region characterized by longleaf pine has moved 

 southward along its entire length in Georgia for 20 

 to 40 miles as the result of invasion of loblolly and 

 shortleaf pines and hardwoods. Within the present 

 longleaf belt, an equally interesting change has 

 been taking place; the proportion of slash pine, 

 and to a less extent loblolly, is steadily increasing in 

 the stands. 



Hardwood Types 



The hardwood types occupy 12 percent of the 

 total forest area (table 2). The tupelos supply 

 nearly one-third of the volume; sweetgum, the red 

 oaks, southern sweetbay, and red maple about 

 one-half. Seventy-one percent of the hardwood 

 lands is in fertile soils of the larger stream bottoms 

 and in swamps and branch heads. The remainder 

 is mainly held by the scrub oak-scrub hardwood 

 type, which occurs in small scattered patches 

 throughout the area, usually on the light sandy 

 soils of the Norfolk series where heavy cutting and 

 repeated fires have encouraged blackjack and 

 turkey oaks along with other scrub species to replace 

 the original pines. 



Table 3. — Composition of forest type groups by species, expressed 

 in percent of net cubic volume (outside bark) x 



Species 



Longleaf pine 



Slash pine 



Loblolly pine 



Other pines 2 



Sweetgum 



Black, swamp, and 



water tupelos 



Other soft-textured 



hardwoods 2 



Red oaks 



White oaks 



Scrub oaks 



Other firm-textured 



hardwoods 2 



Special-use species 2 



Cypress 



All species 



Turpen- 

 tine pine 



Percent 

 28.2 

 48.2 

 3.7 

 2.4 

 .6 



7.3 



2.9 

 .8 

 .3 



(?) 



Non- 

 turpen- 

 tine pine 



4.9 



Percent 



1.7 



3.8 



52.3 



13.2 



7.2 

 5.9 



1.8 



( 3 ) 



1.5 

 .2 

 .7 



Hard- 

 wood 



Percent 



0.3 



.8 



1.4 



.5 



16.9 



31.7 



18.7 

 13.5 

 4.0 

 1.3 



.3 

 2.7 



100.0 



Cy- 

 press- 

 tupelo 



Percent 



2.3 

 .6 



.5 

 1.5 



40.3 



3.6 

 1.4 

 .9 



3.2 



45.7 



lno. 



All 



type 



groups 



Percent 

 16.2 

 28.0 

 13 1 

 4.2 

 4.9 



13.4 



6.6 

 4.3 

 1.3 



2.0 

 .1 

 5.3 



1 Basic figures do not include volume of cull trees, turpentine butts, 

 or tops and limbs of sawlog-size hardwoods and cypress, but do include 

 sound scrub oak, which generally is considered cull. 



2 See introduction for list of species. 



3 Negligible. 



F255983 



Figure 4. — Typical old-growth longleaf pine of south Georgia. 

 Most of the old-growth timber in this section is scattered through- 

 out the area in small tracts. 



Cypress-Tupelo Type 



The cypress-tupelo type, which occurs in scat- 

 tered ponds and in swamps and river bottoms 

 throughout the area but chiefly in the flatwoods, 

 makes up less than 3 percent of the forest area. 

 Cypress, the most important wood, contributes 46 

 percent of the cubic volume in the type; tupelos 

 are next in importance with 40 percent of the type 

 volume. Several hardwoods, principally water- 

 loving species, and pines make up the remaining 

 14 percent. 



Forest Conditions 



To picture adequately the appearance, condition, 

 and economic maturity of the forest stands, it is 

 necessary to consider their classification according 

 to age, size, quality, and the degree to which they 

 have been cut. 



15 



