28 ECONOMIC BOTANY OF ALABAMA. 



methods of estimating timber than that here employed, 

 but to apply these over a whole state in sufficient detail 

 to get better results than those presented here would 

 take one person many years. 



Where the second figure is larger than the first it does 

 not necessarily mean that that species is more abundant 

 now than it was originally. Those species whic have in- 

 creased in abundance relatively are either those wihch 

 tend to spread in clearings, those which are confined to 

 soils not well adapted for agriculture, or those which 

 have simply been left standing while more desirable spe- 

 cies have been cut out from among them. On the con- 

 trary, therefore, the trees which have decreased in abun- 

 dance usually prefer the better soils, or are more valua- 

 ble for lumber, or both. To get an estimate of the pres- 

 ent stand of any species in any region the percentage of 

 present abundance should always be multiplied by the 

 estimated percentage of remaining forest in that region, 

 which is given after the list of trees. 



Where the whole technical name is printed in bold-face 

 type it means that the species is evergreen, and where 

 only the specific name (second word) is in bold-face the 

 species is partly evergreen. 



For each species both technical and common names are 

 given, except in the case of a few trees which are so lit- 

 tle known to the general public that they seem to have 

 no bona-fide common names. Only common names that 

 are actually used by a large number of people in this 

 state are considered. The names applied to our trees in 

 northern books are not always the same as those used 

 in these parts, some of them being mere translations of 

 the technical names, and therefore obviously not genu- 

 ine, and not deserving of perpetuation. 



After the name of each tree its usual habitat in the 

 region is indicated in two or three words. 



The percentage of evergreens, which is obtained by 

 simply adding together the percentage-numbers of those 

 species that are evergreen, throws an interesting light 

 on the character of the forests of the several regions. In 

 general a large percentage of evergreens seems to be 

 correlated with small seasonal fluctuations of groundr 



