EEPEODUCTION OF LOBLOLLY PINE FORESTS. 165 



by animals or in other ways. Tt falls during the late autumn and 

 winter and sprouts during the following spring and by the end of 

 the first season the seedlings have reached an average height of 

 about seven inches. After that they grow at a rate of about eigh- 

 teen inches a year for seven years, so that specimens four or five 

 years old are too high to have any but the lower branches scorched 

 by a fire consuming only the leaves and herbage. The thick bark, 

 too, is a great protection to even small trees. Since they grow 

 on moister soils and form a deeper shade than the long-leaf pine 

 which prevents the growing of grass there is less danger from 

 fires. Not being boxed or worked for turpentine the mature 

 trees are less apt to be destroyed by fires. 



Where growing on drier soils the growth of the loblolly pine is 

 not so rapid later in life as in the early years and the scars left in 

 the natural shedding of the limbs do not so quickly heal over, 

 many of the trees being affected by fungus diseases which, gain 

 access through such openings. 



REPRODUCTION OF LOBLOLLY PINE FORESTS. 



In old fields and clearings within the area of the distribution 

 of the loblolly pine a spontaneous growth of loblolly pine quickly 

 appears, the light, winged seed being dispersed by the wind for a 

 considerable distance, sometimes hundreds of yards, from the seed- 

 bearing trees. The production of seed begins at an early age 

 with isolated specimens, sometimes, when they are under ten 

 years old, but later with those whose crowns do not receive full 

 sunlight, and continues uninterrupted for a great many years. 

 There is seldom a year when some trees in a locality do not 

 mature cones, since the trees grow under such diverse conditions 

 of soils and moisture. The cones, which require two seasons to 

 develop, open and the seed are distributed during the autumn 

 and winter after they have ripened, some remaining unopened 

 until the succeeding spring. The seed retain their germinative 

 power for several years, but usually germinate the first spring 

 after falling to the ground or after being planted. 



SYLVICULTURAL TREATMENT OF THE LOBLOLLY PINE. 



The selection system of cutting, culling, was formerly much 



