WESTERN WHITE PINE

WESTERN WHITE PINEWestern white pineWestern White Pine

Western white pineWestern White Pine

Western White Pine

WESTERN WHITE PINE(Pinus Monticola)The silvery luster of the needles of this tree gives it the name silver pine, by which many people know it. It appears in literature as mountain Weymouth pine, the reference being to the eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), which is sometimes called Weymouth pine. Finger-cone pine is a California name; so are mountain pine and soft pine. In the same state it is called little sugar pine, to distinguish it from sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana), which it resembles in some particulars but not in all. It is thus seen that California is generous in bestowing names on this tree, notwithstanding it is not abundant in any part of that state and is unknown in most parts.The botanical name means “mountain pine,” and that describes the species. It does best among the mountains, and it ranges from an altitude of from 4,000 feet to 10,000 on the Sierra Nevada mountains. Sometimes trees of very large size are found near the upper limits of its range, but the best stands are in valleys and on slopes at lower altitudes. Its range lies in British Columbia, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and California. In the latter state it follows the Sierra Nevada mountains southward to the San Joaquin river.This species has been compared with the white pine of the East oftener than with any other species. The weights of the two woods are nearly the same, and both are light. Their fuel values are about the same. The strength of the eastern tree is a little higher, but the western species is stiffer. The woods of both are light in color, but that of the eastern tree is whiter; both are soft, but again the advantage is with the eastern tree. The western pine generally grows rapidly and the annual rings are wide; but, like most other species, it varies in its rate of growth, and trunks are found with narrow rings. The summerwood is thin, not conspicuous, and slightly resinous. The small resin passages are numerous. The heartwood is fairly durable in contact with the soil.The western white pine has entered many markets in recent years, but it is difficult to determine what the annual cut is. Statistics often include this species and the western yellow pine under one name, or at least confuse one with the other, and there is no way to determine exactly how much of the sawmill output belongs to each. The bulk of merchantable western white pine lumber is cut in Idaho and Montana. The stands are seldom pure, but this species frequently predominates over its associates. When pure forests are found, the yield is sometimesvery high, as much as 130,000 feet of logs growing on a single acre. That quantity is not often equalled by any other forest tree, though redwood and Douglas fir sometimes go considerably above it.The western white pine’s needles grow in clusters of five and are from one and a half to four inches long. The cones are from ten to eighteen inches long. The seeds ripen the second year. Reproduction is vigorous and the forest stands are holding their own. Trees about one hundred and seventy-five feet high and eight feet in diameter are met with, but the average size is one hundred feet high and from two to three feet in diameter, or about the size of eastern white pine.The wood is useful and has been giving service since the settlement of the country began, fifty or more years ago. Choice trunks were split for shakes or shingles, but the wood is inferior in splitting qualities to either eastern white pine or California sugar pine, because of more knots. The western white pine does not prime itself early or well. Dead limbs adhere to the trunk long after the sugar pine would shed them. In split products, the western white pine’s principal rival has been the western red cedar. The pine has been much employed for mine timbers in the region where it is abundant. Miners generally take the most convenient wood for props, stulls, and lagging. A little higher use for pine is found among the mines, where is it made into tanks, flumes, sluice boxes, water pipes, riffle blocks, rockers, and guides for stamp mills. However, the total quantity used by miners is comparatively small. Much more goes to ranches for fences and buildings. It is serviceable, and is shipped outside the immediate region of production and is marketed in the plains states east of the Rocky Mountains, where it is excellent fence material.A larger market is found in manufacturing centers farther east. Western white pine is shipped to Chicago where it is manufactured into doors, sash, and interior finish, in competition with all other woods in that market. It is said to be of frequent occurrence that the very pine which is shipped in its rough form out of the Rocky Mountain region goes back finished as doors and sash. When the mountain regions shall have better manufacturing facilities, this will not occur. In the manufacture of window and