88 FOREST CONDITIONS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 



Many of the old fields in this type have come up to fairly dense stands 

 of the three or four common species of pine, collectively known as old 

 field pine. Many of these stands are being cut over for both pulp and 

 firewood. The land is then either cleared and cultivated or allowed to 

 make another growth of forest. If the area is needed for agriculture, 

 special steps should be taken to insure its early seeding to shortleaf by 

 saving a few trees to the acre. 



With pine as with spruce, protection against fire is the first step in 

 forestry. 



Chestnut type. — The two trees most characteristic of this type, 

 chestnut and yellow poplar, are also the most valuable, since there is 

 a large and increasing demand for both. Chestnut is used for lumber, 

 tanning extract, pulp, telephone poles, and ties; poplar is used for 

 lumber and pulp. Both trees grow rapidly while young, and early at- 

 tain merchantable size. 



The type may be divided, as under Forest Description, into three 

 sub-types, Ridge, Slope, and Cove. Since each of these sub-types re- 

 quire somewhat different systems, each will be treated separately. 



Ridge. — The two predominant trees in the ridge sub-type are chest- 

 nut and chestnut oak. Since chestnut is the more valuable tree of the 

 two the object should be to increase its proportion in the stand. It 

 should, however, not be made into a stand of pure chestnut, because 

 pure stands are much more subject to ravages by insects and blights 

 than are mixed stands. 



Sprouts, in an ordinarily thrifty stand of chestnut, can be depended 

 upon for reproduction. But in this case many of the trees are so old 

 and damaged by fire that they would probably give but poor sprouts 

 and sometimes perhaps none at all. Therefore, an increase of seedling 

 reproduction, both to keep the stand fully stocked at present and to 

 form a basis for sprout reproduction in future cuttings, is essential. 



The best method of securing seed reproduction of chestnut is to make 

 numerous small openings, not over 100 feet in diameter, by the re- 

 moval of chestnut oak and other less valuable trees, leaving as much 

 of a fringe of chestnut around each opening as is possible. The open- 

 ings can not be made large because chestnut, being heavy seeded, does 

 not scatter its seed any distance from the mother trees.* When suffi- 

 cient seedling reproduction has come into the opening another cut 

 can be made. If the chances for sprout reproduction are favorable, 

 this cut will remove the remainder of the stand ; if, on the other hand, 

 sprout reproduction will be unreliable, and more seed reproduction is 



*An exception is the carrying of seed by squirrels and other rodents, who either lose it or bury it and 

 then forget it, giving it a chance to germinate. But this agency can not be depended upon. 



