16 LOBLOLLY OK NORTH CAROLINA PINE. 



TABLE I Continued. 



Alluvial soils along 



overflow irregular 



The character of the growth much the same as that on clear water, shadow 



the muddy rivers swamps (8 and 9), but conifers and evergreen trees are infrequent, prob- 



ably on account of the destruction of their foliage by its being covered with 



and often deep 3 I a coating of mud. Silver maple, hackberry, sycamore, green ash, elm, 

 to 30 feet. oaks and gums. In sloughs where there is much standing water, tupelo. 



Water surface widely 



The pine barren ponds which may be deeply flooded during winter and spring 



fluctuating. No sur- j or after rains but in which the water table may sink to 10 feet during 

 face drainage. droughts, have a growth limited to the pond cypress (Taxodium dis- 



tichum imbricarium) water gum and black gum. 



The optimum conditions for the development of individual trees of 

 loblolly pine are offered by sites 8 and 9, on which occur trees of large 

 size either in small groups or scattered singly among the hardwoods. 

 The optimum conditions for the development of pure stands are offered 

 by sites 7. to 7c. On these sites there is less competition from the hard- 

 woods and loblolly pine is truly gregarious, dominating to the practical 

 exclusion of other trees. 



Between the typical conditions there .are gradations of all kinds. 

 When the forest is lumbered or severely burned, its distinctive char- 

 acters are often almost obliterated, though the constant tendency, when 

 natural forces are permitted to re-assert themselves, is for the reestab- 

 lishment of the original forest type. Near the coast, a number of these 

 conditions will sometimes be represented on an area of less than an acre. 

 In addition to the above original or permanent types there are four 

 important temporary types: (1) mixed oak and hickory, which have 

 followed pine on loams and clays; (2) Quercus Margaretta and round- 

 leaf blackjack oak, which have followed pine on dry sandy loams; (3) 

 sand blackjack oak which has followed longleaf pine on sand hills; 

 (4) loblolly pine in old fields and on cut-over longleaf pine land. 

 These pure stands of loblolly in old fields and on cut-over longleaf pine 

 lands are very extensive, and occupy all classes of soils ; they are of all 

 ages and are in every condition of thrift and density, and constitute an 

 important source of pine timber. 



The conditions under which the loblolly pine occurs, as shown in 

 Table 1, may be grouped for convenience under seven heads as follows : 



(1) Old field growth on dry sites ; 



(2) Loblolly pine in pure stands on porous loams and peaty soils 



(Table 1, numbers 7 and 10, in part) ; 



(3) Loblolly pine on longleaf pine flat lands (Table 1, numbers 4 



to 6)'; 



(4) Loblolly pine with hardwoods in swamps chiefly in the coastal 



plain (Table 1, numbers 8 and 9) ; 



(5) Loblolly pine with pocoson pine on savannas (Table 1, numbers 



15 to 16) ; 



