UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



3& 



gf BULLETIN No. 496 



*tW iffiy Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry ~— Rl 



^WVW. WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief sJ^T^-Tt. 



Washington, D. C. PROFESSIONAL PAPER February 16, 1917 



INVESTIGATIONS OF THE ROTTING OF SLASH IN 



ARKANSAS. 1 



By W. H. Long, 

 Forest Pathologist, Office of Investigations in Forest Pathology. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



Methods oi b r _:sh disposal 2 



White-oak slash 3 



Black-oak and post-oak slash 7 



Shortleaf-pine slash 7 



The growth of wood-rotting fungi 9 



Why brush in the center of the pile does not rot.. 10 



General discussion 11 



Summary 14 



INTRODUCTION. 



Two very important factors must be considered in administering 

 timber-sale areas, viz, the conservation of the present second growth 

 and the leaving of the area in the best possible condition for future 

 reproduction. The particular method of brush disposal over such 

 areas is therefore of importance from the reproduction viewpoint. 

 In the semiarid regions of the Southwest the dominant factor gov- 

 erning reproduction is the obtaining and conserving of sufficient 

 moisture to germinate the seeds and to carry the seedlings over the 

 first four or five years of their existence. In the forests of Arkansas 

 the conservation of the moisture is of minor importance, since the 

 annual rainfall is usually sufficient to supply all of the moisture 

 necessary for the germination of the seed and for the continued 

 growth of the seedlings. 



Fire is a very important factor from a reproduction viewpoint 

 in the National Forests of Arkansas. The Ozark National Forest 

 consists almost exclusively of mixed stands of timber in which hard- 



x The writer is under obligations to Mrs. Flora W. Patterson and Drs. B. A. Burt, 

 C. L. Shear, and W. A. Murrill for assistance rendered in identifying many of the fungi 

 mentioned in this bulletin. 



66552°— Bull. 496—17 1 



