This plantation is now being studied to learn if the early advantage 

 of loblolly will be maintained. 



Slash pine also has distinct values. It yields gum for the naval 

 stores industry and ordinarily produces a straighter pole than loblolly. 

 On poorly-drained soils it is unquestionably superior in growth and form 

 to loblolly. Evidence is accumulating, too, that damage from ice and 

 fusiform rust can be lessened by planting the trees at a spacing of 6 by 

 6 feet (1, 200 trees per acre) and keeping the stand dense as it develops. 

 In a 13-year-old slash plantation, rust cankers were found on 19, 14, 13, 

 and 11 percent of the trunks of trees planted at the rate of 190, 795, 1, 005, 

 and 1, 515 per acre, respectively. Ice damage was also less severe in 

 the close spacing and the lightly thinned stands. 



Development of natural stands of slash pine. - -Will heavily stocked 

 natural stands of slash pine resist disease and ice better than planted 

 stands? To answer this question, a 250-acre plantation, severely dam- 

 aged by fires and ice storms, has been divided into 9 plots and cut back 

 to 70 seed trees per acre. When 2, 000 or more well-distributed seed- 

 lings per acre are obtained, the overstory trees will be further reduced: 

 three plots will be left with 5 overstory trees per acre, three with 10 

 trees, and three with 20. On half of each plot the overstory will be re- 

 moved when the seedlings reach a height of 12 feet and can be prescribe- 

 burned. On the other half, the overstory will be retained until the first 

 thinning is made at age 15. * 



This study will help guide landowners in the future management 

 of the 100, 000 acres of slash plantations already started in this area. 

 Although they have been damaged by wildfire, ice, and disease, many 

 of these plantations still are reasonably well stocked with pole-size trees 

 of good form . 



Stimulating Longleaf Height Growth 



Regardless of the trend toward other species, some landowners 

 continue to plant longleaf on the cutover lands. Once it is established, 

 longleaf has some outstanding advantages. First of all- -as evidenced 

 by the original stands --it will grow successfully on the rather dry, sandy 

 upland soils that cover much of this area. This ability to succeed where 

 other pines fail arises from longleaf s superior resistance to wildfires 

 and the fact that it suffers very little from disease after it reaches 5 or 

 6 feet in height. Longleaf also produces clean, straight poles and saw- 

 logs of high quality. 



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