LOBLOLLY OR NORTH CAROLINA PINE

(Pinus tæda, Linnœus)

ITS GROWTH AND MANAGEMENT

BY W. W. ASHE

to designate large trees of Pinus echinata, the common shortleaf pine of the Piedmont Region.

Swamp pine, a very common name for loblolly pine growing in swamps.

Sap pine and black-bark pine are names applied by lumbermen to young growth possessing these characteristics. The latter name is applied more frequently to pocoson pine.

On the eastern shores of Maryland, in southeastern Virginia, and in Piedmont North Carolina, where associated with shortleaf, scrub and other pines having much shorter leaves, loblolly pine in some places is known as longleaf or foxtail pine.

Botanically the tree is known as Pinus taeda, L., an inappropriate term so far as the specific designation is concerned, as taeda means torch. The torch or lightwood pine is the longleaf pine. The latter furnishes the wood for light, its brands until recently being the chief source of light at night in thousands of homes in the Coastal Plain of the southern states.

There are three pines which are intimately associated with the loblolly pine in different portions of the Coastal Plain region, and as two of them are apt to be confused with it, the following characteristics will be found of assistance in separating them:

N. C. GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC SURVEY. PLATE II.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS OF LOBLOLLY AND ASSOCIATED PINES OF EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA.

Bark and Branches of Mature Trees Leaves Cones Soil Preference Loblolly Pine Bark on large trees generally more than one inch thick at stump; bright red brown, broken into large oblong plates; branches ascending except on large trees. Leaves in 3s, 3 to 7 inches long. Cones oblong. 3 to 6 inches long, opening soon after maturing and falling from the tree. Grows nearly everywhere, except on the wettest sandy and peaty soils and on sand hills. Shortleaf Pine (of the Coast.) North Carolina Pine (Pinus tæda). Pocoson Pine Bark on large trees seldom one inch thick at stump; dark brown, broken into square or roundish plates; branches nearly horizontal. Leaves in 3s, 3 to 5 inches long. Cones oval, pointed, 2 to 4 inches long; seldom opening, persistent on the tree. Wet, sandy soils, black peaty or much lands. Pond pine Black bark pine (Pinus serotina). Longleaf pine Bark thin and scaly, not arranged in plates, bright, red-brown Leaves in 3s, 5 to 9 inches long. Cones 5 to 7 inches long, opening at maturity and at once falling from the tree. Sandhills and sandy or clayey soils that are not too wet. Pitch pine (Pinus palustris.) Shortleaf pine Bark broken into oblong plates; light red-brown, somewhat scaly; branches ascending except in old trees. Leaves usually in 2s, 2 to 4 inches long. Cones about 2 inches long, opening at maturity, persistent on the tree. Well drained, loamy, clayer or gravelly uplands. Spruce pine Rosemary pine (Pinus echinata).

Very young trees and seedlings of the pocoson pine when growing in dense stands in mixture with loblolly pine are not easily distinguished from the latter, as the crowding tends to cause the branches of both species to ascend and the bark of the young pines is dark and furrowed. The two pines, however, are very distinct; the pocoson pine is inferior in every respect to the loblolly pine. This is generally recognized by the lumbermen who know that the pocoson or black-bark pine, especially in large stocks, is apt to be defective; either very knotty, rotten or with redheart. The pocoson pine is found associated with the loblolly pine

on savannas and on all wet, sandy, coarse-grained soils, particularly below an elevation of 100 feet above sea level.

The shortleaf pine occurs with the loblolly pine, chiefly on well-drained, loamy, gravelly or clayey uplands. In the coastal plain they are most frequently associated north of the Neuse River, but are seldom found together to the southward, except on hills along streams. They are found together on the oak uplands of the eastern portion of the Piedmont plateau region on well-drained, loamy or gravelly knolls and hills, where the shortleaf pine is the remnant of the old forest and the loblolly pine forms a portion of the second growth. Only in a few localities are all four pines found growing together. Near the coast the loblolly, pocoson, and longleaf pines are sometimes associated on sandy hummocks; the wettest places, however, are as a rule occupied by the pocoson pine; the pocoson and the loblolly pines are associated on savannas and slightly drier knolls; on better drained soils the longleaf replaces the pocoson pine in the mixture and on thoroughly drained soils only the longleaf pine is found.

pine. The cut by counties for nine counties* in Virginia south of the James River is as follows:

Board Feet. Isle of Wight 12,500,000 Norfolk 100,683,000 Nansemond 62,726,000 Prince George 5,600,000 Princess Anne 5,500,000 Southampton 98,425,000 Surry 58,385,000 Sussex 13,525,000 Greenesville 40,000,000 Total 397,344,000

The cut by counties for 40 counties in eastern North Carolina is as follows:

Board Feet. Board Feet. Beaufort 44,428,000 Jones 20,790,000 Bertie 34,137,000 Lenoir 20,136,000 Bladen 29,125,000 Martin 9,795,000 Brunswick 16,877,000 Nash 31,778,000 Camden 1,170,000 New Hanover 43,432,000 Carteret 5,240,000 Northampton 7,318,000 Chowan 25,824,000 Onslow 23,563,000 Columbus 67,970,000 Pamlico 22,109,000 Craven 107,209,000 Pasquotank 49,950,000 Cumberland 16,700,000 Pender 58,700,000 Duplin 60,841,000 Perquimans 23,627,000 Dare 4,000,000 Pitt 8,510,000 Edgecombe 7,112,000 Robeson 43,761,000 Gates 14,695,000 Sampson 66,917,000 Greene 2,600,000 Scotland 2,960,000 Halifax 41,290,000 Tyrrell 1,390,000 Harnett 32,360,000 Washington 23,046,000 Hertford 17,980,000 Wayne 20,810,000 Hoke 1,700,000 Wilson 21,870,000 Hyde 1,881,000 Johnston 45,460,000 Total 1,079,061,000

The cut by counties for 15 counties in South Carolina north of Georgetown is as follows:

Board Feet. Beaufort 8,527,000 Berkeley 13,265,000 Charleston 48,343,000 Colleton 64,384,000 Darlington 82,373,000 Dillon 6,075,000 Dorchester 31,761,000 Florence 21,310,000 Georgetown 129,948,000 Hampton 21,700,000 Horry 28,472,000 Lee 1,000,000 Marion 54,235,000 Marlboro 21,035,000 Williamsburg 15,710,000 Total 548,138,000

The pine industries of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina are so closely associated that it is impossible to separate them. A large portion of the logs cut in northeastern North Carolina is manufactured in Virginia chiefly at or in the vicinity of Norfolk, Suffolk, Franklin, Emporia, and Whaleyville. It is estimated that 175,000,000 feet, or nearly half of the output of the mills in this section of Virginia, are from logs brought from North Carolina, the importations being distributed approximately as follows: 50 per cent of the output of Nansemond County; 90 per cent of the output of Norfolk County and 60 per cent of the output of Southampton County. Some of the other counties which lie on or near the state line, such as Greenesville, also obtain small amounts of their timber from North Carolina. It is conservative therefore to say that the cut of loblolly pine timber in North Carolina in 1912 exceeded 1,250,000,000 board feet. The timber from which this was cut had a stumpage value of not less than $4,000,000, while the value of the entire output of loblolly pine in North Carolina embracing both the lumber delivered on the cars and the round timber which was cut in the State, but manufactured outside, amounted to more than $16,000,000. The cut of North Carolina pine lumber in North Carolina has probably attained its maximum.

Small operators still cut a large amount of North Carolina pine lumber. Of the total number of operations there were in 1912 only 22 in North Carolina that had an annual cut in excess of 10,000,000 board feet. These 22 had a combined cut of 384,000,000 board feet, compared with a cut of 695,061,000 board feet for the remaining 600 operations. At the same time in the counties north of Georgetown in South Carolina there were only six operations that had an output in excess of 10,000,000 board feet, and in the nine southeastern counties of Virginia only 12 operations had outputs of this volume.

The largest single operation in the North Carolina pine field is at Georgetown, S. C., with an estimated output of about 100,000,000 board feet a year. A wood alcohol plant is operated in connection with this sawmill to utilize the waste. The Norfolk District embracing the five counties of Norfolk, Nansemond, Princess Anne, Isle of Wight, and Southampton, with an output of more than 180,000,000 board feet a year, still maintains its supremacy not only as a distributing center but also as a producing center.

The amount of mature loblolly pine timber in North Carolina is about 15,000,000,000 board feet. This pine occupies in pure growth or associated with other species more than 8,000 square miles in North Carolina. Since the rate of growth of this species even under present unfavorable conditions is not less than 150 board feet per acre of commercial saw-timber a year replacement is at the rate of about 800,000,000 board feet a year and consequently is taking place at more than half of the rate of utilization for lumber. It is believed that if the forest lands of eastern North Carolina were being well managed the present cut could be maintained permanently.

doubt, however, that eventually the larger portion of all of the land now in loblolly pine will be cleared and placed in cultivation.

In the Coastal Plain Region the average annual temperature is about 61° F., with a normal range of 36° F. The winters are comparatively mild, the temperature seldom falling below 15° F. The average temperature during the five growing months is 74° F. The average annual rainfall is about fifty-five inches, the seasonal distribution being heavier in the spring and summer than in the autumn and winter. The region of heaviest precipitation and greatest humidity lies eastward of a north and south line through New Bern and Wilmington. The rainfall, while heavy, is irregular and concentrated, and the snowfall scant, although sleet is frequent. The atmospheric humidity is high, especially during the summer.

The eastern portion of the Piedmont plateau region, which is the portion in which loblolly pine occurs most frequently, is more rugged and its topography rougher than that of the coastal plain. Its elevation varies from 350 to 600 feet above sea level. In general its surface is rolling though along the streams and in some other places there are bold hills.

On the uplands the predominating soils may be described as loams and clays, sandy and gravelly in some places, but generally with much stiffer red or yellow subsoil, formed by the decay in situ of slates, gneisses, (hornblende-bearing) schists, pegmatites, and other crystalline rocks; while over some limited areas sandy soils occur derived from sandstone and granite. Along the numerous small streams are narrow, alluvial deposits, moist, dark-colored loams, containing a variable proportion of organic matter. Along the larger streams these fluvial deposits are often clayey or silty. All soils occupied by the loblolly pine in the Piedmont plateau region, except where too rough or steep are suitable for farming.

The average annual temperature for the region is somewhat less than that of the coastal plain, being about 59° F.; the annual rainfall is only about fifty inches, and the humidity is lower. The water table is from 30 to 50 feet below the surface of the hill summits, while the surface drainage is far superior to that of the coastal plain, swamps being limited to the borders of the streams. The average temperature during the five growing months is 73° F.

which have prevailing dry sandy soils. There are also less extensive areas of swamp in which it does not occur. But it is capable of growing as a commercial tree on 22,000 square miles of this area (See map, Fig. 2.) In Virginia it is the prevailing species south and east of Petersburg and Lunenburg, covering the southeastern portion of the state, while to the north of Petersburg it is common along and near Chesapeake Bay, on both the eastern and western shores. In South Carolina it is common south and east of Chester wherever the soil and moisture conditions are suitable for its growth.

In the coastal plain the loblolly pine was originally largely confined to the following situations: (1) River swamps, where it occurred on the best drained portions, as single trees in mixture with hackberry, sweet gum, red maple, white and red oaks, deep swamp ash, and water gum; (2) shallow interior swamps with loamy soils where it grew in groups of a few trees, or more generally single trees, among maple, water oaks, and gums; (3) shallow swamps with stiff soils, where single trees occurred irregularly distributed among white oaks and red oaks, ash, elm, holly, white bay, beech, and gums; (4) deep swamps, in which it was not common and where it occurred with cypress, water gum, and water ash; (5) hummocks and the edges of swamps, savannas, and pocosons, where on a wide range of moist soils of sand, silt, clay or peat, it grew sparingly with longleaf and pocoson pines; (6) best grade of loams, silts, clays (Portsmouth soil series) and peaty soils seldom subject to flooding, with the water table usually from five to eight feet below the surface where it formed compact groups or stands covering many acres; (7) on peaty soils where it occurred with yellow poplar, white cedar (juniper), white bay, sweet bay, and sweet gum.

Specimens of best development (Plate I, Frontispiece) are met with in shallow swamps on clayey or loamy soil growing with mixed hardwoods. The pure groves on well-drained peaty soil are mostly formed of comparatively young and small trees from 100 to 150 years old and in even-aged stands. There are traditions supported by other evidence, that these pure groves on the peaty lands have followed old fires. Under natural conditions it is probable that this species did not form extensive pure forests in North Carolina except in the extreme northeastern section. Loblolly pine was absent from the best drained soils which were occupied by the longleaf pine in the coastal plain and by mixed hardwoods and shortleaf pine in the Piedmont plateau region.

In the Piedmont plateau the original growth of loblolly pine was chiefly confined to the forests of the narrow stream swamps of the eastern portion of the plateau. It formed only a very small proportion of the timber in these forests which are distinctively of hardwoods. While most abundant in the Piedmont along its eastern edge, isolated trees

have been found on alluvial lands as far west as the eastern end of Surry County and at an altitude of about 700 feet, although 500 feet is the prevailing altitudinal limit in North Carolina.

Accidental influences, largely circumstances incidental to the settling and development of the country, and other influences which have followed these, have enabled the tree, by means of its prolific and early seeding and rapid growth, to become locally far more widely distributed and much more abundant than in the original forest. The most important of these influences which have facilitated the reproduction and distribution of this species have been the abandonment of farming lands, fires, lumbering, and live stock, especially hogs. On account of its adaptability, loblolly pine has increased in abundance in wet situations as well as on dry sites. In swamps it has often followed cypress, when cypress was cut, wherever standing water during the growing season did not prevent the pine from establishing itself. When hardwoods on the coastal plain were culled, or severely burned, loblolly pine became more abundant in the hardwood forests, until its young growth is now common, both on the uplands and in the swamps. It has extensively replaced the longleaf pine, except on the dryest or sandiest soils. When the longleaf pine died after being exhausted by turpentine or was broken down by the wind, or where it was burned or thinned by lumbering, the loblolly pine succeeded it on all moist, loamy, or clay soils. At the same time hogs destroyed the seeds and seedlings of the longleaf pine, while both seed and seedlings of loblolly were largely neglected, the former because of their small size and the latter because the roots are tough and fibrous. The loblolly pine now occupies in nearly pure forests, much of it more than 100 years old, practically all of the cutover longleaf pine lands north of the Neuse River, and a great proportion of the longleaf pine lands south of the Neuse River and east of Fayetteville and Laurinburg, and is gradually invading the sandhills of Moore, Cumberland, and Richmond counties. Worn-out farming lands exhausted of humus, which have been turned to fallow, and lands which have been found too poor or often too wet to cultivate, or which were abandoned on account of scarcity of labor, have been stocked with loblolly pine by means of self-sown seed whenever seed-bearing trees were near by. Thus this pine has become extensively distributed, and while 100 years ago the longleaf pine was the characteristic forest tree in the Coastal Plain Region of North Carolina, at present the loblolly pine is the prevailing tree; and its relative abundance and importance are steadily increasing.

