Treesearch

The U. S. maple tariff is a tax on maple syrup and sugar imports from Canada into the United States. An analysis of the maple tariff indicates that it was never very effective in protecting the domestic maple industry from foreign competition. The tariff has been especially ineffective since World War II. Its removal will not hurt the U. S. maple syrup industry.

Various thinning techniques were applied to 5-year old hybrid poplar stands on bituminous strip-mine spoils. Basal and stump sprays of 2, 4, 5-T in diesel oil were effective for killing the trees. There was no evidence that chemical treatments affected adjacent trees. Where trees were cut and stumps were not chemically treated, all clones sprouted prolifically. Dominance in sprout clumps was asserted soon after thinning. Sprouting vigor was affected more by site quality than clonal parentage. Results indicate that hybrid poplar can be successfully regenerated under coppice management or...

Basal-spraying and power-saw felling were compared as methods for eliminating the 1- to 5-inch d.b.h. understory stems left after clearcutting. Felling leaves the area more esthetically acceptable, and costs are lower.

Nutrient levels in five well-drained forest soils of the northern mountain section of West Virginia were generally associated with the type of parent rocks from which the soils had formed. But in some instances, different rock types yielded soils of similar nutrient composition. Soils formed from limestone and calcareous shale were usually higher in fertility than soils formed from acid sandstone, siltstone, or shale. However, considerable variation in nutrient levels occurred within as well as among most of the different soil series.

Sap-flow rate is closely correlated with the sap volume produced by dormant sugar maple trees (Acer saccharum Marsh.) and could be used in making phenotypic selections of trees for superior sap production.

A study of 600 hickory trees indicated that heart-rot fungi cause little economic loss in species of the genus Carya. More than half of the decay volume for which a fungus could be identified was caused by Poria spiculosa, one of seven species of heart-rot fungi associated with decay in hickory that were isolated and identified. Basal fire scars, open branch stub scars, large unsound branch stubs, and mechanical injuries were important entry courts for decay fungi.

The results of testing the Forest Service standard tree grades and sawlog grades for eastern white pine on an independent sample of 75 trees and 299 logs in southwestern Maine. The total predicted value of the 75 trees was 3 percent higher than the actual value. The total predicted value of the 299 logs was 2 percent higher than the actual value. The differences between the actual and predicted values are small enough to be of no practical importance.

Impulse or unplanned campground visits may account for one-fourth to one-half of all camping activity. The concepts of impulse travel and impulse camping appear to be potentially useful extensions of the broader concept of impulse purchasing, which has become an important influence in retail marketing. Impulse campers may also be impulse buyers; they were found to spend more per day than other campers. Impulse campers visit more campgrounds, camp more often, and have somewhat different needs in camping facilities than do those campers who carefully plan all aspects of their camping trips.

The Forest Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture conducts continuing forest surveys of all states to provide up-to-date information about the timber resources of the Nation. Since the timber resource reports that result from these surveys are many years apart, information about the forest industries and timber-products output for intervening years is needed, particularly when drastic changes have occurred in the makeup of industry within a state.

The 1969 survey of the wood-product industry showed that, since the 1964 survey in Pennsylvania: Veneer log production was down 27 percent to 15 million board feet. Total roundwood output was down 1 percent to 148.9 million cubic feet. Cooperage log production was up 52 percent to nearly 10 million board feet. Sawlog production was down less than 0.5 percent to 543 million board feet, while number of operating sawmills dropped from 999 to 684. Mine timber production was down 6 percent to nearly 6 million cubic feet. Puplwood production was up 8 percent to 622 thousand cords. Combined...