40 BULLETIN No. 82. 



As a rule clay soil, which is more moisture retentive than other soils, is 

 the best for loblolly pine, and sand the least desirable because it lacks 

 the power of holding moisture ; loam and sandy-loam rank between clay 

 and sand in their relative desirability. However, loblolly will grow 

 equally as well on moist sand bordering streams as on good clay soil, 

 but on dry, sandy ridges it forms very open stands of scrubby and 

 limby trees. 



Form and Development. In dense stands, loblolly forms a very 

 long, clean, rather cylindrical bole, and a short, ovoid crown. Greater 

 clear length is attained when growing in pure even-aged stands than in 

 uneven-aged stands or in mixture with slower-growing hardwoods. In 

 early youth it is the most rapid-growing of any species of pine. 



On good soil, in pure stands fifteen years old, trees are often to be 

 found 10 inches in diameter and 40 feet in height ; and in stands forty 

 years old many trees occur 18 inches in diameter and 80 feet in height. 

 The table on page 55 shows the average dimensions attained by domi- 

 nant trees of pure stands at different ages. 



Reproduction. The great reproductive power of loblolly pine is 

 its most important silvical characteristic, and has enabled it to become 

 so universally extended throughout Sussex County and to increase in 

 amount of land occupied after the lumbering and clearing of the origi- 

 nal forest. 



Seed Production and Dissemination 



Abundant seed is produced almost every year. The tree flowers in 

 the latter part of April ; the cones become fully developed a year and a 

 half later, in October, and the seed falls during the autumn and win- 

 ter. The cones usually remain on the trees for a year after they have 

 opened. 



Trees growing in isolated positions produce seed from the time 

 they are five to ten years old. Some seed is produced by dominant trees 

 growing in very thick young stands, but such stands do not produce 

 abundant seed until they are about thirty years old. As a rule trees 

 with well isolated crowns produce abundant crops of seed. 



The seed is disseminated principally by wind. A tree with abund- 

 ant cones will scatter seed plentifully to a distance of twice its own 

 height, and seed is sometimes blown by the wind to a distance of a 

 quarter of a mile from the seed tree. The nature of the dissemination 

 is well illustrated where the seed trees are situated along the edge of un- 

 used, cleared land. To the leeward of the trees there is usually abun- 



