LONGLEAF PINE. 
The natural range of long-leaf pine (fig. 1) extends from south- 
eastern Virginia, southward over the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain 
to Florida and westward to eastern Texas. Commercially the range 
is very much less extensive. As a result of lumbering and repeated 
fires, there remains to-clay probably less than one-fifth of the original 
stand of long-leaf pine, estimated to have amounted originally to 
over 400 billion board feet. 
The largest remaining areas of old growth are found in the five 
States bordering on the Gulf of Mexico. Reports from mill operators 
Fig. 1. — Outline map of the southern United States, the shaded part showing the botanical 
range of longleaf pine. This species of southern pine occurs widely distributed over 
the Coastal Plain from southeastern Virginia to eastern Texas. Extensive areas of 
cut-over longleaf lands occur throughout practically the whole range. The bulk of 
the remaining old growth is located in parts of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and 
Louisiana. Originally, longleaf pine composed the bulk of probably the world's greatest 
pure yellow pine forest. 
owning or controlling practically the entire remaining stand of old- 
growth pine in the South indicate that it is very doubtful whether at 
the present rate of cutting the longleaf forests, which have always 
been the chief factor in the production of southern yellow pine, will 
last for many years. 
The total annual cut of longleaf is not known. According to the 
best estimates, the lumber cut is roughly about one-half of the total 
southern yellow pine lumber cut, which ranges yearly from 10 to 15 
