THE PINE INVESTIGATION. 281 



BATE OF CONSUMPTION TO THAT OF NATURAL INCREASE. 



Up to within the last three years the rate of consumption 

 and natural destruction of the pine has been greatly in excess 

 of the natural increased growth, but I should judge that at the 

 present time the rate of aggregate increase is almost or quite 

 equal to that of the consumption, and with a little protection 

 of the young growth, the aggregate increase would exceed the 

 consumption. 



COMPARATIVE VALUE OF SECOND GROWTH PINE TO THAT OF OTHER 

 KINDS OF TIMBER TREES. 



While the pine does not, as a rule, sprout from the stumps 

 or roots as do the oaks, hickories, etc., it is far more rapid in 

 its growth from seedlings, and will occupy the land much more 

 completely than any other kind of timber. In fact, the ag- 

 gregate growth of commercial wood per acre of the white pine 

 under cultivation, where the conditions are favorable for its 

 growth, 1 will doubtless exceed that of any other timber. 



The kind of land on which the white and yellow pine grow 

 to perfection is usually of the least value for agricultural pur- 

 poses. Hence, when it becomes necessary for us to adopt a 

 system of forest culture, such lands will necessarily be selected 

 for the purpose, and in many sections it will not be necessary 

 to plant out the trees, since the land if left alone for a few 

 years will be covered with a thick growth of young pine. 2 

 With a little care in removing the inferior kinds, and thinning 

 out the inferior and surplus growth they will soon grow into 

 useful timber, and in a comparatively short time will yield a 

 revenue to the owner from the sale of the timber product, 

 equal if not greater than could be had from the land by any 

 other method. 



THE PRINCIPAL ENEMIES OF THE PINE. 



The natural enemies of the pine are many, and owing to the 



1 In Europe it has at the end of seventy years from planting yielded the enormous 

 amount of 14,000 cubic feet of wood, containing about 50,000 feet of lumber B. M. per 

 acre. Report of Division of Forestry U. S. Dept. of Agr., 1893, p. 349. 



2 Excellent examples of the truth of this statement is found on Piny Creek in Raleigh 

 county, where I have seen one year old seedlings covering many old fields like a thick 

 growth of weeds or grass. 