The distribution of the loblolly pine has also been extended in the Piedmont plateau, though not to the same extent as in the coastal plain. In the eastern part of the Piedmont plateau it has established itself in old fields, often in association with shortleaf pine, and in stands of hardwoods which have been culled. It is now abundant in the second growth

stands on the hills near the rivers and is gradually extending away from the streams, in spite of the increasing dryness of the soil.

The growth in the old fields along the eastern edge of the Piedmont plateau in many places is nearly pure loblolly pine. Where young trees of the shortleaf pine appear they are often overtopped and suppressed, being outnumbered and overgrown by the loblolly pine. To the westward, however, there are fewer seed trees, and where there is competition between the two species, the shortleaf pine has the advantage, except on moist or sandy soils.

Wherever similar soil and moisture conditions prevail there is a definite association of species. This association which is called a forest type remains practically constant until the natural conditions are disturbed by fire, cattle, lumbering, or other causes. The type is formed of those species which are best suited to soil and moisture conditions, but this does not necessarily mean that the natural mixture of species would be the most profitable one or the most desirable one economically for that site. The rate of growth of the different species which form a type is practically always the same in that type, and the yield of the type at a given age is constant.

Table 1 shows the composition of the important commercial forest types of the coastal plain of North Carolina and their relation to soil and drainage. The great number of forest types in which loblolly pine occurs is noteworthy as showing the virility and aggressiveness of this species.

TABLE I—CHARACTERISTIC FOREST TYPES OF EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA ACCORDING TO SOIL AND DRAINAGE. Drainage Best Clay Soils, Fine-grained Stiff Loams or Marls When drained Good Agricultural Soils, Loams, Sandy Loams, Medium to Fine-Grained Sands, Coarse or Medium-grained Peaty Soils, Mucks (1) (2) (3) Very dry and well drained; rolling or hilly, (as stream bluffs); water-table below 20 ft. Both surface and subsoil drainage good. Hardwoods, small red, post and roundleaf black jack oaks, hickories with some shortleaf pine. (Young loblolly pine appearing in openings.) Oak and pine uplands. Shortleaf pine with small oaks, especially Q. margaretta and hickories. Occasionally longleaf pine intermixed. (Young loblolly pine in openings.) Sand hills with longleaf pine and sand blackjack oak. Loblolly pine is infrequent even in old fields. Longleaf pine sand hills. (4) (5) (6) Longleaf piney woods and flatwoods; moist subsoils; water-table seldom below 20 ft. Surface drainage good. Subsoil drainage slow. Longleaf pine of fine quality passing with poorer drainage into hardwoods; pine and post oak flatwoods. Longleaf pine of best quality, with dogwood and post oak. The longleaf largely replaced by loblolly pine, which now forms extensive forests; or when water table is stable near surface, pure loblolly pine. Flatwoods. Longleaf pine, pure. Pine barrens.

TABLE I—Continued. Drainage Best Clay Soils, Fine-grained Stiff Loams or Marls When drained Good Agricultural Soils, Loams, Sandy Loams, Medium to Fine grained Sands, Coarse or Medium-grained Peaty Soils, Mucks (7) (7a) (7b) (7c) Loblolly pine (shortleaf pine of the coast) forest. Very moist subsoil. Water table seldom below 12 ft. Surface drainage poor. Loblolly pine in large pure groups Loblolly pine of good quality, pure. Natural, permanent or reproducing pine lands. Loblolly pine in pure groups Loblolly pine in pure groups on best drained sites. (8) (9) (10) (11) Clear or discolored water, shallow swamps; slow drainage, standing water during part of the year. Subject to slight overflow. Surface drainage very poor even in summer. Oaks, beech, hickory, red maple, deep swamp ash, water gum, sweet gum, white bay, cypress, loblolly pine, singly or in groups. The pine less frequent and smaller as the drainage becomes poorer. Flat swamps, hardwood flats. Water oaks, cypress, red maple, water gum; loblolly pine. The pine less frequent and smaller, as the drainage becomes poorer and cypress and water gum more abundant. Flat swamps. Loblolly pine, pure, passing into white cedar, maple, bay, small water gum. Cedar or juniper swamps. Sour peats, white cedar, poplar, red maple and bays. Water table stable. Cedar swamps, bays. (12) (13) (13a) (14) Clear or discolored water, deep swamps, ponds, and slow flowing streams. Water seldom below the surface. Large cypress, water and tupelo gums, deep swamp ash and red maple, occasional loblolly pines where drainage best. Cypress swamps. Large cypress, water and tupelo gums, deep swamp, water ashes and red maple, occasional loblolly pines. Cypress swamps. Same as No. 13 but trees much smaller. Much water ash. Mucks, large cypress, water and tupelo gums, red maple, occasional loblolly pines. (15) (16) (17) (18) Nearly saturated level lands; the pocosons or briary bays, and reedy bogs. Water table fluctuating. Aeration deficient. Small pocoson pine and bays. Bays. Pocosons. Where best drained, savannas. Pocoson pine and bays. Pocosons. Where best drained, savannas. Pocoson pine and longleaf pine; loblolly pine scantily replacing them on the best sites. Pocosons. Raw peats, pocoson pine and bays. Moss bogs, quaking bogs. Pocosons.

TABLE I—Continued. Alluvial soils along the muddy rivers—overflow irregular and often deep—3 to 30 feet. The character of the growth much the same as that on clear water, shallow swamps (8 and 9), but conifers and evergreen trees are infrequent, probably on account of the destruction of their foliage by its being covered with a coating of mud. Silver maple, hackberry, sycamore, green ash, elm, oaks and gums. In sloughs where there is much standing water, tupelo. Water surface widely fluctuating. No surface drainage. The pine barren ponds which may be deeply flooded during winter and spring or after rains but in which the water table may sink to 10 feet during droughts, have a growth limited to the pond cypress (Taxodium distichum imbricarium) water gum and black gum.

The optimum conditions for the development of individual trees of loblolly pine are offered by sites 8 and 9, on which occur trees of large size either in small groups or scattered singly among the hardwoods. The optimum conditions for the development of pure stands are offered by sites 7 to 7c. On these sites there is less competition from the hardwoods and loblolly pine is truly gregarious, dominating to the practical exclusion of other trees.

Between the typical conditions there are gradations of all kinds. When the forest is lumbered or severely burned, its distinctive characters are often almost obliterated, though the constant tendency, when natural forces are permitted to re-assert themselves, is for the reëstablishment of the original forest type. Near the coast, a number of these conditions will sometimes be represented on an area of less than an acre. In addition to the above original or permanent types there are four important temporary types: (1) mixed oak and hickory, which have followed pine on loams and clays; (2) Quercus Margaretta and roundleaf blackjack oak, which have followed pine on dry sandy loams; (3) sand blackjack oak which has followed longleaf pine on sand hills; (4) loblolly pine in old fields and on cut-over longleaf pine land. These pure stands of loblolly in old fields and on cut-over longleaf pine lands are very extensive, and occupy all classes of soils; they are of all ages and are in every condition of thrift and density, and constitute an important source of pine timber.

The conditions under which the loblolly pine occurs, as shown in Table 1, may be grouped for convenience under seven heads as follows:

(1) Old field growth on dry sites;

(2) Loblolly pine in pure stands on porous loams and peaty soils (Table 1, numbers 7 and 10, in part);

(3) Loblolly pine on longleaf pine flat lands (Table 1, numbers 4 to 6);

(4) Loblolly pine with hardwoods in swamps chiefly in the coastal plain (Table 1, numbers 8 and 9);

(5) Loblolly pine with pocoson pine on savannas (Table 1, numbers 15 to 16);

(6) Loblolly pine with cypress in deep swamps (Table 1, numbers 12 to 14);

(7) Loblolly pine in hardwood and shortleaf pine forests chiefly on the Piedmont uplands (Table 1, numbers 1, 2).

These sites were originally occupied by longleaf pine or by shortleaf pine mixed with upland oaks and hickories. The longleaf pine sites, which are confined to the coastal plain, are for the most part heavy upland clays and coarse upland sands (largely Norfolk sand); they are of the greatest extent south of Neuse River. The shortleaf pine sites are largely restricted to the eastern tier of Piedmont counties, but extend into the coastal plain in Halifax, Northampton, and Nash counties. The soils for the most part are loams or heavier soils of the Cecil and Durham series, the water table as a rule lying between 20 and 45 feet beneath the surface. These lands have been cultivated, but after the exhaustion of the scant humus they were found too poor and were abandoned; later they were stocked by wind-sowed seed of loblolly pine. Some stands on sites on which longleaf pine formed the original forest contain an admixture of longleaf pine; and on sites which were originally occupied by shortleaf pine and upland hardwoods, an admixture of shortleaf pine.

Table 2 shows the range of diameters and the composition of characteristic stands of loblolly pine in upland old fields.

TABLE 2.—COMPOSITION OF LOBLOLLY PINE STANDS ON UPLAND OLD FIELDS. AVERAGE NUMBER OF TREES PER ACRE. Diameter breasthigh Inches Stand 50 years old on dry sandy soil following longleaf pine in the Coastal Plain Stand 62 years old on Durham sand, in Chatham County, following shortleaf pine and post oak Stand 60 years old on Cecil red clay in Orange County following shortleaf pine, southern red oak, Spanish oak, black oak and hickory Loblolly pine Other species Loblolly pine Other species Loblolly pine Shortleaf pine Other species Dominant Intermediate Suppressed Dominant Intermediate Suppressed Dominant Intermediate Suppressed Under 6 7 14 29 7 5 4 3 10 8 1 3 7 9 7 10 7 10 5 3 3 11 3 1 6 6 2 12 2 10 1 3 6 7 3 13 5 5 7 14 13 8 4 4 6 2 15 7 5 4 10 3 16 17 6 13 4 4 6 17 16 5 9 20 18 13 4 13 10 19 10 21 2 16 20 2 17 2 7 21 13 3 22 8 Total over 6 inches 65 36 26 8 63 39 8 33 79 25 33 27 Per cent of number 48 27 19 6 45 27 5 23 48 15 20 17 Per cent of volume in bd. ft. 78 13 7 2 80 16 1 3 80 9 6 5

N. C. GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC SURVEY. PLATE III.

Loblolly pine attains on the upland old field sites a height of from 60 to 80 feet, a range of diameters of from 12 to 22 inches, and an age of 75 years. The rate of growth is extremely rapid for several decades, far more rapid than on similar uncultivated soils, after which there is an abrupt decline in the rate of height as well as diameter growth. (Table 14, Column 4, and Table 18, Column 4.) The total volume of the stand culminates between the fortieth and sixtieth years, according to the site. At the time of culmination not only has the growth in height practically ceased and the rate of diameter growth declined to about an inch a decade, but the stand has begun to disintegrate by the dying of the dominant trees. The growth of such a stand may be Quality I for the first two decades; Quality II for the third decade; after which it may decline to Quality III. (See p. 57.)

On account of the open crown cover, oaks and other upland hardwoods gradually enter the stand. In stands more than 40 years old these species often form a moderately dense lower story beneath the pines. When the loblolly pine is cut, they partly replace the loblolly pine, being supplemented either by longleaf or shortleaf pine. These species largely form the succeeding stands unless special means are taken to secure loblolly pine. The forest thus tends to revert to the original or permanent types.

On account of the rapid thinning out of the stand, the trees are short bodied and scrubby. (Plate III, A.) The trees yield two or three logs mostly of third and fourth grades. The wood is coarse grained and knotty, making largely box lumber. (Plate XII.) Unthinned stands will seldom yield more than 20 per cent lumber of No. 3 grade and better.

(For description of log grades, see page 98; of lumber grades, page 100.)

This type comprises a very large portion of the productive loblolly pine forests of North Carolina. It occurs on small flats or basins which are comparatively well-drained and seldom flooded for a long period or for more than a few inches, or it occupies extensive areas of upland which are mostly near the coast. The soils are largely sandy loams, clayey, or silty (Portsmouth soil series), or they are peaty, humified, with some silt or clay intermixed, or with marl subsoil. The water table seldom sinks below twelve feet. These are the so-called “permanent, natural or reproducing” pine lands. These sites furnish the optimum conditions for the development of pure stands. There is situated within this type a large area of poorly drained old fields on which loblolly pine has the same rate of growth as on forest soils of the same class. A great portion of the soil occupied by this type of forest has been placed under cultivation, and such areas as are suitable for tillage are still being drained and cleared as rapidly as they are logged. It is best suited to the growing of corn.

In their typical condition the forests on these lands are in pure even-aged stands or groups, or the pine is associated with occasional gums, water oaks, and yellow poplars, but it is always the predominating species in the stand. Although the humus is deep the soil is sufficiently moist for young growth to come up freely and young trees appear in large even-aged groups where old trees have died or have been cut. Beneath the pine there is generally a dense undergrowth of gall berries and ericaceous shrubs. The age of the pine seldom exceeds 200 years and individual trees are not so large as in the hardwood swamps. The height of mature trees ranges from 115 to 130 feet and the diameter from 24 to 36 inches. The wood is moderately fine and even-grained. The logs largely grade I and II. The best yield is obtained in this type. It is believed that by thinning stands an increment of from 900 to 1,000 board feet a year can be obtained, including thinnings. Even in old groups the crown cover maintains a complete canopy. The rate of growth is excellent and stands can generally be classed in Quality I.

Table 3 shows the composition of this type on peaty soil, measured in a stand two miles northeast of Leechville, N. C. The average age of the trees is about 100 years, the height of the dominant trees is from 110 to 120 feet. The stand consists of about 120 merchantable trees per acre and will yield about 30,000 feet, B. M. of pine.

