CLEAR CUTTING OAK 71 



He must be far-sighted, since he cannot count on present demands. Gener- 

 ally speaking the world's industry demands more and more high forests 

 for timber and fewer coppice forests for fuel and minor products. 



HIGH FOREST SYSTEMS ^ 



Clear Cutting Oak. — In the valley of the Adour [70] above Dax the 

 pedunculate oak grows in areas subject to inundations and where agri- 

 culture is not feasible. It is practically pure, with rapid growth and a 

 remarkable longevity. These forests are celebrated for the enormous 

 quantity and quality of the oak wood which they produce and especially, 

 in former years, for the ship timber which was used when wooden battle- 

 ships were built. With such a warm climate the trees are prolific seed 

 producers. Abundant crops of seed are borne every year. On the other 

 hand, late frosts must be guarded against. These high forests are not 

 treated by any regular system since the fertility of the soil, coupled with 

 its depth and freshness, enables the trees to seed and the seedhng to live, 

 notwithstanding the overstory of old trees and notwithstanding the 

 underbrush; apparently the only danger is hog grazing, which does con- 

 siderable damage, but in this wet region the growth of shrubs and vines 

 is almost tropical in character and forms such a dense thicket that the 

 young seedlings are in pai't protected against such injury. It is interest- 

 ing to note that the seedlings, which in other parts of the country would 

 be suppressed by the underbrush, shoot up through the entanglements, 

 twisting their terminal shoots in the direction where there is most light. 

 This results in the production of rather crooked trees. [74] These ped- 

 unculate oak forests of the Adour are regenerated to-day very successfully 

 by a simple system. Taking for granted that there are always acorns ready 

 to germinate and that these will survive the cover of the old trees, the 

 old trees are clear cut in one felling. At the same time all the briars, un- 

 dergrowth, oak seedlings (damaged by exploitation or suppressed by 

 the cover) are cut level with the ground. The shoots from these very 

 young stumps have practically the same qualities as seedlings. Al- 

 most invariably this clear cutting will be followed by the development 

 of an incalculable number of young oaks which rapidly cover the soil 

 with a complete stand which in time develops into an oak high forest. 

 In the valley of the Adour the growth of the young oak is sufficiently 

 rapid so that cleanings are rarely necessary. Thinnings, on the con- 



^ Since the high forest systems are of paramount importance in the United States 

 their apphcation to typical species has been given in detail. 



Note. — The bracketed numbers refer to page references in La Foret, by Boppe, the 

 source of much of this material. 



