8 JOURNAI^ OP THE 



sand black jack oaks which now flourish on them. 

 There is even a possibility and in fact it can be said a 

 g-reat likelihood that this valuable tree, the long leaf 

 pine, will become extinct in North Carolina unless 

 some steps are taken to secure its more general propa- 

 gation. It has already become extinct over large tracts 

 lying to the north of the Neuse river which were for- 

 merly occupied either exclusively by this pine or by 

 mixed forests of it and hard woods and loblolly pine. 



THE REASON WHY EONG LEAF PINE FORESTS ARE NOT 

 SEEF PROPAGATING. 



The causes which have operated to prevent the long 

 leaf pine from propagating itself are several, and all 

 of them are important and act uniformly throughout 

 this sandy area. A brief statement of some of the pe- 

 culiarities of this tree may enable us to see more clear- 

 ly why it needs more special protection than must ne- 

 cessarily be accorded other trees to enable the forests 

 to reproduce themselves. The chief causes which have 

 influenced and tended to retard the general regrowth 

 of this tree at the present time arise from a highly 

 specialized form of seed and plant structure and a de- 

 cidedly unique manner of growth when compared with 

 the other pines of this same region. These character- 

 istic peculiarities lie chiefly in the young pine seedling, 

 in the seed, and the structure of the leaf buds. 



THE SEEDING OF THE EONG EEAF PINE. 



Although the writer has not yet carried on system- 

 atic observations, on (1) the frequency of seeding of the 

 long leaf, (2) the relative abundance of its seed as com- 



