30 TIMBER PINES OF THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES. 



worth of these stores were exported yearly; among them were 88,111 barrels of crude resin, valued 

 at 811,244.85. F. A. Michaux, iu his travels west of the Alleghany Mountains, speaking of the 

 low country of the Garoliuas, says:' "Seven-tenths is covered witli pine of one species, I'inus 

 paluHtris, which, as the soil is drier and lighter, grows loftier; these pines, encumbered with very 

 few branches and which split even, are preferred to other trees for building fences on plantations." 

 In his subseipieut work Michaux gives for the first time an accurate and detailed account nf the 

 products of this tree and their industrial and commercial importance, as well as of its distribution 

 and a description of its specific characters.^ 



Note. — In sketching the topograi)hical features of those rpfrinns of tho Longleaf Pine forests, which diil not come 

 under the personal observation of the writer, the jjhysiographical (Icscriptious of the Cotton States on the Atlantic 

 Coast and the Gulf region published in Professor Hilgard's n'port ou cotton production in the fifth and sixth 

 volumes of the Census of 1H80 were freely drawn upon, and these re]>ort8 were also consulted, together with Table VII 

 in the statistics published in the census report on productions of agriculture in the computation of forest areas. 



In the statements of the amount of Longleaf Pine .standing in the several tStates in 1880 and of the cut during 

 the same year, the figures given in Prof. Charles S. Sargent's report, Vol. IX of the Tenth Census, were introduced, 

 and for those which rehite to Alabama and Mississippi the writer is mostly responsible. No eft'orts have been spared 

 to arrive at a correct estimate of the total amount and value of stiuare timber, lumber, and naval stores produced 

 during the decade ending with tlie year 18'.I0 and during the business year 18113, in order to i)hue in a proper light 

 the economic importance of the tree and its hearings upon the industrial and commercial interests of the country, 

 and also to show the rapid increase of the industries depending directly upon the resources of this tree. The state- 

 ments given are, however, of necessity only approxinuitions falling below the limits of truth, as it was impossible to 

 ascertain with any degree of accuracy the quantities entering into home consumption. Thus a factor of no little 

 importance had to be neglected. 



The thanks of the writer are due to the gentlemen who kindly assisted him by their prompt replies to his 

 inquiries in his search for information, and who in other ways have afforded him aid. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The LoDgleaf Pine is principally confined to a belt about 125 miles in width in the lower 

 parts of the Southern States which border upou the Atlantic and the Gulf shores. The northern 

 limit of tlie tree is found on the coast near the southern boundary of Virginia below Norfolk, 

 north latitude 36° 30'. Prom here the forests of the Longleaf IMne extend southward along the 

 coast region to Cape Canaveral, across the peninsula of Florida a short distance south of Tampa 

 Bay, westward along the Gulf Coast to the uplands which border upou the alluvial deposits of 

 the Mississippi. West of that river forests of this species continue to the Trinity liiver in Texas; 

 in that State its northern limit is found to reach hardly 32° north latitude, while in Louisiana and 

 Mississijjpi it extends hardly more than half a degree farther noith, and in Alabama under 34^ 30' 

 the tree is found to ascend the extreme southern spurs of the Api)alachian chain to an altitude of 

 between 1)00 and 1,000 feet. Thus the area of the distribution of the Longleaf IMne exteuds from 

 76° to 90° we.st longitude and from 28° 30' to 36° 30' north latitude. (See PI. III.) 



With reference to the distribution of this species as dc])('nding upon geological formation, it 

 may be said that its forests are chiedy confinetl to the sandy and gra\ elly de|)osits designated by 

 Professor Hilgardas the orange sand, or Lafayette strata of Post-Tertiary formation, which of late 

 isregarded as the most recent nuMuber of theTertiary formation. Thcsesiliceoussands and pebbles, 

 which to such vast extent cover the lower i)art of tlie Soutliern States and lorni also more or less 

 the covering of the surface throughout the older Tertiary region, offer the physical conditions most 

 suitable to the growth of this tree. 



CnARACTERISTICS OF DISTRIBUTION IN DIFFERENT REGIONS. 



This great maritime ])ine belt east of the Mississii)i)i b'iver presents such ditferences iu 

 toi)ographical features and such diversity of i>hysical and nieciianical conditions of the soil as to 

 permit a distinction of three divisions going from the coast to the interior: 



1. The coastal ])lain, or low [line barrens within tlie tide water region, extends from the seashore 

 iidand for a distaiu'c of from 10 to 30 miles and over. The forests of the Longleaf Pine which 



'Travels West of the AUeghauios, by F. A. Michaux. Paris, 1803. 



'V. A. Michaux, Uistoiru dcs Arbres forestiers do TAinor., Sept. Paris, 1811, Phihulelphiu Edition, 1852, Vol. 

 Ill, p. 100 et soq. 



