Piedmont Plateau at elevations ranging from 280 to 650 

 feet, and composed of second-growth shortleaf and loblolly 

 pines, oak, gum, hickory, yellow poplar, ash, and other 

 hardwoods, the Forest is representative of the various 

 types of timber growth found throughout the region. 



Besides serving as an outdoor laboratory for the School 

 of Forestry, the Forest is managed with the objective of 

 demonstrating the various methods of timber growing, 

 timber stand treatment, and forest management applicable 

 to the region and of developing it as an experimental for- 

 est for research in the problems of timber growing and in 

 the sciences basic thereto. 



The development of the Forest as a demonstration of 

 practical forest management is well advanced. Forest type 

 and timber stand maps are available for each of the three 

 divisions and a detailed soils map is being prepared. Each 

 division has been subdivided into permanent compartments 

 and plans for the treatment of each stand have been made. 



Various products are harvested each year such as saw- 

 timber, poles and piling, veneer bolts, pulpwood, Christmas 

 trees, ornamental stock, and decorative material. Cutting 

 operations, within the limits of annual growth, are so 

 designed as to illustrate approved forestry practices such 

 as selective cuttings, strip cuttings, seed tree cuttings, 

 thinnings, improvement cuttings, conversion operations, 

 and many others. These operations serve the dual purpose 

 of contributing to the development of the Forest as a going 

 business and of demonstrating sound forestry practices. 

 Land owners, farmers, and others interested in seeing and 

 learning about these forestry demonstrations visit the For- 

 est singly or in groups. 



DIVISION OF FORESTRY, N. C. STATE COLLEGE 



The Division of Forestry is primarily engaged in the 

 training of technically trained foresters; however, educa- 

 tional contacts with private land owners are maintained 

 through the various forest areas owned or operated by the 

 Division. 



The Hill Demonstration Forest of 1,500 acres, located hi 

 Durham County, is primarily a research forest. Many 

 sample plots have been planted that demonstrate various 

 spacings of loblolly, shortleaf and Virginia pines. A num- 

 ber of thinning plots in Virginia pine have been established 

 to show silvicultural methods of handling this species, and 

 thinning plots in hardwood for fuel and improvement have 

 been initiated. 



The Hofmann Forest of 80,000 acres located in Jones 

 and Onslow Counties is owned by the N. C. Forestry Foun- 

 dation and operated by the Division of Forestry. Various 

 commercial operations dealing with pulpwood and log pro- 

 duction are underway. A completely equipped weather sta- 

 tion has been established on the forest by the N. C. Experi- 

 ment Station in connection with fire studies. Forest graz- 

 ing studies on a commercial scale are being conducted by 

 the Department of Animal Husbandry, N. C. State College, 

 U. S. Forest Service, and Bureau of Animal Industry, 

 Washington, D. C, on a cooperative basis. 



Other units on which forestry work and demonstration 

 are well underway are the Richlands Creek area of 300 

 acres in Wake County and the Hope Valley Forest of 1700 

 acres located in Chatham County. 



It can be seen, from the above discussion of agencies 

 concerned with forestry education, that this type of work 



is and has been steadily progressing since appointment 

 of J. S. Holmes as first State Forester in 1909. This phase 

 of forestry is, however, far from being adequate. There 

 are thousands of landowners who have been contacted in no 

 way whatsoever. It is estimated, by various agencies, that 

 at least 25 percent of the owners of private forest lands 

 would not respond to forestry education and assistance if 

 offered. Forestry education should be expanded, however, 

 so as to reach the other 75 percent. If this could be ac- 

 complished, North Carolina's future timber needs would 

 be insured. Education should be given a fair chance before 

 concluding that government regulation is the only solu- 

 tion to the problem of keeping our forest lands productive. 

 In 1943, approximately 1,600 million board feet of lum- 

 ber were cut from the 17 million acres of privately owned 

 land. Of this amount, probably 300 million board feet were 

 cut under the influence of some educational work, either 

 by actual marking, advice or demonstration. The remain- 

 ing 1,300 million board feet were cut for no reason except 

 to make money. Can it thus be said that forestry educa- 

 tional work has been given a fair trial? 



ALLOWABLE CUT FOR NEXT 10-YEAR PERIOD 

 1946-55 



During the past 10 years North Carolina forests have 

 grown 23 billion board feet of sawtimber material. It is 

 estimated that nearly 24 billion board feet of sawtimber 

 material has been removed from these forests. Possibly, 

 too, the drain has been higher than estimated. 



How much sawtimber material can be safely removed 

 in the next 10 years? A number of points bear on this 

 question, which might be answered very conservatively 

 by some and quite liberally by others. The more orthodox 

 claim is that growing stock is depleted and should be 

 allowed to build up, which would mean restricted cutting. 

 In a general way, this is certainly true. At the same time, 

 Dr. J. V. Hofmann, of N. C. State College Division of 

 Forestry, points out that a great deal of the timber in our 

 stands is near-cull or definitely low-grade, and this kind 

 of timber needs to be cut heavily, even if it means clearing 

 everything off the ground but pine seed trees. This would 

 apply more to hardwood trees than to pine, but he feels 

 the principle applies to more pine stands than is ordinarily 

 thought. 



Another angle is the fact that the timber, even if not 

 greatly reduced in volume, is now in more scattered stands 

 that are not attractive to sawmillers. 



If restricting the cut were a means of securing greatly 

 increased regeneration of pine, the matter would assume 

 higher importance. However, it is not more than a short 

 step in that direction if, indeed, any forward movement 

 were to result. Heavier cutting offers no particular help, 

 either. 



A forester of the U. S. Forest Service writes: "Over- 

 cutting in merchantable stands has increased in this sec- 

 tion due to war conditions. So far, it is my opinion that 

 there has been no solution advanced that will improve the 

 situation. It is true that the cutting practices outlined by 

 the Society of American Foresters Committee will defer 

 the final destruction of the pine for some time. However, 

 there has been no proposal made that will regenerate pine 

 on sites where there is any appreciable hardwood under- 

 story." 



(41) 



