T 
noticed. They stand on poor, high, dry land, but they have 
been thinned and pruned two or more times, and are conse- 
quently growing fast, and their butt logs, when sawed, will not 
be found full of black knots. Can any one look at the last two 
pictures and not be convinced of the advantages of thinning to 
increase the rate of growth, and of pruning to improve the 
quality ? 
The fourth picture (see Fig. 4) is of pines which did not 
stand so far apart as to be worthless, like the bushlike tree 
represented in the first picture, nor yet close enough together 
to make good timber. Some half a dozen years ago the axe- 
men cut off the low limbs as far up as they could reach, which 
did little good save to make them look a little better. They 
stand on good land for pines, have grown rapidly, and will 
make rough, coarse, cheap lumber. Had these trees come up 
thick, and been properly thinned and pruned, the lumber 
would have been much more valuable. 
The fifth picture (see Fig. 5) poorly represents pines about 
thirty years from the seed. They have been thinned and 
pruned. They are about forty-five feet in height, and their 
live limbs cover half or a little more of the length of their 
bodies. They are thrifty and handsome, and are growing high- 
priced timber. At sixty years of age I judge there will be fifty 
thousand feet of boards to the acre, and the butt logs of excel- 
lent quality. 
The sixth picture (see Fig. 6) is of pines on the same aban- 
doned farm, and standing near those represented in the fourth 
picture, and like them, are about fifty years of age. They 
came up very thick, and were entirely neglected till about 
twenty-four years ago, since which time they have been 
thinned and pruned several times. They average a little over 
thirteen inches in diameter four feet from the ground, and are 
from sixty-five to eighty feet in height. The cutting and saw- 
ing of sample trees convinces me that there is stout fifty thous- 
and feet of timber to the acre. The quality is good, but the 
butt logs will not be clear of knots to so near the heart as the 
trees represented in the third and fifth of these pictures, be- 
cause these trees were not pruned when as small as those were. 
