504 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [DECEMBER 
group, on the knoll, there was little of interest to record, every- 
thing remaining very much as when I last saw it. On the upper 
slope, however, matters were very different, and a more exact 
count brought the census of the new generation up to 40. Of this 
number, all of those within the old clearing must have germinated 
during the 7 or 8 years since the cultivation of this part of the land 
Fic. 4.—Thrifty longleaf seedling that has established itself successfully on 
stratum of almost solid rock, made possible by long taproot reaching far down into 
subsoil. 
was abandoned, for they would assuredly have been weeded out had 
any of them dared to show their heads above ground where “cotton 
was king.” To estimate the ages of different individuals with 
accuracy, however, is not easy, on account of the great irregularity 
in the rate of growth. While very slow during the first 2 or 3 
years, as already pointed out, it becomes proportionately rapid 
after the critical period of “infant mortality” is past. The growth 
for the year 1915, up to the first of August, on two saplings of 
2.75 and 2 m. in height respectively, was found by measurement 
