FIP'TH NATIONAL CONSERVATION CONGRESS 65 



well-managed woodland is a profitable adjunct to the farm. Planting is chiefly 

 applicable to inferior lands, less valuable or unsuited for agriculture. As a State 

 problem it is minor when contrasted with extensive areas in the northern forest 

 region of the Lake States. Little planting has been done. Both conifers and 

 hardwoods may be utilized. Experimental planting has been done both at the 

 Michigan Agricultural College and at the University of Michigan. 



Conditions in southern Illinois are like those of southern Indiana and Ohio, 

 the problem of planting being the same. At present there is no opportunity for 

 commercial planting in that portion of Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas 

 occupied by hardwood forest. 



T 



SOUTHERN FOREST REGION 



HE problem of forest planting in the South can best be considered 

 under the heads of (1) the upland or Piedmont region; (2) the Atlantic 

 and Gulf Coastal Plain, and (3) the semi-tropical region. 



Upi<and or Piedmont Region 



The conditions of the upper, or Piedmont, country extending from Virginia 

 to northern Georgia and westward to the Mississippi River are in several essentiaL 

 points different from those of the coastal plain, comprising a strip approximately 

 100 miles wide along the shore of the Atlantic and Gulf. 



The region is characterized by short-leaf pine forests mixed with oak and 

 hickory, in contrast to the forests of the lower or coastal region, which are essen- 

 tially of long-leaf and Cuban pine, with a mixture of loblolly pine. This 

 difference is due mainly to climatic and soil conditions, which are dissimilar in 

 the two regions. 



The Piedmont, or short-leaf pine, belt comprises the tobacco lands of Vir- 

 ginia and the great cotton-producing region to the south. Throughout this whole 

 region a marked change has taken place in the past 50 years in respect to natural 

 seed regeneration. In former times abandoned fields seeded up fully and rapidly 

 from adjacent seed trees, whereas at present practically all of the first or virgin 

 stand has been cut and the second growth is too young or dense to produce normal 

 seed crops. Abandoned fields are frequently overrun by grass, briars, or under- 

 brush before sufficient pine seed enters. Natural reproduction is consequently 

 much poorer than it was 20 to 50 years ago. 



The region is everywhere hilly, and soil erosion due to surface run-off is 

 often excessive and very destructive of the higher valued soils. Natural reforesta- 

 tion of pine, which would otherwise occur, is thus often prevented owing to the 

 lightness of the seed. As a result, tracts of land are not infrequently taken by 

 slow-growing hardwoods of slight or no commercial value. A real forestation 

 problem in preventing excessive soil denudation is present. Furthermore, second- 

 growth pine timber has had practically no stumpage value until within the past 

 five or eight years, hence there was no financial incentive. 



Protection to navigable stream courses and conservation of the soil on 

 eroding slopes can best be accomplished by planting the native pines and other 



