ELISHA MiTCHKLIv SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 15 



idly, by a hot fire which will burn the thin exfoliated 

 layers of bark all over the trunk. The loblolly pine is 

 less injured by fire because its bark is thicker and so 

 offers more protection to the ^-rowing- wood, — the bark, 

 too, lying- closer to the wood in firmly appressed layers, 

 does not so easily take fire. 



So far as has been observed, young- long- leaf pines 

 are attacked by no injurious beetles or bark borers or 

 by any fung-i sufficiently to injure them. The mature 

 pines, however, have in the past years several times 

 been attacked by bark beetles in such numbers as to 

 destroy the pines over larg-e areas. A few trees which 

 have been killed from their attacks can be seen at any 

 time around the edg-es of districts when lumbering- is in 

 prog'ress, or about districts which have been recentl}^ 

 lumbered. 



The chief ag-encies, then, which prevent a reg-rowth 

 of the long- leaf pine on the hig-h sandy lands, are the 

 hog-s and the fires; and the attacks of the hog-s are di- 

 rected ag-ainst parts w^hich seem to have been develop- 

 ed to meet requirements of a plant g-rowing- on a dry 

 barren soil of loose sand. These peculiarly developed 

 parts are the seed, larg-e for a pine, which contain 

 abundant nutriment for the young- plant to enable the 

 root to push itself rapidly into the sand ; and then the 

 long- succulent root which g-rows for a considerable 

 distance straig-ht down w^ithout branching*. Since the 

 first settlement of these sand}^ lands the "rang-ing-" of 

 swine has been allowed in the forests, and while there 

 were enoug-h pines standing-, and frequent masts, they 

 fed a larg-e number of hog-s. 



The practice of firing- the barrens, has been adopted 

 in many cases with a view to improve the pasturag-e ; 

 while in many other cases, after the trees were boxed, 



