11 



sufficiently recnperate to be capable of furnishing permanently saw 

 timber at 25-year intervals. The interval between two cuttings on 

 timberland cut clear must necessarily be equal to the time which is 

 needed by the hardwood species to attain merchantable sizes ; that is, 

 from thirty-five to fifty years for pulpwood and tanning extract 

 stock, from fifty-five to sixty years for ties and other minor products, 

 and seventy j^ears and over for lumber. 



Sizes at which different species may be most economically and prof- 

 itably used depend upon the kind of wood and its common uses and 

 the situation in which it grows. Since the kinds most valuable for 

 lumber, such as white pine, j^ellow poplar, and white oak, occur al- 

 most exclusively in the coves and on the lower slopes, and the kinds 

 most commonly demanded for cross-ties, mine props, and minor 

 products occupy the upper slopes and ridges, the growing of timber 

 for different purposes is closel}^ connected with the management of 

 the different types of forest. The Southern Appalachian forests fall 

 naturally into three types — cove, slope, and ridge — each Avith pecul- 

 iar characteristics. The slope, being by its position intermediate 

 between cove and ridge, approaches in its upper part the ridge type, 

 while the lower slope comes very close to the cove type. 



COVE AND LOV/ER-SLOPE LAND. 



Yellow poplar, white pine, and hemlock are strictly limited to the 

 cove and lower-slope lands, and white oak grows here far more 

 vigorously than on the other types. ' The coves and lower slopes are 

 thus peculiarly adapted, by the species growing there and b}^ the 

 character of the soil, to the production of saw timber. Yellow pop- 

 lar does not reproduce itself readily from the stump, and the only 

 way to reproduce white pine and hemlock is by seed. For this 

 reason clear cutting, with subsequent natural reproduction by sprouts, 

 is out of place in the coves. Therofore it would be best to manage 

 the .coves and lower slopes^ for saw timber on a general selection 

 system, with comparatively long cutting intervals. The species 

 which should be favored in the management of these lands are white 

 pine, y-ellow poplar, white oak, chestnut, cucumber, and basswood. 

 All of these, and especially white pine and yellow poplar, demand a 

 great deal of light for their existence. This adapts them preemi- 

 nently to a system of heavy culling, combined with the leaving of 

 seed trees to restock the ground. Heavy culling, admitting an abun- 

 dance of light to the ground, is essential to dense and thrifty regen- 

 eration of the cove-land trees ; at the same time their seeding capac- 

 ity is so great that a single tree can reseed a very large area. In 

 l^ast logging of the region small or defective pine and yellow poplar 



LCii-. 118.] 



