PERCENT 
coma. 
40 M4 
30 













18 20 22 
DIAMETER CLASS (INCHES) 

FIGURE 37.— Percent change in number of trees by species group and diameter class, 1936 to 1947. 
convert thousands of acres of longleaf pine type to 
scrub oak. For the most part, hardwoods did not increase 
much; they were already present in the understory. 
Similarly, in the lower Coastal Plain, the cutting out of 
a small number of mature pine?? in mixed loblolly 
pine-hardwood types frequently left pure hardwood 
stands. The reduction in pine stocking in mixed pine- 
hardwood stands of the Sandhills and lower Coastal 
Plain was largely offset by an increase in pine stocking 
* According to Forest Survey type definitions, only 25 percent 
of the dominant and codominant trees in the stand have to be 
pine to qualify stand as pine type. 
SIZE CLASS BASAL AREA 
AND YEAR HAROWOODS 
SAW TIMBER 
1936 
1947 WML 
POLE TIMBER 
1936 YYW JUMJZJV@#@U8@#$fyv7TZf 
1947 WLMM@_ MEE E@@@tl YHA 
SAPLINGS 
1936 YY |GJZ=W J|Jue@€0UZ, || 
1947 MME EEE 
ALL TIMBER 
1936 | EEE. 
1947 LLM UMMA 
HLL UMM 














FIGURE 38.— Change in proportion of softwood and hardwood 
species by size of timber, 1936 to 1947. 
30 Forest Resource Report No. 3, UES 

in the Piedmont. Here, active restocking of partially 
stocked, abandoned cropland resulted in a large increase 
in the number of pine trees without an accompanying 
increase in pine types. Part of the Piedmont increase 
consists of dense thickets of Virginia pine, which at 
best can only amount to pulpwood. These are hardly 
a desirable trade for valuable loblolly pine in the 
Coastal Plain. 
Even though the shift to hardwoods, for the State as 
a whole, has been rather slow, hardwood invasion is 
critical in local areas. In the northern Coastal Plain, 
softwoods make up 53 percent of the basal area of 
saw timber, but only 31 percent of the basal area of the 
saplings. A large part of the shift to hardwoods has 
taken place since 1936, as the proportion of the sapling 
basal area in hardwoods has increased from 61 to 69 
percent in the 12-year period. As these young trees 
mature, the trend toward more hardwoods will stand 
out even more than at present. 
Many pine stands will undoubtedly revert to hard- 
woods in spite of efforts to perpetuate pine. Fortunately, 
steps can be taken to partly balance these losses. Idle, 
denuded, and poorly stocked forest land can be planted 
to pine. Special efforts to control hardwoods on sites 
well suited to growing high-quality pine will go a long 
way toward tipping the scales in favor of the valuable 
pine species. 
§. Department of Agric ulture 
