LONG-LEAF PINE. 131 



spines, is rarely 2 inches long. It has a strong tap-root and sev- 

 eral lateral roots. 



The wood varies greatly in quality and in the amount of sap- 

 wood. It is heavy, hard, strong, and generally coarse-grained ; 

 orange in color; the sapwood nearly white. It is much used for 

 lumber, for which purpose it is only inferior to that of the long- 

 leaf pine. 



In the middle sections near the railroad it has been largely 

 removed. Large quantities still remain, however, in Stanly, 

 Cabarrus, Randolph, Caswell, Davidson, Surry, Wilkes, Alexan- 

 der, Iredell, Yadkin, Cleveland, Rutherford, and Caldwell coun- 

 ties. The amount sawed in this State in 1894 probably was be- 

 tween 50,000,000 and 60,000,000 feet, board measure, the larger 

 part of which was for local use. 



On account of its tendency to spring up in old fields and open 

 woods, and the excellent quality of its timber, the short-leaf pine 

 is probably destined to assume very extensive economic importance 

 in the future. 



Pinus palustris, Miller. 



(LONG-LEA.F PINE.) 



A tree of the first commercial value, with a long slender trunk 

 free from branches, a small round head, and thin bright red- 

 brown thin-scaled bark, reaching a height of 95 and a diameter 

 of 4 feet. (Plate XVII.) 



It occurs from Virginia to Florida and Texas, rarely beyond 

 150 miles from the coast, and reaches its best development in 

 northeastern Texas on the gravelly uplands of the valleys of the 

 Sabine and Trinity rivers. 



In North Carolina, where it reaches an average height of 70 

 feet and an average diameter of 15 to 20 inches, it is found (fig. 

 38) in pure forest from the Neuse river southward, occupying all 

 the highest and driest sandy lands from the coast to within a few 

 miles of Troy, in Montgomery county, and Rockingham, in Rich- 

 mond county. Only along its western limits does it occur associated 

 to any extent with other trees. The long-leaf pine formerly extended 

 in an almost unbroken forest to Virginia, but it has been either 