hothouse sash, glass is more important than wood, although each is useless without the other. The principal glass factories are in the East, and it is sometimes desirable to ship the wood to the glass factory, have the sash made there, and the glazing done; and the finished sash, ready for use, may go back to the source of the timber.The same operation is sometimes repeated for doors; but in recent years the mountain region where this pine grows has been suppliedwith factories and there is now less shipping of raw material out and of finished products back than formerly. The development of the fruit industry in the elevated valleys of Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Oregon has called for shipping boxes in large numbers, and western white pine has been found an ideal wood for that use. It is light in weight and in color, strong enough to satisfy all ordinary requirements, and cheap enough to bring it within reach of orchardists. It meets with lively competition from a number of other woods which grow abundantly in the region, but it holds its ground and takes its share of the business.Estimates of the total stand of western white pine among its native mountains have not been published, but the quantity is known to be large. It is a difficult species to estimate because it is scattered widely, large, pure stands being scarce. Some large mills make a specialty of sawing this species. The annual output is believed to reach 150,000,000 feet, most of which is in Idaho and Montana.Mexican White Pine(Pinus strobiformis) is not sufficiently abundant to be of much importance in the United States. The best of it is south of the international boundary in Mexico, but the species extends into New Mexico and Arizona where it is most abundant at altitudes of from 6,000 to 8,000 feet. The growth is generally scattering, and the trunks are often deformed through fire injury, and are inclined to be limby and of poor form. The best trees are from eighty to one hundred feet high, and two in diameter; but many are scarcely half that size. The lumbermen of the region, who cut Mexican white pine, are inclined to place low value on it, not because the wood is of poor quality, but because it is scarce. It is generally sent to market with western yellow pine. Excellent grades and quality of this wood are shipped into the United States from Mexico, but not in large amounts. An occasional carload reaches door and sash factories in Texas, and woodworkers as far east as Michigan are acquainted with it, through trials and experiments which they have made. It is highly recommended by those who have tried it. Some consider it as soft, as easy to work, and as free from warping and checking as the eastern white pine. In Arizona and New Mexico the tree is known as ayacahuite pine, white pine, and Arizona white pine. The wood is moderately light, fairly strong, rather stiff, of slow growth, and the bands of summerwood are comparatively broad. The resin passages are few and large. The wood is light red, the sapwood whiter. The leaves occur in clusters of five, are three or four inches long, and fall during the third and fourth years. The seeds are large and have small wings which cannot carry them far from the parent tree.Pinon(Pinus edulis). This is one of the nut pines abounding among the western mountains, and it is called pinon in Texas, nut pine in Texas and Colorado, pinon pine and New Mexican pinon in other parts of its range, extending from Colorado through New Mexico to western Texas. It has two and three leaves to the cluster. They begin to fall the third year and continue through six or seven years following. The cones are quite small, the largest not exceeding one and one-half inches in length. Trees are from thirty to forty feet high, and large trunks may be two and one-half feet in diameter. The tree runs up mountain sides to altitudes of 8,000 or 9,000 feet. It exists in rather large bodies, but is not an important timber tree, because the trunks are short and are generally of poor form. It often branches near the ground and assumes the appearance of a large shrub. Ties of pinon have been used with various results. Some have proved satisfactory, others have proved weak by breaking, and the ties occasionally split when spikes are driven. The wood’s service as posts varies also. Some posts will last only three or four years, while others remain sound a long time. The difference in lasting properties is due to the difference in resinous contents of the wood. Few softwoods rank above it in fuel value, and much is cut in some localities. Large areas have been totally stripped for fuel. Charcoal for local smithies is burned from this pine. The wood is widely used for ranch purposes, but not in large quantities. The edible nuts are sought by birds, rodents, and Indians. Some stores keep the nuts for sale. The tree is handicapped in its effort at reproduction by weight, and the small wing power of the seeds. They fall near the base of the parent tree, and most of them are speedily devoured.Western white pine branch

