28 CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING AT SEWANEE, TENN. 



PAST TREATMENT OF THE FOREST. 



No part of the University's forest has wholly escaped lumbering, 

 although in the coves it has been confined to the removal here and 

 there of a single valuable tree and to the cutting under University 

 View of Chestnut Oak for tanbark. On the plateau the cutting has 

 been far more severe. About 1870 the forest northeast and east of 

 the railroad was culled for timber to supply a mill near the present 

 site of the railroad depot, which sawed lumber for buildings under 

 construction near the University. The same land has been cut over 

 more than once since then for ties, boards, and fence rails. Ties have 

 been cut from the extreme south end of the tract, and the best trees 

 from the rest of the forest extending- north to Depot Branch have 

 been removed. East of Bubbling Spring road oaks have been cut for 

 their bark, and from Mississippi avenue halfway out to the Break- 

 field road, and on both sides of the road, firewood is now cut by the 

 University. 



The forest was lumbered with no thought for its welfare. Logs 

 were cut only from the choicest oaks and Tulip-trees; boards, ties. 

 fence rails, and firewood were cut out of White Oak; Chestnut Oak 

 was used for its bark alone. The removal of the best trees has 

 given advantage to inferior species and changed very greatly the 

 composition of the forest. Large Tulip-trees are rare and the White 

 Oaks remaining are small or unsound. Scarlet Oak, Black Gum. and 

 Pignut now form the most of the larger growth. 



LUMBERING. 



Lumbering- at Sewanee has never been followed as a regular busi- 

 ness. Men have worked at it only when an easier and better-paying 

 job was not to be had. It has not, therefore, received the benefit of 

 the specilization and intelligent management which come with long 

 practice. 



"DROnilXO "* TIMBER IX THE COVES. 



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The plateau is easily lumbered. The land is so level and the forest 

 so open that trees may be felled in the desired direction, and wagons 

 can get about without difficulty. On the steep slopes of the coves, 

 however, the trees are liable to injure the young growth unless nice 

 judgment is used. Road construction on most of the steep, bowlder- 

 strewn slopes is so difficult that the transportation of cove timber to 

 the mill or railroad becomes a problem. When trees are felled near 

 the main road or near spurs from the main road, they are snaked or 

 skidded out, loaded on wagons, and hauled away; but if the logs are 

 not readily accessible by wagons, a different method, called "drum- 

 ming," is practiced. The logs are drawn out of the cove upon the 



