SHOETLEAF PINE : IMPOETANCE AND MANAGEMENT. 23 



In Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, neither 

 longleaf nor loblolly pines are known to occur, while in three others — 

 New Jersey, Tennessee, and Oklahoma — loblolly is present only in 

 very small areas. In all except New Jersey and Pennsylvania, short- 

 leaf is the principal yellow pine and dominates the market. 



The stumpage value of yellow pine can best be studied by natural 

 groups of States, i. e., those having generally similar density and 

 areas of stands. Thus New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and 

 Maryland led with an average stumpage of $5.25 in 1912, as com- 

 pared with $4.61 in 190T. (Table 13.) West Virginia, Tennessee, 

 and Kentucky came next in order with values of $3.28 and $2.76 for 

 the same years. The group comprising Virginia, North Carolina, 

 South Carolina, and Georgia averaged $3.13 and $2.67, respectively. 

 The States of Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, 

 and Texas, the principal producers of virgin yellow pine, averaged 

 $3.03 for 1912 and $2.64 for 1907. The low figures of $2.07 and 

 $1.84 for Missouri and Oklahoma are probably due to the low yield 

 and quality of pine in Missouri and special features of timber own- 

 ership in Oklahoma. The higher stumpage value in the North At- 

 lantic States is undoubtedly due to the strong local demand near large 

 centers of population. Stumpage values are highest in the North 

 and decrease with striking regularity all the way to the southern 

 and western extremity of the yellow-pine belt. The highest rate of 

 increase in value during the period of five years ending in 1912 oc- 

 curred in the middle of the zone of distribution. 



The yellow-pine timberlands of the South constitute one of the two 

 chief timber supply regions of the United States. With an increas- 

 ing population and diminishing timber supply, the speculative hold- 

 ing of timberlands has become general, and, except for the periodic 

 declines of a temporary character, the general movement of stump- 

 age values of shortleaf in common with the other southern pines is 

 likely to continue in an upward direction. 



The practice of cutting and burning timber in clearing lands is 

 still prevalent in some of the southern and Mississippi Valley States. 

 In some of the more remote sections tracts of 20 to 50 acres of pure 

 stands containing from 5 to 25 thousand board feet per acre of sec- 

 ond-growth pine are not infrequently cut without thought or com- 

 ment. The larger trees are usually girdled and the smaller ones cut 

 and burned. Thus are destroyed many stands, the accumulated tim- 

 ber growth of several decades, which would, if left for relatively few 

 years, bring good stumpage prices. 



