MERCHANTABLE LOBLOLLY PINE TIMBER. 163 



sized ones left in lumbering, even small trees seeding with remark- 

 able fecundity and regularity, soon produce a vigorous stand of 

 young pines in all open places and also beneath the light shade 

 of the broad-leaf trees which often grow beneath the mature 

 pines. This young stand rapidh^ pushes upward through 

 the thin canopy to secure the light. As the oak flats are 

 approached, with their more compact and taller growing broad- 

 leaf trees, it becomes more difficult after lumbering for the lob- 

 lolly pine to replace itself. The rivalry between it and the com- 

 peting broad-leaf trees is closer and more in favor of the shade- 

 bearing broad-leaf element as the cover is less broken, until, on 

 the ever-moist margins of the loamy-soiled swamps, and particu- 

 larly where alluvial, the pine forms only a small proportion of 

 the entire growth. It attains, however, in'such situations its per- 

 fection of individual development. On the other hand, as the 

 drier soils are approached there is less struggle between the lob- 

 lolly pine and the broad-leaf trees ; but as soon as the porous, 

 loose, sandy soils of the pine barrens are reached, the loblolly pine 

 with its delicate, rather superficial root-system is unable during 

 the seedling stage to supply by its roots the water passed off 

 through its leaves by transpiration and it succumbs during the first 

 season. 



MERCHANTABLE LOBLOLLY PINE TIMBER. 



The merchantable timber had been more largely removed in the 

 eastern counties where the numerous waterways greatly expedited 

 exploitation as well as facilitated shipment of the manufactured 

 products. In the counties lying north of the Roanoke river most 

 of the loblolly pine suitable for saw logs has been cut ; only small 

 bodies attached to farms, or situated at a distance from transpor- 

 tation facilities yet remain. Great quantities of timber have been 

 cut during the past twenty years for the local mills, the largest of 

 which are located at Elizabeth City; and even larger quantities 

 have been exported by railways and towed in rafts to mills in the 

 vicinity of Norfolk, Va. Timber for the mills at Elizabeth City 

 is now obtained from the forests contiguous to the Chowan and 

 Koanoke rivers and from the counties lying on the southern side 

 of Albemarle sound. There are still large amounts of pine tim- 



