26 CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING AT SEWANEE, TENN. 



The saplings grew to the size shown because of the absence for several 

 years of fires and cattle. When the cows did get in they stripped the 

 young trees bare of leaves. The condition of those parts of the plateau 

 grazed every year is shown in PL VII, fig. '2. Here fires and previous 

 grazing had kept down the saplings, and there was nothing to graze 

 but clumps of sprouts, the toughest of which were passed over by the 

 cattle. But later in the season, when there is a lack of vegetation, 

 these also will be devoured. 



A tree stripped of its leaves has received a serious hurt. Whether 

 it will die or not depends upon its species, age, condition, and the 

 season when it was injured. Species such as Tulip-tree, for whose 

 leaves and twigs cattle have a great fondness, are usually damaged so 

 badly that they die. When an animal feeds on leaves it pulls them off 

 with a jerk that often takes branches and bark with them. Hickory, 

 however, is so tough that it is seldom injured in this way. Grazing 

 is more fatal to the plant in the spring than in the fall. Young plants 

 suffer more than old ones, the youngest often being uprooted. 



The whole plateau has been grazed, but that part lying nearest the 

 farms has suffered most. The signs of abuse are manifest in the 

 scarcity or entire absence of undergrowth, and in the distribution of 

 the trees, which stand far apart, with grass in the open places between 

 them. The grazed plants usually die down to the ground, then send 

 up sprouts } T ear after 3*ear, which are also devoured by the cattle, 

 until the root, having lost its vitality, can sprout no longer and dies. 



RAVAGES OF INSECTS. 



Fires at Sewanee do still further damage to the forest by creating 

 conditions most favorable to insect development. Much of the timber 

 is destroyed by insects, especially by borers, which enter wounds 

 made by the flames. 



While from the nature of the work only general observations of the 

 damage clone could be made, it is apparent that none of the species is 

 altogether free from attack. All the oaks have suffered more or less 

 from borers, and many of the larger trees are alive with beetles of dif- 

 ferent kinds. Yellow Oak has suffered most; Scarlet Oak and White 

 Oak are injured ofteuer than Post Oak. Avhile in Chestnut Oak the 

 insects do no exeat harm. 



The Pignuts on the plateau harbor both wood and bark borers, and 

 the fire scars at the ground are almost always filled with white ants. 

 Very few Chestnuts escape the borers, and many Locusts and Red 

 Maples suffer from the same enemy. 



The coves, which are seldom burned over, show small damage from 

 insects. Chestnut is the only species in which the borers are frequent. 

 Hickories are entered by borers whenever burned, and White Ash, 

 Butternut. White Basswood. and White Elm suffer a little from the 



