BEST SEED YEAR FOR LONGLEAF PINE 



307 



blinds, some of which may be cut from 

 a 50-year-old stand, brings from $30 

 to $35 a thousand feet. Second-growth 

 white pine, the kind that is found on 

 thousands of abandoned fields and 

 pastures in New England, and that 

 which has sprung up after lumbering 

 in many places where the original white 

 pine forests stood, has a value today, 

 says the department, that makes it 

 well worth the attention of the owner. 

 Too often, caution the forest officers, 

 the farmer or other land owner sells 

 second-growth white pine stumpage 

 for less than it is worth because he does 

 not know how much lumber the stand 

 is actually capable of yielding, or else is 

 ignorant of the price the lumber and 

 other products will bring. Too often, 

 also, the foresters say, the owner of 

 second-growth fails to realize that per- 

 haps by holding his pine trees for a few 



years longer, or by thinning it properly 

 at the right time, he can obtain a great 

 deal more and better timber, and 

 consequently a much larger relative re- 

 turn in money, than if he allows it to 

 be cut clear when the first opportunity 

 offers. 



The best second-growth white pine, 

 45 years old, will yield about 42,000 

 board feet per acre, but the same stand, 

 when 55 years old, will yield 55,000 feet, 

 an increase of 13,000 feet per acre in 

 10 years. And this is not all, for along 

 with the increase in quantity comes an 

 increase in quality. Not only more, 

 but better timber is to be had. Count- 

 ing in this factor of quality, the lumber 

 from an acre of best white pine, 55 years 

 old, is worth 11 about $1,000 against a 

 value of $750 when the stand is 45 

 years old. 



BEST SEED YEAR FOR LONGLEAF PINE 



FOREST officers who have just 

 returned from the southern 

 states say that 1913 was the 

 best seed year for longleaf pine for 

 a long period of years, and that through- 

 out its range the tree produced a full 

 crop of seed. This is said to be par- 

 ticularly noteworthy because the species 

 matures seed no oftener than from six 

 to eight years, and often at longer 

 intervals. In many sections the seed 

 last year was so abundant that it col- 

 lected in little heaps in ruts and other 

 depressions. 



Not only was the seed crop abundant, 

 but weather conditions were unusually 

 favorable, and by early December most 

 of the seed had germinated and little 

 seedlings 2 or 3 inches high are now 

 growing in great numbers. In some 

 cases, however, there was insufficient 

 moisture during the fall, and the seed 

 lying over the winter will germinate 

 early this spring. 



Throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, 

 and eastern Texas many thousands of 

 acres of longleaf pine forests are now 

 carpeted with these seedlings. Counts 

 made in December by the State Con- 



servation Commission of Louisiana 

 showed groups of seedlings as far as 300 

 feet from the nearest seed tree. Long- 

 leaf pine seed is relatively large, but it 

 bears a filmy wing which causes it to 

 revolve spirally when it is dropped 

 from the cone, so that if winds prevail 

 at the time the seeds are released they 

 may be carried for considerable dis- 

 tances. 



The reason forest officers are calling 

 attention to the abundant seedling 

 growth is that they may bring home to 

 the owners of longleaf pine woodlands 

 the peculiar need at this time for pro- 

 tecting these woodlands from fire. 

 They point out that it would cost from 

 five to ten dollars an acre to restock by 

 artificial means what nature has done 

 gratuitously this last fall, and emphasize 

 the fact that the owners of longleaf 

 pine lands, where natural reproduction 

 has taken place in this way, should not 

 fail to fight fires vigorously this season, 

 and as many seasons thereafter as 

 possible. 



It is a common belief in many parts 

 of the south that longleaf pine will not 

 reproduce itself. This belief has arisen, 