TABLE 3.—COMPOSITION OF A PURE LOBLOLLY PINE STAND ON PEATY SOIL, HUMIFIED, NEAR LEECHVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA. Diameter breasthigh Inches AVERAGE NUMBER OF TREES PER ACRE. Loblolly Pine Sweet Gum Black Gum Other Species Under 9 2 13 9 11 9 4 1 2 10 4 1 11 4 1 12 6 1 13 4 14 20 1 15 10 16 20 17 20 18 12 19 10 20 10 21 2 Total above 8 126 2 4 1

After lumbering the land normally comes up to heavy young growth of pine seedlings. Areas cut over ten or twenty years ago are now covered with a dense stand of young pines. Interspersed among the young trees are the old suppressed trees which were left when the mature stand was cut and which have now recuperated, and many small hardwoods which have been overtopped.

N. C. GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC SURVEY. PLATE IV.

This type forms the great body of productive loblolly pine lands, occupying possibly one-half of the total loblolly pine area. Its yield, however, is not commensurate with the area it occupies on account of understocking. The soils are clayey, loamy, or sandy. The surface of the flat lands is nearly level or slightly rolling and well drained; these areas when stocked in longleaf pine were known as the flatwoods or piney woods. As the moisture in the soil becomes less subject to fluctuations they pass into hardwood flats and flat swamps. As they become more level and less thoroughly drained, they grade into savannas, pocosons, and bog swamps. As they become sandier and more thoroughly drained and drier they approach in their forest characters the longleaf pine sand hills.

TABLE 4.—COMPOSITION OF LOBLOLLY PINE STAND ON LONGLEAF PINE FLAT LANDS. Diameter breasthigh Inches AVERAGE NUMBER OF TREES PER ACRE. Loblolly Pine Longleaf Pine Black Gum Sweet Gum Oak Hickory Maple Dogwood Between 3-6 15.42 .05 4.13 3.01 6.01 1.50 2.40 .42 6 5.77 .63 1.03 .96 3.13 .58 .32 .07 7 4.89 .22 2.13 .47 3.01 .41 .06 .02 8 4.27 .13 1.17 .32 2.11 .17 .01 .005 9 4.03 1.01 .63 .40 2.36 .22 10 3.33 .76 .58 .16 1.27 .15 11 2.67 .98 .54 .38 .09 .08 12 2.41 1.21 .31 .22 .12 .11 13 2.18 .38 .12 .20 .03 .09 14 1.84 1.45 .07 .12 .02 .02 15 1.45 1.03 .05 .03 .02 .01 16 1.29 .64 .07 .08 .01 17 1.18 .32 .02 .01 .01 18 .94 .43 .01 .02 .01 19 .83 .17 .01 .01 20 .53 .18 .005 .01 21 .52 .04 .01 .01 22 .44 .11 .01 23 .43 .07 .01 24 .31 .05 25 .21 .06 26 .21 .02 27 .19 28 .13 29 .06 30 .07 31 .04 32 .05 33 .04 34 .01 Total 54.75 9.94 10.905 6.41 18.20 3.34 2.79 .515

The original forest was formed of longleaf pine which, after lumbering, turpentining, and repeated fires has now nearly or entirely disappeared. The loblolly pine is not uniformly distributed; it occurs as scattered dense groups varying from a few trees to several or many acres in extent. (Plate VI, A.) In the open spaces the ground is covered with thick grass (chiefly wire grass) 1 to 2 feet high. The irregularity of the stand and its open condition is due to periodic fires, which are particularly damaging where the growth of grass is heavy. Small trees of various kinds of hardwoods, especially black gum, roundleaf blackjack oak, southern red oak, and white and sand hickories occur with the pine in greater or less abundance. A few longleaf pines occur in places, especially south of the Neuse River. Table 4 shows the composition of this type based on measurements of nearly 700 acres, of both logged and unlogged forest.

After logging loblolly pine, usually the same species restocks the ground and generally overtops the hardwoods. In many places, however, the hardwoods by their dense cover tend to prevent the reproduction of the pine after lumbering. (Plate VIII, A.)

Under the best conditions the trees attain a height of from 120 to 125 feet and a diameter of 25 to 30 inches when 150 to 200 years old. Usually, however, the height ranges from 95 to 110 feet, and the diameter from 18 to 25 inches. The rate of growth is that of Quality II (Tables 14 and 18, column 3.) The trees are generally sound, but the upper logs in those more than 150 years old are likely to be affected by redheart. Groups of trees are found 200 years old, which possibly originated in the first extensive breaks in the longleaf pine forests made by the early settlers, such as around old turpentine-distillery sites and upon tar-kiln mounds. When the trees are solitary they are short bodied and yield only coarse lumber; in groups the stems are longer and clear. Logs are largely of Grades II and III. Under management these stands will produce about 600 board feet per acre a year. The lumber sawed from a 60-year old stand will grade 35 per cent No. 1 and No. 2.

N. C. GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC SURVEY. PLATE V.

scattered among the hardwoods. While it constitutes less than five per cent of the number of trees in the virgin stand it may form 25 per cent of the merchantable saw timber. The old pine trees grow on low mounds or hummocks, 5 to 10 feet wide and two or three feet high, which are largely formed by the trees themselves, by the gradual accumulation of bark, cones and leaves, which are yearly deposited about their bases. (Plate I.)

Since the pine is very intolerant of shade it comes up only in openings. Consequently, young pines as a rule are infrequent except in windfalls or where the oaks were cut for staves. Such cuttings made often as long as 100 years ago, were favorable for the increase of the pine.

TABLE 5.—COMPOSITION OF LOBLOLLY PINE WITH HARDWOODS IN SWAMP, BEECHGROVE, BEAUFORT COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA. Diameter breasthigh Inches AVERAGE NUMBER OF TREES ON ONE ACRE. Loblolly Pine Water Gum Water Oak Deep swamp Ash Swamp Chestnut Oak Yellow Poplar Sweet Gum Red Maple Under 10 1 18 14 51 1 57 13 10 4 2 4 3 5 11 2 1 7 2 12 2 1 13 6 1 14 4 1 2 15 2 1 16 3 6 1 1 17 1 1 18 3 1 19 2 2 1 1 20 2 1 21 2 22 3 23 1 24 1 25 1 26 27 2 28 1 1 29 1 30 2 1 31 32 1 1 33 34 1 35 36 1 1 1 Total 7 61 23 69 2 3 67 21

The first general logging of the pine began about 1880; for a period of 15 or 20 years, up to 1900, the pine was cut but the hardwoods were generally left. This has resulted in reducing the proportion of pine in many of the stands. In later cuttings when it has become the practice

to cut some of the best hardwoods, the proportion of pine in the restocking has again increased.

Table 5 shows the composition of a loblolly pine stand in a virgin hardwood swamp. This area shows a larger proportion of pine by volume in board feet than occurs in most such swamps, but the distribution of the diameter classes is typical. Young pine is not abundant.

Loblolly pine in these swamps attains a height of from 135 to 165 feet, a maximum stump diameter inside bark of 54 inches, and an age of over 240 years. The height of the associated broadleaf trees is from 100 to 130 feet, pines overtopping most of them, except possibly yellow poplar and sweet gum. (Plate V, B.) The rate of growth of the pine is rapid. For several years the rate of height growth of dominant trees exceeds four feet a year, and even in old trees an excellent rate of height growth is well maintained. The rate of diameter growth of young trees is not rapid since the crowns of young trees are for many years crowded by the surrounding hardwoods, and receive light only from above. The rate of diameter growth, however, is sustained and a large annual volume increment is produced by many of the oldest trees. (Tables 14 and 18, column 1.) On account of the rapid height growth and the small crowns, the stems are slender with clear boles from 80 to 110 feet in length.

The wood is of the best quality, soft and even-grained. Even in the center of the butt logs, the summer bands are comparatively narrow. (Plate IX, B.) It consequently resembles in quality that of the shortleaf pine of the Piedmont, the so-called rosemary or forest pine. It is rich orange in color and rather more pitchy than that growing in other situations. The sapwood is comparatively thin for the species though it forms in trees even two hundred years old one-half of the total volume of the stem. Large trees often yield several logs of Grade 1, and cut 60 to 65 per cent of No. 1 and No. 2 lumber. (Plate XII, C.)

This type occurs on poorly drained sites saturated with water during most of the year. The stand for the most part is open. It consists of loblolly pines mixed with pocoson pines, occasional stunted longleaf pines, black gums, and white bays. Formerly there was a larger proportion of longleaf pine. There is usually a scant undergrowth of fetterbush and other ericaceous shrubs, and a dense mat of grass, which withers in the autumn and consequently burns with a hot fire during winter and spring. (Plate V, A.) Probably one-thirtieth of the loblolly forest land of North Carolina belongs to this type. Its producing capacity, however, is low and it yields a relatively small amount of timber.

The loblolly pine occurs in even-aged groups of a few trees, or singly, all ages being represented on a small area. Trees 150 years old are between 75 and 105 feet in height, 20 to 25 inches in diameter, and

N. C. GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC SURVEY. PLATE VI.

the largest scale by Doyle-Scribner rule not more than 700 feet. The trees are short bodied and frequently crooked and yield logs largely of Grades III and IV. The rate of growth is slow and irregular, yet the wood is tough and hard and the sapwood generally thick. (Plate X, B.) The wood is fine grained but except in the butt log the quality is not high.

Table 6 shows the average condition of more than four hundred acres of savanna land measured by the chain method.

TABLE 6.—COMPOSITION OF LOBLOLLY PINE WITH POCOSON PINE ON SAVANNAS. BASED ON 422 ACRES. Diameter breasthigh Inches AVERAGE NUMBER OF TREES PER ACRE. Loblolly Pine Pocoson Pine Longleaf Pine Black Gum White Bay Maple Between 3-6 10.81 16.15 14.33 7.21 6 5.67 .41 8.23 2.17 3.23 7 3.01 .31 .21 3.12 1.07 2.10 8 2.07 .43 .37 3.24 .31 .95 9 1.53 .26 .29 2.61 .01 .02 10 1.21 .46 1.03 2.13 11 1.22 .13 .62 2.33 12 .84 .31 .57 1.07 13 .31 .12 .28 .41 14 .27 .11 .21 .13 15 .26 .10 .23 .06 16 .18 .80 .11 17 .17 .80 .14 18 .16 .10 .08 19 .11 .06 .07 20 .14 .09 .02 21 .09 .08 .03 22 .02 .04 .01 23 .01 .03 .01 24 .01 .02 25 .005 .01 Total 28.095 4.26 4.69 39.48 17.89 13.51

This type occurs in non-alluvial as well as in alluvial swamps. These alluvial swamps border clear water streams within the Coastal Plain, and the lower reaches of the muddy streams which head beyond the Coastal Plain, where flooding is always shallow but may last for several weeks. Around the Dismal Swamp in the Albemarle Sound section and elsewhere there are large areas of non-alluvial swamp, in which a considerable portion of the forest growth is cypress and loblolly pine with water gum. The proportion of pine decreases as the flooding becomes deeper. Its growth also becomes slower. The pine and cypress have nearly the same rate of growth. (Tables 14 and 18, column 6.)

The pine reaches a height of from 80 to 100 feet and a diameter of from 20 inches to 3 feet. The trees yield 3 and 4 logs. The wood is fine grained and the quality of the butt and second logs excellent. Big Bay in Brunswick County and the Lumber River Swamp yielded some excellent pine timber from this type. Plate XII, C shows a pile of No. 1 and No. 2 logs which were cut in Big Bay. The pine tends to reseed and maintain its position and proportion in the forest after lumbering if it is not cut at too small a diameter. There is no danger of fires on this type.

N. C. GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC SURVEY. PLATE VII.

often slightly curved or crooked, though never to the same extent as those of the pocoson pine. The stems are rarely forked except when the leading shoot is injured by a weevil or by sleet breaking it. The greatest amount of taper in the stem is in the top, consequently the mill cut of top logs of a given diameter inside the bark at the small end is greater than that of logs of the same diameter from the lower part of the stem measured in the same manner. (Table 23.)

As the trees in the stand become older they are less tapering. Old trees of the same diameter breasthigh and of the same height as young trees have, therefore, a larger volume in cubic feet and produce more lumber. This is shown in Table 7.

TABLE 7.—YIELD IN BOARD FEET PER LINEAR FOOT OF MERCHANTABLE LENGTH OF BOLE FROM TREES OF THE SAME DIAMETER AND HEIGHT AT DIFFERENT AGES. 1-7″ SAW KERF. Diameter breasthigh Inches Yield in Board Feet Per Linear Foot of Used Length Stand 45 years old 65 years old 8 .8 .85 9 .9 .95 10 1.1 1.2 11 1.3 1.5 12 1.7 1.9 13 2.1 2.3 14 2.4 2.6 15 2.9 3.1 16 3.5 3.7 17 4.1 4.3 18 4.7 4.9 19 5.3 5.6 20 6.2 6.5

The larger trees in the 45 year stand are dominant and intermediate. Those of the same diameters in the 65 year old stand, which is on a somewhat poorer quality site, are largely intermediate and suppressed. The difference thus amounts to from 5 to 10 per cent of the contents in board feet.

Taper measurements of butts at intervals of 1 foot are given in Table 8. They are useful in converting stump measurements on cut-over land into breasthigh diameter measurements. This table is based on age class over 75 years, Quality II. The taper would be slightly more for younger trees of the same quality, and for Quality III of the same age class; but somewhat less for old trees of Quality I. On account of natural individual variation such a table should only be used in considering a number of specimens.

TABLE 8.—TAPER OF BUTTS OF LOBLOLLY PINE FOR USE IN CONVERTING STUMP INTO BREASTHIGH DIAMETERS. Diameter breasthigh Inches Height above ground—Feet 1 2 3 4 5 Diameter outside bark—Inches 9 11.3 10.0 9.4 9.2 8.8 10 12.5 11.3 10.5 10.2 9.8 11 13.8 12.5 11.7 11.2 10.8 12 14.8 13.6 12.7 12.1 11.8 13 16.1 14.7 13.7 13.3 12.8 14 17.2 15.8 14.8 14.3 13.8 15 18.5 16.8 15.7 15.3 14.8 16 19.7 17.9 16.9 16.3 15.8 17 20.8 18.9 17.0 17.3 16.7 18 22.0 20.0 19.1 18.3 17.7 19 23.2 21.2 20.1 19.4 18.7 20 24.4 22.5 21.2 20.4 19.7 21 25.5 23.7 22.4 21.4 20.7 22 26.7 24.8 23.4 22.4 21.7 23 28.0 25.9 24.5 23.4 22.7 24 29.0 26.9 25.5 24.3 23.7 25 30.0 28.0 26.5 25.3 24.7 26 31.0 28.9 27.3 26.3 25.7 27 32.0 30.0 28.2 27.2 26.7 28 33.0 31.0 29.1 28.2 27.8 29 34.0 32.0 30.1 29.1 28.8 30 35.0 33.0 31.0 30.1 29.7

Taper measurements inside of bark of stems of different diameters and heights for middle-aged and old trees are given in Tables 9 and 9a. The measurements can be used directly in scaling logs of any length which is a multiple of 8.15 feet or for ascertaining the number of ties or poles of a given size which can be obtained from trees of different diameters. The height above the stump of any desired diameter can be fixed by interpolation. Tables 9 and 9a should be employed only in considering a number of specimens on account of individual variation. Age classes less than 50 years have considerably more taper than the table shows for trees under 75 years old; while trees more than 150 years old have less taper than shown for trees over 75 years old.

