BULLETIN OF THE 
C 
No. 11 
Contribution from the Forest Service, Henry S. Graves, Forester 
January 23, 1914. 
FOREST MANAGEMENT OF LOBLOLLY PINE IN DELAWARE, 
MARYLAND, AND VIRGINIA. 
By W. D. Sterrett, Forest Examiner. 
LOBLOLLY PINE ADAPTED TO FOREST MANAGEMENT. 
Forestry or forest management differs from ordinary lumbering 
in that when a mature stand of timber is cut provision is always 
made to secure a new crop of young seedlings — either by natural 
seeding or by sowing or planting — to take the place of the trees 
removed. It consists primarily in the growing of successive crops 
of timber on the same area. It includes also the care of immature 
stands, comprising chiefly improvement thinnings and protection 
from fire. 
Loblolly pine is easily the leading tree for forest management in 
those portions of Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia where it grows 
naturally. The factors which combine to make it particularly suit- 
able for commercial timber growing are: The ease with which it 
reproduces itself and forms pure, well-stocked stands; its rapid 
growth and the wide range of sites on which it will grow; the many 
uses to which its wood is adapted; the comparative cheapness of 
logging and milling the timber, and the good prices which its lum- 
ber commands. This bulletin aims to show the financial possibili- 
ties in growing loblolly pine in Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia and 
to describe the best methods of management. As a basis for the 
latter the silvicultural characteristics of the species are first discussed. 
DISTRIBUTION AND IMPORTANCE. 
The accompanying map (fig. 1) shows the botanical and commer- 
cial distribution of loblolly pine in Delaware, Maryland, and Vir- 
ginia. The region to which this report applies is that covered by 
the botanical range of the species. In this region loblolly pine occurs 
naturally in some 60 counties, comprising an area of 21,100 square 
miles (13,500,000 acres). Table 1 l gives the total cut of lumber of 
1 Given in detail by counties in Table 22, Appendix B. 
6242°— 14 1 
