CHESTNUT IN TENNESSEE. 



19 



Table 3 : Number of trees and yield in lumber or ties per acre, 

 of unthinned and thinned stands in similar situations. 



Unthinned Stands. 



Yield Per Acre. 



Thinned Stands. 



Yield Per Acre. 



Cutting and Culling A comparison of even-aged, second- 

 growth stands which have followed clean cutting for charcoal, with 

 second-growth stands of mixed age which have followed cullings, 

 shows the straightest and thriftiest timber on the areas which were 

 clean cut. The competition between trees of the same height on the 

 clean-cut lands is mutually beneficial, resulting in long, straight 

 stems with low taper. In the mixed-aged stands, on the other hand, 

 there are many trees with short, crooked stems and long, wide- 

 spreading crowns, the result of a long period of suppression. 



While clean cutting is by no means possible at the present time 

 in the great majority of lumbering operations, it is the ideal method 

 of cutting chestnut, and should be approximated whenever the mar- 

 ket will justify it, and when the cut-over land can be protected from 

 fire. When the land has not been grazed and there have been no 

 fires t^ere will invariably be found beneath the old trees an abund- 

 ance of small seedling chestnuts. This will often obviate the neces- 



