UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 496 
Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 
WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 
Washington, D. C. PROFESSIONAL PAPER February 16, 1917 
INVESTIGATIONS OF THE ROTTING OF SLASH IN 
ARKANSAS. 1 
By W. H. Long, 
Forest Pathologist, Office of Investigations in Forest Pathology. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Introduction 1 
Methods of brush disposal 2 
White-oak slash 3 
Black-oak and post-oak slash 7 
Shortleaf-pine slash 7 
Page. 
The growth of wood-rotting fungi 9 
Why brush in the center of the pile does not rot.. 10 
General discussion 11 
Summary 14 
INTRODUCTION. 
Two very important factors must be considered in administering* 
timber-sale areas, viz, the conservation of the present second growth, 
and the leaving of the area in the best possible condition for future 
reproduction. The particular method of brush disposal over such 
areas is therefore of importance from the reproduction viewpoint. 
In the semiarid regions of the Southwest the dominant factor gov- 
erning reproduction is the obtaining and conserving of sufficient 
moisture to germinate the seeds and to carry the seedlings over the 
first four or five years of their existence. In the forests of Arkansas 
the conservation of the moisture is of minor importance^ since the 
annual rainfall is usually sufficient to supply all of the moisture 
necessary for the germination of the seed and for the continued 
growth of the seedlings. 
Fire is a very important factor from a reproduction viewpoint 
in the National Forests of Arkansas. The Ozark National Forest 
consists almost exclusively of mixed stands of timber in which hat d- 
x The writer is under obligations to Mrs. Flora W. Patterson and Drs. E.. A. Burt, 
C. L. Shear, and W. A. Murrill for assistance rendered in identifying many of the fungi 
mentioned in this bulletin. 
66552°— Bull. 496—17 1 
