12. LIME-SINK REGION. Ill 



About 75% of the trees in the original forests were 

 evergreen. 



Long-leaf pine of course makes up most of this figure, 

 but there are more broad-leaved evergreen trees here 

 than in any region farther inland, with the possible ex- 

 ception of the Lme hills. No other division of the state, 

 except the next one, has so many species of pine. There 

 are ten oaks, but they seem to have made up only about 

 7% of the original forests. They are of course now rela- 

 tively more abundant since so many of the pines have 

 been cut away, and some of them may have also in- 

 creased in absolute abundance. 



One tree which occurs in this list and not in any of the 

 preceding ones is Ta.rodiiun imhricarium, the pond cy- 

 press.* The same would be true of its associate the 

 slash pine, but for the fact that a little of that grows in 

 Butler County, in region no. 10. Other trees which ap- 

 pear for the first time in this list are the two live oaks, 

 the May-haw, the evergreen tyty, and the yaupon ; 

 though the last four are often nothing but shrubs. 



Population, proportion of forest remaining, etc. — Un- 

 less there is some serious error in the census figures or 

 in the author's calculations, there were in this region in 

 1910 about 50 inhabitants to the square mile, an in- 

 crease of nearly 60% in ten years. Over three-fourths 

 of the population is white. It seems strange that a re- 

 gion where agriculture is still comparatively in its in- 

 fancy can support so dense a population. The paradox 

 is doubtless partly, though not wholly, explained by the 

 presence of several small cities such as Dothan, Hartford 

 and Florala, which draw part of their support from other 

 regions. Another circumstance to' be considered is that 

 nearly all the farmers are white, and they probably culti- 

 vate the land more intensively and can therefore live 

 closer together than do those in some of the old agricul- 

 tural reg ons where large plantations and negro labor 

 are the rule. 



*It extends considerably farther inland in some of the states 

 farther east, however. 



