THE SLASH PINE 



159 



under forest management. Thinnings, for example, are 

 very profitable on account of the by-product of tur- 

 pentine derived prior to cutting the trees for ties, cord- 

 wood, poles, pulpwood, or other products. Recent studies 

 of the yield of crude turpen- 

 tine from young slash pine 

 indicate for periods of from 

 15 to 25 years net returns 

 of from 9 to 1 1 per cent on 

 the investment in land. A 

 reliable lumber authority in 

 northeastern Florida re- 

 cently estimated that of the 

 total second -growth pine 

 cut for sap ties and other 

 sap timbers in the region, 

 although all is sold as 

 "longleaf " stumpage, prob- 

 ably not less than 90 per 

 cent, as a rough estimate, 

 consists of slash pine. 



Following the removal 

 of the virgin longleaf pine, 

 slash pine is spreading rap- 

 idly over large areas of flat- 

 lands and moderately hilly 

 uplands of the South At- 

 lantic and Gulf coastal 

 plain. This is due to its 

 prolific seed production, its 

 very rapid growth, its abil- 

 ity to grow under partial 

 shade and in dense stands, 

 and its adaptability for 

 growing on the poorest 



AN AVERAGE SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD 



This slash pine is 10.8 inches in diameter (breast high) by 61 feet tall. It is the 

 average tree in a 17-year-old stand near Glen Saint Mary, Florida. In this 

 time the stand has produced 12,600 board feet of saw timber per acre, scaling 

 all trees 5 inches and over in diameter by mill scale. The thick mat of pine 

 needles ("straw") is evidence of the fire protection which has been continuous 

 during the life of the stand. 



sandy soils and poorly-drained flatlands of the South. It 

 adapts itself and grows rapidly on practically all soils 

 except the very deep, dry, upland types, where the mam- 

 moth tap-rooted longleaf alone succeeds. The seeds and 



seedlings of slash pine are 

 not touched as food by 

 hogs, which is in striking 

 contrast to the enormous 

 destruction of longleaf by 

 these animals. In three 

 years it attains a height of 

 from 3 to 5 feet ; while at the 

 same age longleaf is just 

 emerging from the ground 

 and beginning its real battle 

 with fires, which burn prac- 

 tically every year in the 

 South. With protection 

 from hot fires for about the 

 first two years, slash pine 

 often succeeds in coming 

 through with a sufficient 

 number of saplings for a 

 good stand. 



The range of slash pine 

 extends from Charleston, 

 South Carolina, southward 

 to the Keys of Florida and 

 westward through Georgia, 

 Alabama, Mississippi, and 

 Louisiana to the Mississippi 

 River. It has been found by 

 the writer occurring on 

 several hundred square 

 miles in southwestern Lou- 



CHECKING WIND-BLOWN SAND 



On Santa Rose Island, on the coast of western Florida and one of Uncle Sam's 

 Military Reservations, slash pine succeeds in spite of the tropical hurricanes 

 and continually shifting sands. The view shows the effect of the trees in checking 

 the movement of wind-blown sand. 



AND FOR BEAUTY ALSO 



Dr. Charles A. Sargent expressed the opinion that slash pine is "by far the 

 most handsome of all southern pines." This sentiment appears to be borne 

 out by the very pleasing bit of landscape shown here by a bungalow in the town 

 of Slidell, Louisiana. 



