SHORTLEAF PINE IN VIRGINIA 11 



It is not an invariable rule that u hardwoods follow pine" after 

 cutting or that "pine follows hardwoods" after cutting or clearing. 

 But pure pine usually forms the second growth if there is no shade 

 or cover, as in old fields or on hardwood land which has been cut 

 clear in late summer or early autumn, when the sprouting power of 

 the hardwoods is low. If seed-bearing trees are near, such open 

 land, whether in field or forest, is captured in a few years by 

 pine, by means of its abundant, light seeds which are widely scat- 

 tered by the wind. The heavy seeds of oak, hickory and black 

 gum, which are carried largely by birds and squirrels, are dis- 

 seminated too slowly and irregularly to enable such species to 

 compete successfully with pine in stocking nearby open lands. Un- 

 der these conditions, pine usually follows oak. 



On the other hand,. pine is unable to establish itself beneath 

 dense shade, whether of pine or of hardwoods. For this reason 

 young pine growth is seldom found under the trees except in older 

 open pine stands. The seeds of hardw r oods, however, are dropped 

 from year to year in such stands and germinate; and the seedlings, 

 through their persistency and ability to endure shade, will survive 

 in shade in which a young pine can not live, although their growth 

 in this case is extremely slow. When the large pines are cut, these 

 stunted hardwoods, responding to improved conditions of light and 

 root space, grow rapidly and if they are numerous they form the 

 larger part of the growth which follows the pine. 



In those portions of the State in which it occurs, scrub pine 

 affects the permanence of the shortleaf pine stand on medium soils 

 even more than do the hardwoods. Scrub pine seeds prolificacy , 

 when much younger and smaller than shortleaf pine, and the seed- 

 lings are tolerant of far more shade than those of the shortleaf. 

 For these reasons, it not only excludes the shortleaf from old 

 fields which are in process of stocking, but it successfully competes 

 with the young hardwoods in occupying openings in stands ot 

 shortleaf pine in which the cover is too heavy for shortleaf seed- 

 lings to exist, and thus in part succeeds tfte shortleaf in shortleaf 

 stands. 



By reason of this aggressiveness, scrub pine is so completely 

 replacing shortleaf pine over large areas in the northeastern part 

 of the State and near the Blue Ridge that the economic range of 

 shortleaf pine is being restricted. 



