TIMBER GROWING AND LOGGING PRACTICE 31 
IN SEVERELY CULLED STANDS 
In upland or bottom-lancl stands that have been severely culled of 
their best timber, and perhaps also burned or heavily grazed, the 
necessary measures are such as will lead toward rejuvenation of the 
stand. The only cutting that needs to be done at the beginning is to 
take out any trees of undesirable species that are large enough to bear 
seed, such as ironwood, blue beech, black gum, blackjack oak, per- 
simmon, sassafras, and other definitely inferior kinds. This is neces- 
sary in order to prevent the land from being seeded in heavily with 
these inferior species to the exclusion of the better ones. Timber is 
extreniely persistent, and if given freedom from fires and from heavy 
grazing the more desirable species will begin to come back on these 
lands, usually within three to seven years. The fact needs to be rec- 
ognized, however, that it may seldom be possible to bring old stands 
back quickly into a state where the best species form a high propor- 
tion of the young growth. The owner may be obliged to be satisfied 
at first with rather inferior timber, which he can by subsequent care 
develop gradually into a more valuable property. 
Where there are a thousand or more seedlings or saplings to the 
acre fairly well distributed, any old big-topped, defective, or other- 
wise worthless trees should be cut out or girdled, in addition to those 
mentioned in the preceding paragraph. This is simply to free the 
area of trees which have little or no potential value and which would 
interfere with the growth of the young trees. 
In some of the worst of these severely culled and badly run-down 
pieces of timberland, it may even be necessary to plant trees in order 
to get a fair growth of young timber within a reasonable length of 
time. Infertile ridge tops, areas where blackjack oak, scarlet oak, 
post oak, black gum, or a poorer grade of hickory predominate, and 
old abandoned fields coming in to sassafras, persimmon, cherry, elm, 
ironwood, or similar species, are typical examples. Conifers ordi- 
narily are more successful than hardwoods when planted on soils of 
low fertility. Since forest planting ordinarily costs $10 to $20 an 
acre, the choice of species should be determined only upon the advice 
of the State forester. 
IN EVEN-AGED STANDS OF SECOND GROWTH 
The even-aged stands of second growth in this section are mainly 
confined to mixed stands of oak and hickory on the hilly lands of the 
Ozarks, southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and the highland rim 
of Kentucky and Tennessee. These stands, both by composition and 
character of growth, lend theniselves well to the production of rail- 
road ties, mine props, and in some cases cordwood. Because of the 
large supply available the market for cordwood as a rule is poor; 
that for ties and niine props varies with the sizes wanted and the 
prices offered, but is fairly steady. If the stands are very badly fire- 
scarred, it may pay to cut them clean for such products as they will 
afford and strive for improvement in the new crop that will spring 
up. Otherwise they should be cut by selecting out here and there the 
tie-sized trees or those suitable for mine props. 
