PERIOD OF RAPID GROWTH. 

 Table I. — Measurements of young treis of Longlcaf Pine. 



Opening in forest; pasture protected 1 



Do. 

 Old field ; last time plowed in 1874. 

 In the midst of forest. 

 Opeuinj^ iu forest. 

 Deep forest. 

 Old field. 

 Open forest. 



Pasture in forest; ground never turne 

 Old clearing ; turned ground. 



Do. 

 Opening in forest ; sandy uplands. 



57 



Flat, damp; openiuj; in forest; exposu 



Old held ; poor, broken ground. 

 Virgin forest; undercover. 

 Virf^in forest; in opening; free. 



ii|„ II \.,v I s.iiidy uplands; free. 



! ;. I i:l ,: I. use forest in opening; exposure free. 



Do. 

 Do. 

 Boundary field ; open. 

 Flat, damp ; open forest. 

 Dense oak opening ; opi)ressed. 

 Iu open forest. 



Old pasture, on poor broken ground. 

 6 trees from grove of old pasture; yield, sticks and posts for fencing 



and building; averaging 20 feet in length. 

 Grove with 115 to 120 trees to the acre; on field abandoned in 1835, 



and rented to charcoal burners. 

 Old ])asture. 

 Old.turpentine orchard ; bled; exposed for over 20 year.s, one season 



after another, to tire. 

 Under cover of forest. 

 Old turpentine orchard: bled ami si^ordu^il, exiiibiting the effect of 



bleeding and repeated burning of the woods by their retarded 



grow 



Stage of slow growth. — Rapid as is the increase in length of the primary axis or trunk, amount- 

 ing during the first half century, in the average, to 14; or 15 inches annually, the rate is subse- 

 quently greatly diminished, averaging from the fiftieth to about the one hundred and fifteenth 

 year but from 4 to 5 inches, and from this time to the age of two hundred and fifty years only IJ 

 inches — that is, at a relative rate of 10, 3, and 1 in the three successive periods. The decrease in 

 the accretion of wood corresponds with the reduction in the growth of the branches and conse- 

 fiuent reduction of foliage. From what has been said, it is seen that the Longleaf Pine attains 

 fullness of growth, with the best qualities of its timber, at an age of from one hundred and eighty 

 to two hundred years. After having passed the second century the trees are found frequently to 

 be wind shaken and otherwise defective. The deterioration of the weather-beaten crown lessens 

 the vitality of the tree, and the soil, under prevailing conditions, becomes less and less favorable. 

 In consequence, the trees become liable to disease and mostly fall prey to the attacks of parasitic 

 fungi (red heart). Instances of trees which have reached the maximum age of two hundred and 

 seventy-five or three hundred years are exceptional. 



In order to ascertain the age required to furuisU merchantable timber of first quality, meas- 

 urements were made of a number of logs iu a log camp in the rolling pine uplands of the lower 

 division of the coastal pine belt near Lumbertou, Washington County, Ala. From the results 

 obtained it appears that in this section of the eastern Gulf region, at the lowest figure, one hundred 

 and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five years are requisite to produce logs of the dimensions at 

 present cut at the sawmills. 

 25666— No. 13—02 5 



