\4 ; {:\ I MISSOURI AGR. EXP. STA. RESEARCH BULLETIN 41 



~ ; i&6re" r&pidly than white oak during the first century. The ratio 

 of their growths depends on the age at which comparison is made. 

 At 100 years the white oak is 10 inches in diameter, 52 feet high 

 and has a volume of 13 cubic feet, while the black oak is 15 inches 

 in diameter and 66 feet high with a volume of 37 cubic feet. A 

 comparison of the growth of black oak and white oak with the 

 same or related species in the mixed hardwood forests of Kentucky 

 and Tennessee indicates that white oak grows more slowly and 

 black oak more rapidly in Missouri. 



The growth of post oak and black jack oak is slower too 

 slow to warrant favoring either of them in the future forests of 

 the Ozarks. Black jack has neither silvicultural value nor wood 

 quality to recommend it while the desirable features of the post 

 oak appear to be adequately filled by the white oak. The data col- 

 lected for this report does not warrant a comparative study of the 

 black oak, red oak, Texan oak, and Spanish oak and these are 

 grouped as one species. It remains for later investigations to fur- 

 nish material for this comparison. 



There are approximately seven million acres of land in the 

 Ozark Region of Missouri that are better adapted to the growth 

 of timber than to the growth of any other crop. Among the 

 different kinds of soil, that known as Clarksville stony loam covers 

 large areas and is found in all parts of the Ozark Region. It nat- 

 urally varies considerably and while there are many acres of this 

 type that may be cultivated, at least a corresponding area of other 

 types cannot be farmed with profit. Wherever the ground is 

 too rough or too rocky or too poor for cultivation it would better 

 be kept in timber. Trees will grow there and cattle can graze on 

 the forage produced in the forest as it approaches maturity. 



FOREST SOIL THE CLARKSVILLE STONY LOAM 



Appearance and Composition. The typical forest soil of the 

 Ozark Region of Missouri is Clarksville stony loam. "In its gen- 

 eral characteristics Clarksville stony loam is a gray, very stony 

 silt loam with a gray or pale yellowish stony, silty clay subsoil. 

 The fine material of the lower subsoil is usually reddish brown in 



color and a clay in texture From 25 to 90 percent of the soil 



mass consists of chert fragments ranging in size from small par- 

 ticles to pieces several feet in diameter. Sometimes the surface is 

 so thickly strewn with these fragments as to form almost a com- 

 plete covering. In the subsoil of the very stony areas the chert 



