Treesearch

The recent Forest Survey of Iowa reported as forest land only those areas larger than 1 acre in size and more than 120 feet wide. In farming states like Iowa, however, such small patches and narrow strips of wooded land take on greater significance than in more heavily forested states. Reasons for this are that small woodlands, especially in the form of narrow strips, affect the use of adjacent land by providing game cover and protection from wind as well as forest products for local use. Had roadside and streamside strips and shelterbelt plantings on small areas been included in the...

Unusual development of white pine terminal shoots - due to some sort of damage - was observed during the summer of 1955 throughout northern New England. In at least one instance it was also observed in pitch pine, and it may have occurred in other species.

Although it has been known for many years that sodium arsenite solution applied in ax frills is an effective means of killing cull trees (1), no published information could be found on the cost of stand-improvement work with this method under Adirondack conditions.

Relatively worthless hardwoods often take over space that should be growing loblolly pine on Maryland's Eastern Shore. In many cut-over areas, hardwoods are suppressing small pines that would become a part of the next crop if released. One way of controlling these hardwoods is with chemicals such as ammate and 2,4,5-T.

Loggers and sawmill men have been wary of purchasing Virginia pine sawtimber. They point out that a heart rot, locally called "red heart, may spell the difference between profit and loss on a logging job. It is difficult to detect this rot in standing Virginia pine. It is even harder to estimate the volume loss. And total losses can be determined only after logging and milling.

American beech (Fagus grandifolia) can produce an abundance of root sprouts. In some cut-over woodlands, the sprouts occupy space that could be utilized by more desirable tree species. Therefore it seemed desirable to explore methods of destroying beech root sprouts.

Between 1933 and 1940 the Civilian Conservation Corps undertook many cultural operations in the state forests of southern New Jersey; one of the most common was thinnings in predominantly oak stands on upland sites. The thinnings varied from very light - removing only trees that would soon die - to very heavy. They were usually justified on the prevalent notion that growth of the residual stems would be stimulated.

Several years ago, old-growth red spruce at high elevations in the Green Mountain National Forest were observed to be dying. Entomologists and pathologists who examined the affected area found no insect or fungus that was obviously causing the deaths. However, many of the dead and dying trees were butt-rotted by the fungus Polyporus borealis. Though it seemed unlikely that butt-rot was the cause of death, a cooperative study was begun by the Northeastern Forest Experiment Station and the Green Mountain National Forest in the spring of 1955 to determine the relationship of heart rots in red...

Woods-utilization studies were recently made on randomly selected logging operations scattered throughout Delaware. As would be expected, most of the operations studied were in pine stands in the southern part of the state. They showed that very close utilization of the trees cut was the general rule.

In 1951 foresters at the Penobscot Experimental Forest near Bangor, Maine, began a demonstration of the financial returns that can be realized through careful management of small forest properties. Light improvement cuts made in 1951 and 1952 on a moderately stocked 47-acre tract (Compartment 2) yielded gross incomes of $623.74 and $191.81 respectively. Another well-stocked 55-acre tract (Compartment 7) yielded $558.82 for a single harvest in 1952. This report describes the benefits from subsequent harvests of the same woodlands.