THE OiJlCilN OF THE WA8TE LANDS. 



51 



securely filled. It could not be learnt whether this strip of sand 

 dunes was ever timbered, though it is probal)le that at one time it 

 was, since Smith's island and other parts of tliis same bank only 

 a few miles distant are now heavily timbered. 



THE ORIGIN OF THE WASTE LANDS. 



From the preceding it appears that there is a large amount of 

 waste land lying in the south-eastern part of this State. There 

 are now over 400,000 acres of such land and the amount of it, 

 from various causes, is constantly increasing. This land consists 

 of high, rolling or hilly sand barrens, formerly covered with 

 extensive forests of long-leaf pine. These forests yielded turpen- 

 tine abundantly, but on account of the larger amount of sapwood 

 and the coarser grain of the wood of trees growing on these poorer 

 sandy lands the lumber, though of good C[uality, was of a grade 

 inferior to that from trees grown on fertile soils. Now, however, 

 owing to the grossest neglect, large portions of these forests have 

 either been destroyed entirely or reduced to such a condition that 

 there is neither mill nor turpentine timber on them, and no 

 regrowth of the long-leaf pine has been allowed to take the place 

 of the older trees as the latter were being gradually exterminated. 

 The soils of the barrens on account of their sandiness and poor 

 quality will produce very few kinds of trees which have any 

 economic importance. Xo valuable broad-leaved trees (oaks, etc.) 

 thrive on these lands, and among the conifers (pines, etc.) the long- 

 leaf pine is the only one growing naturally on them. 



The short-leaf pine, except where the loam subsoil lies near the 

 surface, is rarely found, and it is only after the ground has been 

 cultivated and enriched and the moister layers of earth have been 

 brought to the surface that the loblolly pine will grow there. So 

 it seems that the long-leaf pine is the only native tree of much 

 value which flourishes on these barren, sandy lands. . There are 

 very few if any other forests in the eastern United States so pecu- 

 liarly limited as to the variety of valuable tree growth as the long- 

 leaf pine forests, particularly when it grows on the sand barrens; 

 and there are no other forests which demand such care to obtain a 

 regrowth of the original dominant species. 