The silvery luster of the needles of this tree gives it the name silver pine, by which many people know it. It appears in literature as mountain Weymouth pine, the reference being to the eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), which is sometimes called Weymouth pine. Finger-cone pine is a California name; so are mountain pine and soft pine. In the same state it is called little sugar pine, to distinguish it from sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana), which it resembles in some particulars but not in all. It is thus seen that California is generous in bestowing names on this tree, notwithstanding it is not abundant in any part of that state and is unknown in most parts.

The botanical name means “mountain pine,” and that describes the species. It does best among the mountains, and it ranges from an altitude of from 4,000 feet to 10,000 on the Sierra Nevada mountains. Sometimes trees of very large size are found near the upper limits of its range, but the best stands are in valleys and on slopes at lower altitudes. Its range lies in British Columbia, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and California. In the latter state it follows the Sierra Nevada mountains southward to the San Joaquin river.

This species has been compared with the white pine of the East oftener than with any other species. The weights of the two woods are nearly the same, and both are light. Their fuel values are about the same. The strength of the eastern tree is a little higher, but the western species is stiffer. The woods of both are light in color, but that of the eastern tree is whiter; both are soft, but again the advantage is with the eastern tree. The western pine generally grows rapidly and the annual rings are wide; but, like most other species, it varies in its rate of growth, and trunks are found with narrow rings. The summerwood is thin, not conspicuous, and slightly resinous. The small resin passages are numerous. The heartwood is fairly durable in contact with the soil.

The western white pine has entered many markets in recent years, but it is difficult to determine what the annual cut is. Statistics often include this species and the western yellow pine under one name, or at least confuse one with the other, and there is no way to determine exactly how much of the sawmill output belongs to each. The bulk of merchantable western white pine lumber is cut in Idaho and Montana. The stands are seldom pure, but this species frequently predominates over its associates. When pure forests are found, the yield is sometimesvery high, as much as 130,000 feet of logs growing on a single acre. That quantity is not often equalled by any other forest tree, though redwood and Douglas fir sometimes go considerably above it.

The western white pine’s needles grow in clusters of five and are from one and a half to four inches long. The cones are from ten to eighteen inches long. The seeds ripen the second year. Reproduction is vigorous and the forest stands are holding their own. Trees about one hundred and seventy-five feet high and eight feet in diameter are met with, but the average size is one hundred feet high and from two to three feet in diameter, or about the size of eastern white pine.

The wood is useful and has been giving service since the settlement of the country began, fifty or more years ago. Choice trunks were split for shakes or shingles, but the wood is inferior in splitting qualities to either eastern white pine or California sugar pine, because of more knots. The western white pine does not prime itself early or well. Dead limbs adhere to the trunk long after the sugar pine would shed them. In split products, the western white pine’s principal rival has been the western red cedar. The pine has been much employed for mine timbers in the region where it is abundant. Miners generally take the most convenient wood for props, stulls, and lagging. A little higher use for pine is found among the mines, where is it made into tanks, flumes, sluice boxes, water pipes, riffle blocks, rockers, and guides for stamp mills. However, the total quantity used by miners is comparatively small. Much more goes to ranches for fences and buildings. It is serviceable, and is shipped outside the immediate region of production and is marketed in the plains states east of the Rocky Mountains, where it is excellent fence material.

A larger market is found in manufacturing centers farther east. Western white pine is shipped to Chicago where it is manufactured into doors, sash, and interior finish, in competition with all other woods in that market. It is said to be of frequent occurrence that the very pine which is shipped in its rough form out of the Rocky Mountain region goes back finished as doors and sash. When the mountain regions shall have better manufacturing facilities, this will not occur. In the manufacture of window and hothouse sash, glass is more important than wood, although each is useless without the other. The principal glass factories are in the East, and it is sometimes desirable to ship the wood to the glass factory, have the sash made there, and the glazing done; and the finished sash, ready for use, may go back to the source of the timber.

The same operation is sometimes repeated for doors; but in recent years the mountain region where this pine grows has been suppliedwith factories and there is now less shipping of raw material out and of finished products back than formerly. The development of the fruit industry in the elevated valleys of Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Oregon has called for shipping boxes in large numbers, and western white pine has been found an ideal wood for that use. It is light in weight and in color, strong enough to satisfy all ordinary requirements, and cheap enough to bring it within reach of orchardists. It meets with lively competition from a number of other woods which grow abundantly in the region, but it holds its ground and takes its share of the business.

Estimates of the total stand of western white pine among its native mountains have not been published, but the quantity is known to be large. It is a difficult species to estimate because it is scattered widely, large, pure stands being scarce. Some large mills make a specialty of sawing this species. The annual output is believed to reach 150,000,000 feet, most of which is in Idaho and Montana.

Mexican White Pine(Pinus strobiformis) is not sufficiently abundant to be of much importance in the United States. The best of it is south of the international boundary in Mexico, but the species extends into New Mexico and Arizona where it is most abundant at altitudes of from 6,000 to 8,000 feet. The growth is generally scattering, and the trunks are often deformed through fire injury, and are inclined to be limby and of poor form. The best trees are from eighty to one hundred feet high, and two in diameter; but many are scarcely half that size. The lumbermen of the region, who cut Mexican white pine, are inclined to place low value on it, not because the wood is of poor quality, but because it is scarce. It is generally sent to market with western yellow pine. Excellent grades and quality of this wood are shipped into the United States from Mexico, but not in large amounts. An occasional carload reaches door and sash factories in Texas, and woodworkers as far east as Michigan are acquainted with it, through trials and experiments which they have made. It is highly recommended by those who have tried it. Some consider it as soft, as easy to work, and as free from warping and checking as the eastern white pine. In Arizona and New Mexico the tree is known as ayacahuite pine, white pine, and Arizona white pine. The wood is moderately light, fairly strong, rather stiff, of slow growth, and the bands of summerwood are comparatively broad. The resin passages are few and large. The wood is light red, the sapwood whiter. The leaves occur in clusters of five, are three or four inches long, and fall during the third and fourth years. The seeds are large and have small wings which cannot carry them far from the parent tree.