TABLE 9.—TAPER MEASUREMENTS OF LOBLOLLY PINE OF DIFFERENT DIAMETERS AND HEIGHTS. TREES UNDER 75 YEARS OLD. 40-foot trees Diameter breasthigh Inches At breastheight Height above stump—Feet 8.15 16.30 24.45 32.60 40.75 Diameter inside bark—Inches 4 2.8 2.5 2.0 1.5 .7 5 3.7 3.3 2.7 1.9 .9 6 4.5 4.1 3.4 2.5 1.2 7 5.3 4.8 4.0 3.0 1.4 8 6.2 5.6 4.7 3.5 1.5 9 7.0 6.3 5.3 3.9 1.9 10 7.8 7.1 6.0 4.4 2.2 11 8.6 7.8 6.6 4.9 2.4 12 9.5 8.6 7.2 5.4 2.7 50-foot trees 4 2.9 2.6 2.3 2.0 1.5 .8 5 3.8 3.5 3.1 2.7 2.0 1.1 6 4.7 4.3 3.8 3.3 2.5 1.4 7 5.5 5.1 4.6 3.9 3.0 1.6 8 6.4 5.9 5.3 4.6 3.5 1.9 9 7.3 6.7 6.0 5.2 3.9 2.1 10 8.2 7.5 6.9 5.9 4.4 2.4 11 9.0 8.4 7.6 6.5 4.9 2.6 12 9.8 9.1 8.2 7.1 5.4 2.9 13 10.8 9.9 9.0 7.8 5.9 3.2 14 11.6 10.8 9.7 8.4 6.3 3.4 60-foot trees 4 5.1 2.9 2.6 2.4 2.1 1.6 5 3.9 3.7 3.4 3.1 2.7 2.1 6 4.8 4.5 4.2 3.8 3.3 2.6 7 5.7 5.3 4.9 4.5 3.9 3.1 8 6.5 6.1 5.6 5.1 4.5 3.6 9 7.4 7.0 6.4 5.8 5.1 4.1 10 8.3 7.8 7.1 6.5 5.7 4.5 11 9.1 8.6 7.9 7.2 6.2 5.0 12 10.1 9.4 8.6 7.8 6.7 5.3 13 10.9 10.3 9.3 8.4 7.3 5.9 14 11.8 11.1 10.1 9.1 7.9 6.3 15 12.7 11.9 10.7 9.7 8.4 6.8 16 13.5 12.7 11.4 10.3 9.1 7.2

Stump height 1 foot for trees 4 to 16 inches in diameter breasthigh, 1.5 feet for trees 17 to 22 inches.

TABLE 9—Continued. 70-foot trees Diameter breasthigh Inches At breastheight Height above stump—Feet 8.15 16.30 24.45 32.60 40.75 48.90 57.05 65.20 73.35 Diameter inside bark—Inches 6 4.9 4.8 4.6 4.4 4.0 3.5 2.8 1.8 7 5.8 5.7 5.4 5.1 4.6 4.0 3.2 2.2 8 6.7 6.5 6.1 5.7 5.2 4.5 3.6 2.4 9 7.6 7.3 6.8 6.4 5.9 5.1 4.0 2.6 10 8.4 8.1 7.6 7.1 6.5 5.7 4.6 3.0 11 9.3 8.9 8.3 7.8 7.1 6.3 5.0 3.3 12 10.2 9.7 9.1 8.5 7.8 6.9 5.5 3.6 13 11.1 10.5 9.8 9.2 8.4 7.4 6.0 3.9 14 12.0 11.4 10.5 9.9 9.2 8.1 6.5 4.3 15 12.9 12.2 11.3 10.6 9.8 8.7 7.0 4.7 16 13.7 12.9 12.0 11.3 10.4 9.2 7.4 5.0 17 14.6 13.7 12.7 12.0 11.1 9.7 7.8 5.3 18 15.5 14.5 13.5 12.7 11.7 10.3 8.2 5.5 80-foot trees 8 6.8 6.6 6.4 6.1 5.8 5.3 4.7 3.8 2.5 9 7.7 7.4 7.1 6.8 6.4 5.9 5.3 4.2 2.8 10 8.5 8.2 7.9 7.5 7.0 6.6 5.8 4.7 3.1 11 9.4 9.0 8.6 8.2 7.7 7.1 6.3 5.1 3.4 12 10.3 9.8 9.4 8.9 8.4 7.8 6.9 5.5 3.7 13 11.2 10.7 10.1 9.7 9.0 8.3 7.3 5.9 3.9 14 12.1 11.5 10.9 10.4 9.7 8.9 7.9 6.3 4.3 15 12.9 12.3 11.7 11.1 10.4 9.5 8.4 6.7 4.5 16 13.8 13.2 12.5 11.9 11.1 10.1 8.9 7.2 4.8

17 14.7 14.0 13.2 12.5 11.7 10.7 9.4 7.6 5.0 18 15.6 14.9 14.0 13.3 12.4 11.4 10.0 8.0 5.3 19 16.5 15.7 14.8 14.0 13.1 11.9 10.4 8.3 5.6 20 17.4 16.6 15.6 14.7 13.7 12.5 11.0 8.8 5.9 90-foot trees 10 8.7 8.3 7.9 7.5 7.1 6.5 5.7 4.7 3.6 2.4 11 9.5 9.1 8.7 8.2 7.7 7.1 6.3 5.3 4.1 2.8 12 10.4 10.0 9.4 9.0 8.5 7.9 7.1 5.9 4.7 3.2 13 11.3 10.8 10.3 9.8 9.3 8.6 7.7 6.6 5.2 3.6 14 12.2 11.7 11.0 10.5 10.0 9.4 8.4 7.2 5.7 3.9 15 13.1 12.5 11.9 11.3 10.8 10.0 9.1 7.9 6.3 4.3 16 14.0 13.4 12.6 12.1 11.5 10.8 9.8 8.5 6.8 4.8 17 14.9 14.1 13.5 12.8 12.2 11.4 10.4 9.0 7.3 5.1 18 15.9 15.0 14.3 13.6 12.9 12.1 11.0 9.6 7.9 5.6 19 16.7 15.9 15.1 14.4 13.7 12.8 11.7 10.2 8.3 6.0 20 17.6 16.7 15.9 15.1 14.4 13.5 12.4 10.8 8.9 6.4 21 18.5 17.6 16.7 15.9 15.1 14.2 13.0 11.4 9.4 6.8 22 19.4 18.4 17.5 16.6 15.8 14.9 13.6 12.0 9.8 7.2

Stump height, 1 foot for trees 6 to 16 inches in diameter breasthigh, 1.5 feet for trees 17 to 22 inches.

TABLE 9—Continued. 100-foot trees Diameter breasthigh Inches At breastheight Height above stump—Feet 8.15 16.30 24.45 32.60 40.75 48.90 57.05 65.20 73.35 81.50 89.65 97.80 Diameter inside bark—Inches 10 8.6 8.4 8.0 7.5 7.0 6.5 5.9 5.2 4.3 3.4 2.3 11 9.6 9.3 8.8 8.3 7.9 7.3 6.6 5.8 4.9 3.9 2.8 12 10.5 10.1 9.6 9.1 8.6 8.0 7.3 6.5 5.5 4.5 3.3 13 11.4 11.1 10.5 10.0 9.4 8.8 8.0 7.1 6.1 5.0 3.7 14 12.4 11.9 11.3 10.8 10.2 9.5 8.8 7.8 6.7 5.5 4.1 15 13.3 12.7 12.0 11.5 11.0 10.3 9.4 8.5 7.4 6.1 4.5 16 14.3 13.7 12.9 12.4 11.8 11.1 10.2 9.2 8.0 6.6 5.0 17 15.1 14.5 13.7 13.2 12.5 11.7 10.8 9.7 8.5 7.0 5.2 18 16.0 15.3 14.5 14.0 13.3 12.5 11.5 10.4 9.1 7.5 5.6 19 16.9 16.1 15.3 14.7 14.0 13.2 12.2 11.1 9.7 8.1 6.1 20 17.8 17.0 16.1 15.5 14.8 13.9 12.9 11.7 10.3 8.6 6.5 21 18.7 17.9 17.0 16.3 15.6 14.7 13.6 12.4 10.9 9.2 7.0 22 19.6 18.7 17.8 17.1 16.3 15.4 14.3 13.0 11.5 9.7 7.4 110-foot trees 12 10.7 10.2 9.6 9.2 8.7 8.1 7.5 6.9 6.2 5.4 4.5 3.3 13 11.5 11.1 10.4 9.9 9.4 8.9 8.3 7.6 6.8 6.0 4.9 3.7 14 12.4 11.9 11.2 10.8 10.2 9.6 9.0 8.3 7.5 6.5 5.4 4.0 15 13.3 12.7 12.1 11.5 11.0 10.4 9.7 8.9 8.1 7.1 5.9 4.4 16 14.2 13.6 12.9 12.4 11.9 11.2 10.5 9.6 8.7 7.7 6.4 4.8 17 15.1 14.4 13.7 13.2 12.5 11.8 11.1 10.2 9.3 8.1 6.7 5.0 18 16.0 15.3 14.6 14.0 13.4 12.6 11.8 10.8 9.8 8.7 7.3 5.4 19 16.8 16.1 15.4 14.8 14.1 13.4 12.5 11.5 10.4 9.2 7.7 5.8

20 17.7 17.0 16.2 15.6 14.9 14.1 13.2 12.2 11.0 9.7 8.1 6.1 21 18.6 17.9 17.0 16.4 15.7 14.9 13.9 12.8 11.6 10.3 8.7 6.6 22 19.5 18.7 17.9 17.1 16.4 15.6 14.6 13.5 12.2 10.9 9.2 6.9 120-foot trees 12 10.5 10.2 9.7 9.2 8.7 8.2 7.7 7.1 6.5 5.9 5.2 4.3 3.3 13 11.4 11.1 10.5 10.0 9.5 8.9 8.4 7.8 7.2 6.5 5.7 4.7 3.7 14 12.3 12.0 11.4 10.8 10.2 9.7 9.1 8.5 7.9 7.1 6.2 5.2 4.1 15 13.3 12.8 12.2 11.6 11.1 10.5 9.9 9.2 8.5 7.7 6.7 5.7 4.4 16 14.1 13.7 13.0 12.4 11.8 11.2 10.6 9.9 9.2 8.3 7.2 6.0 4.7 17 15.1 14.5 13.8 13.2 12.6 11.9 11.3 10.5 9.7 8.7 7.7 6.4 4.9 18 16.0 15.4 14.7 14.0 13.4 12.7 12.0 11.2 10.4 9.3 8.2 6.9 5.4 19 16.9 16.3 15.5 14.9 14.1 13.4 12.6 11.9 11.0 9.9 8.7 7.3 5.7 20 17.9 17.1 16.3 15.7 15.0 14.2 13.4 12.5 11.6 10.5 9.1 7.7 6.0 21 18.7 18.0 17.1 16.5 15.7 14.9 14.1 13.2 12.2 11.0 9.6 8.1 6.3 22 19.7 18.9 18.0 17.3 16.5 15.7 14.7 13.8 12.8 11.5 10.1 8.6 6.7

Stump height, 1 foot for trees 10 to 16 inches in diameter breasthigh, 1.5 feet for trees 17 to 22 inches.

TABLE 9—TAPER MEASUREMENTS OF LOBLOLLY PINE. TREES OVER 75 YEARS OLD. 90-foot trees Diameter breasthigh Inches At breastheight Height above stump—Feet 8.15 16.30 24.45 32.60 40.75 48.90 57.05 65.20 73.35 81.50 89.65 Diameter inside bark—Inches 14 12.1 11.5 11.1 10.6 10.0 9.2 8.4 7.3 5.9 4.1 2.1 15 13.0 12.3 11.9 11.4 10.6 9.9 9.0 7.8 6.3 4.4 2.2 16 13.9 13.3 12.8 12.3 11.5 10.7 9.7 8.4 6.8 4.8 2.5 17 14.7 14.0 13.5 12.9 12.1 11.2 10.2 8.9 7.2 5.0 2.5 18 15.7 14.9 14.3 13.7 12.9 12.0 10.9 9.5 7.7 5.3 2.6 19 16.5 15.7 15.1 14.4 13.6 12.7 11.5 10.1 8.1 5.6 2.7 20 17.4 16.6 15.9 15.3 14.4 13.5 12.3 10.7 8.6 6.0 2.9 21 18.3 17.4 16.7 16.0 15.2 14.2 12.9 11.2 9.0 6.3 3.1 22 19.3 18.3 17.6 16.9 15.9 14.8 13.4 11.7 9.4 6.6 3.3 23 20.1 19.1 18.3 17.5 16.6 15.5 14.1 12.4 10.0 7.0 3.5 24 20.9 19.9 19.0 18.3 17.4 16.2 14.7 12.9 10.4 7.3 3.7 100-foot trees 14 12.3 12.0 11.5 10.9 10.3 9.7 9.1 8.3 7.2 5.9 4.2 15 13.1 12.7 12.1 11.6 11.0 10.3 9.6 8.8 7.7 6.4 4.6 16 13.9 13.5 13.0 12.5 11.8 11.2 10.4 9.5 8.4 6.9 5.1 17 14.8 14.3 13.7 13.1 12.4 11.7 10.9 10.0 8.8 7.2 5.2 18 15.7 15.3 14.6 13.9 13.2 12.5 11.7 10.7 9.5 7.8 5.6 19 16.5 16.1 15.3 14.6 13.9 13.2 12.3 11.3 10.0 8.2 5.9 20 17.5 17.0 16.2 15.5 14.7 13.9 13.0 11.9 10.6 8.7 6.3 21 18.5 17.9 17.1 16.3 15.5 14.7 13.8 12.6 11.2 9.3 6.7 22 19.3 18.7 17.7 17.0 16.3 15.4 14.4 13.1 11.7 9.8 7.1 23 20.0 19.4 18.5 17.7 16.9 16.0 15.0 13.8 12.3 10.2 7.4

