1917] ANDREWS—LONGLEAF PINES 505 
to be approximately 8 and 7.5 dm., while seedlings 12-18 cm. 
high showed a gain of only 2-4 cm. for the same period. 
These figures show that the young longleaf, after attaining 
adolescence, is fully capable of holding its own in the competitive 
strife of the plant world. The chief danger to the species in this un- 
ceasing contest is in the risk that the seedling, during its long period 
of infancy, may be starved and crowded to death by the rapidly 
advancing host of weeds and bushes that outstrip it in the battle 
for food and sunlight. Their only safeguard against these enemies 
is, as we have seen, the forest fire. 
_ This naturally brings up the question, how does it happen that 
the young pines themselves are not killed by the heat which 
destroys their hardier competitors? The answer is before our 
eyes. The great rosettes of bristling needles, which give to the 
longleaf pine its venerable aspect, are not the mere decorative 
emblems of ancient descent that they seem. They are fulfilling 
the important function of a defensive armor against the most 
destructive enemy (after man) that the plant population of the 
world is exposed to. The young of most species quickly succumb 
at the first onset of even an ordinary ground fire; but the longleaf 
pine seedling has its growing point closely enveloped in a crown of 
spearlike needles, as shown in fig. 4, before the stem begins to rise 
above the ground. These may be anywhere from 20 to 40 cm. 
long, including the sheaths, which average about 3-4 cm. When 
fresh they ignite so slowly as to be practically incombustible. 
Strictly speaking, they can hardly be said to ignite at all, but are 
bitten off and consumed where the fire comes in contact with them. 
Moreover, the application of heat causes a violent sizzling and 
contortion of the parts affected, accompanied by a series of small 
explosions which are sometimes capable of extinguishing a match; 
and I have even known them, on one occasion, to put out the 
flame of a candle. At another time, I was trying to ignite a fresh 
“pinetop”’ (as these tufts are called in our Georgia vernacular) by 
the flame of a kerosene lamp, when it fumed and sputtered and 
caused such a commotion in the burning wick that I cut short the 
experiment for fear of exploding the lamp and transferred my 
operations to the kitchen. There was a slow wood fire in the 
