TECHNICAL BULLETIN NO. 204 OCTOBER, 1930 TIMBER GROWING AND LOGGING AND TURPENTINING PRACTICES IN THE SOUTHERN PINE REGION MEASURES NECESSARY TO KEEP FOREST LAND PRODUCTIVE AND TO PRODUCE FULL TIMBER CROPS BY R. D. FORBES Formerly Difector, Southern Forest Experiment Station Forest Service INTRODUCTION BY R. Y. STUART Forester, Forest Service UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON, D. C. TBCHNicAt BULLETIN NO. 204 OCTOBER, 1930 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON, D. C. TIMBER GROWING AND LOGGING AND TURPENTINING PRACTICES IN THE SOUTHERN PINE REGION By R. D. FoÄBOEs, formerly Director, Southern Forest Ea^erinvent Station^' ^ Introduction by R. Y. STUABT, Forester, Forest Service CONTENTS Page Page Introduction 1 Measures necessary to keep forest lands pro- The southern pine region and forests 5 ductive—Continued. Range and habit of growth of the southern Will it pay to keep forest lands produc- pines and present conditions of cut- tive?—Cont inued. over lanctó -- __ 6 The tax situation 69 Longleaf pine _ 7 Comparative salability of barren and Shortleaipine _ 10 productive land 71 Loblolly pine — _ 11 Résumé of the necessary measinres--—.. 72 Slash pine 11 Measures necessary to produce full timber Other southern pines 12 crops - ^ 73 Advantages of the South for timber grow- Desirability of fully stocked stands _ 74 ing - 12 Intensive fire protection.. _ 79 Measures necessary to keep forest lands pro- Slash disposal 80 ductive 17 Fencing as a fire preventive 81 Fire protection 18 Results and costs _ 82 A standard of fire control 26 Improved cutting practice. _ _ _ 84 The essential steps in fire protection. 28 Clear cutting with seed trees 85 The landowner'spart _ 31 Selective logging _ _ 85 Protection offarm woodlands.... 32 Cultural operations _ 91 Protection of large tracts _ _ _ 32 Cleanings _ 91 Costs of fire protection 39 Thinnings.. _ 93 Leaving seed trees or their equivalent 46 Release cuttings _ 95 What is a seed tree? -. _ 48 Improved turpentining practice 96 Number and distribution of seed Selective turpentining 98 trees _.__ _ 51 Tliinnings by turpentining to death. 99 How present logging practice affects Planting ___ _ lOO natural reproduction _ ö4 Methods 101 Present turpentining practice and Costs 102 seed trees. _ _ 58 Protection against insects _ 102 Necessary modifications and their Protection from disease... 104 cost 60 Reforestation of poor sites 105 Protection against grazing 65 Management of forest lands for sustained Will it pay to keep forest lands produc- yield 106 tive?. 65 Examples of productive properties 108 Stands of seedlings to be expected on Appendix __ 112 average land _ 65 Forestry oflacials in the southern pine The trend of values in stumpage and region 112 turpentine leases 68 Literature cited 113 INTRODUCTION Forestry in the United States is no longer merely a theory or a subject for discussion; it has gotten down to concrete things in the 1 The bulk of the Information presented in this bulletin was collected between 1921 and 1927 by the Southern Forest Experiment Station, New Orleans. The writer wishes to express his thanks to the station's entire staff, and particularly to E. L. Demmon and Lenthall Wyman, for assistance in its collection and presentation. He is also deeply indebted for constructive criticism and suggestions to a number of southern lumbermen i»nd foresters who examined the preliminary draft of this bulletin. ^ Since July 8, 1927, director of the Allegheny Experiment Station. 119604*»—80 1 1 2 TECHITICAL BULLETIN 2 04, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE woods. Nor is the growing of timber confined to public lands ; it is slowly making headway on land in private ownership. It is be- coming a form of land management, developed through practical measures for protecting forest growth from fire and other destructive agencies, for logging woodlands so as to carry over or reproduce a crop of timber, and for planting forest trees on cut-over areas. The value of timber, with other economic considerations, is causing land- owners more and more widely to study the possibility of profitable reforestation. These developments have created a general demand for information on the timber-growing methods adapted to the various types of forest growth in the United States and what these methods will cost. Timber culture, like the growing of farm crops, is necessarily governed in any country by me soil and climate, by the requirements of native forest trees, and by local economic circumstances. Lessons may be drawn from the experience of other countries, as the United States has drawn upon the forestry of Europe. But profitable methods of growing timber, particularly under the wide range of forest types and economic conditions in the United States, can be worked out only from our own experience and investigation, region by region. Owners of southern pine, for