24 



Mississippi's forest resources and industries 



age bolts, which together account for 55 percent of 

 hardwood drain, removes most trees above 18 inches 

 d. b. h., but cutting is much lighter in the smaller tree 

 sizes. 



Tree Quality 



Aside from changing tree size, there are two clear 

 indications that hardwood quality is on the down- 

 grade. One is the increase in the sound volume of 

 cull timber from 41 percent to 50 percent of the total 

 hardwood growing stock in the 14 years between the 

 two Forest Surveys. This reflects an increase in the 

 number of cull trees. 



The other, and more direct indication, is in current 

 hardwood logging operations. Regardless of the 



product they are interested in, most hardwood opera- 

 tors concentrate their cutting in the better quality trees 

 (fig. 25) . On the average, in areas logged over, virtu- 

 ally all trees containing grade 1 logs are harvested ; 68 

 to 77 percent of the volume of trees whose best log is 

 grade 2 is cut; but only 41 to 46 percent of the volume 

 in poorer quality trees is cut. This means that in 

 most logging operations, the sawlog volume left stand- 

 ing is principally in the poorer grades. Such cutting 

 will result in continuous deterioration in the quality of 

 timber stands. 



While most pine operators also prefer to cut the bet- 

 ter quality trees, their primary interest is in tree size. 

 Pine logging has little influence on the quality of the 

 sawlog volume left standing except as tree grade is 

 affected by tree size. 



