LOXGLEAF PINE IN HIGHLANDS. 73 



LONGLEAF PINE IN HIGHLANDS. 



Under date of August 5, 1890, Dr. Molii- sends the following interesting note descriptive of a 

 tract of Longleaf Pine grown at the remarkable altitude of 2,000 feet: 



la my investigations of the flora of the region of greatest elevation iu Alabama I was surprised to find the 

 Longleaf Pine, -which forms the greater part of the tree growth ou the flanks of the mountains in the region of the 

 State, to ascend to a height of 1,600 to 1,700 feet above the sea — (Chenawhaw Mountain, Olay County, 2,400 feet). 

 \\'hereas I found the tree to disappear at an elevation of about 1,500 feet ou the lilue Mouiitaiu nr Talhulega Mountain 

 Range about Chandler's Spring, Talladega County, and on the isolated ridges of the Alpine Mnuiitains in the same 

 county (in 1893), Prof. E. 8. Smith and Mr. Brewer, assistant geologist, found at points of t lie same mountain range, 

 .") or 6 miles farther to the south, the Longleaf Pine at an elevation little short of 2,000 feet. 



From my observations in former years I was convinced that the pine forests of the me [amorphic regions of Ala- 

 bama deserved no mention among the timber resources of the State, however valuable they might be as a resource 

 for fuel in connection with the mineral resources of these parts of the State. I was not a little surprised to hear, on 

 my trip of last week, of a sawmill with a daily output of from 65,000 to 70,000 feet of lumber of Longleaf Pine, situated 

 in the lower part of Clay County, at the outskirts of the geological formation mentioned. Yesterday morning I visited 

 the pine forests from which the supplies of this large and well-condncted establishment, at Hollins, on the Georgia 

 Pacific Railroad, are drawn. There I found the foothills and narrow v.alleys between them, at an elevation of from 

 1,400 to 1,.")00 feet, covered with a truly magnificent forest of Pluua jmhistrb, yielding to the acre as much merchant- 

 able timber as the best class of pine lands in the coast pine belt from Alabama to Texas. The trees are tall; some 

 of them measured ou the ground were found from 110 to 118 feet total height, with the crown GO feet above the 

 grouud, and the shaft clear of heart and limb for almost the whole of that length; two cuts of 20 feet each above 

 the stump are generally free from blemish. The surface soil appeared as arid and poor as that found on the steep 

 declivities of the main ranges. Its pine timber growth w.is to me indeed an enigma, which, however, soon found its 

 solution by examining in a deep cut the sub.soil condition; the decomposeddioritie schist, forming a kind of soft marl 

 for a great depth, oft'erod no obstacle to the long taproot of the pine. These hills extend for a length of about 6 

 miles in a northeasterly direction, by a width scarcely exceeding 2 miles. I could not learn that any other locality 

 is found in the same geological formation of an equal extent with the same conditions of the timber growth. 



25666— No. 13—02- 



