LOBLOLLY PINE. 
91 
bloom takes place in the beginning of April ; the aments are nearly an 
inch long, and are bent and intermingled like those of the Long-leaved 
Pine. The cones are about 4 inches in length, and armed with strong 
spines ; while closed they have the form of an elongated pyramid, and 
when open, of a rhombus more or less perfect : the .seeds are cast the first 
year. 
The tree exceeds 80 feet in height, with a diameter of 2 or 8 feet and a 
wide-spreading summit. The tallest stocks in proportion to their diameter 
I observed near Richmond, on a light, arid soil ; from several of them 
cylinders might have been formed, 12 or 15 inches in diameter and 50 
feet in length, perfectly regular and free from knots. 
This wood has a still greater proportion of sap than that of the Pond 
and Pitch Pines : in trunks 8 feet in diameter I have constantly found 30 
inches of alburnum ; and in those of a foot in diameter and 30 or 35 feet 
in height, not more than an inch of heart. The concentric circles are 
widely distant, as might be supposed from the rapidity of its growth in 
the more Southern States, in Virginia, where it vegetates more slowly, its 
texture is closer and the proportion of sap less considerable, as I have 
particularly observed £,t the saw-mills of Petersburg. 
Three-fourths of the houses in this part of Virginia are built of the 
Loblolly Pine, which is even used in the absence of the Yellow Pine 
for the ground floors ; but the boards, though only 4 inches wide and 
strongly nailed, shrink and become uneven. This inconvenience is attri-’ 
butable to its spongy consistence, and is not experienced in the Long- 
leaved Pine, whose concentric circles are twelve times as numerous in the 
same space. 
In the ports of the Southern States this species is used, like the Pitch 
Pine in those of the North, for the pumps of ships; at Charleston the 
wharfs are built with logs of the Loblolly Pine, consolidated with earth; 
bakers consume it in their ovens, and it is sold a third cheaper than the 
more resinous wood of the Long-leaved Pine. 
This species is applied only to secondary uses : it decays rapidly when 
exposed to the air, and is regarded as one of the least valuable of the 
Pines. It speedily possesses itself of deserted lands, and renders a long 
labor necessary to clear them ahew for cultivation. Though little esteemed 
in America, it would be an important acquisition to the south of Europe, 
where a tree of fine appearance and rapid vegetation is an invaluable 
treasure. It might be employed in joinery for objects concealed from 
sight, for packing-cases, etc. It remains to be proved whether it would 
not grow more rapidily than the Maritime Pine on the plains of Bordeaux. 
It supports a more northern climate, and even fructifies at Paris, but 
prçbably does not attain its perfect development. 
It affords turpentine in abundance, but in a less fluid state than that of 
