ENEMIES OP LOBLOLLY PINE. 131 



greater protection against incursions of live stock. As also observed in the Shortleaf 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 

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

 distribution of tlris 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 hyphae (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 springwood 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 the 

 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 summerwood. 



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

 Agaricus, Trametes, 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 larvae of the same Capricorn beetles ( Cerambycidce) burrow in the body of 

 the timber. Those of the round-headed borers (Chalcophora) dig their channels in the sapwood, 

 as is indicated by the occurrence of several species of jumping beetles (Buprestidte) 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- 

 tion 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 

 (CurciiUonidce) deposit their eggs in the youngest tender shoots; the larvae 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 larvae injuring the tree in a similar 

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

 larvse of Pitch-moths (Retinice), causing them to wither. The foliage seems to be less frequently 

 attacked by sawflies (Lophyrus) than the tender young leaves of the Longleaf Pine, as by the 

 rapidity of their growth the young leaves sooner harden, and are therefore less relished by these 

 depredators. The evidences of the work of the pine-leaf miners (caterpillar of Gelechia) have 

 been freequently observed in Alabama, and everywhere are seen the deformities caused by gall 

 flies and scale insects. 



NATURAL REPRODUCTION. 



If the Shortleaf Pine has been spoken of emphatically as the future timber tree of the light 

 rolling uplands of the interior, the Loblolly Pine might be fitly designated as the timber tree of 

 greatest promise in a large part of the coast plain from the middle Atlantic States to the limits of 

 compact forest growth beyond the Mississippi River. The promptness with which it colonizes the 



