The fourth of the yellow pines of the South is the loblolly or old field
pine, whose lumber is saturated with pitch. The trees grow in marshy
regions along the coast, and for the most part occupy land that is
sterile and worthless. These tide water pine forests follow the swamps
from New Jersey around to Texas. In early days this was the building pine
of the South. The virgin forests are gone, and the new generation is
inferior in quality, because the trees are not allowed to attain their
full growth. Though rich in resin, there is little flow of turpentine
from these trees, but the wood catches fire easily, and is one of the
best of fuels.
We shall know this pine by its pale green, twisted leaves, always in
bundles of three, six to ten inches long, enclosed at the base in sheaths
that are not shed. The cones are three to five inches long, with ridged
scales set with prickles. This tree bears a great crop of cones yearly,
and its seeds are remarkable for their vitality. So are the seedlings,
which grow on land so wet or so poor that few other trees compete with
them. The first ten years in the life of a seedling pine is a period of
tremendous growth. Fire rarely sweeps these young forests, for the trees
are well protected by the marshy character of the land in which they
grow. Left for a century or two, these trees produce masts for the
largest vessels, equal in quality to the finest in the world.