12 CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING AT SEWANEE, TENN. 



and fire does most harm to the sensitive Tulip-tree and to Pignut. 

 Lumbering has worked in the same direction, for it has removed only 

 the most valuable trees, leaving the openings in the forest to be occu- 

 pied by inferior species. 



Repeated burning and grazing render of great importance the ability 

 of the trees to reproduce themselves by sprouts. When cattle, hogs, 

 and fire have destroyed all the young seedlings, when the humus and 

 ground cover are burned and the ground has become so hard and dry 

 that few seeds can germinate, the density and composition of the forest 

 depend on its ability to perpetuate itself by sprouts. 



Chestnut possesses remarkable power for sprouting; Pignut and all 

 the oaks coppice freely; but the sprouts of the valuable Tulip-tree are 

 few, and usually they die early. In the following list the trees occur 

 in the order of their ability to coppice: 



Sourwood, Chestnut, Ailanthus. 



Red Maple, Locust, Black Willow. 



Sassafras, Mountain Laurel, Sweet Gum, Sycamore, Yellow-wood. 



Yellow Oak, Chestnut Oak, Chinquapin Oak, White Oak, Post Oak, Black 

 Jack, Serviceberry. 



White Basswood, Umbrella-tree, Shagbark, Hornbeam, Bitternut, [Flower- 

 ing] Dogwood, Blue Dogwood, Butternut. 



Black Walnut, Bed Juniper, Scarlet Oak, Red Oak, Cow Oak, Swamp White 

 Oak. 



Cucumber-tree, Black Gum, Tulip-tree. 



Slippery Elm, White Elm, Cork Elm, Wing Elm, Beech. 



Papaw, Witch Hazel, Scarlet Haw, Black Cherry, Redbud, Sugar Maple 

 Yellow Buckeye, Persimmon, Sweetleaf, White Ash, Fringetree. 



THE FOREST DIVIDED INTO TYPES. 



The division of the forest into types, simple enough in the coves, 

 where natural conditions are little changed, is rendered more difficult 

 on the plateau, where fire, grazing, and cutting have notably influ- 

 enced the composition of the forest. 



PLATEAU TYPES. 



Forest types on the plateau are Chestnut Ridge, Hickory Slope, Oak 

 Flat, and Bottom. (PI. HI.) 



CHESTXCT EIDGE. 



On the summits of the sharper ridges, where the wind blows off the 

 fallen leaves, preventing the formation of humus, and fire does great 

 damage, where the sun beats down on a poor, naked soil, which sud- 

 den rains are constantly channeling and washing away, grows the 

 type of forest called Chestnut Ridge. It is composed of Chestnut, 

 Chestnut Oak, Yellow Oak, and Scarlet Oak. The Chestnuts, which 

 predominate in this type of forest, are nearly always old trees; many 



