30 BULLETIN 1491, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
sizes, from mere seedlings to those large enough for fence posts. To 
keep the area producing cedar it seems necessary merely to follow the 
plan of cutting only trees of fence-post size or larger, avoiding 
damage to the younger cedar that is coming on, leaving here and 
there a few scattered trees large enough to bear seed, and cutting out 
other trees that interfere with the growth of the cedar. 
Bottom-land type. — Of the trees which make up the stands in this 
type the best are yellow poplar, ash, red gum, white oaks, southern 
red oak, shagbark and shellbark hickories, cottonwood, and river 
birch. The less desirable are the soft maples, elm, hackberry, pin 
oak, water oak, sycamore, pecan, bitternut hickory, honey locust, 
and the southern cypress. In this type the merchantable trees are 
larger on the average and number more to the acre than on the 
uplands. 
The virgin or only slightly culled stands lend themselves to a 
system of partial cutting, provided the better species are not taken 
below a size of 24 to 30 inches in diameter. The poorer species 
should be cut to their smallest merchantable sizes. This will ordi- 
narily leave a nucleus of 50 per cent or more of the total number of 
trees for subsequent cutting and will not wreck the stand. 
If the cut is closer than this, only a scattered and very likely 
broken or badty damaged growth of tall, slender poles and some 
worthless, spreading-topped, and scrubby trees will remain. The 
poles when exposed to the full force of the winds will be toppled 
over; the other trees will not increase much in size or value and will 
simply take up valuable room. Eather than bring about this situa- 
tion it is better to cut these bottom lands clean of all timber except 
occasional solid patches of young, vigorous growth too small for the 
most profitable utilization. These bottom lands will come back 
quickly to young trees, which will grow rapidly and produce a second 
crop much sooner than will the young growth in the uplands. 
Mention has been made of pure stands of cottonwood on the bot- 
toms. These are not extensive, but occur on islands and on land newly 
formed by streams in flood stage. Cottonwood seed is deposited in 
the soft mud as the flood recedes, and under these favorable con- 
ditions sprouts and grows rapidly. There is no competing growth, 
unless it is willow. Only as the soil becomes fixed do other species 
of trees begin to come up under the cottonwood. The most common 
of these are soft maple, elm, ash, hackberry, pin oak. and river birch. 
Once these species get possession of the site cottonwood seedlings and 
saplings are very rare. 
When the cottonwood reaches saw-log size, there appears to be 
no known method of cutting which in itself will maintain this tree 
as the dominant species in the stand. Clean cutting of the cotton- 
wood and the destruction of all undergrowth of other trees or per- 
haps plowing the land and planting to cottonwood would be a very 
expensive undertaking. If cottonwood, however, is cut for pulp 
wood when 10 or 12 years old, it will probably maintain itself by 
sprout growth for a couple of crops. Then it will be necessary to 
cut out all the other trees present if the third crop is not to be 
shaded out, 
