INVESTIGATIONS OF THE ROTTING OF SLASH IN ARKANSAS. 7 



tity of the brush thus situated, little of it is attacked by the ground 

 fungi, and the benefits thereby derived are correspondingly slight. 



At the end of five to six years all of the brush (twigs and small 

 branches) which was scattered will have rotted, and much of it will 

 have disappeared. It was also no uncommon thing to find partially 

 rotted brush, whether piled, scattered, or lopped, attacked by white 

 ants (termites) and the partially rotted wood replaced to some extent 

 by dirt. 



BLACK-OAK AND POST-OAK SLASH. 



Black-oak and post-oak slash was attacked by practically the same 

 fungi which rot the white oak; however, but little of this type of 

 slash was seen. The twigs and small branches of the black oak in 

 most of the cases examined seemed to rot somewhat more slowly 

 than white-oak slash of the same character, while the post-oak slash 

 seemed to rot with about the same rapidity as the white oak. 



Polyporus cinnabarinus was occasionally found rotting the large 

 limbs and boles of the black oak, while the small twigs and limbs of 

 the post-oak slash were sometimes attacked by Schizophyllum com- 

 mune, and cull logs and stumps were occasionally attacked by 

 Lentinus lecomtei. Stereum ochraceo-flavum was the principal 

 fungus found rotting fire-killed oak bushes 2 inches or less in diam- 

 eter, while Polystictus pergamenus was the fungus usually found 

 attacking fire-killed trees and fire-killed areas on standing living 

 trees of all species of oak. 



SHORTLEAF-PINE SLASH. 



Shortleaf-pine slash was examined on areas which had been logged 

 from two to nine years. 



FUNGI WHICH ROT THE SLASH. 



Two main fungi were found rotting the shortleaf-pine slash. One 

 begins work in the ends of the small branches and works downward 

 toward the trunk. This is usually Lenzites sepiaria, a dry-rot organ- 

 ism prevalent throughout the United States. This fungus has never 

 been found by the writer attacking slash which was not exposed to 

 the direct rays of the sun. 



The second fungus enters the cull logs, boles of the tree tops, and 

 branches 2 inches or more in diameter. It is what the writer pre- 

 viously has called the " white-fir fungus " (Polystictus abietinus) - 1 

 It is a sap-rotting organism and usually rots but little, if any, of the 

 heartwood. 



1 Long, W. H. A new aspect of brush disposal in Arizona and New Mexico. In Proc. 

 Soc. Amer. Foresters, v. 10, no. 4, p. 383-398. 1915. 



