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MARGINAL LAND - Land that does not consistently produce a profitable crop because of infertility, drought, or other physical limitations such as shallow soils.

MARKETING - The selling of timber or other forest resources. Successful sellers seek a satisfactory price through competition, skillful negotiation, knowledge of timber markets, and the aid of a competent broker or consultant.

MARKING - (a) The physical process of selecting trees to be cut or left during a harvest. (b) delineating a boundary. Marking is usually done by spraying a spot of bright paint on a prominent part of the tree.

MAST - Fruits or nuts used as a food source by wildlife. Soft mast include most fruits with fleshy coverings, such as persimmon, dogwood seed, or black gum seed. Hard mast refers to nuts such as acorns and beech, pecan, and hickory nuts.

MATURE TREE - A tree that has reached a desired size or age for its intended use. Size, age, or economic maturity varies depending on the species and intended use.

MBF - Abbreviation denoting 1,000 board feet. MBF is a typical unit of trade for dimension lumber and sawtimber stumpage. (It takes 11 MBF of wood to build an average 1,900-square-foot house.)

MENSURATION or BIOMETRICS - (a) The measurement and calculation of volume, growth, and development of individual trees or stands and their timber products. (b) A measurement of forestlands.

MERCHANTABLE HEIGHT - The stem length, normally measured from the ground to a 10-, 6-, or 4-inch diameter top, above which no other saleable product can be cut. Diameter, local markets, limbs, knots, and other defects collectively influence merchantable height.

MIXED STAND - A timber stand in which less than 80 percent of the trees in the main canopy are of a single species.

MULTIPLE USE - The management of land or forest for more than one purpose, such as wood production, water quality, wildlife, recreation, aesthetics, or clean air. (See Stewardship.)

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