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UPPER SLOPES AND RIDGES. 



The ridges and upper slopes have a drj, thin soil and are much 

 exposed. Tree growth here is very slow, especially after the sapling 

 and pole stages. The valuable commercial species of these types are 

 chestnut, chestnut oak, black and red oaks, and occasional!}^ white 

 oak and white pine. The poor soil conditions, resulting in scrubb}^ 

 timber and comparatively slow growth, unfit these lands for per- 

 manent forest m.anagement designed to produce saw timber. With 

 slow growth and poor development it will not pay to hold such 

 lands for the long interval that must elapse before the second growth 

 reaches merchantable sawlog size. In general there will ITe greater 

 profit in managing these lands for chestnut extract wood, chestnut 

 oak tanbark, oak cross-ties, and car stock on the sprout s^^stem, with 

 a comparatively short rotation, utilizing in this way the period of 

 most raj^id growth. 



Chestnut and all the oaks are merchantable for cross-ties. These 

 species should therefore be logged to a diameter of 1:2 inches on the 

 stump, and the lands left to reproduce by sprouts and b}" seed from 

 the remaining trees of seed-bearing size. A large amount of sapling 

 and polewood will be left on these lands also, to stock the ground and 

 to make a second cut possible in twenty-five years, Avhen the cove and 

 lower slope lands are worked over for the second time. x\.s in the 

 coves, the blanks following each logging should be stocked with young- 

 growth by seed from the remaining trees of seed-bearing size. Thus, 

 as in the true selection forest, the basis of the next cut should be left 

 on the ground at each logging in the form of well-advanced sapling 

 and polewood growth, which may be of coppice or of seedling origin. 



Where the land has been coaled off, or cut clear for. charcoal, or 

 where no trees below 11 inches are left on the ground, the stand will 

 consist almost exclusively of sprouts of the same age, and the interval 

 between two successive cuttings must be from 55 to 60 3^ears. No 

 intermediate measures, other than protection against fi.re, are required 

 between two cuttings. 



If it is desired to raise some saw timber on these lands, the thriftier 

 and more promising trees, preferably seedlings, should be left in 

 loa"£*inp-. Such trees should be marked in advance of the cuttina-. 

 These trees will serve the double purpose of developing valuable 

 saw timber in themselves and at the same time will seed up the 

 ground around them. It will be of great advantage to keep a 

 small proportion of seedlings in the second growth to prevent the 

 deterioration of the stand which is almost sure to result from repeated 

 coppicing. In selecting trees to leave for the development of saw 

 timber, chestnut and vrhite oak should be the favored species; chest- 



[Cii-. lis.] 



