68 REPORT OF THE FORESTRY COMMITTEE 



durable wood as exists in southern California, because of the favorable conditions 

 in Florida for native forests of pine, oak, and cypress timber. 



Eucalypts of many of the hardier species thrive well over all of the Florida 

 peninsula, or north to about the parallel of 30° latitude. Growth is rapid and 

 plantations will furnish large yields of durable wood suitable for ties and posts 

 and of high heating value for fuel. Blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus), which is 

 extensively planted in southern California, is not adapted to Florida, except the 

 extreme southern end, on account of its susceptibility to the hard frosts which 

 occur every few years. The most hardly and promising species for Florida are 

 red gum, gray gum, manna gum, red mahogany, red gum tree, and swamp gum. 



The camphor tree (Camphor officinalis) thrives on the better classes of land 

 in all parts of Florida. If conservative methods of securing the resin for com- 

 mercial purposes are used, the tree should be planted closely in hedge rows 

 clipped for the by-product. If, however, the custom at present prevailing in Japan 

 is followed, of utilizing the entire tree, the camphor may be shown to be suitable 

 for extensive reforestation of badly denuded tracts. 



The introduction of cork oak into Florida dates back many years,-but the 

 Forest Service in January, 1911, on the Florida National Forest near Pensacola, 

 established the first forest plantation of cork oak in the State. The trees in two 

 seasons from the acorn have reached an average height of 5 to 8 feet, outstripping 

 the rate of growth of all native American oaks. In the unique properties of the 

 bark and much wider climatic range, the cork oak probably has a much greater 

 future commercially than the eucalypts. An experimenc in reforesting the 

 higher soils of the coastal plain of South Carolina is under progress by the State 

 in co-operation with the Forest Service.' The trees wintered well in 1912-13, and 

 may be found to thrive that far north. 



Maritime pine (Finns maritima), the turpentine-producing pine, which the 

 French successfully used in afforesting the sand dunes of the Landes in western 

 France, grows thriftily in nearly all parts of Florida. The oldest plantations 

 were started on the Florida National Forest in the spring of 1910, and the Forest 

 Service now has between 150 and 200 acres of young forest of this pine. It is 

 proposed to increase this acreage during the next two years to about 600 acres in 

 order to make a thorough test of the rate and character of the growth during the 

 first five or ten years, and of the practicability of extensive reforestation with this 

 species. Several thousand acres of burns in the scrub pine forest region on the 

 National Forest in eastern Florida could be converted from a waste area into 

 forest producing high yields of turpentine. The Landes of France in 30 years 

 rose from ^ value of less than $2 per acre to an average of about $200 per acre 

 by the planting of maritime pine. The original cost of reforesting with maritime 

 pine is probably the lowest in the United States, because of the very small cost of 

 the seed, cheap labor, and the loose sandy character of the soil. In France pine 

 stands are tapped at 25 to 40 years of age, and during the next 20 to 50 years of 

 intermittent cupping yield large net revenues from turpentine and resin. After- 

 wards, the timber is logged and manufactured. The rapid, vigorous growth of 

 the maritime pine and high resin productivity give it great superioritv over the 

 native long-leaf pine for use in artificial reforestation. 