Pinon(Pinus edulis). This is one of the nut pines abounding among the western mountains, and it is called pinon in Texas, nut pine in Texas and Colorado, pinon pine and New Mexican pinon in other parts of its range, extending from Colorado through New Mexico to western Texas. It has two and three leaves to the cluster. They begin to fall the third year and continue through six or seven years following. The cones are quite small, the largest not exceeding one and one-half inches in length. Trees are from thirty to forty feet high, and large trunks may be two and one-half feet in diameter. The tree runs up mountain sides to altitudes of 8,000 or 9,000 feet. It exists in rather large bodies, but is not an important timber tree, because the trunks are short and are generally of poor form. It often branches near the ground and assumes the appearance of a large shrub. Ties of pinon have been used with various results. Some have proved satisfactory, others have proved weak by breaking, and the ties occasionally split when spikes are driven. The wood’s service as posts varies also. Some posts will last only three or four years, while others remain sound a long time. The difference in lasting properties is due to the difference in resinous contents of the wood. Few softwoods rank above it in fuel value, and much is cut in some localities. Large areas have been totally stripped for fuel. Charcoal for local smithies is burned from this pine. The wood is widely used for ranch purposes, but not in large quantities. The edible nuts are sought by birds, rodents, and Indians. Some stores keep the nuts for sale. The tree is handicapped in its effort at reproduction by weight, and the small wing power of the seeds. They fall near the base of the parent tree, and most of them are speedily devoured.

