898 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



]N A SOUTHERN I'INE FOREST 



There is a wide belt stretching from northern North 

 CaroHna along the coast to eastern Texas where the low- 

 lying sandy soil is jjoor and sterile. It is a recently U])- 

 raised sea bottom. Shallow streams wander through it 



edged by swampy bottoms. The up- 



land is a flat or occasionally slightly 

 rolling plain. At the coming of the 

 white man, this great plain was cov- 

 ered with a pure and almost unbroker 

 loiigleaf forest. A few scrubby oaks 

 grew scattered here and there through 

 it. and now and then a pine of other 

 species, but that was all. 



These hot, sterile, tree-covered flats 

 were avoided by settlers of all but 

 the ixjorest sort, and soon became 

 known as the "pine barrens," whither 

 fled the runaway negro slave and the 

 renegade white, to eke out such exist- 

 ence as they might, and to take refuge 

 in the swamps if pursued too closely. 

 Yet these barrens are not without at- 

 tractiveness. They are a distinct 

 novelty, even to the tree-accustomed 

 eye of the seasoned forester from 

 other sections. Their flatness, open- 

 ness and general lack of underbrush 

 allow one to see long distances through 

 the trees. Vistas of a mile or more 

 straight through the timber are not 

 impossible. Orginally, it is said, there 

 was some undergrowth beneath these 

 forests, but today, after repeated fires. 

 they are generally carpeted only with 

 thin grass and a few pine needles. One 

 can travel through them with as mucli 

 ease as over a prairie. 



It is delightful to ride horseback 

 through them, or, if one wishes, in a 

 buggy, for it is possible to drive al- 

 most anywhere. And then there is 

 the sunlight. One begins to under 

 stand the meaning of that plirase, "the 

 Sunny South," after a brilliant day 

 spent in the company of the virgin 

 longleaf forest. The misty sliadow- 

 less light of early morning is followed 

 by the brilliant morning and noondav 

 sun, which comes straight down 

 through the tree tops, casting light 

 and fleeting shadows. Then comes the 

 golden light and the long flat shadows 

 of late afternoon the evening of the 

 South. They show the great pine.- 

 with their regular brown trunks in all 

 possible combinations of light and 

 shade. Nor must we forget the fra- 



grance that rich piney smell, so much richer than from 

 other pine forests. 



HEALTH AMONG THE PINES 



Despite their intense summer heat, if one will but 

 observe a few rules of sanitation re- 

 quired by the proximity of the tropics, 

 the pine barrens are a health resort. 

 Witness the fame of Southern I'ines, 

 North Carolina; Sumter, South Caro- 

 lina, and many places in the interior 

 of Florida, to say nothing of the 

 "Ozone Belt" in Louisiana and Mis- 

 sissippi. After an experience in the 

 sunlit barrens, one can cheerfully 

 drink the old toast to the oldest of 

 the longleaf pine states: 



"Here's to the land of the longleaf 

 pine 

 The summer land, where the sun 

 doth shine 

 Where the weak grow strong and the 

 strong grow great, 

 Here's to the Old North State !" 



The English speaking settlers came 

 into contact with longleaf at the set- 

 tlement of Jamestown, and as early 

 as ICIO tar, pitch and turpentine, the 

 triumvirate of products of the pine 

 tree which are known as naval stores, 

 are mentioned as possible products of 

 the new Colony, although no ship- 

 ments seem to have been made at that 

 time. 



EARLY SHll'.MENTS TO ENGLAND 



It was not until about 1600, when 

 the first settlers pushed south from 

 Virginia and settled along the north 

 shore of Albemarle Sound in what is 

 now North Carolina, that the colo- 

 nists came in contact with the vast 

 forests of the pine barrens. Their first 

 exploitation took place shortly after- 

 wards, and by 1704 shipments of pine 

 tar from the Carolinas to England 

 amounted to over 400 barrels per 

 annum. Shortly after that the ex- 

 haustion of the supply of naval stores 

 obtained from the pitch pine forests 

 in New England gave the industry 

 an added impetus. 



It seems to have been about 1750 

 that the production of turpentine and 

 resin as well as tar and pitch was 

 undertaken. From the middle of the 

 eighteenth century till the early part 

 of the last quarter of the nineteenth, 



Conrlay of Southern Pine Association. 

 TITK SENTINEL 

 A lone tall longleaf pine left by the owners 

 of the land to re-seed the cut-over area sur- 

 rounding it. 



