32 CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING AT SEWANEE, TENN. 



and to insist upon the careful and systematic work necessary to make 

 the forest yield the highest profits. 



It will be sufficient here to outline the considerations to be borne in 

 mind in the execution of the work. 



Economy should be rigidly practiced in the lumbering. In mak- 

 ing contracts for logging the University should insist that the greatest 

 amount of timber possible should be cut out of each tree, and that no 

 damage be done to the young growth which care can prevent. The 

 trees should be sawed low at the stump. No trees should be removed 

 not marked by the forester, and all marked trees should be removed. 



In deciding what trees are to be removed and what are to stand the 

 forester will be guided by these general considerations: 



Merchantable trees will be left where they are needed to seed up 

 the ground, or where their removal would result in damage by wind 

 or from erosion. Unmerchantable trees will be removed where pos- 

 sible when they hamper the growth of promising young trees, or when 

 they are likely to seed up ground that would otherwise be taken by 

 better species. 



TREATMENT OF THE PLATEAU. 



Very little lumbering can be carried on with profit on the plateau, 

 whei'e large timber is scarce and generally unsound. Instead of lum- 

 bering the plateau for profit, it should be treated solely for its benefit, 

 with the restriction that no improvements shall be made that will not 

 immediately pay for themselves. While little or no profit is expected 

 from the plateau, it can be made more valuable by removing the large, 

 unsound, and crooked trees, and the inferior species with which it is 

 cumbered, and selling them for ties or firewood. (PI. X, fig. 1.) 

 Trees that can lie sold at a profit should be made to pay for improve- 

 ments in which there is no immediate profit. 



Most of the plateau forest is so open that the timber does not grow 

 clear and the soil rapidly dries out. (PI. X. fig. 2.) To make more 

 favorable forest conditions the amount of cover should be increased. 

 No trees should be removed where the forest is not well stocked. This 

 will make it necessary to leave uncut parts of the plateau; but in the 

 eastern and western areas improvement cuttings may be made. 



POOR TREES SHOULD BE CUT FOR FIREWOOD. 



Firewood should be cut from dead, crooked, and unsound trees, and 

 from the tops and branches of trees cut for ties and sawlogs. No liv- 

 ing trees over 13 inches in diameter should be cut for firewood alone. 



INFERIOR SPECIES SHOULD BE CUT FIRST. 



Whenever a choice is to be made between species, the inferior 

 species should be cut. Sourwood, Sumach, and Laurel should be 