Western white pine branch

SUGAR PINESugar pineSugar Pine

Sugar pineSugar Pine

Sugar Pine

SUGAR PINE(Pinus Lambertiana)This is the largest pine of the United States, and probably is the largest true pine in the world. Its rival, the Kauri pine of New Zealand, is not a pine according to the classification of botanists; and that leaves the sugar pine supreme, as far as the world has been explored. David Douglas, the first to describe the species, reported a tree eighteen feet in diameter and 245 feet high, in southern Oregon. No tree of similar size has been reported since; but trunks six, ten, and even twelve feet through, and more than 200 high are not rare.The range of sugar pine extends from southern Oregon to lower California. Through California it follows the Sierra Nevada mountains in a comparatively narrow belt. In Oregon it descends within 1,000 feet of sea level, but the lower limit of its range gradually rises as it follows the mountains southward, until in southern California it is 8,000 or 10,000 feet above the sea. Its choice of situation is in the mountain belt where the annual precipitation is forty inches or more. The deep winter snows of the Sierras do not hurt it. The young trees bear abundant limbs covering the trunks nearly or quite to the ground, and are of perfect conical shape. When they are ten or fifteen feet tall they may be entirely covered in snow which accumulates to a depth of a dozen feet or more. The little pines are seldom injured by the load, but their limbs shed the snow until it covers the highest twig. The consequence is that a crooked sugar pine trunk is seldom seen, though a considerable part of the tree’s youth may have been spent under tons of snow. Later in life the lower limbs die and drop, leaving clean boles which assure abundance of clear lumber in the years to come.The tree is nearly always known as sugar pine, though it may be called big pine or great pine to distinguish it from firs, cedars, and other softwoods with which it is associated. The name is due to a product resembling sugar which exudes from the heartwood when the tree has been injured by fires, and which dries in white, brittle excrescences on the surface. Its taste is sweet, with a suggestion of pitch which is not unpleasant. The principle has been named “pinite.”The needles of sugar pine are in clusters of five and are about four inches long. They are deciduous the second and third years. The cones are longer than cones of any other pine of this country but those of the Coulter pine are a little heavier. Extreme length of 22 inches for the sugar pine cone has been recorded, but the average is from 12 to 15 inches. Cones open, shed their seeds the second year, and fall the third.The seeds resemble lentils, and are provided with wings which carry them several hundred feet, if wind is favorable. This affords excellent opportunities for reproduction; but there is an offset in the sweetness of the seeds which are prized for food by birds, beasts and creeping things from the Piute Indian down to the Douglas squirrel and the jumping mouse.Sugar pine occupies a high place as a timber tree. It has been in use for half a century. The cut in 1900 was 52,000,000 feet, in 1904 it was 120,000,000; in 1907, 115,000,000, and the next year about 100,000,000. Ninety-three per cent of the cut is in California, the rest in Oregon. Its stand in California has been estimated at 25,000,000,000 feet.The wood of sugar pine is a little lighter than eastern white pine, is a little weaker, and has less stiffness. It is soft, the rings of growth are wide, the bands of summerwood thin and resinous; the resin passages are numerous and very large, the medullary rays numerous and obscure. The heart is light brown, the sapwood nearly white.Sugar pine and redwood were the two early roofing woods in California, and both are still much used for that purpose. Sugar pine was made into sawed shingles and split shakes. The shingle is a mill product; but the shake was rived with mallet and frow, and in the years when it was the great roofing material in central and eastern California, the shake makers camped by twos in the forest, lived principally on bacon and red beans, and split out from 200,000 to 400,000 shakes as a summer’s work. The winter snows drove the workers from the mountains, with from eight to twelve hundred dollars in their pockets for the season’s work.The increase in stumpage price has practically killed the shake maker’s business. In the palmy days when most everything went, he procured his timber for little or nothing. He sometimes failed to find the surveyor’s lines, particularly if there happened to be a fine sugar pine just across on a government quarter section. His method of operation was wasteful. He used only the best of the tree. If the grain happened to twist the fraction of an inch, he abandoned the fallen trunk, and cut another. The shakes were split very thin, for sugar pine is among the most cleavable woods of this country. Four or five good trees provided the shake maker’s camp with material for a year’s work.Some of the earliest sawmills in California cut sugar pine for sheds, shacks, sluiceboxes, flumes among the mines; and almost immediately a demand came from the agricultural and stock districts for lumber. From that day until the present time the sugar pine mills have been busy. As the demand has grown, the facilities for meeting it have increased. The prevailing size of the timber forbade the use of smallmills. A saw large enough for most eastern and southern timbers would not slab a sugar pine log. From four to six feet were common sizes, and the lumberman despised anything small.In late years sugar pine operators have looked beyond the local markets, and have been sending their lumber to practically every state in the Union, except probably the extreme South. It comes in direct competition with the white pine of New England and the Lake States. The two woods have many points of resemblance. The white pine would probably have lost no markets to the California wood if the best grades could still be had at moderate prices; but most of the white pine region has been stripped of its best timber, and the resulting scarcity in the high grades has been, in part, made good by sugar pine. Some manufacturers of doors and frames claim that sugar pine is more satisfactory than white pine, because of better behavior under climatic changes. It is said to shrink, swell, and warp less than the eastern wood.Sugar pine has displaced white pine to a very small extent only, in comparison with the field still held by the eastern wood, whose annual output is about thirty times that of the California species. Their uses are practically the same except that only the good grades of sugar pine go east, and the corresponding grades of white pine west, and therefore there is no competition between the poor grades of the two woods. The annual demand for sugar and white pine east of the Rocky Mountains is probably represented as an average in Illinois, where 2,000,000 feet of the former and 175,000,000 of the latter are used yearly.While there is a large amount of mature sugar pine ready for lumbermen, the prospect of future supplies from new growth is not entirely satisfactory. The western yellow pine is mixed with it throughout most of its range, and is more than a match for it in taking possession of vacant ground. It is inferred from this fact that the relative positions of the two species in future forests will change at the expense of sugar pine. It endures shade when small, and this enables it to obtain a start among other species; but as it increases in size it becomes intolerant of shade, and if it does not receive abundance of light it will not grow. A forest fire is nearly certain to kill the small sugar pines, but old trunks are protected by their thick bark. Few species have fewer natural enemies. Very small trees are occasionally attacked by mistletoe (Arceuthobium occidentale) and succumb or else are stunted in their growth.Mexican Pinon(Pinus cembroides) is known also as nut pine, pinon pine and stone-seed Mexican pinon. It is one of the smallest of the native pines of this country. The tree is fifteen or twenty feet high and a few inches in diameter, but in sheltered canyons in Arizona it sometimes attains a height of fifty or sixty feet witha corresponding diameter. It reaches its best development in northern Mexico and what is found of it in the United States is the species’ extreme northern extension, in Arizona and New Mexico at altitudes usually above 6,000 feet. It supplies fuel in districts where firewood is otherwise scarce, and it has a small place as ranch timber. The wood is heavy, of slow growth, the summerwood thin and dense. The resin passages are few and small; color, light, clear yellow, the sapwood nearly white. If the tree stood in regions well-forested with commercial species, it would possess little or no value; but where wood is scarce, it has considerable value. The hardshell nuts resemble those of the gray pine, but are considered more valuable for food. They are not of much importance in the United States, but in Mexico where the trees are more abundant and the population denser, the nuts are bought and sold in large quantities. Its leaves are in clusters of three, sometimes two. They are one inch or more in length, and fall the third and fourth years. Cones are seldom over two inches in length. The species is not extending its range, but seems to be holding the ground it already has. It bears abundance of seeds, but not one in ten thousand germinates and becomes a mature tree.Sugar pine branch

