Treesearch

Foresters generally recognize that diameter growth, height growth, sprouting vigor, and seed production are partially related to age; so age often has an important bearing upon silvicultural decisions. But unless past stand histories are fully known, the ages of hardwood trees can be determined only by increment borings, which not only require excessive time but also expose the trees to stain and decay. As an alternative, many foresters assume that for silvicultural purposes tree diameter at breast height is accurate enough as a guide to tree age. For managed even-aged stands, this...

Marking trees for felling or deadening was one of the important operations when an economic study of forest-management costs and returns was begun in 1959 on a 600-acre management unit of the U. S. Forest Service's Fernow Experimental Forest near Parsons, W. Va. This is a report on the cost of marking for the initial cutting operation.

This report describes first results of forest watershed management research on the Fernow Experimental Forest in Tucker County, West Virginia.

In 1948 the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station of the U.S. Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, established a field unit to conduct research in forest and watershed management in the Northern Appalachian Mountain region. This is a progress report on the activities and accomplishments of this research unit during its first 13 years of existence. Known initially as the Mountain State Research Center, later as the Elkins Research Center, and since 1962 as the Timber and Watershed Laboratory, this research unit has its administrative headquarters in the U.S. Forest Service Building...

Seed collection zones have been established in several regions and countries to insure that the sources of seed used in tree planting are properly selected. Use of such zones has undoubtedly improved the survival and growth of trees in plantations and has also facilitated the establishment of specifications for seed procurement and seed certification.

Controlled pollination of pines generally has been disappointing because cones contain too few seeds. We need to develop better techniques for collecting, extracting, and storing pollen, as well as better bagging procedures. A logical first step is to learn more about collecting and extracting pollen. In a recent study I found that extracting pollen of jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) and white pine (P. strobus L.) at a high relative humidity favors the development and maintenance of pollen vigor.

Black walnut (Juglans nigra L.) timber varies more in value and quality than any other hardwood species native to the Central States. While much of the quality variation can be attributed to environment, there is little doubt that part of the variation is due to inherent characteristics. In 1961 a study was undertaken by the Central States Forest Experiment Station of the U.S. Forest Service to find black walnut trees that will produce superior seedlings for planting in various regions within the commercial range of the species. This is a one-parent progeny study and the primary criterion...

Several years ago we began work on the vegetative propagation of yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera L.) with the aim of eventually establishing a clonal seed orchard. We tried field grafting, field budding, and air layering. We then attempted rooting cuttings in the greenhouse and in an indoor propagation bench. The best we could do with any of these methods was 4 percent success; this was with field budding. We suspected that success with field budding would have been greater except for a summer drought, so we turned to nursery budding. With the help of several generous cooperators,...

In the five Maryland counties south of Baltimore, there are 825,000 acres of commercial forest land. About half of this area is estimated to be in true farm woodlands; that is, in small tracts of 40 acres or so that are part of working farms.

In the Appalachian Mountains, the logging operator usually cuts only those trees that he thinks will yield a profit, and leaves the trees that appear to be unprofitable. Generally these unprofitable trees are either below merchantable size or are culls-trees of merchantable size that contain too little sound material to justify harvesting costs.