﻿38 BULLETIN 11, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



but the amount of seed sown in the drills should be reduced one-half, 

 so that the seedlings will have more room in which to grow. Or, 

 instead, the seed might be evenly and thinly broadcasted over the 

 seed bed. 



Growing Plant Stock on a Small Scale. 



For the farmer who wishes to grow planting stock on a small scale 

 the elaborate bed and its care, while the surest of success, is not 

 altogether necessary. He can more easily establish a single row of 

 seedlings in a fertile, well-drained section of his vegetable garden, 

 cultivating and tending them as he would a crop of peas or beans, 

 and without screening. 



THINNINGS IN UNIFORM STANDS. 



The returns possible from intermediate cuttings, or thinnings, of 

 well-stocked uniform stands should be taken advantage of in the 

 management of loblolly pine whenever there is a market for the 

 material. The object of such thinnings is primarily to utilize 

 material which otherwise would be lost through death and decay, 

 and secondarily to improve the stand by removal of overtopped trees 

 and some of the less desirable dominant trees, in this way concen- 

 trating the growth of the stand into a lesser number of the most 

 desirable individuals. Where substantial returns can be realized 

 from thinnings it amounts in effect to "eating the cake and at the 

 same time having it," while improving its quality. Thinnings in 

 understocked stands, which under present forest conditions are the 

 rule, are not usually advisable. 



In general, the rapidity of natural thinning, or dying out of over- 

 topped trees, in loblolly-pine stands makes further thinning inadvis- 

 able unless the material cut can be profitably utilized. 



It is best for the stand to commence thinning at an early age, that 

 is, when 15 to 20 years old, and to repeat the thinning at intervals of 

 from 5 to 10 years. Thinning in stands 15 to 30 years old can be 

 made to include a larger number of undesirable trees from the domi- 

 nant stand than in older stands. In the latter, thinnings should be 

 confined almost exclusively to the removal of overtopped, unhealthy, 

 dying, and dead trees. The thinning of loblolly-pine stands on moist 

 to wet sites is more effective than on dry soil, because the natural 

 dying off of overtopped trees is much slower in the former than in the 

 latter. 



Table 26 shows the increase in diameter on a wet site of a 

 thinned as compared with an unthinned half-acre plot located in 

 the same stand. The age of the stand in 1906, at the time of the first 

 measurement and thinning, was 18 years, and in 1910, at the time of 

 the second measurement, 22 years. The stand was unusually dense. 