This is the largest pine of the United States, and probably is the largest true pine in the world. Its rival, the Kauri pine of New Zealand, is not a pine according to the classification of botanists; and that leaves the sugar pine supreme, as far as the world has been explored. David Douglas, the first to describe the species, reported a tree eighteen feet in diameter and 245 feet high, in southern Oregon. No tree of similar size has been reported since; but trunks six, ten, and even twelve feet through, and more than 200 high are not rare.

The range of sugar pine extends from southern Oregon to lower California. Through California it follows the Sierra Nevada mountains in a comparatively narrow belt. In Oregon it descends within 1,000 feet of sea level, but the lower limit of its range gradually rises as it follows the mountains southward, until in southern California it is 8,000 or 10,000 feet above the sea. Its choice of situation is in the mountain belt where the annual precipitation is forty inches or more. The deep winter snows of the Sierras do not hurt it. The young trees bear abundant limbs covering the trunks nearly or quite to the ground, and are of perfect conical shape. When they are ten or fifteen feet tall they may be entirely covered in snow which accumulates to a depth of a dozen feet or more. The little pines are seldom injured by the load, but their limbs shed the snow until it covers the highest twig. The consequence is that a crooked sugar pine trunk is seldom seen, though a considerable part of the tree’s youth may have been spent under tons of snow. Later in life the lower limbs die and drop, leaving clean boles which assure abundance of clear lumber in the years to come.

The tree is nearly always known as sugar pine, though it may be called big pine or great pine to distinguish it from firs, cedars, and other softwoods with which it is associated. The name is due to a product resembling sugar which exudes from the heartwood when the tree has been injured by fires, and which dries in white, brittle excrescences on the surface. Its taste is sweet, with a suggestion of pitch which is not unpleasant. The principle has been named “pinite.”

The needles of sugar pine are in clusters of five and are about four inches long. They are deciduous the second and third years. The cones are longer than cones of any other pine of this country but those of the Coulter pine are a little heavier. Extreme length of 22 inches for the sugar pine cone has been recorded, but the average is from 12 to 15 inches. Cones open, shed their seeds the second year, and fall the third.The seeds resemble lentils, and are provided with wings which carry them several hundred feet, if wind is favorable. This affords excellent opportunities for reproduction; but there is an offset in the sweetness of the seeds which are prized for food by birds, beasts and creeping things from the Piute Indian down to the Douglas squirrel and the jumping mouse.

Sugar pine occupies a high place as a timber tree. It has been in use for half a century. The cut in 1900 was 52,000,000 feet, in 1904 it was 120,000,000; in 1907, 115,000,000, and the next year about 100,000,000. Ninety-three per cent of the cut is in California, the rest in Oregon. Its stand in California has been estimated at 25,000,000,000 feet.

The wood of sugar pine is a little lighter than eastern white pine, is a little weaker, and has less stiffness. It is soft, the rings of growth are wide, the bands of summerwood thin and resinous; the resin passages are numerous and very large, the medullary rays numerous and obscure. The heart is light brown, the sapwood nearly white.

Sugar pine and redwood were the two early roofing woods in California, and both are still much used for that purpose. Sugar pine was made into sawed shingles and split shakes. The shingle is a mill product; but the shake was rived with mallet and frow, and in the years when it was the great roofing material in central and eastern California, the shake makers camped by twos in the forest, lived principally on bacon and red beans, and split out from 200,000 to 400,000 shakes as a summer’s work. The winter snows drove the workers from the mountains, with from eight to twelve hundred dollars in their pockets for the season’s work.

