10 JOURNAIv O^ THE 



and the opinion prevails throughout the pine barrens 

 that pine masts are less frequent and less abundant 

 now than before the pines were so larg-ely boxed and 

 thinned out. The removal of a g^reat part of the trees 

 may explain, in part or wholly, why masts are less 

 abundant. It would naturally be inferred that there 

 would be a larg-e decrease in the productiveness of box- 

 ed trees, whose vitality, measured by the rate of accre- 

 tion between them and unboxed trees, has been g-reatly 

 impaired by the practiced manner of boxing-. However, 

 from a tabulated record of observations carried on dur- 

 ing* several years, there as yet appears no marked dif- 

 ference between the productiveness of boxed and un- 

 boxed trees, similarly situated. 



There are several important differences between the 

 reproductive capacities of the loblolly and long- leaf 

 pines, all of them to the advantag'e of the loblolly pine. 



The fertility of the long- leaf pine is much less than 

 that of the loblolly pine, its most frequent associate. 

 The loblolly pine bears cones at an earlier age, and 

 usually produces more seed, both perfect and imperfect 

 ones, and the great variety of soil, on which the loblol- 

 ly pines grow, causes a slight difference in the time of 

 flowering of different trees, making this pine less lia- 

 ble to have the entire prospect of a seed yield dstroyed 

 by frosts or by heavy rains during- polination. While 

 this may possibly explain why the loblolly pine has 

 come up as a regrovvth over so much of the moister 

 loam land, it has affected the growth of the pine bar- 

 rens very little. 



The seed of the long leaf pine r<re very large, J to \ 

 an inch long, independent of the wing-, while no other 

 pine of this region has seed over I an inch long-, but 

 there is a smaller proportion of abortive and otherwise 



