FORESTS OK THK LOWLANDS OF THE COASTAL PLAIN. 169 



the area occupied by it is comparatively small. The transi- 

 tional forest is best developed in the western part of Montgomery 

 county, where it forms a belt three to six miles in width. The 

 trees jnost abundantly associated with the long-leaf pine are the 

 black-jack oak, post oak, Spanish oak, and white oak, and white 

 hickory ; these form a low growth, 30 to 50 feet in height, and are 

 overtopped by the long-leaf pine, which is 60 to 90 feet in height. 

 In some localities the pine forms as mu(;h as one-fourth of the 

 entire growth ; usually, however, much less. 



The loblolly pine which is associated with the broad-leaf trees 

 in these transitional counties, is very largely second growth. 



The long-h^af pine lias been extensively culled in AVake and 

 Nasi) counties, and 1)ut little merchantable timber of that species 

 remains : in Montgomery county, however, the forests are still 

 intact. 



1'he long-leaf pirn- is failing to reproduce itself in these forests 

 for the same reasons that were given for its scant}' reproduction in 

 its competition with the loblolly pine ; here, the competition is 

 with broad-leaf species. 



All the transitional forests lie within the Piedmont plateau 

 region, the forest soils being derived for the most part from crys- 

 talline rocks, and are more fertile or at least better suited for tree 

 growth than most of the soils in the coastal plain on which the 

 long-leaf pine is found growing. 



FORESTS OF THE LOWLANDS OF THE COASTAL PLAIN. 



These forests occur on lands which are swam])y or inundated 

 during at least a part of the growing season, and are naturally 

 separable into four divisions which differ in the character of the 

 dominant economic growth : i 



(1.) Iif which numerous broad-leaf trees, chiefly oaks, constitute 

 the greater portion of the growth — the oak fiats. 



(2.) In which gums and cypress constitute the chief growth 

 — the gum and cypress swam])?. 



[?>.) In which the white cedar occurs — the white cedar swamps. 