24 21.1 20.3 19.4 18.6 17.7 16.8 15.7 14.5 12.9 10.7 7.8 25 21.9 21.1 20.1 19.3 18.5 17.5 16.3 15.1 13.5 11.3 8.3 26 22.9 22.0 20.9 20.0 19.2 18.2 17.0 15.6 13.9 11.6 8.4 27 23.7 22.7 21.6 20.7 19.9 18.9 17.7 16.3 14.5 12.0 8.7 28 24.7 23.5 22.4 21.6 20.7 19.7 18.3 16.9 15.1 12.6 9.1 29 25.5 24.1 23.1 22.3 21.3 20.3 19.0 17.5 15.6 13.0 9.6 30 26.4 24.9 24.0 23.2 22.3 21.1 19.7 18.2 16.2 13.5 10.0 110-foot trees 14 12.5 12.1 11.6 11.1 10.6 10.0 9.4 8.7 7.9 6.9 5.6 4.2 15 13.3 12.9 12.3 11.9 11.4 10.8 10.1 9.3 8.5 7.4 6.2 4.6 16 14.1 13.7 13.1 12.6 12.1 11.5 10.8 10.1 9.2 8.1 6.7 5.0 17 15.1 14.5 13.9 13.5 12.9 12.2 11.5 10.7 9.8 8.6 7.0 5.2 18 16.0 15.4 14.7 14.3 13.7 13.0 12.2 11.4 10.4 9.1 7.4 5.6 19 16.9 16.2 15.5 15.0 14.5 13.8 13.0 12.2 11.1 9.7 8.0 5.9 20 17.7 16.9 16.2 15.7 15.1 14.4 13.7 12.8 11.7 10.2 8.4 6.2 21 18.6 17.8 17.1 16.6 16.0 15.3 14.4 13.5 12.4 10.8 8.9 6.6 22 19.5 18.5 17.7 17.2 16.6 15.8 15.1 14.2 12.9 11.3 9.3 6.9 23 20.4 19.4 18.6 18.2 17.5 16.7 15.8 14.8 13.6 11.9 9.8 7.3 24 21.4 20.3 19.5 18.9 18.3 17.4 16.5 15.5 14.2 12.5 10.3 7.6 25 22.3 21.2 20.3 19.7 19.0 18.2 17.2 16.1 14.8 13.0 10.8 8.0 26 23.2 22.0 20.9 20.4 19.7 18.9 17.9 16.7 15.3 13.3 11.0 8.2 27 24.1 22.8 21.8 21.2 20.5 19.6 18.6 17.4 15.9 13.9 11.5 8.5 28 25.1 23.6 22.6 22.0 21.2 20.2 19.2 18.0 16.4 14.4 11.9 8.8 29 25.9 24.5 23.4 22.7 21.9 20.9 19.8 18.6 17.1 15.0 12.4 9.2 30 26.9 25.3 24.1 23.3 22.5 21.5 20.5 19.2 17.6 15.5 12.9 9.6 31 27.8 26.2 25.0 24.2 23.3 22.3 21.2 19.8 18.2 16.0 13.3 9.9 32 28.6 27.1 25.7 24.8 24.0 22.9 21.8 20.4 18.7 16.4 13.7 10.1 33 29.6 27.9 26.6 25.7 24.8 23.7 22.5 21.1 19.4 17.1 14.2 10.6 34 30.5 28.7 27.3 26.5 25.5 24.4 23.2 21.7 19.9 17.6 14.7 11.0

The stump height was 1 foot for trees 6 to 16 inches in diameter breasthigh, 1.5 feet for trees 17 to 25 inches, and 2 feet for trees 26 inches and over.

TABLE 9—Continued. 120-foot trees Diameter breasthigh Inches At breastheight Height above stump—Feet 8.15 16.30 24.45 32.60 40.75 48.90 57.05 65.20 73.35 81.50 89.65 97.80 105.95 114.10 Diameter inside bark—Inches 14 12.4 12.0 11.5 11.1 10.7 10.1 9.6 8.9 8.1 7.2 6.1 4.9 3.5 15 13.3 12.8 12.3 12.0 11.5 10.9 10.3 9.6 8.8 7.8 6.7 5.4 4.0 16 14.1 13.7 13.2 12.8 12.3 11.7 11.0 10.3 9.5 8.5 7.3 6.0 4.4 17 15.0 14.4 13.8 13.5 13.0 12.4 11.7 11.0 10.1 9.1 7.8 6.3 4.7 18 15.9 15.3 14.7 14.4 13.9 13.2 12.5 11.8 10.9 9.7 8.4 6.8 5.0 19 16.7 16.0 15.5 15.1 14.5 13.9 13.1 12.4 11.5 10.4 9.0 7.3 5.5 20 17.7 16.9 16.3 15.9 15.4 14.7 14.0 13.2 12.3 11.1 9.7 7.9 5.9 21 18.6 17.7 17.1 16.7 16.1 15.4 14.7 13.9 13.0 11.7 10.2 8.4 6.3 22 19.6 18.6 18.0 17.5 17.0 16.2 15.4 14.6 13.6 12.4 10.8 8.9 6.7 23 20.4 19.4 18.8 18.3 17.6 16.9 16.1 15.2 14.2 12.9 11.3 9.3 7.0 24 21.4 20.3 19.6 19.0 18.4 17.7 16.8 16.0 14.9 13.5 11.9 9.9 7.4 25 22.2 21.1 20.4 19.7 19.1 18.3 17.5 16.6 15.5 14.1 12.4 10.4 7.9 26 23.2 22.0 21.2 20.6 19.9 19.0 18.1 17.1 16.0 14.6 12.9 10.7 8.1 27 24.1 22.7 22.0 21.3 20.6 19.7 18.8 17.9 16.7 15.2 13.4 11.2 8.5 28 25.1 23.7 22.8 22.1 21.3 20.5 19.5 18.5 17.3 15.8 14.0 11.8 9.0 29 25.9 24.6 23.6 22.7 21.9 21.1 20.1 19.1 17.8 16.3 14.5 12.3 9.4 30 26.9 25.4 24.4 23.5 22.7 21.9 20.9 19.8 18.5 17.0 15.1 12.8 9.8 31 27.7 26.2 25.1 24.2 23.4 22.5 21.5 20.3 19.0 17.5 15.6 13.2 10.1 32 28.7 27.1 25.9 24.9 24.1 23.2 22.2 21.0 19.7 18.1 16.2 13.7 10.6 33 39.6 28.0 26.6 25.7 24.8 23.9 22.8 21.6 20.2 18.6 16.7 14.3 11.1 34 30.6 28.8 27.5 26.4 25.5 24.5 23.5 22.3 20.9 19.3 17.3 14.7 11.4 35 31.4 29.7 28.2 27.1 26.1 25.2 24.1 22.8 21.4 19.8 17.7 15.1 11.7 36 32.4 30.5 29.0 27.8 26.8 25.8 24.7 23.5 22.0 20.3 18.3 15.6 12.2

130-foot trees 20 17.8 16.9 16.3 15.9 15.3 14.7 14.0 13.4 12.7 11.9 10.8 9.6 8.1 6.3 4.3 21 18.8 17.9 17.2 16.7 16.1 15.5 14.8 14.2 13.4 12.5 11.5 10.2 8.6 6.7 4.5 22 19.8 18.8 18.1 17.6 17.0 16.3 15.6 14.9 14.1 13.2 12.0 10.7 9.1 7.1 4.8 23 20.7 19.7 19.0 18.5 17.9 17.2 16.4 15.6 14.7 13.7 12.5 11.1 9.5 7.4 5.0 24 21.7 20.6 19.9 19.3 18.6 17.9 17.1 16.4 15.5 14.4 13.2 11.7 10.0 7.9 5.5 25 22.6 21.4 20.6 20.1 19.4 18.5 17.8 17.0 16.1 15.0 13.7 12.3 10.5 8.3 5.6 26 23.5 22.3 21.4 20.8 20.0 19.2 18.4 17.6 16.7 15.5 14.1 12.6 10.8 8.5 5.7 27 24.3 23.0 22.1 21.5 20.7 19.9 19.1 18.3 17.3 16.1 14.7 13.1 11.2 8.8 6.0 28 25.3 23.9 22.9 22.3 21.5 20.7 19.9 19.0 18.0 16.8 15.4 13.7 11.7 9.2 6.2 29 26.1 24.7 23.6 23.0 22.2 21.3 20.5 19.5 18.5 17.3 15.9 14.2 12.2 9.7 6.6 30 26.9 25.5 24.4 23.6 22.8 22.0 21.1 20.2 19.1 17.9 16.5 14.8 12.7 10.0 6.8 31 27.9 26.3 25.2 24.4 23.5 22.7 21.7 20.8 19.7 18.5 17.0 15.3 13.1 10.3 7.0 32 28.7 27.3 26.0 25.1 24.2 23.4 22.4 21.4 20.3 19.1 17.6 15.9 13.6 10.8 7.3 33 29.5 28.0 26.6 25.7 24.9 24.0 23.0 22.0 20.9 19.7 18.2 16.3 14.0 11.1 7.6 34 30.3 28.9 27.4 26.3 25.5 24.6 23.6 22.5 21.4 20.2 18.7 16.9 14.5 11.5 7.8 35 31.2 29.6 28.1 27.1 26.1 25.2 24.2 23.2 22.1 20.8 19.3 17.3 14.9 11.9 8.1 36 32.1 30.4 28.8 27.7 26.7 25.9 24.9 23.8 22.6 21.4 19.8 17.9 15.4 12.3 8.4 140-foot trees 24 22.1 20.9 20.1 19.6 19.0 18.4 17.7 17.0 16.3 15.6 14.6 13.5 12.0 10.3 8.3 25 22.9 21.6 20.9 20.2 19.6 19.0 18.4 17.6 16.9 16.1 15.1 14.0 12.5 10.7 8.5 26 23.8 22.3 21.6 21.0 20.4 19.7 18.9 18.2 17.4 16.5 15.6 14.4 12.9 10.9 8.6 27 24.7 23.1 22.4 21.7 20.9 20.2 19.4 18.7 17.9 17.0 16.0 14.8 13.1 11.2 8.8 28 25.5 24.0 23.1 23.4 21.7 20.9 20.1 19.3 18.5 17.5 16.5 15.2 13.6 11.6 9.2 29 26.2 24.8 23.9 23.1 22.3 21.5 20.7 19.9 19.0 18.1 17.0 15.7 13.9 11.9 9.4 30 27.2 25.7 24.6 23.8 23.0 22.2 21.4 20.6 19.7 18.7 17.5 16.1 14.4 12.3 9.8 31 28.0 26.4 25.4 24.5 23.7 22.9 22.1 21.2 20.2 19.1 18.0 16.6 14.8 12.6 10.0 32 28.9 27.3 26.1 25.2 24.4 23.5 22.7 21.8 20.8 19.7 18.4 17.0 15.2 13.0 10.4 33 29.7 28.0 26.8 25.9 25.1 24.2 23.3 22.3 21.3 20.2 18.9 17.4 15.5 13.3 10.6 34 30.7 29.0 27.7 26.7 25.8 24.9 24.0 23.1 22.0 20.7 19.4 17.8 15.9 13.6 10.9 35 31.4 29.7 28.3 27.3 26.3 25.4 24.5 23.5 22.4 21.2 19.8 18.2 16.2 13.9 11.2 36 32.3 30.6 29.1 28.0 27.1 26.2 25.2 24.2 23.0 21.7 20.3 18.7 16.7 14.3 11.4

Stump height 1 foot for trees 6 to 16 inches in diameter breasthigh, 1.5 feet for trees 17 to 25 inches, and 2 feet for trees 26 inches and over.

Branchlets are commonly borne in whorls of three. They develop not only at the tip of the leader, but also at intermediate points along the season's growth, the growth of the leader being recrudescent. In young rapidly-growing trees there are usually three whorls and consequently three internodes on the leader in one season (Plate II). Although the nodes may be close together in loblolly pine, the knots in the tree may be distant and irregularly distributed, as not all branchlets in a whorl develop into branches.

The crown of the young thrifty growing tree is sharply conical, the rather slender arched branches ascending at an angle of 45 degrees or more. At middle age the crown becomes oval, and in old age broadly oval and flat-topped; the wide spreading branches become stout, irregularly distributed, and nearly horizontal, with tips slightly ascending. (Plate I.)

The root of the one and two-year-old seedling pine is fibrous and diffuse; and, though the central slender taproot is very evident, it is essentially a fibrous root system. (Figure 3, c.) With age, the taproot, although it remains short, becomes proportionately more prominent, and many deeply seated lateral roots are developed. The taproot, which seldom descends to a depth of more than 4 or 5 feet, is often forked and blunted, and on hardpan and heavy clay soils, flattened or curved at the tip; it never assumes the proportion of that of the longleaf or shortleaf pines nor descends to such a depth as do the taproots of those trees. (Fig. 3, a. and b.) On loose, moist or sandy soils many of the lateral and central roots are deep-seated, descending 3 to 5 feet, but others lie near the surface of the ground. (Fig. 4, a and b.) On compact, and especially on dry, clay soils, the roots are much shallower and more spreading. On very wet soils where the water table is prevailingly close to the surface during the growing season there is in old trees no well developed tap root, but its place is taken by a number of central spreading roots. (Fig. 4, c.) The great development of the lateral roots probably explains the rapid growth of the pine in old fields, where the loose, easily penetrable top soils form an excellent bed for the spread of such roots. The early culmination of the growth in old fields on the red clays of the Piedmont, especially on the poorer soils, may be due in part to the check in the development of the lateral root system, as the roots fail to descend into the hard subsoil, as well as to the limited supply of soil moisture available for the stand. In old trees on loose, moist soils, the lateral roots spread for a distance of from 25 to 30 feet from the tree, though the taproot is rarely more than three feet long. The taproot is much shorter on compact clay soils and where there is a hard pan than on loose soils.

The bark of small trees forms about 30 per cent of their volume; that of large trees about 15 per cent. In large trees the bark near the base of the tree is 3 to 6 inches thick and forms a great protection against fire. Above 2 or 3 feet from the ground it becomes thinner, seldom exceeding ½ inch in thickness at the base of the crown. The outer bark as it falls from the stem forms a mound of debris at the base of the trunk, at times 2 feet high and 5 or 6 feet wide. Unless this is removed, the stumps are apt to be cut high. The bark is much thicker on young thrifty trees than on slower growing older trees of the same diameter and height. Table 10 gives the thickness of bark at breast height for trees of different diameters and heights, and is an average of both young and old. Below breasthigh the bark is much thicker as shown in Table 11.

