old fields and meadows, on decomposing humus in
the forest, or on bare clay-loam or loamy sand soil. It requires a
considerable degree of light, however, and prefers a moist seed bed.
The natural distribution of the seed takes place for several hundred
feet from the seed trees, the dissemination depending almost entirely
on the wind. A great part of the seed falls on the hardwood bottom
when the land is flooded, and is either washed away or, if already in
the ground and germinating, is destroyed by the long-continued
overflow. After germinating, the red gum seedling demands, above
everything else, abundant light for its survival and development. It
is for this reason that there is very little growth of red gum, either
in the unculled forest or on culled land, where, as is usually the
case, a dense undergrowth of cane, briers, and rattan is present.
Under the dense underbrush of cane and briers throughout much of the
virgin forest, reproduction of any of the merchantable species is of
course impossible. And even where the land has been logged over, the
forest is seldom open enough to allow reproduction of cottonwood and
red gum. Where, however, seed trees are contiguous to pastures or
cleared land, scattered seedlings are found springing up in the open,
and where openings occur in the forest, there are often large numbers
of red gum seedlings, the reproduction generally occurring in groups.
But over the greater part of the Southern hardwood bottom land forest
reproduction is very poor. The growth of red gum during the early part
of its life, and up to the time it reaches a diameter of eight inches
breast-high, is extremely rapid, and, like most of the intolerant
species, it attains its height growth at an early period. Gum sprouts
readily from the stump, and the sprouts surpass the seedlings in rate
of height growth for the first few years, but they seldom form large
timber trees. Those over fifty years of age seldom sprout. For this
reason sprout reproduction is of little importance in the forest. The
principal requirements of red gum, then, are a moist, fairly rich soil
and good exposure to light. Without these it will not reach its best
development.

[Illustration: Fig. 13. A Cypress Slough in the Dry Season.]

Second-Growth Red Gum

Second-growth red gum occurs to any considerable extent only on land
which has been thoroughly cleared. Throughout the South there is a
great deal of lan