30 TIMBER PINES OF THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES. 



worth of these stores were exported yearly ; among tliein were 88,111 barrels of crude resin, valued 

 at •'i'll/itl.So. F. A. Micliaiix, in bis travels west of tbo All«'};baiiy Minuitaiiis, speaking of the 

 low country of the (Jarolinas, says:' "Seven-teutlis is covered with pine of one si)eeies, I'tnun 

 palustris, which, as the soil ia drier and lighter, grows loftier; these pines, encumbered with very 

 few branches and which split even, are j)referre(l to otlicr trees for building femes on plantations." 

 In his subseiiuent work Miclnuix gives fur the tirst time an accurate and (ietailed account of the 

 products of this tree and their industrial and commercial importance, as well as ot its distribution 

 and a description of its specific characters.' 



XOTE.— In sketohiiig tlio topograpliical fcaluros of those rpRions of the I.ongloaf I'ine forests, which did not come 

 uniler the personal oltseivation of the writer, the physiographical descriptions of the Cotton States on the Atlantic 

 Coast and the Gnlf region pnblished in Professor llilgard's report ou cotton production in the fifth and sixth 

 volumes of the Census of ISXO were freely drawn upon, and these reports wore also consulted, togetlier with Table VII 

 in the statistics published in the census report on productions of agriculture in tlii^ coMi|iiilation of forest areas. 



In the statements of tlie amount of Lougleaf I'ine standing in the several States in IKKO and of the cut during 

 the same year, the figures given in I'rof. Charles S. Sargenfs report, Vol. IX of the Tenth Census, were introduced, 

 and for those which relate to Alabama and Mississippi the writer is mostly responsible. No etVorts have been spared 

 to arrive at a correct estimate of the total amount and value of s(iuare timber, lumber, and naval stores produced 

 during the decade ending with tlie year 1S;)0 and <luring thi! business year ISi'H, in order to jilaee in a proper light 

 the economic importance of the tree and its bearings upon the industrial and commercial interests of the country, 

 and also to show the rapid increase of the industries dei)ending <Iirectly ui)on the rescuinu'S of this tree. The state- 

 nienta given .are, however, of necessity only approximations falling below the limits of truth, as it was impossible to 

 ascertain with any degree of accuracy the quantities entering into home consumption. Thus a factor of no little 

 importance had to be neglected. 



The thanks of the writer are due to the gentlemen who kindly assisted him by their prompt replies to bis 

 imjuiries in his search for information, and who in other ways have aflorded him aid. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



The LoDgleaf Pine is principally confined to a belt about 125 miles in width in the lower 

 parts of the Soutlieni States which border upon the Atlantic and the (riilf shores. Tlie nortliern 

 limit of the tree is found on the coast near the southern boundary of Virginia below Norfolk, 

 north latitude 36^ 30'. From here the forests of the Longleaf Pine e.xtend southward along the 

 coast region to Cape Canaveral, across the i)eniusula of Florida a short distance south of Tampa 

 Bay, westward along the Gulf Coast to the uplands which border upon the alluvial deposits of 

 the Mississippi. West of that river forests of this species continue to the Trinity Kiver iu Texas; 

 in that State its northern limit is found ti> reach hardly 32° north latitude, while in Louisiana and 

 Mississippi it extends hardly more than half a degree farther north, and in Alabama under 34^ 30' 

 the tree is found to ascend the extreme southern spurs of the Appalachian chain to an altitude of 

 between i)00 and l,0(tO feet. Thus the area of the distribution of the Longleaf Pine extends from 

 70° to 90^ west loiigitiuie and from 28 ^ 30' to 36^ 30' north latitude. (See PI. III.) 



With reference to the distribution of this species as depending upon geological formation, it 

 may be said that its forests are chiefly confined to the sandy and gravelly deposits designated by 

 Professor Ililgard as the orange sand, or Lafayette strata of Post-Tertiary formation, whicli of late 

 isregarded as the most recent member of theTertiary formation. Thesesiliceous sands and pebbles, 

 which to such vast extent cover the lower part of the Southern States and form also more or less 

 tlie covering of the surface throughout the older Tertiary region, oiler the physical conditions most 

 suitable to the growth of this tree. 



CnAEACTERISTICS OF DISTRIBUTION IN DIFFERENT REGIONS. 



This great maritime pine belt east of the Mississippi lliver j)resents such differences in 

 toj)ogiaphical features and such diversity of i>liysical and mechanical conditions of the soil as to 

 permit a distinction of tliiee divisions going from the coast to the interior: 



1. The coastal plain, orlowpinebarrens within the tide- water region, extends from the seashoic 

 inland for a distance of from 10 to 30 miles and over. The forests of the Lougleaf Pine which 



'Travels West of the AUcghanies, by F. A. Michaus. Paris, 1803. 



«F. A. Micbaux, llistoirc des Arbres forestiers do I'Amer., Sept. Paris, 1811. I'liihulolpliia Edition, 1852, Vol. 

 Ill, p. 10(J ct sell. 



