Treesearch

Occasionally a forest fire burns with an intensity that seems far out of proportion to apparent burning conditions. Sometimes it multiplies its rate of energy output many times in a short space of time. Although infrequent, these unusual fires have over a long period of time been responsible for the major loss of life in forest fires and a large part of the losses in property and forest values, Each blowup fire raises the question: What can we do to recognize conditions causing extreme fire behavior and how can we predict them in advance?

Tree dieases are one of the major sources of loss to timber growers in the Southern bottomlands. The U. S. Forest Service estimates that, year in and year out, the disease toll in these forests is equal to 15 or 20 percent of the growth.

The usual laboratory procedure in determining soil-moisture tension values is to use "undisturbed" soil cores for tensions up to 60 cm. of water and bulk soil samples for higher tensions. Low tensions are usually obtained with a tension table and the higher tensions by use of pressure plate apparatus. In tension analysis at the Vicksburg Infiltration Project some soils had higher moisture contents at 1/3 atmosphere tension than at 60 cm (.06 atmosphere). This was noted particularly in fine-textured soils and was thought to be related to the difference in relative disturbance of the soil...

Nearly every acre of Southern bottomland hardwood forest is carrying an appreciable number of rotton or grossly misshapen trees. These worthless culls prevent the establishment of seedlings and reduce the growth of good trees. Worse yet, the culls are a source of undesirable seed. Many are of inferior species and others are of poor form. Leaving them to reproduce their kind is certain to harm the future composition of the forest.

In 1953, a study was begun at the Delta Branch of the Southern Forest Experiment Station to determine whether fence posts cut from Delta hardwoods can be treated satisfactorily by cold-soaking in pentacholorophenol. Species included in the test were overcup oak, red oak (water oaks) sweetgum, tupelo, privet, boxelder, hackberry, hickory, cedar elm, American elm, and bitter pecan. Most of the posts were from small overtopped trees which ordinarily die and are wasted before they become large enough for sawlogs. However, some vigorous privet and boxelder were cut in order to give more...

A mixture of 2,4,5-T and water, applied in frills, is a cheap and effective method of deadening cull hardwoods in the Mississippi Delta.

Slash pine (Pinus elliottii Engelm.), including its variation South Florida slash pine recently distinguished as a new botanical variety, has been known by several different scientific names. As a result, the common name slash pine is more precise and clearer than scientific names. The slash pine of southern Florida differs from typical slash pine in a few characters important in forestry, such as seedling, wood, and resin production. A study of the botanical nomenclature and geographic variations of this valuable tree species is therefore appropriate.

This booklet describes the work of the Alexandria Research Center. The Center is a field unit of the Southern Forest Experiment Station, Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Its special mission is to find practical solutions to the most urgent land-management problems of the cutover longleaf pine lands west of the Mississippi River. The Research Center was established in July 1946. It did not have to start from scratch, however, for it was able to draw on work begun in 1934 by Forest Service technicians stationed in New Orleans. In this early period, Philip C. Wakeley, working...

An entirely new concept of tree measurment was announced by the author in 1948 (11). Since the original theory and applications have subsequently been b roadened considerably, it seems advisable to publish the entire development in readily usable form, along with other material helpful in tree measurement.

1954 completed the fiftieth year of operation of the U. S. Forest Service and the thirty-fourth year for the Southern Forest Experiment Station. The half century just past has brought dramatic changes in the forests of the South and to the people and industries dependent upon them.