The Wilmington morning star., 1946-09-23

N were not competing too
much for food and sunlight. A
number of young yellow poplar
were found at one end of the rs
acre tract.
Partial Cutting
After walking over the whole Is
acres and studying the situation.
Mr. Names concluded he would do
some partial cutting. He hoped TO
40 most of it himself or at least
nave 1T done under his personal
supervision; but, in case, he had
to sell the trees to a lumberman
he wanted those marked which
were to be cut.
So the three of them went over
the tract again marking all the
trees big enough for sawlogs with
n spot of paint on the body OF
the tree and another spot on the
stump. These trees will either be
cut by the owner OR will be sold
to a log operator. Those which
were too small for sawlogs, but
need to be removed, were marked
with two spots of paint on the body
and will be cut either for pulp
wood or tobacco curing wood.
Mr.. Maness will take out all the
over-mature pines since they are
no longer growing at a profitable
rate and r showing signs of red
heart" or ''dote." He is also
thinking out the best of the AZ
year old pines suitable for timber.
along with those having 'lopsided
tops, crooked boles, Of with cat
faces, and others showing large
fire scars. All the hardwoods will
cut out also except for a few
OF the straight yellow poplars.
Fire Hazard Control
When this thinning has been
done, Mr.. Maness will keep the
woods floor clean of brush by graz
ing cattle over the tract. This
will keep down the fire hazard, and
will prepare the, ground for re-
seeding to young pines when the
owner makes a real, heavy cutting
about eight to ten years from now.
In this way, the owner will give
the remaining best-quality, fastest
growing trees a chance to work
hard for him by producing a good
quality timber as quickly as they
can. Forester John Gray found
that the remaining woodland
acreage Oh the Names farm is not
in as good condition as is this IS
acre tract. Pines are scattered
about over most of the remaining
100 acres not cleared; but, mostly
they r old veterans which are
showing signs of "redheart' and
will have to come out. There are
some children of these old veter-
ans, however, which are old
enough and large enough to raise
pines of their own.
Forester Gray says that the oaks
and gums also have been raising
children at the same time, and
these offsprings have ganged up
on the pines in this outer area. 10
keep them from raising large
families. The young hardwoods
have grabbed most of the best
land, the best food, and the most
desirable growing space. The
pines. therefore, are not able to
compete and to produce enough
new timber each year to be profit
able. They are doing the best they
can but there are not enough of
them to add up to much money in
board feet per year.
To Run Cattle
So, Mr.. Names said he would
soon remedy this with his axe and
his cattle. He plans to cut out the
oaks and the gums taking both the
old trees and the young, and will
use them also for sawlogs or to-
bacco curing wood. Then he is 60
ing to run cattle here to keep the
young hardwood under control.
The. very old pines, the grand
parents of the present generation.
are also to come out and be sold
because they too are no longer
working to make a profit for the
owner. John Gray says they are
just there taking up food and water
and living space from the working
pines and, according to the stern
laws of Nature, they must give
way to the younger, more vigor-
GUS trees, which are more profit
able.
In another part Of the State, up
in Wilkes County, E. H. Blevins
of North Wilkesboro, planted two
thousand shortleaf pine seedlings
on his farm ear Springfield this
past April. The trees were set out
in all old abandoned field, on the
side of a hill. Mr.. Blevins pre-
pared the land by blowing a fur
row two ways and throwing the
sod out on both sides. The plowed
burrows were spaced seven feet
apart, and, in the burrows, he set
a pine tree every six feet. In late
August, local farm forester j. E.
Ford, visited this field with, Mr..
Blevins, and, by actual count they
found that over 81 per cent of the
seedlings were living. The aver
age growth so far this season is
about two inches per tree although
some of the youngsters had grown