PLAN OF REGIONAL DESCRIPTIONS. 33 



ber of mills given for each species of tree is roughly pro- 

 portional to the percentage of abundance of that tree in 

 the region. 



All these statistics obtained originally from lumber- 

 men are a little defective for the reason that lumbermen 

 recognize fewer species of trees than botanists do. Har- 

 ris and Maxwell report only 38 species from Alabama (in- 

 cluding a few imported ones), and the Houtlicrn Lum- 

 berman only 34; the two lists together comprising about 

 40 native species ; while as a matter of fact there are at 

 least 50 native trees in Alabama that are used for lum- 

 ber. 



For example, the long-leaf and slash pines are not 

 usually distinguished by lumbermen, and the "long-leaf 

 pine" which some of the mills in the northern tier of 

 counties claim to cut is probably neither of these. The 

 "short-leaf pine" of the trade also includes two and pos- 

 sibly three species. It seems improbable that any real 

 white pine, which does not grow within fifty miles of 

 Alabama, should be brought into the state to be sawed, 

 but we have two native pines with pretty soft wood, one 

 in the northern half of the state and one in the southern, 

 which may be called by that name. A few of the mills 

 in the Southern Lumberman's directory report spruce, 

 another northern tree, but probably mean spruce pine, a 

 name which is applied locally to two or three of our 

 trees. 



Our two cypresses are not distinguished in the statis- 

 tics (for although lumbermen often speak of white, 

 black, and red cypress, it does not seem possible to cor- 

 relate these names definitely with botanical species), but 

 as the pond cypress in Alabama is confined to regions 12 

 and 13, there is very little uncertainty about the identity 

 of the cypress reported from other regions. 



Harris and Maxwell mention only six oaks (and some 

 of those probably wrongly identified) and the Southern 

 Lumbcr))iaii only two, white and red. The "white oak" 

 of the trade probably includes some post oak, swamp 

 chestnut oak, and a few other related species, and the 

 "red oak" may be almost any of the numerous species 

 with biennial acorns, bristle-tipped leaves and inferior 



SG 



