30 SECOND-GROWTH HARDWOODS IN CONNECTICUT. 



PART III.— YIELD OF EVEN-AGED HARDWOOD STANDS. 

 FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCE THE YIELD. 



If second-growth hardwood stands are to be handled for steady 

 and increasing returns, it is essential to know the probable yield; that 

 is, the amount and character of products obtainable within a given 

 period. It is a common saying among Connecticut farmers that a 

 woodlot will produce on the average about a cord per acre per year. 

 As a matter of fact, the rate at which stands grow is quite variable, 

 and is influenced by a number of different factors. Three especially 

 have an important influence upon the yield. These are, first, the type 

 of forest; second, the productive quality of the locality; and third, 

 the number and size of the trees on the area, or the "growing stock." 



TYPES. 



Even-aged hardwood stands on the Connecticut uplands, as already 

 described, consist chiefly of chestnut and a few species of oak. Occa- 

 sionally, over small areas, both oak 1 and chestnut form pure or nearly 

 pure stands, but for the most part the forest is a mixture of two or 

 more species in every degree of gradation between pure chestnut and 

 pure oak. Since the yield and value and, to a large extent, the 

 management of these stands depend directly upon their composi- 

 tion, it is necessary to classify them upon this basis into the three 

 general types: The chestnut type, containing 60 per cent or more, 

 by volume, of chestnut; the oak type, containing 60 per cent or 

 more of oak; and the oak-chestnut type, containing 60 per cent or 

 more of mixed oak and chestnut, but less than 60 per cent of either 

 alone. Of these, the oak type might be further divided into chestnut- 

 oak and black oak subtypes, but since these are not very dissimilar 

 in yield and comprise a relatively small portion of the woodland 

 of the State, they can be ignored. 



Differences in type result chiefly, though not solely, from differ- 

 ences in soil conditions. Of these, the depth, degree of slope, drain- 

 age, and moisture-retaining capacity are most important. The three 

 types require good drainage, but chestnut requires for its best growth 

 considerably more moisture than black, scarlet, or chestnut oak, and 

 consequently gives place to these species on dry upper slopes with 

 shallow soil. On deep, well-drained, sandy loams chestnut tends to 

 exclude the slower-growing oaks. The chestnut type is therefore 

 most abundant on the lower portions of slopes, benches, and on 

 well-drained, level lands, with deep, fresh soil, while the oak type is 

 more characteristic of dry upper slopes and ridge tops. The oak- 

 chestnut type here considered occupies situations intermediate as 



i Stands composed of more than one species of oak are here considered pure oak stands. 



