O MISC. PUBLICATION 61, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



SOME NOTEWORTHY PLANTATIONS 



A number of the plantations that are typical or of special interest 

 have been selected for the brief descriptions that follow. More de- 

 tailed information on these and other plantations may be obtained 

 from the Appalachian Forest Experiment Station at Asheville, N. C. 



DOUGLAS PLANTATIONS 



The scattered stands which make up the Douglas plantations, so 

 named for the nursery company that established them, are in several 

 respects the most impressive in the estate. They are the oldest, 

 dating from 1890, and contain the largest trees. The fact that they 

 have grown up less densely than most of the other plantings has tended 

 to increase relatively the diameters of the individual trees. Many 

 of the stands are located conspicuously along the principal roads, 

 and from these the dead trees have been removed some distance 

 back from the road and the unsightly dead branches on the living 

 trees pruned to a height of 10 to 25 feet, setting forth the long, clear 

 trunks and extending the view into the plantations. Characteristic 

 views of the stands are shown in Plate 1. 



These stands are composed mainly of white pine with a few scat- 

 tered trees of other species, mostly hemlock, black locust, and black 

 cherry. The trees average about 400 to the acre. The pines average 

 45 feet in height and 9 inches in diameter, but some of the dominants 

 are 65 or 70 feet high and a foot and a half in diameter, breast high. 

 Height growth has generally been rapid and there are long sections 

 of clear boles between the branch whorls. Except near the roads, 

 where they have been artificially pruned, the trees retain their dead 

 branches almost to the ground — as is characteristic of white pine in 

 young, pure stands — and give the stands a very ragged appearance. 



The ground under the denser stands is as a rule nearly bare of 

 vegetation, as the photographs show. Where the crown cover is less 

 dense the ground in some places is almost covered with honey-suckle, 

 while at some other spots poison ivy grows in abundance. On the 

 edges and in small openings in the stands white pine seedlings are 

 beginning to come in. 



The planting done in 1890 was carried through under a very formal 

 contract which provided that not less than 300 acres should be plowed 

 in strips running across the slope of the ground and should be planted 

 with not less than 1,200 trees on each acre, of which not less than 75 

 per cent should be white pine. The resulting plantations did very 

 well for a couple of years, but five years after planting they were 

 overgrown with briers and appeared to be total failures. This early 

 competition, however, seems to have been beneficial to the stand 

 rather than otherwise for it undoubtedly assisted in the thinning-out 

 process which reduced the stands from the original 1,200 to the present 

 400 trees to the acre and resulted in improved opportunity for growth 

 for the remaining trees. 



LONG RIDGE PLANTATIONS 



The plantations on Long Ridge are of peculiar interest because, 

 while the stands are now predominantly of pine, it was on this hill that 

 Schenck made some of his most extensive trials with hardwoods. There 



