REPORT ON FORESTS. 117 



SECOND GROWTH. 



When land of this character is cut over it is usually followed 

 by a growth of hardwoods and Pine on the medium and better 

 soils, and, on the areas less adapted to hardwoods, by Pitch Pine. 

 Pine gradually creeps back on the areas which have come up to 

 hardwoods and in many cases crowds them out. Often the Pine 

 seeds an old field with good soil very abundantly, and a pure 

 forest springs up. Such a patch was found nearly fully stocked 

 at Winslow, and two acres are given in detail on pages 52 and 

 53 of the Annual Report for 1898. This forest is a nearly even- 

 aged stand of Shortleaf (Yellow) and Pitch Pine, the former pre- 

 dominating, about eighty years old, and gives an admirable 

 picture of what a normal stand of Pine can produce. A full 

 discussion of the tract is found with the surveys. It is exceed- 

 ingly interesting to compare this stand with the old forest at 

 Winslow. It will be seen that the yield in board feet is just as 

 large for trees over ten inches, and that the yield (over six 

 inches) is about twice as large, while the trees are only about 

 one-half as old. 



Such stands as this are the great exception, for the reproduc 

 tion of the forest has been left to take care of itself, the trees 

 have been cut with no regard whatever to the next crop, and 

 fires have swept over the ground repeatedly, destroying young 

 growth and thinning the old timber, so that as a rule the second- 

 growth forest is open and straggling. The soil is abundantly 

 able, for the most part, to produce merchantable timber, in spite 

 of repeated fires and bad cutting. These latter, and not the soil 

 itself, are responsible for the present poor condition of the forest, 

 which needs only protection and judicious cutting to regain its 

 -value in the end. 



Second Growth at Whitings. 



A number of acres of second growth studied near Whitings 

 are exceedingly interesting, both as to their origin and their 

 growth and development. The surveys given below were taken 

 about two miles southeast of Whitings, on a private tract of 

 about one thousand acres. The forest is ' a pole wood of high 

 density, containing trees of two age classes, one about fifty to 



