West Virginia University Division of Forestry - Cruiser Yearbook (Morgantown, WV)

Page 31 text:

which hogs relished. One hog could completely denude 40 acres in one season. Mr. Hardtner was informed by U. S. Forest Service men that if he excluded hogs and kept out fire, he would obtain longleaf reproduction. A plot was established and fenced known as the Roberts plot to demonstrate these conten- sions. But there was one factor on which no one apparently had counted. In 1917 I observed that the foliage of these pine seedlings was being kil- led by a rust known as septoria pini. This para- site had not previously manifested itself for the reason that the annual fires had destroyed its spores. The fires had burned annually as a mat- ter of custom to improve the grazing before Hardtner took over. It had taken a few years for the rust to reestablish itself by means of teleo- spores borne by the wind. A second method off distribution was by ascospores which were bounced along the ground by the splashing of rain drops. In the absence of fire, this rust an- nually defoiliated the longleaf seedlings, stunt- ing and finally killing most of them. A ground fire which destroyed the infected foliage gave the pine a new lease of life, for with the food stored in its root, it would produce a crop of new needles free from rust the following spring. In about three years the rust would reappear, re- quiring another winter burn. There was still another reason for burning at three-year intervals. T'he longleaf pine seedling cannot endure any shade whatever. It will be kil- led out by hardwood sprouts or even under sweet fern unless these plants are removed by fire. It thus became evident that these seedlings were not only able to resist fires if burned in the fall or winter but were dependent for their survival on these same fires. If the bud of the seedling is not killed, the loss of its foliage does not affect its survival. In fact, the foliage may be burned to within an inch of the bud without killing it. I tried the experiment of placing a cigarette paper on the bud and it remained unscorched while all of the foliage was destroyed except stubs an inch long. I am led to believe that the foliage expels a noninflammable gas which protects the bud. I wish there were some way to prove this. The question now arises as to what caused these fires which must have occurred over the eons of time required to develop this species and its adaptions. The answer is lightning. I collect- ed data on the occurrence of lightning fires on the National Forests in this region over a period of years and found that they had been numerous enough to account for a rough average of a fire every three years under natural conditions. These fires originated by lightning striking dead stubs which, after the storm had passed, would set the grass ablaze. The only natural barriers to their spread were streams and swamps. In this way nature had provided irregularly and sporadically the fire which this species required for its sur- vival, for the control of the brown spot tseptoria pinij and for the removal of competing shade. When I published these findings and conclu- sions, the battle was on, and lasted 20 years. The final result was inevitable for when pointed out, it was only necessary to observe what was taking place. The forest rangers in direct contact with the field, were the first to be convinced. Then the contagion spread to the Southern Forest Experi- ment Station at New Orleans and to the Atlanta office of the U. S. Forest Service and finally, af- ter bitter resistance by a few die-hards, the Washington office capitulated.. Meanwhile the private owners throughout the south had adopted a policy of hardwood extermination. In this ef- fort they used every available tool, including girdling, utilization, repeated fires, bulldozing, and the use of a chemical which killed hardwood foliage but not pines. The net result of this revolution in silvicultur- al practice has been to make possible the estab- lishment o-f many new pulp and paper mills throughout the south with an assured supply of raw materials. I made a calculation which indicated that through lack of knowledge of these facts, the south had suffered a loss of a billion dollars. But now with the new procedures universally applied, this great region will get its billion dollars back. This entire result may be attributed to the ability of foresters to use their eyes with which to see things and not merely to read statements with- out checking them.

Page 30 text:

The Function of Independent Ubservutions in Forestry The great mass of information and technical knowledge in forestry is a matter of record. This is usually assumed to be accurate and authorita- tive and constitutes the basis of education and forest practice. But there is another factor which cannot be neglected by technical foresters and that is the ability to use the eye to observe actual facts, con- ditions, and happenings in the forest. Such obser- vations may have important and even startling results, leading to the overthrow of accepted be- liefs and a revolution in silvicultural methods. The contrast between slavish dependence on re- corded data and conclusions drawn from direct observations was early emphasized by an experi- ence Ihad in the Waterville Valley in New Hampshire in 1906. The slopes extended almost to timberline, bearing an even-aged stand of spruce. But on ridges running east and west from the summit I noted that the trees on the south slope had reached twice the size of those on the north slope. The reason was obvious. At this alti- tude, the total amount of heat received during the growing season was much greater on this exposed slope than on the shaded north side. When I re- turned to the clubhouse, I imparted this informa- tion to one of the students as an interesting fact. He looked at me disapprovingly and remarked coldly, Professor Graves says that north slopes are the most favorable for tree growth . A second instance of dependence on authority rather than direct observation occurred in Arkan- sas on an area recently thinned by the firm of Pomeroy and McGowin. The latter stated that the small pines in evidence on the ground under the overstory had come in since the cutting four years previously. As the appearance of these small trees threw doubt on this statement, I cut one off at the surface, removed a section and counted the rings which were fifteen in number. That evening I showed this exhibit to a group of the students, whereupon one of them stated em- phatically that Mr. Pomeroy had haid that those trees were only four years old and he believed him. This young man preferred to credit spoken authority rather than believe the evidence of his senses. The universal theory taught in schools of for- estry was that fire was an unmitigated evil which should be totally excluded from all forests, which included the hard pines of the southern coastal regions. But my observations early began to throw doubt on this postulate. This climatic belt was naturally suited to hardwoods rather than pines, where fire was excluded an understory of inferior hardwoods developed under the pines with great- er ability to absorb moisture, with the result that the pines were stunted in growth, killed in periods of drought and prevented from reproducing them- selves. This was especially true of the longleaf pine. When Ponce de Leon passed through these longleaf forests, he found them open and free from hardwood brush. This effect had been pro- duced by periodic ground fires which destroyed the hardwood sprouts but left the pines unscath- ed. In 1908, in southern Alabama there was a heavy crop of longleaf pine seed. I observed that where surface fires had burned, reproduction was abundant, but on a bed of pine needles, or in a grass rough, the seedlings were unable to obtain a foothold. This led me to advocate at that time the burning-over of the ground in the spring pre- vious to the seed fall. The summer's growth of grass would then protect the seed from robins and blackbirds which otherwise would devour most of it. When our forest camp was moved to Urania, Louisiana, on Henry Hardtner's operation, I ob- tained further important information on the de- pendence of this species on recurrent fires. He had fenced in a large area to exclude hogs. These animals had been introduced by white settlers and against them, the longleaf pine seedlings had no defense. The succulent root possessed stored food

Page 32 text:

GENERAL WOODWORKING COMPANY if Lumszn if IvIII.I. womc if BUILDING SUPPLIES Phone u 2-9471 IvIoRGANrowN, west VIRGINIA we HAVE REPRINTED Books f0f Sale AND HAVE FOR SALE TEXT BOOKS - REFERENCE BOOKS DODDRIDGE, ns I-IAss, wm-Inns GENERAL BOOKS HISTORIES Sell the Books for which you have no further use. BUY THE BOOKS YOU NEED McClain PRINTING COMPANY -Also- SUPPLIES FOR THE FORESTER Telephone GR mm' THE BOUK EXCHANGE, Inc Opposite Mineral Industries Bldg. PARSONS' w' VA' Charles Cobun, Manager Dial LI 9-3346 26