Piedmont is largely satisfactory. Only in local areas are 
special measures needed to hasten restocking in order to 
arrest further erosion and improve the composition and 
quality of the new stands. 
Deficiencies in the hardwood growing stock in the 
Coastal Plain will also be eliminated gradually by 
natural regeneration, The basal area of hardwood 
saplings is increasing at an annual rate of 3.2 percent 
a year. This increase, along with the already large 
backlog of young hardwoods, will be more than adequate 
to ultimately build up the hardwood growing stock. The 
problem here, as in the Piedmont, is one of improving 
the quality and composition of this young growth. 
With a growing shortage of high-quality hardwoods, 
the need for taking special measures to grow this kind 
of timber will increase. 
However, natural regeneration, unaided by man, 
cannot be counted on to make up the deficiencies in 
the softwood growing stock in the Coastal Plain. The 
shortage of softwood is equivalent to 1,230,000 acres 
of adequately stocked land. The natural increase in 
stocking is equivalent to only 6,500 acres of adequately 
stocked land a year. This would amount to 130,000 
acres in 20 years. Thus, the job of building up the 
depleted supply of softwoods involves restocking over 
a million acres with pine, either by taking special 
measures to encourage natural regeneration or by 
planting. 
Natural regeneration may be increased in a number 
of ways. One way is to leave sufficient seed trees of 
| the proper size, quality, and species on the land follow- 
ing logging to assure an adequate seed source. Another 
way is to reduce the damage to young timber from fire 
through increased protection. Fire protection is of basic 
importance in increasing natural reproduction and the 
volume of future growing stock in the State. While in 
some instances controlled fire can help to increase the 
regeneration of pine, uncontrolled burning destroys 
thousands of young pine seedlings each year. 
_ Much progress has been made in recent years in the 
protection of timberlands in South Carolina, All of the 
11.9 million acres of forest lands are now covered by 
organized fire protection compared to only 2.5 million 
acres in 1936. This added protection has not only 
reduced damage to trees of commercial size, but has 
also prevented the destruction of smaller saplings and 
seedlings which add substantially to the timber-growing 
stock in the State each year. There is still need for 
More intensive protection to minimize the current losses 
from fire. 
| Timber Supply Outlook in South Carolina 

A third way of getting forest land restocked with 
desirable trees is to eliminate the competition from 
undesirable trees and shrubs. The presence of hardwoods 
on the land presents one of the most serious obstacles 
to obtaining pine reproduction in the Coastal Plain. 
Many of the present pine stands are of old field origin 
on lands which formerly supported hardwoods. As 
these stands are cut, pine will be replaced by hardwoods 
unless special measures are taken to perpetuate the pine. 
Likewise, in the Sandhills, even with an adequate seed 
source, only the most drastic measures to eliminate 
competition from scrub oak will permit regeneration of 
pine (fig. 62). Here 312,000 acres of forest land under 
40 percent stocked have an adequate seed source, but 
destruction of the scrub oak is necessary before these 
areas can restock and grow commercial timber. 
In addition to working out practical methods of 
controlling hardwoods, ways for determining which 
sites are most suitable for growing pine or hardwood 
are needed. On some of the better hardwood ‘sites it 
would not be advisable to attempt to perpetuate pine; 
on other sites, even with the added expense of con- 
trolling hardwood competition, growing pine will still 
yield the greatest returns to the landowner. The first 
step is to work out criteria for classifying sites accord- 
ing to their suitability for growing pine or hardwoods. 
The task is essentially one of correlating basic site 
characteristics such as soil, drainage, and successional 
trends with easily identified site indicators. Lesser vege- 
tation, aspect, and topography may all provide important 
clues to the best use of the land. 
The second step involves an expanded program of 
research to determine the species, size, and quality of 
timber that will result in the most effective use of 
forest land in each of the basic site classes recognized. 
Improved timber-growing practices need to go beyond 
getting new stands established; the quality of the 
existing stands needs to be improved, This can be done 
both by modifying existing cutting practices and by 
adopting special cultural measures such as weeding and 
precommercial thinning. In young stands the pine ts 
often being overtopped by vigorous hardwood sprouts. 
In more advanced stands, the pines are often already 
overtopped and suffering from hardwood competition. 
These hardwoods need to be removed. Frequently, the 
pine in the mixed pine-hardwood stand has been cut, 
leaving an overstory of poor-quality hardwoods. These 
should be cut if the pine in the understory is to 
survive. Also, much of the young pine in the Piedmont 
is growing in extremely dense stands. These should be 
55 
