34 WORKING PLAN. LANDS IN BERKELEY COUNTY, 8. ©. 
is required. The shade of tall grass interferes with germination but 
does not prevent it. : 
Loblolly pine reproduces well, provided that sufficient moisture is 
present and that fire is kept out. Trees begin to bear seed at an early 
age, especially where there is an abundance of light, but large crops 
are not borne until a diameter of 10 inches is reached. After this 
period some seed is borne nearly every year, with heavy crops at 
intervals of two or three years. Seed is carried a long distance by 
the wind, so that a few good trees will seed upa large area. Exposed 
mineral soil makes the best germinating bed. Tor this reason the 
plowing up of the soil in skidding logs by steam is an advantage. 
Seedlings tend to come up in even-aged, dense stands. Old fields are 
seeded up progressively from the edges, while in virgin woods thickets 
come up adjacent to the dense stands where the light is good. 
Natural thinning out progresses rapidly after the tenth or fifteenth 
year, the overtopped trees giving way and allowing the crowns of the 
dominant ones more room. Height and diameter growth are rapid at 
this period. Owing to repeated fires the filling up of blanks on the 
drier lands is exceptional, but along the edges of swamps thickets of 
poles are generally present. 
On the cut-over lands reproduction, with few exceptions, has been 
excellent. This has been, however, the result of chance, no attempt 
having been made to leave seed trees. Since the future value of these 
timberlands depends on the reproduction of desirable species, seed 
trees must be carefully selected and left standing and fire must be 
entirely kept out if good results are to be insured. 
RELATION OF AGE TO DIAMETER. 
Table XI shows the average diameter breasthigh which a tree will 
reach in a given number of years. The fastest growth is made from 
the ninth to the twenty-seventh year, when it drops off slightly, and 
thereafter a uniform rate of growth is maintained until the forty-sixth 
year. Upto the eighty-third year growth is fair, but from then on 
it becomes slow. 
TaBLE XI.—Age of loblolly pine. 
Diam- Diam- | || Diam- | Diam- | 
eter eter meter || eter 
preast-| A8€- || breast-| “8®- || preast-| “8° | nes Age. 
high. | high. | high. || high. 
| | | 
Inches.| Years. || Inches.| Years. || Inches.| Years. || Inches. , Years. 
3) |i 10 30 19 65 | 28 “h 126 
2 11 11 33 20 ae )| IOP 134 
3 13 || 12 36 21 ih A 30 | 1438 
4 15 13 39 22 83 | 31} 152 
5 18 14 43 23 90 | 32 | 163 
6 20 15 46 24 97 Base een Lie! 
7 De. 16 50 25 104 34 | 186 
8 25 ibs 55 26 111 35 i, 299 
9 
27 18 60 D7 Al) sits 36-| 218 
