The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1909-04-27
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\ Study 81 conditions boo fhs ,t'lne
pine iapat uf tHt southwest wadv
DURING thr paHi .pHaw bt ib, tuit,d
forrest service af th, recently uab.
uahra toeanHra Forrest Experiment
station has brought ouf worry
stHknply iby die'etlly of securing
natural reproduction FOE this type
of rorpai
In northern Arizona. pcrhap at
least half eft The forest is without
growth OF any Kind and old cuttings
are frequently barren wastes. The
most important factors in bringing
this about are the climate. FIRE.
methods of cutting. disposal Of
brush and grazing, in most cases
two or more of these factors work
together in preventing reproduction.
Climatic conditions. even when
they do not iniuriously AFFECT the
Older trees, are apt to be especially
unfavorable for the establishment
OF a good crop of seedlings, and Gu
riously enough, in a region noted for
its heat and aridity, frost Is one Of
the most serious enemies of the
young growth. The rainfall is very
distributed throughout
the year. and while in most of the
yellow pine region It probably aver
ages about twenty inches, this comes
mainly in midsummer and winter.
Spring is the most arid season of
the year. and it is almost impossi-
BILE for seedlings TO get started then.
The result is that a majority of the
seeds terminate during August, and
not having time to fully complete the
seasons growth, are killed by early
fall frosts. Foresters who had pre-
yiously investigated this problem
had realized in general way the
Importance of frost, but 1t was not
until actual experiments by means of
sample plots were made that this
point was definitely settled
Owing 10 the extremely trying
climatic conditions some protection
to the young seedlings for the first
quently light cuttings are favorable,
and the disposal OF brush by scat
tering rather than by burning helps
to protect the seedlings from the
weather. The greater part of the re-
gion is quite heavily graZed, and
experiments have shown that sheep,
in particular, do great deal Of
damage to young seedlings. Sample
counts showed that within pasture
from which sheep were excluded
only 5i per cent OF the young trees
were injured by the grazing OF bur-
ros and cattle, while Immediately
outside OF this same pasture, whore
the sheep were allowed to run at
Will, 2S.2 per cent OF the young
growth was damaged. Trees up to 3
or feet IN height are apt to be in
jured In this way, but the full ex-
tent of the damage is often not real
lied, since the inconspicuous young
seedlings are damaged NOSE severe
ly. Fires, of course, completely des-
troy young growth on burned over
areas, and their prevention is abso-
lutely necessary II satisfactory sec
ond crop is to be secured
While the study has not yet been
completed, the preliminary results
are OF great practical interest and
value, and point TO the methods of
management which must be used In
this type of forest Light cuttings,
disposal OF the brush by topping
and scattering, and the exclusion OF
sheep until the cut over areas have
a satisfactory young growth, seem
to offer the best means of furnishing
u sufficient supply of seed and OF
protecting the young growth from
unfavorable weather conditions and
from destruction by grazing.