152 FORESTS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



the swamps on hillocks, the long-leaf pine occurs on two classes of 

 soils : 



(1.) The sands of the pine barrens, which include the drier 

 forest lands between the sounds and the great swarnps, and the 

 greater areas of dry sandy soils lying in the western parts of the 

 coastal plain. 



(2.) The loams of level pine woodland which are at present in 

 most places the debatable ground between the long-leaf and lob- 

 lolly pines, and are, in certain sections, largely occupied by the 

 latter species. Such areas on which the loblolly pine is now dom- 

 inant will be described in considering that tree. 



In the forests on both kinds of soil dissimilar changes in their 

 composition are in progress, the result of nearly the same factors 



THE PINE BARKENS. 



The largest detached areas of pine barrens are the long ridge, 

 lying to the south of the Dismal Swamp, the areas in Gates and 

 Green counties, the one to the north of the Neuse river in Craven 

 county, narrow strips lying north and south in Fender and Dup- 

 lin counties, a great part of New Hanover county, considerable 

 areas in the southern part of Bladen, the middle and southern 

 parts of Wayne and Columbus, and a narrow belt lying between 

 the vast coastal swamps and the coast in the counties of Bruns- 

 wick, Onslow, and Carteret ; while a single large body extends from 

 the northern part of Sampson, the southern and central parts of 

 Harnett, northern and eastern portions of Bladen, and northern 

 Robeson counties throughout Cumberland to the western sections 

 of Moore arid Richmond counties. 



SOILS OF THE PINE BARRENS. 



The soils are of almost pure sand, containing very little clayey 

 ingredients ; loose, coarse-grained, dry on the surface, even soon 

 after a rain, fresh below, but becoming dry to a considerable 

 depth, and usually with no differentiable subsoil. But in the 

 smaller areas there is a top-soil of sand, often shallow, especially 

 around the edges where stiffer loams form a more fertile subsoil. 

 Geologically they are of recent date. 



