The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-10-24

Rapid Growth Of Pines
WooDvILLE. Ms. sept y u.s.

"ooDEiLLE. Mss, Sept. p. ISIS.
give some items in regard to the
Pine tree. II 1925. in my early bow
hood, passed through a tract oil land
III Louisiana, a large portion of which
had been long cleared and was then
cultivation. Perhaps. soon after that
date. a portion OF 1t vas abandoned.
In 1871 | purchased the entire tract
for the timber on IL. The part in cul-
tlVatlon IN lS25 was. in 1851. densely
covered with pines, from eight TO
thirty inches in diameter. AT what
date II became set with pines | am not
Informed, probably not over twenty
three years before. Other portions
never cleared. but from which | cut
the oaks, poplars tulip tree magno-
liza ETC. for lumber in ISL, are now
covered with a dense growth of pines.
eight TO eighteen inches in diameter.
and sixty to one hundred feet high. |
know tens of thousands of acres in
Louisiana and Mississippi hat have
been covered i'll like manner in the
last twenty years, and O'her thousands
of acres are set naturally every year.
Wherever the soil has disappeared, or
the clay is otherwise brought to the
proper elements of growth. The
seeds are winged. and are released
from the cells long before the cones
fall, and carried by the winds by mil
lions to variable distances-sometimes
many miles. They very rarely take III
good rich land, but on every barren
clay spot they catch readily. Scat
tered on the surface, the seeds germi-
nate promptly, and the growth is very
rapid. len years ago PIN seeds were
carried by the winds upon three acres
of sparsely wooded lands-oaks,
beech, elm, gum, etc.-and came up
SO densely that had I'VE eight thou
sand young pines pulled up by the
roots, one season. Until two or three
years old they are easily eradicated in
this name n time when the ground
is saturated with water. AS young
pines. in the thickets, grow from year
to year, they stretch up for light and
air. The feebler are s~uffocated, and
thus disappear. The crowding causes
rapid upward growth and length of
trunk. while dense growth of branches
above annually sutfocates those below.
Thus, III a few years. the trunks be-
come long. smooth and free from
branches except near the top Where
the seeds are sparsely scattered and
the trees not crowded, the heads are
low dllu lllc llccS NOIlIlItSS. eN Ell LOT
:uel. for where they do moi grow in
thickets, they can not be split to make
fuel.
Many farms in this country on
which the timber had been destroyed,
were abandoned from lack of fencing
materials. Now they are abundantly
supplied by the pine growth, they are
coming again into cultivation. How
ever. the pine no doubt grows more
rapidly here than in a colder region,
as do the oaks and other species of
trees also. But of others | will not
| speak, as Mr.. T. asked only about
the pine. Yours.
d. l.. PHARES.
In the Southern Staets bordering on
the gulf, forest tree growth is much
more rapid than at the north. Thirty
inches of diameter made in twenty
three years would be less than two
thirds of an inch to each c%Oncentric
ring, a thickness sometimes seen in
chestnut grow in this State, and per-
haps in pine. There is no forest tree
more easy to establish than the pine
after the shoot has once a start.