56 BULLETIN 272 , U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Whether forest management will prove profitable and is therefore 

 advisable depends largely upon (1) the rate of growth and various 

 other characteristics of the species; (2) capital represented by the 

 land and growing timber; (3) cost of establishing, protecting, thin- 

 ning, and other operations in the stand; and (4) the final money 

 values of the timber crops produced. 



Clear cutting is generally advisable where the land now com- 

 mands or promises soon to command, a high value for farm use, 

 where the stand of cypress is practically pure and mostly mature 

 without clumps of young growth, and where logging costs are very 

 high. 



ADAPTABILITY OF CYPRESS TO MANAGEMENT. 



The leading characteristics of cypress which bear upon its suit- 

 ability for management are : 



(1) Cypress inhabits permanent swamps much too wet for agri- 

 culture and most other uses, except when drained at a large and 

 sometimes prohibitive cost. It is adapted and valuable, therefore, 

 for utilizing large areas of otherwise unproductive swamp land. 



(2) In exposures open to light, the rate of growth greatly exceeds 

 that of virgin stands, and on similar sites is comparable with the 

 growth of red gum, ash, and other more common hardwoods ; crowded 

 stands thin themselves slowly and growth is moderate unless helped 

 by thinning for pole, tie, or other classes of small timber. 



(3) It is inherently a vigorous tree with few emenies, is readily 

 grown from seed, and, judging by experience and observation, may 

 be planted out with good results when 1 or 2 years old. 



(4) Cypress is well adapted for growing in pure, even-aged stands. 

 This form of stand is economically favorable because of the difficulties 

 and high expense of logging, except where water transportation is 

 available. 



(5) Although cypress makes its best growth on deep, well drained, 

 fresh or moist loamy soils, on account of inherent restrictions it 

 practically' never reproduces itself there. It reproduces and per- 

 manently maintains its position as the dominant tree of the stand only 

 in extremely wet situations. Since the higher swamp areas are more 

 easily drained and will be the first to be utilized for farm crops, the 

 "ridge type" of hardwood lands will be permanently replaced 

 sooner than typical cypress lands in the reclamation of swamps. 



(6) Natural reproduction, following the earlier cuttings by the 

 selection system, is generally good, and this method promises well 

 wherever sufficient seed trees have been left. Clear cutting in virgin 

 stands results in poor restocking. 



These several qualifications indicate both the demands to be met 

 and the relative position to be occupied by cypress in the future 

 forests of the South. 



