132 TIMBER PINES OP THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES. 



old fields and other clearings, and the tenacity with which it retains from one generation to another 

 the ground once taken possession of, clearly point to the important part this tree is to take when the 

 ruthless stripping of timber lands practiced at present gives place to the management of the forests 

 under a system of fostering care, tending to their future maintenance and to the disposal of their 

 resources on the principle of true economy with an eye to the future welfare of the country. 

 No timber tree will be found better adapted for forest planting in the southern part of the 

 Atlantic forest division. It is only in the narrow belt of flat woods along the shores of Florida, 

 Georgia, and the eastern Gulf region that it is likely to find its superior in the Cuban Pine (Pinm 

 heterophylla). 



Besides the advantages of adaptability to varied soil and climate, it excels in rapidity of 

 growth during the earliest stages, and the copious production of seeds, which, almost without fail, 

 are plentifully distributed every year over the vicinity of the parent trees. As an evidence of the 

 facility with which the reproduction of a compact forest by this pine is effected, it is only necessary 

 to point out the spontaneous groves near the settlements, representing, as they do, every stage of 

 development. 



In the coast region the second growth, if not interfered with under proper soil conditions, 

 yields in fifty to sixty years timber of dimensions rendering it fit to be sawn into lumber well 

 adapted for various uses, as already mentioned. 



CONCLUSION. 



In this attempt at a sketch of the life history of this tree, the object was constantly kept in 

 view of placing its value among the products of the Southern forests in the proper light. From 

 the consideration of the structure of the wood and its physical properties it clearly appears that 

 although inferior to the wood of the Longleaf and Cuban pines, the timber of this species fully 

 equals that of Shortleaf Pine, and that the present practice of treating them as equivalent seems 

 therefore justified. 



As an abundant and cheap source of timber of inferior grades, and especially when the 

 rapidity of its growth is considered, the Loblolly Pine is of no less economic importance than the 

 other timber trees of the same section. At present held in low esteem in the great lumbering 

 districts of the lower South, where the supplies of the superior timber of the Longleaf Pine still 

 abound and receive the preference, the value of the timber of the Loblolly Pine is quickly recog- 

 nized in other districts which, but a short while ago boasting of similar resources, are now stripped 

 of them. Its physiological peculiarities make it an important factor in the future forestry of this 

 section. Its propagation is successful over a vast expanse in the southern section of the Atlantic 

 forest region, and by its productive capacities, mode of development, and behavior toward com- 

 peting species in the struggle for existence, the Loblolly Pine possesses great advantages for its 

 natural and artificial renewal, adapting it particularly for the restoration of the forests on the 

 lowlands of the maritime region. 



