Treesearch

Foresters concerned with estimates of timber volume growth on any area or tract must first of all determine the rate of increase in tree size. The most important measurement, and often the only one made, is of the change in tree diameter at breast height over a specified period of years. Increment cores taken at this point 4.5 feet above ground are commonly used to measure the combined radial growth of a number of annual rings. This method provides data on the rate of wood growth, but it is impractical for measuring changes in bark, which slowly increases in thickness over the years.

During drouth, black willow (Salix nigra Karsh.) is quite sensitive to subsoil differences. Surface inspection alone rarely gives an adequate clue to the quality of the variously stratified alluvial soils on which willow may occur.

As management is intensified in bottomland forests, efforts will be made to control species composition. One criterion for the selection of species to favor is growth rate, about which relatively little is known for bottomland species. This study was made to compare the relative growth rates of certain bottomland hardwood species in southern Louisiana.

Report of study of the peripheral-milling process of planing lumber. Relationships were determined between cutterhead horsepower and various combinations of specimen, cutterhead, and feed factors. Power demand curves are interpreted by comparion with simultaneous one micro-second photos of chips. Secondary consideration is given to quality of surface obtained. The cutterhead variables, feeds, and speeds are in range of theose commonly used in industry.

In 1954, pulpwood production in the South was 16,269,600 cords, an increase of 0.9 percent over 1953. It was the largest harvest on record. The cut of pine pulpwood was 14,108,000 cords, of hardwood 2,128,800 cords, and of dead chestnut 32,800 cords. While hardwood production was 11.0 percent more than in 1953, pine was 0.3 percent less, and dead chestnut 46.3 percent less. In 1954, southern wood accounted for 60 percent of domestic pulpwood receipts at all mills in the United State.

A study was made in north-central Georgia in a typical cutover pine stand with a hardwood understory to measure the rate of hardwood invasion, the reaction of hardwood species to release, and the effectiveness of cutting burning, and grubbing as control measures in reducing hardwoods. A knowledge of understory hardwood behavior is important in establishing and maintaining pine on about one-half of the upland pine sites in the lower Piedmont, where hardwoods threaten to become dominant.

Nursery lifting of pine seedlings may have considerable influence in survival of field plantings. A cooperative study in south Florida has demonstrated that lifting technique can be an important factor in getting good survival under adverse weather conditions. Unfortunately, damage done in lifting often is difficult to detect and usually is overlooked. Performance of machine lifters should be checked frequently to assure that seedlings are not being damaged in this operation.

Planting the southern pines offers the only sure way of restoring to timber production, within the next 50 years, a huge area of forest land vital to the southern and the national economy.