, old stands on good soils should be cut to about the same 

 diameter limit, if the production of sawtimber is the chief object 

 of management, but all of the large, old defective trees should be 

 removed for extract wood. On the ridges old timber should be cut 

 for extract wood to a diameter of 8 or 10 inches, with the object of 

 obtaining even-aged sprout stands which on such sites will give in 

 a short rotation a higher yield than seedling stands, because of the 

 more rapid growth of sprouts than seedlings when young. When 

 there is no market for extract wood, and only sawtimber can be 

 exploited, chestnut on the ridges can be cut to a diameter of 14 

 inches breast high, which would permit a second profitable cutting 

 to be made within 15 years. 



Even-aged, second-growth sprout and seedling stands, such as 

 occur on farms, and on old charcoal cuttings, should be cut clean in 

 not more than three cuttings, made at intervals of from 5 to 10 

 years, in order to replace the stands by even-aged sprout stands. 

 The yield of such stands, in ties, poles, and lumber, and even in cord- 

 wood, can be greatly increased by thinning the stands while young, 

 at regular intervals, removing the large crooked and forked trees 

 and the tall, slender trees with narrow or one-sided crowns, and 

 leaving the larger best-formed trees for the mature stand. 



