CUBAN PINE. 77 



prevailing at present, trees of such small size are tapped that they are unable io resist the force 

 of the winds, and in a few years are inevitably prostrated, while the larger trees, weakened by the 

 severe gashes on almost every side, become largely wind-shaken and the timber after a few years 

 almost worthless. 



While a judicious tapping is not only justified, but demanded, by an economic system of 

 exploitation, the prevailing methods of orcharding are unnecessarily destructive. 



The tapping of sapling timber not yet ripe for the saw, and the destructive fires started in 

 connection with this industry, annihilating all young growth, prevent any renewal of the forest, 

 while the working of large bodies of timber years before milling facilities are available leads often 

 to a loss of 20 per cent and more in both quality and quantity of the merchantable product. 



Fires. — The greatest injury to which the pine forests are subject in consequence of turpentine 

 orcharding arises from the fires which are started every spring for the purpose of getting rid of 

 the combustible matter raked from around the tapped trees in order to protect them from accidental 

 conflagrations while they are worked. These forest fires, spreading far beyond their intended 

 limits, destroy entirely the youngest progeny of the pines, stunt the growth of the more advanced 

 trees, and cause the ruin of a large number of older ones in the abandoned turpentine orchards. 

 Burning deeply into the gashes and other exposed surfaces of the tapped trees, these fires hasten 

 their prostration by the gales. Moreover, the fire causes cracks in the surfaces laid bare by the 

 ax and the puller occasions greater exposure to atmospheric action, thus inducing more or less 

 rapid decay. A test, made by sawing through twenty-two logs taken at random from a turpentine 

 orchard after it had been abandoned for a period of sixteen to eighteen years, showed that about 

 one-half of the timber was partially decayed and shaky. 



Besides the production of naval stores as a cause of forest fires, there is another scarcely less 

 potent. This is the practice prevailing among the settlers of burning the woods upon the approach 

 of every spring in order to hasten the growth of grass for their famished stock. Fires are also 

 frequently started through the carelessness of loggers and hunters, in the preparation of the ground 

 for tillage, and by sparks from locomotives. These fires, occurring at least once during every 

 year, cause the total destruction of the young growth of the longleaf pine. The danger to this 

 species is much greater than to any other Southern wood, because of the greater length of time it 

 requires to reach a size at which it can offer some resistance to fire. In the open forest of longleaf 

 pine the fires are not so destructive to the larger timber as in the dense forests of coniferous 

 trees further north, trees of larger size being, with some exceptions, but slightly, if at all, directly 

 damaged. 



Another serious damage, however, resulting from the frequent recurrence of fires is the 

 destruction of all vegetable matter in the soil. Deprived of the mulching needed for the retention 

 of moisture, the naturally porous and dry soil, now rendered absolutely arid and barren, is no longer 

 capable of supporting any larger tree growth or other useful vegetation. 



Live stock. — Of no less danger to the existence of the forests of longleaf pine is the injury 

 caused by live stock. This agency, slow in its action, is sure to lead to their destruction unless 

 restricted to some extent. Beside the damage due to the trampling down and mutilation of the 

 young growth by herds of cattle roaming through the woods, the smaller domestic animals — goats 

 and sheep — eat the tufts of the tender foliage of the seedlings, while hogs are seen digging up and 

 chewing the spongy and tender roots of the young plants. As a further agency in the way of the 

 renewal of this species, the destruction of the mature cones might be mentioned, caused principally 

 by the squirrels, which peel oft* the scales clean to the core in search of the sweet, nutritious seed. 



Storms. — Full-grown trees are frequently uprooted by the hurricanes which from time to time 

 pass through the pine belt. Those having the taproot shortened by impenetrable layers of 

 indurated clay, interposed in the subsoil at varying depths, are invariably the first victims of the 

 high winds. In trees grown in such places the taproot is found with a tumid and round base as 

 smooth as if polished. 



CUBAN PINE. 



This is the earliest flowering of the Southern pines. The buds of the male flowers make their 

 appearance in the eaily part of December, and the flowers open during the last days of January 

 and during the first week of February. This species produces abundant crops of cones every year, 



