14 



the fires of the uplands, while the old-field pine was not. The lat- 

 ter was pushed aside to protected places. The present prepond- 

 erance of second growth old-field pine in most thrown-out land, 

 outside of the sand hills, is probably due to two factors — 1st, the 

 infrequency of fires in cleared old fields, and 2nd, the insufficient 

 seed production and limited seed distribution of the long-leaf 

 pine. Given an equal chance and protection from fire and the 

 old-field pine seems able to supplant the long-leaf pine from most 

 of the good lands that it once occupied. It is different in the 

 sand hills. There the soil is too poor to support the old-field pine 

 and the long-leaf pine is given a free hand. The slow propaga- 

 tion of the latter there at present seems to be due as much to the 

 scarcity and infrequent seed production of old trees as to fires, 

 though these certainly do great damage, as mentioned above, in 

 the destruction of young seedlings. The fact that the long-leaf 

 pine can reproduce itself in the sand hills and is doing so abun- 

 dantly in places is evidenced by the growth shown in Plates 



1 and II. 



Below the pines the rather low growth of the hills is composed 

 most largely of several species of scrub oak. Among these the 

 turkey oak, or fork-leaved black jack as we call it, (Quercus 

 Catesbaei) is by far the most abundant, especially in the purest 

 sand, where it is often the only oak over considerable areas. It is 

 generally associated with broad-leaved black jack (Q. marilan- 

 dica), upland willow oak (Q. cinerea) and post oak (Q. stellata). 

 The turkey oak and upland willow oak are typical sand hill 

 species, but the other two occur also in more genial soils, where the 

 latter reaches a much greater size. Though characteristically 

 very small and scrubby the turkey oak may in favorable situations 

 become a tree of considerable proportions — say 40 feet high and 



2 feet in diameter. One of the largest I know of is that shown in 

 Plate III near the Baptist Church building. 



The upland willow oak is the smallest of all our species. The 

 largest specimen I ever saw is shown in Plate IV (a winter view). 

 It is about 25 feet high and 14 inches in diameter. The associa- 

 tions of this oak as shown in the picture will give a good idea of 

 what is characteristic of sand hill conditions. Tall long-leaf 

 pines are scattered in the back ground, and in middle ground 

 are small trees of turkey oak, black jack oak, post oak, a few 

 stunted persimmons, choke cherries (Prunus serotina), and sassa- 

 fras bushes. Poison oak (Rhus quercifolia) and summer grape 

 (Vitis aestivalis) were the only other woody plants. In August, 



