SHORTLEAF PINE IN VIRGINIA 19 



200 trees five inches and larger could be cut to the acre. These 

 should yield about ten cords of wood, of which the material above 

 nine inches might be sawed into about 500 board feet of lumber. 

 About 900 trees should be left to the acre. A thinning in a twenty- 

 year-old stand should yield much less, and one in a stand more 

 tnan twenty-five years old should yield more and leave fewer trees, 

 per acre. At these ages trees are making very rapid growth, and 

 the branches of the crowns are sharpiy ascending, so that com- 

 paratively large openings are more quickly covered than in older 

 stands. For this reason thinnings at this period present no seri- 

 our difficulties, but it is desirable even in making a thinning at 

 this age to have in view the trees which are to form the final 

 stand and these should be the tree with very slender and clean 

 stems, that will yield several logs, and from which lumber can be 

 sawed free or nearly free from any except small knots. For the 

 relative value of these trees compared with the larger dominant 

 trees in a stand, see table 16. (Plate I). 



Large Pole Stands (From Thirty to Forty Years Old). All 

 trees below six inches, most of the six-inch trees, and some of the 

 seven and eight-inch trees, should be removed from a normal 

 thirty-five-year-old stand. If no previous thinning has been made,, 

 not less than 200 trees could be cut, many of which would, how- 

 ever, be five inches or less in diameter. If a thinning has previ- 

 ously been made, there would be. fewr trees to come out. A first 

 thinning at this time should yield from fourteen to seventeen 

 cords to the acre. Fewer trees are removed than in thinnings in 

 ycunger stands, and greater judgment must be used in making 

 selections. The method of cutting in strips can be economically 

 used only by farmers who either do their own logging or who can 

 personally superintend it. (Plate IV). 



Mature Stands (From Forty to Fifty Years Old].\i a stand 

 of this age has been previously thinned, about ninety trees to the 

 acre would be available for removal, comprising a few six-inch 

 trees which could not have been removed earlier without making 

 undue openings in the crown cover, many seven-inch and eight- 

 inch trees, and some nine-inch trees. If it were a crowded stand, 

 not previously thinned, from 100 to 200 trees to the acre might be 

 taken out, with a yield of not less than ten cords of wood per 

 acre. However, unless the stumpage value of trees from fourteen 

 to sixteen inches in diameter is greater than that of trees from 

 twelve to fourteen inches, a size which the trees reach when about 



