JmL 



- 1 i ^ f^ 



18 

 Table T compares the effect of summer and winter cutting. 



Taple 7. — Comparhon of the effect of summer and ivinter cuttivg upon the 

 r/roivtJi of tiDO-year-oUl sprouts from stumps 32 years old. 



• 



Summer cut. 



Winter cut. 



Species. 



Diameter 



at the 



ground. 



Height of 



dominant 



sprout. 



Diameter 

 at the 

 ground. 



Height of 



dominant 



sprout. 



White oak 



Incites. 

 0.82 

 .88 

 1.02 



Feet. Inch. 

 4. 35 0. 71 

 4. 94 . 94 

 4.98 .88 

 5 83 -84 



Feet. 

 4 85 



Black oak ... 



6 32 



Scarlet oak 



7.2 



Spanish oak 



6.62 











The figures show that height growth is affected more by the time 

 of cutting, and that diameter growth remains the same, or is a trifle 

 greater in summer cuttings. 



Among the other essential requirements for vigorous development 

 of chestnut and oak sprouts are smooth, low stumps and abundant 

 light. Deep, loose, well-watered soil favors the thrifty development 

 of young sprouts, but in general, up to the sapling stage of oak 

 sprouts, the soil and moisture conditions are much less important 

 than the amount of light. Hence, on the slopes and ridges, where 

 the mature stand is open and light abundant, oak sprouts develop 

 most vigorously during the first ten years. In the coves, Avith 

 dense forest and greater shade, the growth in height is consid- 

 erably .slow^er than on the upper, more exposed slopes, in spite of the 

 better soil conditions. Yriiile abundant light is required for vigorous 

 development, oak and chestnut sprouts are fairly tolerant for the first 

 ten years. Coppice, during early life, is much less sensitive to shade 

 than seedlings and grows fairly well, though sloAvly, under a mocler- 

 ately dense canopy. In their ability to endure shade, sprouts of the 

 principal species suited for coppice management rank as follows: 

 1, black oak; 2, red oak; 3, chestnut; 4, A\diite oak; 5, chestnut oak. 



Both black and red oak sprouts are comparatively tolerant, growing- 

 abundantly under the broken cover of a lightly culled forest. Chest- 

 nut is somewhat inferior, and white and chestnut oak are decidedly 

 inferior to black oak in this respect. 



rX FAVORABLE FACTORS. 



The greatest enemy of the sprout forest is fire. The fires that 

 periodically run through the woods hold the coppice of chestnut and 

 oaks in check, and burn the sprouts down to the ground, thus forcing 

 the stumps to send up fresh sprouts until their vitality is partially or 

 totally exhausted. A few small areas in the Tennessee River Valley 

 were noted where after thirty or forty years of annual fires the 



[Cir. 118.] 



