38 SHORTLEAF PINE IN VIRGINIA 



those which have short and knotty stems. Such as have very 

 slender clean stems and good crowns should be left, but enough 

 of the largest trees should be taken to open the crown cover one- 

 third. Such a cutting might remove one-tenth of the total num- 

 ber of trees but more than one-half of the saw log volume of the 

 stand. At the second cutting not only should most of the trees 

 which have grown to merchantable size be removed, but also such 

 of the smaller stunted trees as have shown no indication of thrift 

 since the first cutting. The trees which are left should be choice 

 clean-stemmed specimens with medium sized, but thrifty crowns. 

 They can be left at the rate of ten to twenty to the acre. Such 

 trees as have weak stems which would be likely to be bowed or 

 broken by wind or sleet should not be left. Thickets of high 

 shrubs and broadleaf trees should be cut. It is probable that by 

 the time of the second cutting groups of young seedlings, about 

 one foot in height, will have appeared beneath the openings made 

 by the first cutting. Seed from the trees which are left after the 

 second cutting will complete the restocking. Two courses can be 

 followed in regard to the trees which are left after the second 

 cutting. Either they can be removed after thorough seedling es- 

 tablishment is assured, or they can be held over and cut at some 

 thinning period of the young stand. If trees with fifty feet of 

 clear length and diameters of from ten to twelve inches are left 

 after the second cutting and are held until they are twenty to 

 twenty-four inches in diameter their stumpage value will increase 

 from three to five times. This increase in value will be due en- 

 tirely to the greater size of the logs, which will yield a high grade 

 of lumber and can be sawn with small waste. (See Tables 16 and 

 18 and Plate II, Fig. 1). 



No method of cutting a crowded unthinned stand, however, 

 will give as great a yield in board feet per acre, or will produce 

 logs of as high a grade, as can be obtained from a well-thinned 

 stand. 



PLANTING WASTE LAND 



On many farms in middle Virginia there are tracts of gullied, 

 or shallow soiled or rocky, or other poor or waste land which are 

 either without a growth of pine or are stocking extremely slowly 

 and irregularly. Shortleaf pine could be planted profitably on 

 such tracts. The sound seed of this pine sprout so freely, and the 

 growth of the young seedling is so rapid, that direct seeding ran 



