﻿40 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



quapins were present, but a search revealed that the burs had dropped from a 

 tree fully 30 feet high growing well up on the slope. On the inner side of the 

 dune are found the best trees, but as the advancing sand covers up the lower 

 part of the tree all we see is the top, looking like a thicket of shrubby bushes. 

 Sometimes the top is seen sticking out of the dune fully 40 or 50 feet above 

 the ' desert ' floor. In the ' desert ' I could find only in rare instances trees 

 that showed a main trunk undamaged by fire. Most individuals were shrubby 

 growths from a large basal crown, often with two or more sets of fire-killed 

 shoots of different ages among the living shoots. Cuttings were collected from 

 several of these trees and shrubs, but until they are tested their relative merits 

 will be uncertain. Some of the fire-burned shrubs may be better potent' ally 

 than the large ones that escaped burning." 



46822. " No. 1. From a tree back of old sand pit in the ' desert ' country. 

 Collected December 4, with Mr. L. B. Smith, of the Virginia Truck 

 Experiment Station. Growing in very light shifting sand among scrub 

 oaks. In some way this escaped the fires that caught all its neighbors. 

 The trunk is large enough to yield a good post." 



46823. " No. 2. From a tree pointed out by Mr. Moses Brown, the game 

 warden of this vicinity, who said that he had in past years taken as 

 much as 2 bushels of nuts from it. The nuts of this tree are larger 

 than those on other trees in the ' desert,' according to Mr. Brown. 

 Although the tree is a dwarf in the poor ' desert ' sand, a good railroad 

 tie could be made from the trunk." 



46824. " No. 3. From a tree 10 inches in diameter growing near the 

 pond in the edge of the dune back of a new pit about 100 yards south- 

 west of the big tree (No. 7)." 



46825. " No. 4. From a scrub tree in burned-over * desert,' gathered as. 

 a check sample of the normal growth in this region. It is possible that 

 some of these burned-over trees may be the best in growth." 



46826. '• No. 5. From a tree growing through the dune northeast of the 

 big tree (No. 7) at a new pit. It stands 40 feet up the side of the dune 

 and has branches 4 inches through and 12 feet high. It must be a 

 large tree covered up, as it spreads over 30 feet of dune face." 



46827. " No. 6. I have called this the evergreen tree, as its leaves were 

 largely green and persistent at this date [December 6]. It stands well 

 up on the dune face several hundred yards northeast of the big tree 

 (No. 7). The nuts on this tree must be very large, as the hulls are 

 much larger than those normally seen at Washington. The bur clusters 

 are often 4 to 6 inches long." 



46828. " No. 7. From the big tree found in October. As this now stands 

 covered with 30 feet of sand, it is made up of two large branches 

 10 inches in diameter projecting 30 feet above the sand. Below the 

 junction the trunk must be much larger. An old dead pine top just 

 back of this tree indicates that the ground here is nearly at the base 

 level of the ' desert' This tree must have been at least 50 feet high.'* 



46829. " No. 8. From a tree with an 8-inch clear trunk 12 feet high 

 below the branches, found in the ' desert ' scrub south of the big tree 

 (No. 7)." 



46830. ';' No. 9. From a tree with a 10-inch clear trunk projecting from 

 the dune 30 feet up from the base; part of a tree top, its branches 

 spreading out and making a veritable thicket on the dune, northeast of" 

 the big tree (No. 7)." 



