15 



nut because of its rapid gTO"\vth, and white oak because of its commer- 

 cial value. In the absence of white oak, young thrifty trees of red or 

 chestnut oak ma}^ be similarly marked and left until the second or 

 third cutting, when they are to be talycn out. The great windfirmness 

 of the slope and ridge timber will make such trees, left for seed, com- 

 paratively safe from windthrow. As in the coves, no merchantable 

 trees which are unsound and liable to deteriorate should be left in 

 logging. 



Girdling is not necessar}^ on these tj^pes. There are very fcAv of the 

 low, dense-crowned, Avorthless species which would interfere with the 

 establishment of thrifty second grow^th. 



Slash burning is not recommended for these lands. It would be 

 advisable simply as a means of better protecting the young growth 

 after logging. It would not, as in the coves, have any beneficial effect 

 upon the reproduction folloAving lumbering. The comparative open- 

 ness of the stand makes the slash much lighter and more scattered 

 than in the coves. Moreover, the ground of the slopes and ridges, as 

 a rule, is already well stocked Avith reproduction of the valuable 

 species — chestnut and the oaks — which are w^anted in the second 

 growth. It will be a great gain to leave this young growth unin- 

 jured; it is often ten or twelve years old, and forms the basis of the 

 second crop. The conditions here are entirely different from those 

 found in the coves Avhere the existing reproduction is, as a rule, not 

 of the species wanted. In the slopes and ridges the aim should be to 

 injure the reproduction as little as possible, and thus leave a fairly 

 dense and uniform growth alread}^ established on the ground. 



MAISTAGEMEISTT OF SPBOUT EOBEST. 



In the Southern Appalachians reproduction from seed is greatty 

 hampered by continuous fires. On the other hand, the capacity for 

 sprout reproduction is possessed in a high degree by nearly all the 

 southern hardwoods. Often 75 per cent of the harchvood second 

 growth in the South is of sprout origin, and on thousands of acres, 

 which were once cut for charcoal, it is exclusively coppice. Manage- 

 ment of sprout forest must form, therefore, a large part of the man- 

 agement of second growth. 



Of the most im4)ortant southern hardw^oods the oaks and chestnut 

 are the species best suited to sprout management. Chestnut leads 

 ill the vigor and persistence of its sprouting power, with tlie oaks 

 closely following it. Yellow poplar seldom produces sprouts of any 

 consequence, either from stump or root. Chestnut and the oaks 

 sprout almost exclusively from the " root swelling " at the bottom of 

 the tree, although chestnut oak rei3roduces itself to some extent also 

 hj root suckers on shallow, rocky soil, where the trees are forced to 



[Cir. 118.] 



