84 TIMBER PINES OF THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES. 



KEQUIKEMENTS FOU DEVELOPMENT. 



Soil. — For its best development the Cuban Pine requires a liglit, sandy, but constantly damp 

 soil, which is attained wiiere the sandy surface is underlaid by a loamy subsoil retentive of 

 moisture but sufficiently loose to give the roots unhindered access. Such conditions are found t)n 

 the lands rising above the perpetually wet swamps. On the flats, with a soil of fine, compact 

 sand, devoid of all drainage and underlaid by a hardpan, where nothing but the Saw Palmetto 

 appears to thrive, the tree remains of low, stunted growth, scarcely ever reaching medium size. 

 lu the depth of the swamp, with the soil wet and slushy throughout the year, where the tree is 

 commonly met with, closely surrounded by White Bay, Eed Bay, Black Gum, Titi, and White 

 Cedar towering high above it, it is of slow growth and frequently att'ected liy red heart or red rot, 

 particularly near its northern limit. It is never found iu alluvial bottoms, and eschews the dry, 

 piue-barreu hills, requiring a moderate but sure and even supply of soil moisture. 



Climate. — The range of its distribution coincides with the area of greatest rainfall in tlie 

 Southern States, which, evenly distributed. through all seasons, amounts for the year, in the mean, 

 to 60 and 64 inches. 



The Cuban Pine demands a warm climate, free from excesses in the range of temperature, as 

 is afforded by the vicinity of the sea. It is found in greatest abundance and most perfect within 

 the isothermal lines of 64:° and 68° F., with a minimum of but a few degrees below the freezing 

 point. The tree, as observed at Jlobile, has escaped uninjured the severe and unprecedented 

 long spell of ice and snow during the latter part of January and lirst week of February, IS'.to, 

 when the thermometer fell as low as 11° F., the flowers unfolding unimpaired by frost duriug the 

 succeeding first days of milder weather. 



In its dependence on light it is less exacting than either the Longleaf Pine or the Loblolly 

 IMne. It apjiears to thrive, from the earliest stage of its development, as well when partially 

 shaded as iu the open, iu this respect resembling the Southern Spruce Pine. It is due to these 

 facts, combined with the rapid progress of its growth from the earliest stage, that the Cuban 

 Pine is gaining the upjier hand over the ottspring of the light requiring Longleaf Pine, which, on 

 the damp soil of the coast plain, is soon outstripped and finally almost completely suppressed by 

 the seedlings of this tree. 



In the inherenl capacity for natural re])roduction, or in tlie advantages for the renewal of its 

 forests by man, the Cuban I'ine is not surpassed by any other of the species with which it is found 

 associated. This tree commends itself strongly to the tree plauter in the coast plain of the lower 

 South. Producing seeds in abundance regularly and with certainty, being less exacting in its 

 demands lor direct sunlight, and hence successfully resisting the encroachment of comjieting 

 species, being less liable to succumb to the destructive agencies of fire ou account of its more 

 rapid development in early life, it has greater promise of success than the others. If to this is 

 added the ra])id rate of growth, the great value of its timber, being equal to the Longleaf, if not 

 superior, and the abundant yield of its valuable resinous product, it becomes evident that in the 

 reforestation of the low pine lands of tlie Southern coast region the Cuban pine is to be i)referred 

 to any other, not only within its original boundaries, but as far beyond its range of natural 

 distribution as the climatic requirements of tlie tree will permit. 