TABLE 10.—THICKNESS OF BARK AT BREASTHEIGHT AND DIAMETER OF STEM INSIDE OF BARK AT BREASTHEIGHT ON TREES OF LOBLOLLY PINE OF DIFFERENT DIAMETERS AND HEIGHTS. TREES WITH DIAMETERS BELOW 23 INCHES ARE LESS THAN 75 YEARS OLD. Diameter breasthigh Inches Trees 40 ft. high Trees 70 ft. high Trees 100 tt. high Trees 140 ft. high Diameter inside bark at 4.5 ft. Inches Double width of bark Inches Diameter inside bark at 4.5 ft. Inches Double width of bark Inches Diameter inside bark at 4.5 ft. Inches Double width of bark Inches Diameter inside bark at 4.5 ft. Inches Double width of bark Inches 4 2.8 1.2 6 4.5+ 1.5 4.9 1.1 8 6.2 1.8 6.7 1.3 10 7.8 2.2 8.4 1.6 8.7 1.3 12 9.5- 2.5 10.2 1.8 10.5+ 1.5 14 12.0 2.0 12.4 1.6 16 13.7 2.3 14.3 1.7 18 15.5- 2.5 16.0 2.0 20 17.8 2.2 22 19.6 2.4 24 21.1 2.9 22.1 1.9 26 22.9 3.1 23.8 2.2 28 24.7 3.3 25.5+ 2.5 30 26.5- 3.5 27.2 2.8 32 28.9 3.1 34 30.7 3.3 36 32.3 3.7

Table 11 shows the comparative average thickness of the bark on the stump of trees of the loblolly, longleaf, and white pines of different sizes:

TABLE 11.—THICKNESS OF BARK ON STUMP. Diameter breasthigh Inches Loblolly pine Longleaf pine White pine Measured on diameter—Inches 2 .5 .2 .2 5 1.6 .4 .4 10 2.1 .6 1.0 15 3.3 .8 1.6 20 4.6 1.0 25 5.5 1.1

The loblolly pine is comparatively a medium-lived tree. The oldest group which was measured, consisted of more than 20 trees that had an average age of 240 years. The oldest tree recorded was 245 years old; it was a perfectly sound tree, and one of the largest specimens seen, having a breasthigh diameter of 53 inches, a height of 150 feet, 88 feet of clear bole, and containing 4,109 board feet (Doyle-Scribner rule) of merchantable timber. The tallest tree measured was 164 feet high. The tree having the greatest diameter was 54 inches, and 139 feet in height.

The usual age on good soils is about 200 years, with a height of from 110 to 130 feet, and a diameter of from 2 to 3 feet. On poor or dry soils the sizes are smaller and the trees do not reach so great an age. On the very dry upland soils of old fields mature trees do not attain as a rule a greater height than 90 feet, a diameter above 20 inches, and an age of over 100 years.

loblolly pine is unable to maintain a foothold; on poorly drained soils it is capable of establishing itself, but the growth is slow. On the thoroughly drained rolling oak uplands, usually with clay soils, but sometimes with shallow or coarse gravelly soils, young pine growth is becoming common wherever the hardwoods have been cut. The light porous soils on fallow fields offer ideal conditions for the rapid development of the roots of the young pines, so that the rate of increment of young trees, even on dry, or sterile soils, if recently cultivated, is far more rapid than on any, except the best virgin forest soils. (Plate IV.) This is especially true of growth in diameter and of early growth in height. On the coarse, most siliceous, and extremely dry soils of the pine barrens, this pine occurs very rarely except on cultivated lands. The wet, peaty, and mossy soils of white cedar swamps (juniper bays), the fetter-bush swamps and peat bogs, the wet sour soils of briery bays and pocosons (raw, acid peat) and the wet savannas are unsuited to this tree. On such soils it seldom survives more than a few years.* On peaty soils, which are so well drained that the peat is decomposing and becoming humified, and so aërated that nitrification can take place, it reproduces freely and becomes a large tree. On the driest savannas and grassy flatwood lands, natural reproduction takes place very slowly, perhaps partly on account of the frequent fires.

Other factors being the same, a uniformly moist or damp soil is preferable to either a dry or wet one, or to one subject to great extremes of moisture or drought, while a porous loam or sandy loam is preferable to a clayey or compact soil or to a coarse siliceous one. (See Fig. 5.)

The loblolly pine requires a full amount of direct sunlight for its best development. During the younger stages of growth, and until the period of rapid height-growth is passed, it will, however, endure much lateral compression of its crown, without being dwarfed or crowded out, but its capacity to endure shade and crowding is greatest on good sites and least on poor sites. Its greater tolerance of shade on good sites is due, at least in part, to the larger amount of available soil moisture. It will even bear overshading for several decades and still be able to make vigorous growth on the removal of the shade. This power of recovering from overshading, however, is limited to the early life of the tree, and to favorable sites, though this limit varies much with the site. On moist soils trees 40 to 60 years old can be found beneath a partial shade growing slowly but remaining healthy. On medium dry soils few small suppressed trees more than 50 or 60 years old can be found growing beneath a partial cover, so that it seems probable that if trees on medium soils are not offered light within that limit, they die. On dry uplands soils, such as the red clays of the Piedmont, intolerance of

shade is acquired after the pole stage, and the most crowded trees in the intermediate crown class die rapidly after the thirty-fifth year. Young suppressed trees left in lumbering recover very slowly on medium sites, if the trees have passed the pole stage, and the crowding was of long duration. In fifty-two measurements made on 50-year-old suppressed trees which were growing on well-drained upland clay soils in the Piedmont, and which were left after lumbering seven years before, only nine showed any marked increase in the width of the last seven rings, as compared with the width of the preceding seven rings. They were selected as being typical suppressed trees, which were too small for saw logs at the time of the first cutting. The height growth of these same trees during the last seven years was only 22 inches, while that of the other trees which showed no signs of suppression was 39 inches during the same period. The revival of large overshaded trees, even if only moderately suppressed and growing on the drier soils, is slow or does not take place at all. The stem analyses fail to show that any large number of trees on such sites ever passed through any period of great or prolonged suppression, but rather that large old trees which were growing on drier quality sites invariably made good growth in their youth or that the period of suppression was short. On the other hand, the diameter growth of trees, which have not been subject to excessive overshading, is greatly accelerated when given growing space. This makes thinning by removing the smaller and crowded trees desirable, whenever it can be done without extra cost. Beneath a crown cover where about one-half of the light is excluded, young trees on the best sites will grow healthily till the high pole stage, though both the diameter and height growth are lessened, the diameter growth to a larger extent than the height growth; on the removal of the shade both make rapid response to the increased light. (Plate XIV.)

The trees exhibit with age a progressive increase in their demands upon light. About the period when the rate of height growth becomes lessened, the crown spreads rapidly, tending to become round and flattopped, and the branches nearly horizontal. At the beginning of this stage there is a rapid decrease in the number of trees to the acre, from the dying off of the weaker crowded trees. The decrease in number of trees may be as great as 35 to 40 per cent in 10 years. (Table 42.) Eventually, except on the very best sites, each tree stands isolated with a band of light between it and its nearest neighbors. (Plate XXV.) On the poorer sites, especially on the drier soils, this isolation takes place at an earlier age than on good sites. Table 2 shows the small number of trees in the suppressed and intermediate crown classes. On the very best sites groups 120 to 130 years old can be found with almost unbroken cover. As the crowns become isolated under these conditions, young pines appear, while gallberry and similar shrubs always form an abundant ground cover. In the old-field groves on good sites, the period of isolation begins rather late, after the fiftieth year; while on poor sites it begins at the thirtieth or fortieth year. On the slow-draining savanna land it also begins early and young trees less than 40 years old are very intolerant of shade.

When loblolly pine grows on good sites associated with hardwoods, well-developed old pines overtop the hardwoods, spreading their crowns above them and securing full light in that way. The sweet gum and yellow poplar are the only associated trees which are not overtopped. In such hardwood forests the young pines appearing as single stems in openings, endure much lateral compression to an age of about 120 years, when they generally overtop the hardwoods. In spite of its intolerance of shade the pine succeeds in forming a considerable element in forests of the most shade-tolerant species, seizing by its abundant seeding openings caused from windfall, fire, or lumbering, and by its rapid growth outstripping competitors that would otherwise overtop and suppress it beneath their shade. (Plates XXIV to XXVII.)

Loblolly pine reproduces itself prolifically because of its high percentage of sound seed with excellent germinating power, the hardiness of the young seedling, and the varying degrees of light, moisture, and soil to which it is inured. Its ability to establish itself under adverse conditions is further aided by the early rapid development of a vigorous root system, accompanied by an extremely rapid height growth, which begins the second year and soon raises the crown above grass, weeds, and slower growing competitors, and by the thick bark which by the time it is a sapling affords excellent protection against fire. No other species can successfully compete with it, under existing conditions, over three-fourths of the coastal plain. Neglected by both cattle and hogs, it is subject neither to the browsings which suppress broadleaf species nor to the destruction to which the longleaf pine is exposed by having both its seed and roots eaten by hogs.

Loblolly pine seeds abundantly nearly every year. From 60 to 70 per cent of the seed from large trees are viable. The seeds are light (about 17,000 to 20,000 cleaned seed to a pound) with large, tenacious wings, in consequence of which they are widely disseminated by the wind upon the maturing and opening of the cones after frost or late in autumn. The greater part of the seed is scattered during the months of November and December, but many cones do not open, or entirely open, until considerably later, so that some seed does not fall until spring. The distance to which the seed is scattered varies with the height of the trees and the velocity of the wind. As a rule in two seasons an area will be fairly thickly seeded by wind-sown seed to a distance of 200 yards from an adjoining forest of tall, seed-bearing trees, if the prevailing winds during the season, when the cones are opening, are favorable. (Plate IV.) Seeding is progressive, and the stocking will not be uniform but denser near the seed trees. Near the coast the prevailing winds during the winter are from the east and northeast; farther inland they are from the northwest.

N. C. GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC SURVEY. PLATE VIII.

Isolated trees begin to produce seed when about 15 years old. In crowded stands the age of cone production is later, between the twentieth and twenty-fifth year, and production is restricted to dominant trees. Seed production is relatively scant, however, until stands are 40 to 50 years old.

In the regularity and frequency of its seeding the loblolly pine is in strong contrast to the longleaf pine, which bears seed abundantly only at intervals of several years, and often no seed at all over extensive areas during the intervening period. The pocoson pine produces some seed nearly every year, but never any large amount. Its cones often remain on the trees unopened for several years, which interferes with the propagation of that species and the general distribution of its seed. The loblolly pine is more regular and prolific in its seeding than the shortleaf.

The loblolly pine produces its flowers about the tenth of April in the vicinity of Chapel Hill, N. C., near the western limits of its distribution, and the last of March in the vicinity of Wilmington, N. C. This is too late in the season to be injured by late spring frosts which at times interfere with the setting of seed of the longleaf pine in the western part of its range in North Carolina. The cones require two seasons in which to mature.

Most of the seed germinate the spring after maturing, generally between the first of March and middle of May, the time varying according to the warmth of the season, the distance from the coast and the amount of moisture in the seedbed. A few seed apparently lie over until midsummer. South of latitude 35 and near the coast, some seed apparently germinate in the fall. Germination takes place either in the shade of old trees, or in the direct sunlight, on barely moist to very wet soils. Naked earth makes the best seedbed, as the roots striking at once into the soil do not dry out. This accounts for the thorough stocking of old fields notwithstanding the exposure of the seed to the sun. Seed will germinate and the young plants take root in soil covered with a heavy sod of coarse grass, such as broom grass which often grows two or three feet high. Though the seed will germinate on damp leaf mould of broadleaf species and on damp pine leaves (straw) and litter, the young seedlings on account of their superficial root system are liable to dry out. The seed will seldom germinate on thick beds of dry leaves or pine needles, and it is generally necessary to destroy a thick layer of litter or to bring the mineral soil to the surface before restocking can be secured in such situations.* Occasionally a mossy log or rotten stump in the damp shade of a deep swamp has young seedlings on it, but during the first drought of summer most of them perish. For the same reason the young seedlings secure a permanent foothold with difficulty on the coarse and dry sands of the pine barrens which are so porous

and thoroughly drained that there is frequently insufficient moisture for sprouting, and if the seed germinate the young plants speedily succumb to drought. Fields which have been abandoned or left a few years to fallow, logged over areas, and burns all form suitable seedbeds.

So far as known the older trees of loblolly pine are subject to few destructive fungous diseases. On some low, flat lands, especially where fires have burned around the collar of the trunk, the trees are attacked by a root rot caused by a species of Hydnum, which may gain entrance through fire scars. Only trees large enough to have heartwood are thus affected. The upper portions of the stems are also occasionally affected by redheart, produced by Trametes pini, which gains entrance chiefly at broken limbs and knot holes. Trees less than 75 years old are rarely affected by redheart, which is characteristically a disease of old age. Another fungus, Polyporus Schweinitzii, occasionally attacks the heartwood. Seedlings seem to be very free from diseases. They frequently turn an olive green or copper color in the spring, but this discoloration is not a disease.

While comparatively free from fungous diseases, loblolly pine is subject to the attacks of the pine bark beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis, Zimm.), which kills trees through girdling them by the galleries made beneath the bark chiefly in the middle part of the trunk. A few weeks after the attack the leaves begin to brown, generally at the top of the crown. Stands in which rapid natural thinning is taking place are particularly subject to attack. Not only are the dying and weakened intermediate and suppressed trees thus attacked, but sometimes also the large and healthy dominant trees are killed. During summer lumbering many young trees which are left become infested by the beetle, which breeds freely in the green slash, particularly that lying in the shade, and spreads from it to living trees. Trees which are bruised by falling timber or in skidding are first attacked. Several broods of the beetle are produced each season. The broods, which develop early in the spring, emerge and attack sound near-by trees, and as the different broods develop new centers of infection are established. In forests in which there is a large admixture of broadleaf species the damage to the pine by this insect is less than in pure stands, especially in the old-field stands. Many of the old-field stands are connected with farms and where the distance is not too great to permit fuel to be hauled, all trees which show by the discoloration of their foliage any signs of being affected by the bark beetles should be promptly removed. If infested trees are located during the winter and are cut and removed before spring the brood will be destroyed. This will check the propagation of the insects and prevent them from increasing in number and passing to other trees. Wherever it is possible to remove such attacked trees without great cost they should be promptly cut. It is more difficult to check an epidemic during the spring and summer after the broods have

begun to emerge. The Bureau of Entomology of the United States Department of Agriculture gives the following method of control in the summer when a group of trees is infested and begins to die. Trees which are infested should be promptly cut and the bark peeled and burned. In addition, “if felled and girdled trees are provided at the proper time, so that the beetles will be attracted to them at the period of their greatest flight, they will attack such trees in preference to the living, uninjured ones; then, after they have entered the inner bark and the broods are partially developed, that is, before they have entered the outer bark, it will only be necessary to remove the bark to effectually destroy them and thus protect the healthy timber. If, however, the removal of the bark is neglected until the broods have entered the outer dry portion, it will be necessary to burn it as soon as it is removed.”

