In 1952, only 660,000 acres 

 of pine plantations existed 

 on the 32,935,000 acres of 

 industry land-an 

 insignificant 2 percent. By 

 1970, however, 5,714,000 

 acres were in plantations. 

 As of 1985, fully 33 percent 

 of industrial holdings 

 (14,405,000 acres) in the 

 South were in planted 

 stands. It is estimated that 

 in the next 15 years, 

 21,046,000 acres, or 48 

 percent of industry lands, 

 will have been planted. 

 Optimal spacing, thinning, 

 and use of 

 second-generation 

 genetically improved 

 seedlings will affect growth 

 projections on this 

 significant acreage as well 

 as on nonindustrial private 

 lands receiving similar 

 treatment. 



Today 4,000,000 acres of 

 pine plantations are owned 

 by private individuals and 

 concerns other than 

 forest-products companies, 

 with projections that this 

 will increase by 100,000 

 acres per year for the next 

 1 5 years. 



Trends in Timber-Stand 

 Improvement 



Practices--For many years, 

 opinion has vacillated on 

 the appropriateness of 

 calling timber an agricultural 

 crop like the row crops 

 (e.g., corn or cotton). While 



the length of the maturation 

 period is dissimilar to that 

 of other agricultural crops, 

 the intensive practices 

 associated with planting, 

 growing, and harvesting 

 trees make timber more 

 closely resemble other row 

 crops as time passes. 



The most obvious similarity 

 between trees and other 

 agricultural crops is 

 management's search for a 

 superior strain. The forest 

 industry is now planting 

 almost exclusively with 

 superior first-generation 

 seedlings and rapidly 

 positioning itself to use 

 second-generation stock in 

 its tree-improvement efforts. 



In addition to this 

 establishment effort, a 

 multifaceted program of 

 intermediate improvement 

 is in progress. According to 

 information reported to the 

 USDA Forest Service, the 

 industry is engaged in 

 intermediate stand 

 treatments on 250,000 to 

 750,000 acres of land 

 annually, including release 

 and weeding, 

 precommercial thinning, 

 pruning, fertilizing, and 

 prescribed burning for 

 control of understory 

 species. In the past 10 

 years, intermediate stand 

 treatments have been 

 carried out on over 4.5 



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