JO LOBI.oi.i.Y OK N(H;ril r.VKoi.lXA PINE. 



linn, whirh h ndy soils. There are also less ex- 



amp in which it does not occur. But it is capable 

 owing as a commercial tree on ^2,000 square miles of this area 

 (See map. Da Virginia it is the prevailing species south and 



and I.unenburg, covering the southeastern portion 

 f tin- -tate. while to the nortli of Petersburg it is common along and 

 near Chesape; . on both the eastern and western shores. In 



1 i-oiina it U eouunon south and east of Chester wherever the 

 soil and moisture condition"; are suitable for its growth. 



ORIGINAL FOREST. 



In the I'M mst al plain the loblolly pine was originally largely confined 

 to the following situations: (1) River swamps, where it occurred on the 

 best drained portions as single trees in mixture with hackberry, sweet 

 film, red maple, white and red oaks, deep swamp ash, and water gum; 

 (2) shallow interior swamps with loamy soils where it grew in groups of 



trees, or more generally single trees, among maple, water oaks, and 

 gums; (3) shallow swamps with stiff soils, where single trees occurred 



larly distributed among white oaks and red oaks, ash, elm, holly, 

 white bay, beech, and gums; (4) deep swamps, in which it was not com- 

 mon and where it occurred with cypress, water gum, and water ash; 

 < ." i hummocks and the edges of swamps, savannas, and pocosons, where 

 on a wide range of moist soils of sand, silt, clay or peat, it grew sparingly 

 with longleaf and pocoson pines; (6) best grade of loams, silts, clays 



-mouth soil series) and peaty soils seldom subject to flooding, with 



iti-r table usually from five to eight feet below the surface where 

 it forme. 1 compact groups or stands covering many acres; (7) on peaty 

 soils where it occurred with yellow poplar, white cedar (juniper), white 

 bay, and sweet gum. 



imens of best development (Plate I, Frontispiece) are met with 

 in shallow swamps on clayey or loamy soil growing with mixed hard- 

 woods. The pure groves on well-drained peaty soil are mostly formed 

 of comparatively young and small trees from 100 to 150 years old and 

 in even-aged stands. There are traditions supported by other evidence, 

 that these pure groves on the peaty lands have followed old fires. Under 

 natural conditions it is probable that this species did not form extensive 

 pure forests in Xorth Carolina except in the extreme northeastern sec- 



' Il!y pine was absent from the best drained soils which were 

 occupied by the longleaf pine in the coastal plain and by mixed hard- 

 woods and short leaf pine in the Piedmont plateau region. 



In the Piedmont plateau the original growth of loblolly pine was 

 chiefly confined to the forests of the narrow stream swamps of the east- 

 ern portion of the plateau. It formed only a very small proportion of 

 the timber in ' -t* which are distinctively of hardwoods. While 



most abundant in the Piedmont along its eastern edge, isolated trees 