A weevil occasionally destroys the terminal shoot of the young tree, causing a forked or crooked stem.

The wood of trees which are blown down in storms or which are killed by fires is quickly attacked and tunneled by sawyers, the larvae of longicorn and other beetles. In order to save such timber, if it can not be promptly used, it should be cut and put in water, or if this is impossible, cut and peeled of the bark.

During the first few years of its life the delicate tissues of the young pine are entirely consumed by even a light grass fire. After the young trees, however, attain a diameter of several inches, the bark around their base thickens so rapidly that they are seldom seriously injured by winter fires. The inner bark or growing tissue becomes active several weeks later in the spring in the loblolly pine than in the longleaf pine, and for this reason also large loblolly pines are less injured by early spring fires than are longleaf pines. It is an exceptional case, therefore, for old trees of loblolly pine to be severely injured by early spring fires unless they are crown fires. In winter or early spring before the sap is active, young trees may even have much of the foliage consumed without the fire killing the trees. Late spring and summer fires, after the growth of the tree has begun, are far more destructive.

The fact that loblolly pine generally grows on moister soils than the longleaf pine undoubtedly contributes to its greater freedom from fire injury; at times, however, even the wet lands and swamps, particularly those with peaty soils, are badly burned during dry periods in summer or in autumn. Such fires are extremely destructive when the humus is thick and undergrowth dense. To protect mature timber from the disastrous fires, it is customary to burn the underbrush during calm weather each winter, and in this way to prevent its accumulation. On loose, level, sandy soils having the water table near the surface, where the trees do not suffer from drought, the yearly destruction of a large portion of the litter probably affects but slightly the growth of the

trees. On drier, and especially on heavier soils, such as the Selma loams and Cecil loams and clays, the presence of the forest litter and humus is extremely desirable as a protection against excessive evaporation of soil moisture. The litter in pine forests on such soils, therefore, should never be burned. If such stands demand protection from fire it should be given by means of broad fire lanes, which can be annually cleaned, as discussed later.

An attempt was made to ascertain the effect of a severe fire upon the growth of loblolly pine when the land was foul with the accumulated leaves and undergrowth of several years. Nearly all large areas, even the shallower swamps, unless free from underwood, have been burned at some time, and often several times, and traces of fire on charred logs and stumps are in general evidence, except in some of the old fields and fenced areas. A grove which had been severely burned by having all the undergrowth of gallberries and other shrubs destroyed in the early part of the summer seven years before the examination, and which the owner asserted had not been burned before or since that year, furnished some conclusive data. The grove was on a well-drained heavy-loam soil near Kinston, and had an average age of about 50 years. The result of the fire upon the accretion is shown in Table 12.

TABLE 12.—THE EFFECT OF A SEVERE BRUSH FIRE UPON THE GROWTH IN DIAMETER OF LOBLOLLY PINE. Diameter breasthigh Inches Number of trees measured Width of 7 rings preceding the fire Inches Width of 7 rings after the fire Inches 7 2 .3 .2 8 2 .3 .15 9 4 .5 .3 10 3 .7 .3 11 5 1.1 .6 12 2 1.0 .6 13 3 1.1 .9

The trees without an exception show a sharp decrease in the width of the rings in the year following the burning, while their width gradually increased each succeeding year as the trees recovered from the effects of the fire.

The chief injury by cattle to loblolly pine is by trampling the seedlings, although the shoot may be bitten off in grazing. Swine rarely dig up the seedling for its root. Just before restocking, the presence of swine in a stand is advantageous since they upturn the mineral soil.

Squirrels and wild turkeys do not destroy the seed of loblolly as they do the mast of longleaf pine.

The leaders of loblolly pine are sometimes broken by sleet or wet snow, particularly in the northeastern counties. On shallow soils the trees are in exceptional cases overturned by the weight of wet snow.

On deep mellow soils in which the roots descend to a depth of three feet or more, the loblolly pine is comparatively wind-firm. On dry and shallow soils the roots are not so deeply seated or so firm, and the trees are more subject to windfall. The danger is greatest on heavy upland clays and on shallow sandy soils underlaid by hardpan. In the old fields on the red clays many of the roots often fail to penetrate below the layers loosened in plowing. Stands on such sites, if at all exposed, are particularly liable to suffer severely after a heavy thinning or after culling. The number of windfalls, three years after lumbering on 110 acres of cut-over land having a dry, compact clay soil amounted to 100 trees, 8 inches and over in diameter, or about 4.5 per cent of the trees left. On the deep sandy soils, the loss from windfall after lumbering is negligible.

As would be expected from the rapid growth of the tree the wood is mostly coarse grained. Thrifty young trees frequently have as few as two rings to the inch near the center (Plate IX, A), while the sapwood of trees more than 100 years of age may exhibit less than ten rings to the inch. Lumber from second growth trees generally has from 5 to 8 rings of annual growth to the inch; that from large old trees from 7 to 10. Ten rings to the inch may be considered fine grained for this species. The green wood weighs about 45 pounds per cubic foot. The kilndried wood, average of the tree, weighs about 31 pounds to the cubic foot, the specific gravity being about .50. It is about five pounds per cubic foot lighter than that of the longleaf pine, five pounds heavier than that of white pine, and slightly heavier than that of the shortleaf pine of the Piedmont. But the wood varies considerably in weight. That from the lower part of the stem of trees which have hard, compact wood with wide summer wood in the annual ring (Plate IX, A) weighs more than 35 pounds per cubic foot; while that from the upper part of the stem of trees with narrow summer wood in the ring of annual growth weighs less than the average (Plate X, A), commercial wood being largely from the lower part of the stem averages about 33 pounds to the cubic foot for kiln-dried material. The green wood has a shipping weight of 4,200 pounds for 1,000 feet of inch boards, while the kiln-dried wood weighs about 3,100 pounds per 1,000 feet of inch boards. Moisture forms 50 per cent of the weight of fresh sapwood and about 25 per cent of the weight of the heartwood. While the wood is weaker (in proportion to its weight) in tensile, shearing, and bending strength than that of either longleaf pine or white pine, it is relatively stronger than that of the shortleaf pine. On account of its relative weakness it is not so desirable a wood as white pine for certain uses, such as doors and small packing boxes.

Heartwood begins to form between the twentieth and thirtieth years, earlier on good soils and in rapidly growing trees than on poor soils and in slowly growing intermediate or suppressed trees. The number of rings of sapwood does not remain the same throughout the life of the trees, but increases with age. A tree thirty years old is practically all sapwood, seldom having more than a small core of heartwood in the butt log. Trees one hundred years old have from 60 to 65 rings of sapwood, while trees 200 years old commonly have from 90 to 95 rings. Less than one-third of the volume of trees between seventy and one hundred years old is heartwood; and less than one-half of the volume of trees between 100 and 150 years old. Since the sapwood of this pine, on account of its clearness of knots, uniformly bright color, and freedom from pitch is esteemed for interior woodwork fully as highly as the heartwood, the large proportion of sapwood is considered advantageous rather than otherwise. (Plate XII, B.)

The wood is considerably less resinous than that of the longleaf pine, but more so than that of the shortleaf or white pine. Dr. Chas. H. Herty, the well-known authority on turpentine, says that the oleoresin

N. C. GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC SURVEY. PLATE IX.

N. C. GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC SURVEY. PLATE X.

(crude turpentine) of loblolly pine is closely allied in all of its properties to that of the longleaf pine, but the volatile oil evaporates from it very rapidly and consequently it is difficult to collect the material, as much of it remains in the solid condition on the scarified face of the tree. The relative proportions of volatile oil and resin are practically the same in this material as in that of the longleaf pine, but the total yield per season is much less from the loblolly or North Carolina pine. The commercial value of this tree for turpentine is discussed on page 53.

The most common defects in the wood are extreme coarseness of grain, lack of uniformity of texture, and large knots; pitch streaks and small pitch pockets, which, however, affect the grade of less than one-half of one per cent of the boards and are largely limited to butt logs; while in second growth trees, especially those from the open stands in old fields, there are large resinous, but tight knots. The wood is seldom affected by windshake or hollows. Redheart occurs in less than five per cent of the larger logs* and affects less than one per cent of the lumber which is sawed from second growth trees less than 50 years old. The proportion of redheart gradually increases with the age of the tree and is higher in trees grown on poor than on good quality sites.

The wood decays rapidly on exposure or in contact with the soil. When kiln-dried or even thoroughly air-dried, the coarse grained and more porous sapwood is readily impregnated with preservatives. The two most common methods are creosoting under pressure and impregnating with bichloride of zinc. The wood is attacked by several species of wood-destroying fungi when it is exposed to suitable moisture conditions, the sapwood being especially susceptible to such attacks. The most prevalent and destructive of these fungi are Schizophyllum commune, and the brown root, Lenzites sepiaria, which causes the rapid decay of damp undried wood and is particularly destructive to ties, piling, etc. Merulius lacrimans and Coniophora cerebella are reported as being destructive to large factory timbers, and Polyporus vaporius to sills and flooring near the ground. Various species of Thelephoraceæ, by attacking the sugar and starch in the cells of the sapwood, cause bluing of undried lumber. While bluing does not affect the strength of the wood, it lessens the value of sap lumber, which otherwise could be used for finish in natural grain. Immersion of the lumber in a solution of bicarbonate of soda in water prevent bluing, but it has been abandoned commercially where tried in favor of kiln drying.

Loblolly pine lumber under the trade name of North Carolina pine is used for finishing, packing boxes and construction purposes. If sawn into boards the lumber is generally kiln dried and graded, a large part being reworked at the mills into finished products. The clearer grades are used for flooring, especially when rift sawn (6 to 12 annual layers to the inch particularly suitable) for which use it is especially adapted on account of the fact that it slivers less than most of the pines, for ceiling, interior woodwork, styles and panels of doors, for blinds, sashes, weather boarding and trimmings, and the lower grades for box stock, framing and scantling, bridge, factory,* and heavy construction work. It has extensively taken the place of white pine or has supplemented it for structural uses, being found in all markets from Pittsburg and North Tonawanda to Boston and certain ports in Maine. The exports have likewise been steadily increasing, going chiefly to English and German ports.

It enters extensively into car construction, particularly for siding and roofing, and into ship, boat and barge construction. A large amount of medium and low grade stock is used for box-making, slack cooperage, and headings, and it is now one of the best recognized woods in the box and slack cooperage trades. Slabs are resawn into lath and copper sticks for smelter use, and cut on a horizontal band saw into heading and crate stock. A small though constantly increasing amount is used both treated and untreated for mine timbers, chiefly in the anthracite fields of eastern Pennsylvania. Mine timber is sold by the ton, from 4 to 5 tons of green timber being required to produce 1,000 board feet log scale. The price per ton, green at Norfolk, depending upon the size of the timber, varies from $1.50 to $3. It is also cut into veneers, the lower grades being used for fruit and vegetable crates, barrel and keg stock, drawer bottoms, and the backs of cheap furniture. It is being used to a limited extent for chemical paper pulp stock, and this is doubtless one of the most important undeveloped uses for the wood. On account of the resin it cannot be used for ground fiber pulp and for this reason cannot compete successfully with spruce in the manufacture of newspaper and cheap book paper. On account of its great weight, however, unbleached papers can be successfully made. The wood fibers are very long, strong, thickwalled and tough which permits the manufacture of very superior wrapping, kraft and imitation Manila papers which are stronger than the real Manilas. The wood can be treated by

the soda or sulphate processes to effect the destruction or partial destruction of the resin and disintegration of the fiber; or after being chipped the resin can be distilled off. There is a loss in weight by these processes of about 50 per cent; consequently a cord (128 feet) of peeled wood weighing about 3,000 pounds will make only about 1,500 pounds of paper. At present comparative prices of kraft paper and No. 4 lumber, low grade timber is more profitably converted into paper than into lumber since the very knotty tops can be utilized by the chemical pulp processes. A mill at Roanoke Rapids is now employing such a process in the manufacture of kraft paper for wrapping purposes.

While the wood of loblolly pine is less suitable than that of spruce for the manufacture of composition board on account of the great loss in weight resulting from the necessity of using a chemical process to disintegrate the fibers, it is, on account of its cheapness and great weight, being successfully employed for this purpose. A plant for the manufacture of composition board is also in operation at Roanoke Rapids.

It is also being used for the production of wood alcohol, the resin being first distilled after which the alcohol is produced. A large plant for the production of wood alcohol from sawdust and waste has recently been erected at Georgetown, S. C. The waste can also be used for the production of producer gas. This is a recent process the employment of which will enable a large amount of power to be obtained from mill waste in excess of the requirements of the sawmill plant.

North Carolina pine is extensively used for cross arms for electric wires, wire poles and for light railroad ties, being well suited for these uses after treatment with preservatives. On account of its softness and susceptibility of abrasion it can not be used as a tie for heavy traffic without a tie plate. Near the coast the timber is extensively used for piling; sticks of timber exceeding 100 feet in length being occasionally required for this use. Treated with preservatives it is being used for street paving blocks, the heavy types of wood with not less than 8 rings to the inch being required. It is very extensively used throughout the coastal plain for fuel for manufacturing as well as domestic use, and to some extent for charcoal. Near towns such mill waste as is otherwise unusable is converted into fuel billets and kindling wood.

of the tree as “scrape.” This unusually rapid crystallization of the mass leads to the consequent rapid evaporation of its content of spirits of turpentine. Analysis of the perfectly fresh oleoresin shows a normal amount of spirits of turpentine, but the collected gum, after standing several weeks in the receptacles, as in ordinary practice, shows a much lower per cent of volatile oil. For this reason it seems quite probable that if this pine is ever to be utilized on any large scale as a source of crude turpentine the usual methods employed in gathering must be materially modified.

