Treesearch

One of the common problems on outdoor recreation areas is that pit toilets smell bad. Flush plumbing is one answer to the problem. But pit toilets are needed in many places where modern sewage systems are economically or physically impractical. To reduce the smell of the pit toilet, one simple, safe, and inexpensive device that can be used is the convection stack.

In the upper Coastal Plain and northward in New Jersey, yellow-poplar is an important component of the hardwood forests because of its rapid growth, straight and clear bole, and desirable wood characteristics. But attempts to reproduce this species naturally after harvest cuttings have often been unsuccessful. Though poor seed crops and unfavorable seedbed conditions may at times restrict germination, observations indicate that mortality of seedlings after germination is of greater significance.

Although weeding young northern hardwoods is not a common practice, most foresters will agree that weeding such stands is silviculturally sound in terms of improved growth and quality. Major obstacle to the widespread weeding of young stands as a routine cultural treatment is lack of information about the techniques and costs involved.

Cull trees and undesirable species may occupy a high percentage of forest growing space. In a managed forest, these unwanted individuals must be cut or killed so that sound vigorous growing stock of good species can utilize the space. The methods most frequently used to eliminate medium to large-size trees from timber stands are either girdling or application of herbicides in notches or in frills.

Tests made in New York State in 1956-60 indicate that the portable knapsack mistblower has considerable promise for practical control of the white-pine weevil, now the major insect enemy of white pine in the Northeast. Lindane and malathion, alone and with Aroclor 5460, were the toxicants used in the tests.

In determining the productivity of a certain piece of forest land, it may be desirable to estimate the site index for a certain tree species even though it is not possible to use ordinary measurements of age and height. This situation may arise either because trees of the particular species are not now present in the stand, or because trees of this species that are present in the stand are not suitable for use in determining site index.

The woodlot owners of New England have a large stake in the forestry future of the region. In New England there are more than 250,000 woodlots, averaging about 60 acres each. All together they make up about 15 million acres; and they provide a large part of the raw material needed by local wood-using industries.

For most forest tree species, nutrient requirements have not been investigated beyond general field observations and empirical tests of fertilizers in nurseries and plantations. For Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana Mill.), the first work on nutrition under controlled conditions was a sand-culture study of nitrogen and phosphorus requirements by Fowells and Krauss (1959).

A scale insect, tentatively identified as Xylococculus betulae (Perg.) Morrison, is responsible for one type of bark roughening that is commonly seen on American beech (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) trees in certain areas of New England. The insect has also been found on paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.) and yellow birch (B. allegheniensis Britton).

Ten years ago - in 1949 - four 5-acre plots were established on the Fernow Experimental Forest near Parsons, West Virginia, to show the effects upon mountain hardwoods of each of four management treatments.