36 PKELIMINAKY STUDY OF 



The very limited area that can be used as wood lots should b 

 made to yield as many posts and other farm timbers as possible 

 The principal problems connected with wood-lot management ar 

 similar to those that have already been mentioned for the Valle; 

 of East Tennessee and the Highland Rim. In many cases it may b 

 necessary to plant young trees in order to secure a full growing 

 stock. The natural locust groves may often be made more pro 

 ductive by judicious thinning. There should be a good profit ii 

 growing red cedar on stony hill sides that are not of much value f o: 

 other purposes, since fence posts can probably be grown in opei 

 stands in twenty-five years. Information on methods of manage 

 ment of red cedar for pencil wood may be obtained from Circula 

 102 of the United States Forest Service. 



WEST TENNESSEE PLATEAU AND BOTTOM LANDS. 



The management of farm w r ood lots is the chief problem of th< 

 uplands here, as in the other agricultural districts. Also the prob 

 lem of the best use of land presents itself in another form. In thi: 

 case woodland is being unwisely cleared by negro farmers in orde: 

 to secure fresh land for cotton. Since the soil is compact and ther< 

 is a strong tendency to form gullies even on moderate slopes, con 

 siderable land which should be retained in forest is ruined in this 

 way. 



As the bottom lands are drained and protected, the forests ther< 

 will eventually be reduced to small farm wood lots in the lowest am 

 poorest situations. Since this drainage work goes on slowly, it wil 

 be possible on many tracts to obtain one or several crops of timbe] 

 before it is completed, especially as most of the bottom-land trees 

 are very rapid growers. In order to obtain the greatest incremen 

 in both volume and quality on such forest lands, it is necessary ir 

 the original cutting to use a higher diameter limit than if no future 

 cutting were in view. Also it is often possible in the case of dense 

 stands of moderate-sized trees to thin them out in the first cutting 

 thereby stimulating greatly the growth of those that remain anc 

 procuring large timber for the next cutting. Cottonwood is espe 

 cially adapted to such treatment. It is also wise to remove old 

 decadent trees that take up a great deal of room and hinder th* 

 development of young poles and saplings, even if there is no profil 

 in handling them. One company has adopted this policy of con- 

 servative cutting, using a diameter limit of 24 inches on the stump 

 for gum, but such far-sighted methods are not general. Of course 



