Botanical notes from Bainbridge, Georgia. 
AUGUST. F. FOERSTE. | 
Oaks as weeds. 
I suppose it is hardly proper to refer to any plants not her- 
baceous as weeds. Yet when the planter finds a ligneous 
plant which is becoming a nuisance and which is fast making 
itself a pest, he wishes a word which will express his mean- 
ing to other people. Seven years ago the plantations of the 
vicinity contained many open forests, in which pines predom- 
inated, and in which the oaks though abundant were rarely 
thought of. These pines are P. australis Michx., P. Taeda 
L. and P. mitis Mx. Among these the first greatly predom- 
inates. With its long leaves, often 15 to 20 inches long, it 
adds fully as much to the picturesqueness of the south as does 
the pendent Spanish moss. It is also a valuable tree, not 
only for its turpentine and resin, for which it is the center of an 
important industry, but also for its lumber. To be sure, in 
the north its enormous weight would not permit it to stand 
Competition with the lighter pines, but here in the south it is 
used for everything. ; 
ow the oaks are coming in so thick as to obstruct and 
often to prevent the natural seeding and development of 
young pines. But this is not all. Ina country where the 
climate is so favorable that cattle need feeding only two or 
two and a half months during the year, the raising of cattle 
and other grazing animals is an important industry. Now it 
happens that the invasion of oaks is so great that they shade 
So much of the ground as to check and limit the development 
of 8Tass to a tremendous extent, and it is no longer possible 
to raise so many cattle to the acre without feeding. At pre- 
sent, the writer has before him a landscape of this descrip- 
tion, into which these oaks have intruded within the knowl- 
edge of the present generation. Eighteen years ago it was 
all pine woods, A person could drive in any direction and 
the black-jack oak was only occasionally met. Even now it 
IS rare to find any black-jack oak of any size. They com- 
i Ne gradually to enter this territory, at first attracting 
ittle attention. Seven years ago the danger of the black 
3—Vol. XIX.—No. 1. 
