INVESTIGATIONS OF THE ROTTING OF SLASH IN ARKANSAS. 3 
these methods. It will be necessary in discussing the various methods 
of brush disposal to take into consideration the types of timber being 
cut. In the Ozark National Forest the main timber is white oak 
(Quercus alba) intermixed with black oak (Q. velutina), post oak, 
(Q. stellata), and several other species of minor importance, while on 
certain areas some shortleaf pine is found. . In the Arkansas National 
Forest the bulk of the timber to be logged is shortleaf pine. 
The investigations of the rotting of slash in Arkansas were car- 
ried on in the Arkansas and Ozark National Forests on areas which 
had been logged from 1 to 10 years. All of the areas examined which 
had been logged for more than five years were on private or patented 
lands, but located within these National Forests. The conclusions 
reached from these studies should be applicable to all of the other 
areas in these two forests, since the underlying principles are identical 
and the climatic conditions very similar. 
WHITE-OAK SLASH. 
FUNGI WHICH ROT THE SLASH. 
Four main fungi were found rotting the white-oak slash, viz, 
Stereum rameale, S. versiforme, S. umbrinum, and S. fasciatum. All 
are sap-rotting fungi which cause but little apparent change in the 
texture of the wood. They produce what might be called indeter- 
minate rots, since there are no well-defined characteristics which 
mark any one of them. All slightly discolor the wood, which later 
becomes whitish in color, lighter in weight, and easily broken. 
Strange to say, each of these fungi rots its own special portion of 
the slash. Stereum rameale is usually found attacking twigs which 
bear the leaves and very small branches (1 inch or less in diameter). 
This fungus seems to begin on the twigs and works gradually down 
them to where the branches are about 1 inch in diameter ; there two 
other fungi (S. versiforme and S. umbrinum) take up the work and 
rot the small branches up to 2 or 3 inches in diameter, where a fourth 
fungus (S. fasciatum) usually begins its attack on the wood. This 
is the main fungus which rots the sapwood of the logs and large 
branches 3 inches or more in diameter, and it is often found rotting 
the sapwood of the stumps as well as the boles and large branches 
of standing dead oak trees. None of these fungi destroys the 
attacked wood completely, its final disintegration being left to 
other groups of fungi, insects, etc. 
The heartwood of the large branches and trunks remains for many 
years after the sapwood is destroyed, but meantime it is being slowly 
rotted by a delignifying fungus (Stereum frustulosum) , which pro- 
duces small cavities or pockets in the wood. 
Other fungi of minor importance were found attacking the oak 
slash, the most important of which was a small, dark-brown, gelat- 
