FOREST CONDITIONS IN DELAWARE. 



25 



cones than the latter two. Spruce pine has two needles to a sheath, 

 while shortleaf has usually three, though sometimes only two ; and the 

 needles of the latter are more straight and rigid, lack a certain char- 

 acteristic twist of the former, and on the average are also slightly 

 longer. 



Shortleaf pine is a poor reproducer, so that there is very little sec- 

 ond growth of the species, and its occurrence as compared with loblolly 

 or spruce pine is rapidly decreasing. It has about the same rate of, 

 growth as spruce pine, which is much slower than loblolly and pitch. 

 Spruce pine is an excellent reproducer, and quickly seeds up vacant 

 farm land, where seed trees of the species are nearby. There are large 

 areas of pure spruce pine stands in the southern part of the State, 

 which have come up on idle farm land. The following table shows the 

 development of such stands on similar sites in Maryland. 



AVERAGE GROWTH OF PURE WELL-STOCKED STANDS OF 

 SPRUCE PINE ON OLD FIELDS IN MARYLAND. 



*To reduce to cubic feet multiply by 100. 



A comparison of the rate of growth of spruce pine, as given in the 

 above table, with that of lobolly pine, as given on page 55, shows up de- 

 cidedly in favor of the latter. The conclusion, then, especially since 

 loblolly is the more valuable timber tree, is that after cutting mature 

 stands of spruce pine it will be better to encourage loblolly, and even to 

 sow it, rather than allow spruce pine to reproduce itself naturally. It 

 will pay, however, to allow immature stands of spruce pine to grow un- 



