ENEMIES OF SHOItTLEAi^ PINE. 103 



these bark-boring Scolytid beetles [Dendroctonus frontalis), which in former years was universally 

 considered a rare species. This invasion started in ISSS from the monntainons regions of West 

 Virginia and within four years spread througiiout the Alleghany Mountains and adjaeent lowlands 

 from Pennsylvania to the Oarolinas. The amount of damage caused by tliis beetle within that time 

 to tlie Sliortleaf Pine and other i)ine trees lias been enormous. A cuntagious disease, i)r()bably of 

 a fungoid ciiaracter, terminated in 1892 this invasion just as suddenly as it had commenced, and 

 in 1893 not a single living beetle could be found throughout the infested region. Tlie white froth 

 hiding the larva of a tree jumper (Aphrophora p((r<tllel(i) is very common on the summits of the 

 twigs, the larva' of the sawtiies are seen at the same season to feed on the tender, young foliage, 

 which is also infested by a small white Gelechia depositing its eggs on the leaves, the larvie boring 

 into them to provide shelter for their pupa'; and according to jNIr. Sehwarz the leaves of the 

 Shortleaf I'ine are frequently found coini>letely covered by a scale insect (.l/'/'"'"-y"''>' pinifoUiv), 

 causing what is termed in New England the "white malady" of the pine. Of the flat-headed 

 borers, larvas of the Tiuprestidcv, the most injurious species are (Jhri/sohotliris deuilpcs (Germ.), 

 Calcopliora virglnknsis (Drnry); less common, Cnlcuphnra ycorgiana (Lee.) and Buprcntis lineata 

 Fab. (Sehwarz). 



Exposed to the same dangers of destruction by forest tires and by live stock of every kind 

 which threaten the Lougleaf species witli extermination, the chances of this pine to resist them 

 and to escape such eventually are more favorable in consequence of the greater facilities for its 

 reproduction and of its rapidity of growth during the earliest stages of its existence. 



The pernicious influences of the first of these agencies is, however, painfully visible near the 

 settlements where the forest is exposed to its effects one season after anotlier. In sucli localities 

 the pines are of stunted growth; in the middle stage — their very prime of life— they exhibit signs 

 of decay and early death. But few of the younger trees exposed to fire were found on close 

 examination to be free from defects and marks of im])en(ling disease. 



Confined to tlie gentle slopes of the lowhill country, to rollinguplands, and to broad table-lands, 

 this tree is scarcely exposed to destruction by torrents and floods. Unsought for its resinous 

 juices, it is not subjected to the wholesale destruction caused by tlie prevalent methods employed 

 in the manufacture of naval stores. No other timber tree found in tlie soutliern portion of the 

 Atlantic forest region is more easy of natural reproduction than this species throughout the wide 

 range of its distribution. Tliis is readily accounted for by its great fecundity, the seeds produced 

 in great abundance almost without failure every year being profusely spread far and wide, and 

 germinating easily wherever the proper soil and a chance is ottered for tlieir reception. By their 

 thrifty growth the seedlings soon gain the upper hand over the contemporary growth of other 

 species. 



Throughout the interior of the Atlantic aud the ( lulf States tracts of upland, originally covered 

 with fine oak forests, which had been cleared for cultivation and but little over half a century ago 

 abandoned, are found at present occupied by the Shortleaf Pine, forming dense groves of trees 

 05 feet and over in height, with a diameter of 10 to 12 inches, standing IS to 20 feet apart, with no 

 undergrowth whatever.' Such young forests, met with in every stage of growth, afford highly 

 instructive lessons of the ways taken by nature in the spontaneous restoration of the forest. In 

 such sjtuntaneous growths of tlie Shortleaf Pine the saplings form from the first mostly dense 

 thickets. Before having arrived at their tenth year the work of thinning has actively begun by 

 the death and speedy decay of the weakest. Thus favored by the access of light and air, the 

 surviving trees shoot rapidly upward, the most aspiring individuals spreading out their crown, 

 overshadowing those lagging behind, which being thus cut ofl'from the influences above all others 

 required for their existence, one after another die. Before the trees have reached the middle stage 

 of their growth the stand of timber in the young forest appears to be firmly established, and 

 during tlie following period, embracing less than half a century, they have attained tlie fullness 

 of tlieir growth, furnishing timber fully matured and of the dimensions and quality required by 

 the present standard. Unchecked by destructive influences the rotation of a crop of timber of the 

 Shortleaf Pine produced without the interference or assistance of man, can be said to be accom- 

 plished within a period of from eighty-five to ninety-five years. 



'Charles Mohr: Proceedings of the Fourth Aiuuial .Meeting of the American Forestry Congress, Boston, Sep- 

 tember, 1885. 



