520 



THE FORESTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The following is an estimate of the amount of pine timber standing in the state May 31, 1880 : 



LONG-LEAVED PINE (Pinus palu.st.rin). 



The principal centers of lumber manufacture are situated along the coast at Brunswick, Darieu, Savannah, and 

 Saint Mary's. Logs sawed at these points are now driven down the various streams for a considerable distance from 

 the coast. Large quantities of pine lumber are also manufactured in different mills located along the lines of 

 railroad in Appling, Polk, Floyd, and other pine counties. Savannah and Brunswick are the principal points of 

 distribution of the naval stores manufactured in the state. 



FLORIDA. 



The forests of the Southern Pine Belt cover the state as far south as cape Malabar and. Charlotte harbor. The 

 long-leaved pine is replaced along the sandy dunes and islands of the coast by oaks (of which the live oak is alone 

 of commercial importance), scrub pines, and palmettos, while a deciduous forest, largely of northern composition, 

 occupies the high, rolling lauds in a large part of Gadsden, Leon, Jefferson, and Madison counties. The pine 

 forests gradually decrease southward in density and value, and south of latitude 29 X. are of little present 

 commercial value. Forests of pitch pine (Pinus Cubensi.t), however, extend far south of the region occupied by the 

 more valuable long-leaved pine bordering the coast and covering the low ridges of the Everglades. Great areas of 

 swamp occur everywhere through northern and central Florida, covered with forests of cypress, red cedar, gum, and 

 bordered with bays, magnolias, and other broad-leaved evergreens ; while the hummocks or low elevations, covered 

 with rich soil and everywhere common, bear oaks and other deciduous trees, often of great size. 



South of cape Malabar and Tampa bay the character of the vegetation changes, and the North American 

 arborescent species are replaced by the semi-tropical trees of the West Indies. These occupy a narrow strip along 

 the coast, cover the keys and reefs, and spread over some of the hummocks of the Everglades. This semi-tropical 

 forest is confined to the saline shores of the innumerable bays and creeks of the region, or to the coral and sedimentary 

 calcareous formation of the keys and hummocks. The species of which it is composed are here at the northern 

 limits of their range; individual trees are comparatively small and the forests of the southern extremity of the 

 Florida peninsula are commercially unimportant, although, sufficiently extensive and varied to supply the scanty 

 population of this region with lumber, fuel, and material for boat-building and the manufacture of fishing apparatus. 



The forests of Florida have not suffered greatly from fire. Much of the state is uninhabited and unfit for 

 agriculture or grazing. The danger, therefore, of fires set in clearing land for farms spreading to the forest is less 

 than in other parts of the south, while the numerous streams and swamps everywhere intersecting the pine forests 

 and the natural dr.} ness of the sandy ridges, thinly covered with vegetable mold, check the spread of fires 

 when started. 



During the census year 105,320 acres of woodland were reported as burned over, with an estimated loss of 

 $69,900. The largest number of these fires was set by grazers to improve the pasturage for their stock. 



