82 



TIMBER I'INES OF THE SOUTHEKN UNITED STATES. 



The trees of the extensive groves of Cubau Pine in the vicinity of Mobile iii)on the h)aniy 

 lauds of the ('(nist phiiii, which have sprnng up since ISOt, when tiiese lands were completely 

 stripi)ed of all arboreal fjrowth, average at ])resent between oO and <>0 feet in height by a diameter 

 of from 14 to l(i indies breast high. Trees of second growth, forming open groves on lands of 

 similar chara(;ter, and also more or less deficient in drainage, forty-five to sixty-live years old, 

 measure from 65 to 85 feet in height and from 15 to 20 inches in diameter breast high. 



At the edge of a heavily wooded swamp, in a perjietnally wet, sandy, and mucky soil and 

 skirted by large Longleaf Pines occupying the steep slope rising from the bottom, a tree measur 

 ing 114 feet in height, with a diameter of 24 inches breast high, the trunk dear of limbs for a 

 length of fully (10 feet, showed one hundred and thirty-five rings of annual growth. Another 

 tree felled deeper in the same swamp, of lank growth, with a poorly developed crown, rising to 

 a height of SS feet and towering above the dense growth of black gums, swamp maples, and white 

 bays, was found to measure only 15^ inches in diameter, with almost the same number of annual 

 rings. Trees of second growth which have sprung up in clearings with a drier surface soil under- 

 laid by a clayey substratum, with tree exposure to sunlight and air, reach in little over ludf tiie 

 time the full size of those produced in the forest-covered swam])s. 



Tablk I. — Croirlh of Cuban Pine thiriiu/ Jirst .v(«;/c,v <if lifi\ frviii four to tiffvty years. 



