FOREST CONDITIONS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 



85 



killed to the ground by fire. This power, however, is possessed more 

 especially by the inferior species. Burning, in the hardwood forest, 

 though rarely destroying the whole forest cover, greatly injures its 

 permanent value by favoring the growth of less desirable kinds of 

 timber through making it very difficult for the more valuable species 

 to reproduce themselves. Lumbering by the present methods also has 

 a very strong tendency to increase the percentage of the least desirable 

 trees in the second growth, by cutting too closely the more valuable 

 kinds without proper provision for seed trees or other means of repro- 

 duction. Two methods of cutting timber in the hardwood forests may 

 be practiced, the selection method and clear cutting ; the selection system, 

 however, is the one best suited to most conditions of this region. 



Selection Method. — A rough form of the selection system of cutting is 

 now being practiced on most areas which are being logged in these 

 mountains, though in a few cases, near tovms, where the sale of firewood 

 justifies it, an approach to clear cutting is occasionally practiced. 



Where the selection system is practiced as a forestry method, only 

 such trees are cut as are financially mature, that is, those that have 

 attained to such size that the largest amount of money can be realized, 

 counting interest on the capital invested. This size varies according to 

 the species of tree, its location, and the various market demands for that 

 species. For this reason, in a forest composed of many different species, 

 only a few trees per acre are likely to be mature at the same time. By 

 cutting out these trees space is made for the better development of the 

 remaining trees, and for the growth of reproduction between them. 



Clear Cutting. — Clear cutting is applicable only in even-aged or 

 approximately even-aged forests. The method may be carried out in 

 one of three ways: (1) by two or three successive cuttings a number of 

 years apart, leaving the area covered with young growth after the last 

 cutting; (2) by cutting everything in one operation, relying on sprouts 

 for reproduction; (3) by cutting everything with the exception of a 

 few seed trees which are left for reproduction. The first form of the 

 method is recommended only where the forest is so near a market that 

 cuttings which do not remove the bulk of the timber in one cut will pay. 

 The method can not be applied in any form unless there is a demand 

 for the small as well as for the large material. An example of the second 

 form of the method is around the iron furnaces in Mitchell County. 

 Here the forest was cut clean and has since reproduced itself from 

 sprouts. Tor the present the chief use of this method will be around 

 towns, brick kilns, or other places where small material <3an be marketed, 

 and, to a certain extent, on smaller woodlots. Cases of clear cutting in 