The increase in stumpage price has practically killed the shake maker’s business. In the palmy days when most everything went, he procured his timber for little or nothing. He sometimes failed to find the surveyor’s lines, particularly if there happened to be a fine sugar pine just across on a government quarter section. His method of operation was wasteful. He used only the best of the tree. If the grain happened to twist the fraction of an inch, he abandoned the fallen trunk, and cut another. The shakes were split very thin, for sugar pine is among the most cleavable woods of this country. Four or five good trees provided the shake maker’s camp with material for a year’s work.

Some of the earliest sawmills in California cut sugar pine for sheds, shacks, sluiceboxes, flumes among the mines; and almost immediately a demand came from the agricultural and stock districts for lumber. From that day until the present time the sugar pine mills have been busy. As the demand has grown, the facilities for meeting it have increased. The prevailing size of the timber forbade the use of smallmills. A saw large enough for most eastern and southern timbers would not slab a sugar pine log. From four to six feet were common sizes, and the lumberman despised anything small.

In late years sugar pine operators have looked beyond the local markets, and have been sending their lumber to practically every state in the Union, except probably the extreme South. It comes in direct competition with the white pine of New England and the Lake States. The two woods have many points of resemblance. The white pine would probably have lost no markets to the California wood if the best grades could still be had at moderate prices; but most of the white pine region has been stripped of its best timber, and the resulting scarcity in the high grades has been, in part, made good by sugar pine. Some manufacturers of doors and frames claim that sugar pine is more satisfactory than white pine, because of better behavior under climatic changes. It is said to shrink, swell, and warp less than the eastern wood.

Sugar pine has displaced white pine to a very small extent only, in comparison with the field still held by the eastern wood, whose annual output is about thirty times that of the California species. Their uses are practically the same except that only the good grades of sugar pine go east, and the corresponding grades of white pine west, and therefore there is no competition between the poor grades of the two woods. The annual demand for sugar and white pine east of the Rocky Mountains is probably represented as an average in Illinois, where 2,000,000 feet of the former and 175,000,000 of the latter are used yearly.

While there is a large amount of mature sugar pine ready for lumbermen, the prospect of future supplies from new growth is not entirely satisfactory. The western yellow pine is mixed with it throughout most of its range, and is more than a match for it in taking possession of vacant ground. It is inferred from this fact that the relative positions of the two species in future forests will change at the expense of sugar pine. It endures shade when small, and this enables it to obtain a start among other species; but as it increases in size it becomes intolerant of shade, and if it does not receive abundance of light it will not grow. A forest fire is nearly certain to kill the small sugar pines, but old trunks are protected by their thick bark. Few species have fewer natural enemies. Very small trees are occasionally attacked by mistletoe (Arceuthobium occidentale) and succumb or else are stunted in their growth.

Mexican Pinon(Pinus cembroides) is known also as nut pine, pinon pine and stone-seed Mexican pinon. It is one of the smallest of the native pines of this country. The tree is fifteen or twenty feet high and a few inches in diameter, but in sheltered canyons in Arizona it sometimes attains a height of fifty or sixty feet witha corresponding diameter. It reaches its best development in northern Mexico and what is found of it in the United States is the species’ extreme northern extension, in Arizona and New Mexico at altitudes usually above 6,000 feet. It supplies fuel in districts where firewood is otherwise scarce, and it has a small place as ranch timber. The wood is heavy, of slow growth, the summerwood thin and dense. The resin passages are few and small; color, light, clear yellow, the sapwood nearly white. If the tree stood in regions well-forested with commercial species, it would possess little or no value; but where wood is scarce, it has considerable value. The hardshell nuts resemble those of the gray pine, but are considered more valuable for food. They are not of much importance in the United States, but in Mexico where the trees are more abundant and the population denser, the nuts are bought and sold in large quantities. Its leaves are in clusters of three, sometimes two. They are one inch or more in length, and fall the third and fourth years. Cones are seldom over two inches in length. The species is not extending its range, but seems to be holding the ground it already has. It bears abundance of seeds, but not one in ten thousand germinates and becomes a mature tree.

