CONIFERAE 43 



it perhaps has no advantage over many other species for that pur- 

 pose. Charcoal hurning, to furnish fuel for the cooks of Mcjhile 

 and New Orleans, was a considerahle industry in Mohile County 

 and adjacent Mississippi two or three generations ago, when there 

 were few railroads, and the pines remote from navigable waters 

 were worth nothing for timber, for it would have cost too much to 

 haul them out. When converted into charcoal, however, the pro- 

 duct was much lighter and also more valuable, so that the cost of 

 transportation was not such a limiting factor. 



The gum furnishes the so-called "naval stores," i.e., turpentine, 

 rosin, tar, creosote, lampblack, etc., which are important articles of 

 commerce. It is usually taken from the living tree by chipping off 

 the bark and a thin layer of sapwood every week or so, going a few 

 inches higher every year ; but similar products are also obtained 

 by distilling stumps and other dead heartwood. An oil can be 

 extracted from the leaves too by a process of distillation. 



The seeds and seedlings are eaten by hogs, a fact which tends 

 to retard the reproduction of the tree in free-range territory. 



An exhaustive discussion of the properties and uses of this 

 and several other of our pines can be found in Dr. Mohr's bulletin 

 on the Timber pines of the southern states (Mohr 18 in biblio- 

 graphy). For additional information see Betts, Fernow, Hall & 

 Maxwell 2, Harper 11, 30, Harris & Maxwell, Hill, Mattoon 4, 

 Mohr 5. Schwarz, Surface & Cooper. 



Distribution. The long-leaf pine grows usually in poor soils, 

 either sandy or rocky, and rather dry, but not quite the poorest. 

 There are occasional exceptions, however. In Talladega and per- 

 haps other counties it can be found in rather rich-looking red clay 

 soils weathered from limestone, and in the Tallapoosa River and 

 some of its tributaries it grows on rocks out in the stream (or did 

 before most of our shoals were flooded for power purposes). It 

 seems to thrive best in regions which have considerable rain in 

 summer, a condition best realized in the southern parts of the 

 state. It withstands fire better than almost any other tree we have, 

 and occasional fires seem to be essential to its development. For 

 it seems to germinate only on bare soil, and if there was no more 

 fire the soil would become covered with pine straw and humus, 

 and there would apparently be no more pine reproduction, and 

 hardwood trees of various kinds would take its place, as they have 