example, may well profit by the demonstrated value of a sustained yield of gum to the naval- stores industry of France. Whether the French methods of grow- ing and chipping pine trees can be adapted to American conditions is doubtful, although investigations thus far show promise. What- ever is done in the way of working out or adapting methods to southern pine must take into consideration labor conditions in the South. Hence, to meet the need for information on practical ways and means of growing timber profitably in the various parts of the United States, it is important that the results of our own experience and investigation to date be brought together and set forth in the clearest possible way. This the Forest Service has attempted to do in a series of publications dealing with 12 of the principal forest regions of the United States. The information presented has been gathered from many different sources, including the experience of landowners who have engaged in reforestation. An effort has been made to bring together the gist of what has thus far been learned about the growing of timber in the United States; and the results have been verified as far as possible by consultation with the forest industries, State foresters, and forest schools. This bulletin thus undertakes to set forth what are believed to be the soundest methods of reforestation as yet developed in our common experience and study in the southern pine region. Necessarily, no finality is claimed for the measures proposed. Timber growing in every country has come about through a gradual evolution in industrial methods and the use of land. All too little is yet known of the best methods of growing timber in the southern pineries. As time goes on, research and practical experience will add greatly to the success and certainty of the practice in our woods, just as American agriculture has steadily become more highly developed or manufacturing processes have been perfected through experience and study. But we know enough now about growing TIMBER GROWING AND TURPENTINING PRACTICES ó timber in the southern pineries to go right ahead. Believing that the forest-land owners of this region are ready to engage in timber growing on a large scale, the Forest Service has endeavored to place before them in concise terms the best suggestions and guides which our experience to date affords. In this bulletin the measures proposed have been arranged in two general groups. The first includes the first steps, or the least that must be done under the local physical conditions, to prevent timber- bearing land from becoming barren. These measures, in which the prevention of fire is of outstanding importance, represent broadly the lowest cost that must be incurred to keep forest lands reasonably productive. They have been worked out primarily from the stand- point of the landowner who may not be ready to engage in real timber culture but who wishes to prevent cut-over tracts unsuitable for any purpose except timber growing from becoming a liability on his hands. The Forest Service believes that these first steps, or minimum measures, should be speedily applied to all of the forest lands in the southern pine belt and that public policy should encour- age their universal application in such ways as protection from fire and the adjustment of forest taxation to the' business of timber growing. Fires have been incredibly frequent and widespread in the south- ern pineries. Over three-fourths of the forest acreage burned annually in the United States is in the pine belt of the South ; and a concerted drive to control and eliminate the man-caused fire is the most urgent first step in forestry for this region. At the same time, extremely close cutting or turpentining has been an essential cause of the barrenness of probably ten million acres of southern pinelands, and still accounts largely for the addition of about one and one-third million acres a year to the idle land. Protection from fire and the leaving of seed trees go hand in hand as the minimum measures needed to replace the pine forests of the South. The second group of proposed measures constitutes what may be called desirable forestry practice as far as our knowledge and ex- perience to date enable us to determine it. These measures are de- signed to grow reasonably complete crops of the more valuable timber trees, making full use of the productive capacity of the land. Such recommendations are addressed primarily to the land- owner who wishes to use his property up to its full earning power for timber culture. It is impossible to frame any general set of measures of this character that are adapted to the individual needs of particular holdings or industrial establishments. Hence, in pre- senting this group of suggested measures, the Forest Service has attempted only to outline the more general and fundamental things, with illustrative methods of forest practice.