LOBLOLLY PINE. 83 



and southern spruce piue. Throughout this region the tree takes almost undisputed possession 

 of the old fields. 



In the interior, on the uplands of oaks and shortleaf pine, the loblolly is sure to gain the 

 upper hand and to retain its hold among the young forest growth, giving way to its most aggressive 

 competitor, the shortleaf pine, only when under the disadvantage of a greater exposure and a 

 greater lack of moisture in the soil. 



KnemiM. Principally confined to low, damp localities, not easily liable to invasion by the 

 frequent conflagrations which scour the southern pine forests, the loblolly pine sutlers less from 

 destruction by fire than any other species. In virtue of the inherent facilities for its natural 

 renewal resulting from its fecundity and from the rapidity of its development from the earliest 

 stages of growth, any damages inflicted by that agency are more easily repaired. The same causes 

 afford it also greater protection against incursions of live stock. As also observed in the short- 

 leaf pine, the rapidly growing seedlings form, after a few years, thickets of such density as to be 

 avoided by the larger quadrupeds, and by the time such thickets, in the course of natural thinning 

 out have become more open, the trees have reached dimensions which place them beyond the 

 danger of being tramped down or otherwise injured by live stock. The rapid spread and thrift 

 of the secoud growth, unprotected and uncared for, observed everywhere within the range of the 

 distribution of this pine, are witnesses to its greater immunity from such dangers. 



Owing to the large amount of sapwood, the timber of the loblolly is more liable to the attacks 

 of fungi and to the ravages of insects. The mycelium (spawn) of large polyporous fungi is found 

 frequently infesting the woody tissue of the living tree, the hyplue (filaments) of the spawn 

 destroying the walls of the wood cells, causing the wood to assume a reddish color and rendering 

 it brittle in the same way as is observed in the living longleaf-pine timber affected with the disease 

 called " red heart." It seems that the destruction caused by this disease in the loblolly pine is 

 from the start more rapid in consequence of the larger proportions of sapwood, and perhaps also 

 on account of the broader bands of soft spring wood naturally accompanying wood of rapid growth. 



In a piece of wood examined in north Alabama, the filaments of the spawn of one of these 

 fungi crossing each other in every direction were found to form a dense film interposed between 

 the spring and summer wood, causing its easy separation in the direction of the concentric rings, 

 and, as the destruction of the wood proceeds, forming finally a compact layer of the nature of 

 amadou, or tinder. In the longitudinal section the rays were found full of cavities, caused by tlie 

 breaking down of the cell walls, and these cavities were filled with the white film of these 

 filaments, which similarly affected the adjoining tracheids of the resinous summer wood. 



The felled timber left on the ground is soon infested by a host of fungi of the genera 

 Aynrictia, Tramites, Lentinus, Polyporus, and others, the nearer identification of which has not 

 been undertaken. 



From the very limited observations that have been made it clearly appears that this pine 

 suffers equally as much, if not more, than the other pines of Southern growth from insect enemies 

 of various kinds. The larva? of the same Capricorn beetles (Cerambicida') burrow in the body-of 

 the timber. Those of the roundheaded borers (Ooleophora) dig their channels in the sapwood, 

 as is indicated by the occurrence of several species of jumping beetles (Buprestida;} which are 

 found clinging to the leaves and branches of this tree. The most fatal injury it sustains is caused 

 by the bark borers (Tomicidce), this pest particularly affecting the trees during the formation of 

 the last cambium layer in the later summer months. Trees felled in August are immediately 

 infested by multitudes of these destroyers. Favored by a high temperature and an abundance 

 of nourishment, several generations of them succeed each other before the close of the season, 

 the countless broods soon infesting every tree in the vicinity and carrying their work of destruc 

 tiou over the full expanse of the young forest growth. Under this affliction the forests often 

 present, by their drooping rusty-colored foliage, a sad picture of disease and decay. Weevils 

 (Curc-iiUonida-a) deposit their eggs in the youngest tender shoots; the larva? which hatch from 

 them eat their way into these shoots, causing their decay, and thus destroy the symmetry of the 

 tree and impair the usefulness of the resulting timber. Other species of the same family puncture 

 the older branches, lay their eggs in the exuded resin, their larva- injuring the tree in a similar 

 way. The larva* of spittle insects injure the terminal buds, which are also found infested by the 

 larvaj of pitch moths (Retinice), causing them to wither. The foliage seems to be less frequently 



