APPLICATION OF METHODS 



229 



becomes an expensive method of protection when repeated 

 at short intervals. 



With longleaf pine in the southern United States it is pos- 

 sible that hght burning may be applicable. Longleaf is so 

 fire resistant, reproducing often in spite of fire, and grows on 

 sites relatively so free from injury by fire in a region where 

 the total suppression of surface fires is extremely difficult 

 that it is an open question whether light burning cannot be 

 employed to advantage. 



/ 



Application of Slash Disposal Methods under Various 

 Kinds of Cuttings 



Reproduction Cuttings. — Cutting under the ' Clearcutting 

 Method. This is one of the few cuttings with which 

 broadcast burning can be employed. There are no trees 

 left on the felling area to be injured in the fire. Slash is 

 heavy after a clearcutting, in some cases lying several feet 

 deep over the greater part of the area, and consequently 

 expensive to handle. Ordinarily a clearcutting method is 

 not used unless the species desired in the new stand reproduces 

 well on a bare site free of underbrush and litter. Taking all 

 these effects into consideration, broadcast burning frequently 

 is seen to be the cheapest and most satisfactory method of 

 slash disposal. Conditions may be such that it is unsafe to 

 burn broadcast or is not in harmony with the silvical require- 

 ments, whereas a piling and burning method might be used. 

 If broadcast burning is not used a piUng method is employed. 

 Of the piling methods piling and burning as the logging pro- 

 ceeds is preferable. Pihng and burning later would be chosen 

 only when climatic conditions made it unsafe to burn during 

 the logging operation. 



Piling without burning is undesirable on a clearcut area 

 because so much room is Hkely to be taken by the piles. 



