TIMBER EEGIONS SUPPLY AND PRODUCTION. 31 



occupy the poorly drained grassy flats of the plain are very open, intersected by numerous inlets 

 of the sea and by brackish marshes. They are also interrupted by swamps densely covered with 

 Cypress.White Cedar, White and Bed Bay, Water Oak, Live Oak, Magnolia, Tupelo Gum, and Black 

 Gum and again by grassy savannas of greater or less extent. On the higher level, or what might 

 be called the first terrace, with its better drained and more loamy soil, the Longleaf Pine once 

 prevailed, but almost everywhere iu the coastal plain the original timber has been removed by 

 man and replaced by the Loblolly Pine and the Cuban Pine. 



2. The rolling pine lands, pine hills, or pine barrens proper are the true home of the Long- 

 Leaf Pine. On the Atlantic Coast these uplands rise to hills over 600 feet in height, while in the 

 Gulf region they form broad, gentle undulations rarely exceeding an elevation of .'500 feet. Thus 

 spreading out in extensive table-lauds, these hills are covered exclusively with the forests of this 

 tree for many hundreds of square miles without interruption. Here it reigns supreme. The 

 monotony of the pine forests on these table-lands is unbroken. 



3. The upper division, or region of mixed growth. With the appearance of the strata of the 

 Tertiary formation iu the upper part of the pine belt, the pure forests of the Longleaf Pine are con- 

 fined to the ridges capped by the drifted sands and pebbles and to the rocky heights of siliceous 

 chert, alternating with open woods of oak (principally Post Oak), which occupy the richer lauds of 

 the calcareous loams and marls. However, where these loams and marls, rich in plant food, 

 mingle with the drifted soils, we find again the Longleaf Pine, but associated with broad-leaved 

 trees and with the Loblolly and Shortleaf Pine. Here the Longleaf Pine attains a larger size and 

 the number of trees of maximum growth per acre is found almost double that on the lower 

 division. 



TIMBER REGIONS SUPPLY AND PRODUCTION. 



The forests of Longleaf Pine can be conveniently discussed by referring to the following geo- 

 graphical and limited areas: 

 The Atlantic pine region; 



The maritime pine belt of the eastern Gulf States; 

 The central pine belt of Alabama; 



The forests of Longleaf Pine of north Alabama (Coosa basin, etc.); 

 The regions of Longleaf Pine west of the Mississippi River. 



THE ATLANTIC PINE REGION. 



The Atlantic pine region in its extent from the southern frontier of eastern Virginia to the 

 peninsula of Florida embraces the oldest and most populous States of the Longleaf Pine district, 

 and here the forests have suffered most severely by lumbering, the production of naval stores, and 

 clearing for purposes of agriculture. 



Virginia. The forests of the Longleaf Pine on the southeastern border of Virginia have almost 

 entirely disappeared, and are, to a great extent, replaced by a second growth of Loblolly Pine. 



North Carolina. In North Carolina the area over which this tree once prevailed may be 

 estimated at from 14,000 to 15,000 square miles, leaving out of calculation the coastal plain with its 

 extensive swamps, wide estuaries, and numerous inlets. From the northern frontier of the State 

 southward, some distance beyond the ISTense Eiver, in the agricultural district, the forest growth 

 on the level or but slightly undulating pine land is of a mixed character, the Longleaf species being 

 largely superseded by the Loblolly Pine, together with widely scattered Shortleaf Pine and decid- 

 uous trees White Oak, Red Oak, Post Oak, Black Oak, and more rarely Mockernut and Pignut 

 Hickory, and Dogwood. In this section the lumbering interests are chiefly dependent upon the 

 Loblolly Pine (Pinm tceda), better known to the inhabitants as the Shortstraw, or Shortleaf Pine 

 (not to be confounded with the true Shortleaf Pine). The forests of Longleaf Pine begin at Bogue 

 Inlet, extend along the coast to the southern boundary of the State, and inland for a distance 

 varying between 50 and 135 miles. 



The highly siliceous soil of these pine barrens offers but little inducement for its cultivation; 

 the inhabitants, therefore, from the earliest time of the settlement of the State have chiefly been 

 engaged in pursuits based on the products of the pine forests. Here the productiou of naval 



