10 SHORTLEAF PINE IN VIRGINIA 



tires that burned the grass. Scattered advance growth frequently 

 has borne seed and so stocked the gaps. Such stands are irregular 

 in age and size. 



Many of the older stands have been irregularly and often heav- 

 ily cut for poles, cordwood, and even sawlogs. Most stands of sap- 

 ling or larger size are too open for the best growth of the trees 

 and for the highest financial returns. 



The proportion of shortleaf pine in the old-field stands varies. 

 North of the Kappahannock river the proportion of scrub pine 

 mixed with the shortleaf increases, until in Fairfax county and the 

 lower end of Prince William county it largely replaces shortleaf 

 pine. It is also largely mixed with shortleaf pine in stands near 

 the mountains. In the shortleaf pine stands in the eastern ends of 

 Hanover, Chesterfield and Brunswick counties, there is a large 

 proportion of loblolly pine, which entirely supplants the shortleaf 

 farther eastward. South and southwest of Hanover county the 

 only pine in the field stands is the shortleaf, but species other than 

 pine form part of the mixture in a varying proportion, though 

 they seldom make up more than ten per cent, in stands younger 

 than thirty-five years old. In young stands these associated species 

 vary with the kinds of seed-trees nearby. On lower slopes they 

 are usually maple, poplar, sweet gum, and the oaks; on hilltops 

 they are red cedar, oaks, hickory, black gum, persimmon, cherry, 

 thorn, sassafras, and dogwood. 



PERMANENCY or OLD-FIELD PINE STANDS 



As ,the field pine stands become older, especially after they 

 have passed the thirty-fifth year, their crown cover tends to thin, 

 and this favors the growth of the oaks and hickories, which come 

 in from seed dropped by squirrels, crows, jays, etc., and are better 

 able to grow beneath the cover than are young pines. Even after 

 the pine in the stand begins to seed the proportion of these broad- 

 leaf species continues to increase, since the young pines can come 

 in only when an extensive opening is made by the death of a large 

 pine. There is thus a tendency toward a gradual re-establishment 

 of the original forest type which prevailed before the land was 

 cleared, namely, a mixture of oak, hickory, black gum, and pine, 

 with pine forming a small proportion on the best soil and a large 

 proportion frequently more than half the number of trees on 

 the poor, dry or sandy soils. The pure pine stands are, therefore, a 

 temporary type, which in time will be replaced by the permanent 

 mixed-growth type. 