An analysis of the crude turpentine from the first four weeks of chipping in July showed 17.58 per cent of spirits of turpentine, the collection at the end of four more weeks of chipping showed only 14.11 per cent. The spirits of turpentine thus obtained was found to have properties identical with those of commercial spirits of turpentine. The oleoresin is characterized by an unusually small amount, 4.2 per cent, of unsaponifiable matter. The rosin left after distillation of the spirits of turpentine resembles closely commercial rosin and has an acid number of 172.

as the Portsmouth soil series of the Bureau of Soils of the U. S. Department of Agriculture) in which the water table seldom sinks more than 12 feet below the surface during the growing season, yet which on account of surface drainage or porosity are never flooded for prolonged periods; alluvial lands, particularly those with loamy soils

QUALITY II STANDS, SHOWING RANGE OF VARIATION IN AVERAGE DIAMETER, IN VOLUME, BASAL AREA AND NUMBER OF TREES PER ACRE. Age of stand Year Height of dominant trees Feet Average Diameter breasthigh of all trees 3″ and over Inches Volume per acre Number of trees 3″ and over Per acre Basal area per acre Square fee Cubic feet, wood only Board feet, 1-7′ kerf 22 45 5.7 2,247 5,120 836 †146 22 50 4.4 2,437 2,536 1,364 146 23 50 4.9 2,367 2,526 1,076 142 26 50 4.9 2,568 6,211 1,173 156 30 54 6.3 3,128 10,600 800 172 30 63 6.4 2,893 12,362 559 *128 32 62 7.3 3,628 14,928 544 156 34 69 9.1 4,926 23,240 410 ‡188 35 78 7.4 4,538 21,692 519 152 35 68 10.9 4,553 21,905 260 *168 35 72 10.0 5,310 26,344 348 ‡188 35 74 8.7 4,554 24,432 400 166 37 70 9.1 4,241 20,330 360 161 38 74 9.4 5,918 29,550 440 ‡212 38 71 7.7 4,299 19,680 480 154 43 85 9.0 4,619 24,730 319 *142 44 85 10.0 5,096 26,779 292 *156 44 85 10.4 5,732 27,374 310 182 45 87 11.2 6,610 34,100 290 200 51 90 15.7 6,575 33,813 140 187 52 87 9.5 6,544 32,290 410 ‡202 55 85 10.3 5,617 28,774 285 176 60 89 10.7 6,348 32,400 306 193 60 90 12.8 6,277 32,203 203 †183 62 92 10.1 6,353 32,309 333 183 64 97 13.5 7,581 39,715 210 208 75 94 15.5 7,182 39,958 144 192 80 110 15.8 9,748 52,888 160 225 80 113 15.7 7,896 43,745 132 176 88 109 12.4 7,329 39,513 206 ‡173 100 98 17.2 6,910 39,037 110 *177 110 105 15.5 7,633 41,181 151 197

The relation of number of trees, and average diameter to yield in board feet is shown by a comparison of the two 22-year old stands and the 60 and 62 year old stands. Some of the stands given as Quality II approach Quality I, others approach Quality III. The second 38-year old stand closely approaches Quality III. The 80-year old stands approach Quality I.

which are subject to flooding for only a few days at a time; moist peaty soils, where the peat is in process of humification and along the margin of swamps.

Quality Class II. This class embraces the stands of medium growth on the great body of the upland soils of eastern North Carolina. The soils of this quality class include the greater portion of the flat woods (consisting of the more level tracts of Norfolk fine sands, loams, and silts, as designated by the Bureau of Soils) the Selma silt and Selma loam, with the water table usually about 20 feet below the surface, formerly largely occupied by the longleaf pine; compact clays occupied by hardwood swamps; the rolling loams and clay loams of the Norfolk series, largely north of the Roanoke River and in Chowan, Gates, and Northampton counties, formerly partly occupied by shortleaf pine. The usual depth of the water table in these soils is from 20 to 25 feet below the surface. It is lowest for this quality in the fine grained sands and loams.

Quality Class III. This includes loblolly pine stands of very slow growth. The soils characteristic of these are the better drained parts of the flat woods, particularly the areas with compact clay soils (characterized by roundleaf blackjack oak and post oak); the rolling piney lands and the Piedmont uplands; the savannas, edges of pocosons, sand hills, and swamps subject to prolonged overflow, or difficult to drain. The upland soils as a rule have the water table during the growing season from 20 to 45 feet below the surface. The soils of some of the poorly drained areas (very level clays, silts and peats are frequently saturated for long periods during the growing season, alternating in the case of clays with periods of semi-drought on account of the large

N. C. GEOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC SURVEY. PLATE XI.

amount of hygroscopic water held by heavy clays which is not available for plant growth.

Old Field Stands. The old field stands on very sandy uplands and on clay uplands, particularly those on the Piedmont red clays (Cecil soil series) when young fall for the most part into Quality I or Quality II, but their rate of growth declines rapidly after a few decades, sometimes before the end of the second decade, and they eventually fall into Quality III. The chief cause for this is that the demands of the stand upon soil moisture soon reach the limits of available supply. Moreover, on the upland clays the top soil in the old cultivated fields is at first loose, permitting the roots freely to penetrate it, and has a high moisture carrying capacity. In a few years this soil becomes more compact and its water carrying capacity declines. This checks the growth of the lateral roots and as the taproot descends deeper into the unbroken layer which has never been disturbed by the plow, the rate of growth of the tree declines.

The rate of height growth or the height of dominant trees at a given age in fully stocked groups is the most ready method of ascertaining the quality site when there is growing timber (Table 13). It is desirable in the case of middle-aged or old stands to correlate height with volume and basal area per acre (Table 35), relative height, relation of diameter to total height (Table 15). In the case of young stands especially on dry upland sites all of these are unreliable factors for predicting the capacity of the soil to sustain old stands and they should be supplemented by ascertaining the texture of the soil and depth of water table. The original forest type where indications of it remain should be examined to determine the undershrubs and to compare with Table 1. Abundance of particular undershrubs is a general guide to this extent; a rank growth of gallberry (Ilex glabra) indicates a site highly favorable for the rapid growth of the pine; wire grass (Aristida stricta) and low bush black huckleberry (Vaccinium tenellum) indicates sites which are becoming too dry; sphagnam mosses and evergreen fetter bush (Andromeda or Pieris nitida) sites which are becoming too wet. The approximate relation of the height of the water table in different kinds of soil to the quality site for loblolly pine is shown in Figure 3 which gives the results of a preliminary study of these important problems. The impossibility of depending solely upon height at younger ages for interpreting quality site is illustrated in the stand which is presented in Tables 14, 18 and 20, column 4. The rapid diameter and height growth of this stand during the early decades is followed during the fifth decade by an abrupt decline which is reflected by an equally abrupt culmination in the volume of the stand. On the other hand, the growth of the trees in column 1 in the same tables shows a slower but sustained rate of height growth, while the decline does not begin until a much later period.

Since loblolly pine normally grows in a large part of its range in pure even-aged stands or groups, there is given not only the rate of growth of trees as individual specimens but also the growth and development of the average tree in even-aged stands, and the growth of the average tree of each of the different crown classes, dominant, intermediate, and suppressed.*

Loblolly pine attains on an average a height of about only two feet during the first two to four years. After that it at once begins to grow rapidly in height. The stage of rapid growth lasts until the thirtieth or fortieth year on best sites and until the fiftieth or even sixtieth year on inferior sites. Table 13 gives the heights of the different crown classes in fully stocked unthinned stands at different ages on different quality sites and the periodic annual growth. The periodic annual growth which is the annual growth during five-year periods shows that after the fiftieth year the growth in height is less than one foot a year.

TABLE 13.—HEIGHTS OF ALL DOMINANT, INTERMEDIATE, AND SUPPRESSED TREES SIX INCHES AND OVER IN DIAMETER IN FULLY STOCKED STANDS OF LOBLOLLY PINE ON DIFFERENT QUALITY SITES; AND PERIODIC ANNUAL GROWTH OF DOMINANT TREES. Age of stand Years Quality I Quality II Quality III Periodic annual growth of dominant trees (for preceding interval) Dominant Intermediate Suppressed Dominant Intermediate Suppressed Dominant Intermediate Suppressed Quality I II III Height—Feet 20 56 51 43 44 39 34 32 29 26 2.8 2.2 1.6 25 66 59 51 53 47 41 40 36 32 2.0 1.8 1.6 30 75 68 58 61 54 48 47 43 38 1.8 1.6 1.4 35 82 75 64 68 61 54 53 49 43 1.4 1.4 1.2 40 89 81 70 74 67 59 59 54 48 1.4 1.2 1.2 45 94 87 75 79 72 63 65 59 52 1.0 1.0 1.2 50 99 91 78 84 76 67 70 63 55 1.0 1.0 1.0 55 103 94 80 88 80 70 74 67 58 60 106 97 81 91 83 72 77 70 61 65 108 98 84 94 85 74 81 72 63 70 110 100 86 96 87 75 83 74 64 75 112 101 87 97 89 76 85 76 65 80 113 101 88 98 90 77 86 78 66 85 114 102 89 99 91 78 87 79 67 90 115 102 89 100 92 79 88 80 68 95 116 103 90 101 92 79 89 81 69 100 117 103 90 102 93 79 90 82 69 105 118 104 91 103 94 80 110 118 104 91 103 94 80 115 119 105 91 104 95 80 120 120 105 91 104 95 80 125 121 105 91 130 122 106 91

Table 14 gives the height of trees in fully stocked stands for different diameters on different site classes.

On best sites in pure stands height growth reaches its maximum rate between the seventh and fifteenth years. Dominant trees in such groups during this period will often make a growth of four feet a year for several years, while the average rate of height growth during this period on all sites of the first quality is nearly three and one-half feet a year. During the second decade the growth averages three feet a year. On poorer sites the rate of height growth culminates later. On sites of Quality III, culmination does not take place until between the eighteenth and thirtieth years.

Single trees and small groups of trees growing among hardwoods on stiff clay soils attain the maximum rate of growth very late, between the thirtieth and fortieth years, and the same is true of some groups growing on the most unfavorable sites (Table 14, columns 1 and 6). The growth on old fields on the uplands is rapid at first but decreases after the fortieth year; such old field stands, therefore, if old, have an average rate of growth characteristic of slow growing stands. This is well illustrated by the growth of loblolly pine on cultivated soil on a very sandy, well drained knoll in the midst of a longleaf pine forest (Table 14, column 4). Thus, the average annual growth in height during the first decade was 2.1 feet, during the second decade 2.7 feet, the third decade 2.4 feet, the fourth decade 1.0 feet, and the fifth decade .3 feet.

The growth on very wet sites, as may be seen from the growth of the loblolly pine in mixture with cypress and black gum of the same age, is slow. (Table 14, column 6.) The pine, however, had slightly outgrown in height the black gum and the cypress. The soil is a loamy sand, covered with one or two feet of flowing water during most of the winter and spring and often for a few days at a time during the growing season.

The growth of the pine on the best alluvial soil in even-aged groups where the competition for the light is keen is very rapid (Table 14, column 2).

The growth given in Table 14 is the average growth of suppressed, intermediate and dominant trees. Single dominant trees therefore have a much better growth, while intermediate and suppressed trees have a much slower growth than that of the average tree.

Table 15 gives the relation of diameter to height, the merchantable length of trees of different diameters on different quality sites, and the per cent of merchantable length to total height. Top diameters of merchantable length are given in Tables 24 to 31.

TABLE 14.—HEIGHT GROWTH OF LOBLOLLY PINE ON DIFFERENT SITES. Age of stand Years Quality I I III II III II (1) Mixed with hardwoods. Moist, stiff clay soil. Stand crowded (2) Best moist, loamy, alluvial soil. Stand fairly open (3) Longleaf and pocoson pine flat lands. Stand fairly open (4) Oldfield on a longleaf pine sandhill. Stand crowded (5) Dry silt sand flats Stand fairly open (6) Mixed with cypress in deep swamps. Stand crowded Feet 10 7 20 11 21 7 9 20 20 47 26 48 11 29 30 38 68 45 72 17 43 40 60 85 62 82 25 56 50 75 99 71 85 32 67 60 85 109 77 37 78 70 93 116 82 88 80 101 85 95 90 107 87 101 100 111 90 120 119 95 140 126 99 160 131 102 180 134 106 200 137 108 240 140

TABLE 15.—RELATION BETWEEN THE TOTAL HEIGHT AND DIAMETER BREASTHIGH ON DIFFERENT QUALITY SITES. MERCHANTABLE LENGTH OF LOBLOLLY PINE. Diameter breasthigh Inches Quality I Quality II Quality III Total height of tree Feet Ratio of diameter to total height Merchantable length Feet Per cent of merchantable length Total height of tree Feet Ratio of diameter to total height Merchantable length Feet Per cent of merchantable length Total height of tree Feet Ratio of diameter to total height Merchantable length Feet Per cent of merchantable length 2 19 114 16 96 14 84 3 27 108 24 96 21 84 4 36 108 32 96 28 84 5 45 108 40 96 35 84 6 53 106 12 19 47 94 11 21 42 84 10 24 7 60 103 17 28 54 93 16 30 48 82 16 33 8 67 101 24 36 61 91 21 34 55 83 20 36 9 73 97 31 42 67 89 28 42 60 80 26 43 10 79 95 39 49 72 86 34 47 66 79 31 47 11 84 92 46 55 77 84 41 53 70 76 36 51 12 89 89 54 61 82 82 47 57 74 74 41 55 13 93 86 60 65 85 78 53 62 78 72 46 59 14 97 83 66 68 89 76 58 65 82 70 50 61 15 101 81 71 70 92 74 62 67 84 67 54 64 16 104 78 75 72 95 71 65 68 87 65 57 66 17 107 76 78 73 98 69 67 68 89 63 59 66 18 110 73 80 73 100 67 69 69 91 61 60 66 19 112 71 82 73 102 64 70 69 92 58 61 66 20 115 69 83 72 104 62 71 68 93 56 62 67 21 117 67 85 73 105 60 72 69 94 54 63 67 22 119 65 86 72 107 58 73 68 95 52 63 66 23 121 63 87 72 108 56 74 69 95 50 64 67 24 123 62 88 72 109 55 75 69 96 48 64 67 25 124 60 89 72 110 53 75 68 97 47 64 66 26 125 58 90 72 111 51 76 68 98 45 65 66 27 127 56 90 71 112 50 77 69 98 44 65 66 28 128 55 91 71 112 48 77 69 98 42 65 66