REVIEWS 



Loblolly Pine. By W. W. Ashe. North Carohna Geological and 

 Economic Survey, Bulletin 34. 



After having turned to it two or three times for needed help, with 

 the result each time of being thoroughly satisfied, one is led to wonder 

 why a work that has been out six years and covers a very important 

 field has never been reviewed in the periodicals of the profession. 



Treating loblolly pine, the most important timber tree of the State, 

 the work is stated to have been "designed to meet the needs af all our 

 people who are in any way interested in timber." Save in one respect, 

 to be referred to later, it appears adequate to this purpose, not only at 

 present but in future. Explaining that in part is the background of 

 lifelong familiarity with the territory concerned on the part of the 

 author. Next one observes regard paid to actual facts and conditions 

 with appreciation of economic forces. Lastly, to round it out, is a 

 sure grasp on the ideal and a clear look into the future. Whether or 

 not North Carolinians and their neighbors are turning to this work 

 for guidance in these days is not known. (They are losing much if they 

 do not.) Men of the future, driven by greater pressure, will cer- 

 tainly do so, and will find there answers to their problems. 



Looking over the work for high spots to touch, the chief difficulty 

 arises from wealth of material. Perhaps as notable a feature as any 

 is the clear and thorough way in which the relations between soil and 

 silvical phenomena have been covered. This is a point at which weak- 

 ness has been frequently displayed by the profession ; in the South it 

 is all important. 



The relation of age and site quality to lumber produced is another 

 matter fully dealt with, one of vast importance to the man who is 

 actually growing timber. In this connection one can not but think of 

 the volume of detail work that lies behind the summary statements. 



Foresters at large will be more readily attracted by some other 

 things. Management is here fully discussed, with a fullness and detail 

 in fact that could be grasped only by one familiar with the territory. 

 The light thrown on recovery from suppression illustrates this particu- 

 larly. Other points of importance and difficulty covered in a similarly 

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