SYLVICULTURE 



L In a lack of one or the other age-class; 



2. In an abnormal number of constituents per class; 



3. In the fact, that the overwood is partially recruited from 

 stoolshoots and not from seedlings. 



Abnormal coppice over-standards is the usual consequence of the 

 culling of primeval hardwoods or of primeval pineries forming a 

 superstructure over Oaks, Hickories, Gums, etc. 



The burned slopes and outskirts of the Alleghanies usually belong 

 to the coppice-under-standard form. The fire-coppiced underwood 

 here consists of Soft Maple, Calmia, Rhododendron, Chestnut, Oaks, 

 Hickories, Black Gum, Sourwood, Halesia, etc., etc., all of which 

 are usually devoid of value. 



Culled and fired forest of Pinus echinata, taeda and palustris 

 frequently belong to the same form, with Oaks in the underwood and 

 the Pines in the overwood. 



Paragraph LXXIV. Pedagogy of coppice-under-standards forest. 



Coppice under standards is or may be tended by cleaning, weeding, 

 improvement cuttings, pruning and thinning. 



Thinnings are applied to the underwood only; whilst the over- 

 wood alone is the object of pruning. 



A. Cleaning purports to eliminate undesirable shoots in young 

 coppice, or removes desirable shoots liable to interfere with the 

 development of overwood seedlings imbedded in the coppice. 



B. \Veeding removes weed trees, usually tending to form new 

 sprouts from the stumps of the weed trees removed. Weeding is a 

 necessity where a culled forest is to be converted into a cultured 

 forest, the culled forest containing a large number of weed trees. 



At Biltmore, the weed trees removed are Black Gum over- 

 shadowing the coppice and the Pine seedlings standing therein; fire- 

 scalded Oaks or Hickories, bent and low crowned; wolfs of Yellow 

 Pine; pretentious Dogwoods or Halesias and so on. 



C. Improvement cuttings improve the prospects of the overwood, 

 remove undesirable members of the overwood and regulate the number 

 of the constituents forming an age-class of the overwood. "The 

 normal cuttings in the overwood are improvement cuttings." 



In semi-normal woods, the oldest class of the overwood is entirely 

 removed. Class II is reduced to the former membership of Class I; 

 Class III is reduced to the former membership of Class II, etc. It 

 stands to reason, that the least desirable members of a class should 

 be thus removed. In semi-normal woods, the improvement cuttings 

 take place at the time at which the underwood is ripe for coppicing. 

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