In relation to stand-size class, sawtimber areas are 

 by far the best stocked. Seventy-seven percent of the 

 sawtimber acreage is well stocked, as contrasted to 



STATE 



100 



(MEDIUM 

 ! STOCKED 



POORLY I — IN0N- 

 ST0CKED I — ISTOCKED 



Figure 21. — Tree stocking in commercial forests by Survey region, 

 1948-50. 



58 percent of the poletimber area and 28 percent of 

 the area in seedlings and saplings. The denser stock- 

 in? in sawtimber areas does not necessarilv indicate 



a heavy stand of sawtimber trees, but rather implies 

 that total stocking of all tree sizes — both small and 

 large — is good. In stands below sawtimber specifi- 

 cations,- the smaller proportion of well-stocked areas 

 strongly reflects the combined result of past heavy 

 cutting, grazing, and fire. 



Contributing to the deficiency in stocking in many 

 areas is a considerable accumulation of culls — trees 

 that are unmerchantable now or prospectively be- 

 cause they are rotten, excessively limby, or otherwise 

 of poor form, or are of species that have little com- 

 mercial use. Three out of ten trees of poletimber 

 size or larger are culls, occupying growing space that 

 might better be used by trees of good form and 

 quality or by new stands of seedlings. 



The volume in cull trees is particularly high in 

 hardwood types. In bottom-land hardwoods, four- 

 tenths of the basal area of all live trees 5.0 inches 

 d. b. h. and larger is in cull trees, in upland hard- 

 woods, three-tenths. In softwood types cull, almost 

 all hardwoods, is less than one-fourth of the basal 

 area. Reduction of this large amount of cull — by 

 girdling or poisoning, or, where possible, through 

 utilization — is essential if the State is to make the 

 most of its timber-producing capacity. 



20 



Forest Resource Report No. 9, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



