Treesearch

Innovent until proven guilty!" This ringing phrase has appeal not only to a person's sense of justice, but, in the case of town ant control, directly to his pocketbook.

Two field methods have been developed at the Stoneville Research Center for estimating the capability of Midsouth soils to grow eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides Bartr.). Data for establishing the procedures were collected from 155 plots* at the locations indicated in Figure 1. The methods give site index-that is, tree-growing potential- in terms of the height,. in feet, that free-growing cottonwoods in well-stocked forest stands will reach at the age of 30 years. While 50 years is the customary age for expressing site index; 30 years was chosen because it is close to the average for...

Pulpwood output in the south reached 22,750,100 cords in 1959, an all-time record. The previous high was 20,344,900 cords set in pre-recession 1956. The year 1959 also saw continued rapid expansion in the use of hardwood species and wood residues, the latter chiefly in the form of chips from sawmills. Altogether, 81 pulpmills received wood from the South, and 76 of these were southern mills.

The valleys and uplands of the South outside the mountains and upper Piedmont have, since 1915, been responsible for about 45 percent of the national production of hardwood sawtimber. They are strong indications that this situation may continue indefinitely.

The encroachment of weed trees on southern forest land is a major land-management problem; therefore, considerable research has been conducted to find efficient methods of control. Killing defective trees by girdling has been practiced for a number of years, but during the past decade the application of herbicides has proven effective. In recent years, special injectors were developed for applying herbicides to individual tree trunks.

Cull hardwood control now ranks as a leading method of stepping up production on forest lands of the South. For the past 25 years, the volume of cull hardwoods on upland site has risen to the point where dense lands of small to medium-size trees of undesirable species occupy practically one-third of the growing space.

The woods used for shipping crates and boxes have nb appreciable natural resistance to fungi and insects. Consequently, containers exposed to the elements are usually attacked by biological deteriorating agents. These agents include decay fungi that destroy wood, and staining and molding fungi that cause little loss in strength but can obscure stencil markings.