Sugar pine branch

WHITEBARK PINEWhitebark pineWhitebark Pine

Whitebark pineWhitebark Pine

Whitebark Pine

WHITEBARK PINE(Pinus Albicaulis)This interesting and peculiar pine has a number of names, most of which are descriptive. The whiteness of the bark and the stunted and recumbent position which the tree assumes on bleak mountains are referred to in the names whitestem pine in California and Montana, scrub pine in Montana, whitebark in Oregon, white in California, and elsewhere it is creeping pine, whitebark pine, and alpine whitebark pine. It is a mountain tree. There are few heights within its range which it cannot reach. Its tough, prostrate branches, in its loftiest situations, may whip snow banks nine or ten months of the year, and for the two or three months of summer every starry night deposits its sprinkle of frost upon the flowers or cones of this persistent tree. It stands the storms of centuries, and lives on, though the whole period of its existence is a battle for life under adverse circumstances. At lower altitudes it fares better but does not live longer than on the most sterile peak. Its range covers 500,000 square miles, but only in scattered groups. It touches the high places only, creeping down to altitudes of 5,000 or 6,000 feet in the northern Rocky Mountains. It grows from British Columbia to southern California, and is found in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, and California. Its associates are the mountain climbers of the tree kingdom, Engelmann spruce, Lyall larch, limber pine, alpine fir, foxtail pine, Rocky Mountain juniper, knobcone pine, and western juniper. Its dark green needles, stout and rigid, are from one and one-half to two and one-half inches long. They hang on the twigs from five to eight years. In July the scarlet flowers appear, forming a beautiful contrast with the white bark and the green needles. In August the seeds are ripe. The cones are from one and one-half to three inches long. The seeds are nearly half an inch long, sweet to the taste. The few squirrels and birds which inhabit the inhospitable region where the whitebark pine grows, get busy the moment the cones open, and few escape. Nature seems to have played a prank on this pine by giving wings to the seeds and rendering their use impossible. The wing is stuck fast with resin to the cone scales, and the seed can escape only by tearing its wing off. The heavy nut then falls plumb to the ground beneath the branches of its parent. It might be supposed that a tree situated as the whitebark pine is would be provided with ample means of seedflight in order to afford wide distribution, and give opportunity to survive the hardships which are imposed by surroundings; but such is not the case. The willow and the cottonwoodwhich grow in fertile valleys have the means of scattering their seeds miles away; but this bleak mountain tree must drop its seeds on the rocks beneath. In this instance, nature seems more interested in depositing the pine nuts where the hungry squirrels can get them, than in furnishing a planting place for the nuts themselves—therefore, tears off their wings before they leave the cone. The battle for existence begins before the seeds germinate, and the struggle never ceases. The tree, in parts of its range, survives a temperature sixty degrees below zero. Its seedlings frequently perish, not from cold and drought, but because the wind thrashes them against the rocks which wear them to pieces. Trees which survive on the great heights are apt to assume strange and fantastic forms, with less resemblance to trees than to great, green spiders sprawling over the rocks. Trees 500 years old may not be five feet high. Deep snows hold them flat to the rocks so much of the time that the limbs cannot lift themselves during the few summer days, but grow like vines. The growth is so exceedingly slow that the new wood on the tips of twigs at the end of summer is a mere point of yellow. John Muir, with a magnifying glass, counted seventy-five annual rings in a twig one-eighth of an inch in diameter. Trunks three and one-half inches in diameter may be 225 years old; one of six inches had 426 rings; while a seventeen-inch trunk was 800 years old, and less than six feet high. Such a tree has a spread of branches thirty or forty feet across. They lie flat on the ground. Wild sheep, deer, bear, and other wild animals know how to shelter themselves beneath the prostrate branches by creeping under; and travelers, overtaken by storms, sometimes do the same; or in good weather the sheepherder or the hunter may spread his blankets on the mass of limbs, boughs, and needles, and spend a comfortable night on a springy couch—actually sleeping in a tree top within two feet of the ground. In regions lower down, the whitebark pine reaches respectable tree form. Fence posts are sometimes cut from it in the Mono basin, east of the Sierra Nevada mountains. In the Nez Perce National Forest trees forty feet high have merchantable lengths of twenty-four feet. Similar growth is found in other regions. In its best growth, the wood of whitebark pine resembles that of white pine. It is light, of about the same strength as white pine, but more brittle. The annual rings are very narrow; the small resin passages are numerous. The sapwood is very thin and is nearly white. Men can never greatly assist or hinder this tree. It will continue to occupy heights and elevated valleys.Bristlecone Pine(Pinus aristata) owes its name to the sharp bristles on the tips of the cone scales. It is known also as foxtail pine and hickory pine. The latter name is given, not because of toughness,but on account of the whiteness of the sapwood. It is strictly a high mountain tree, running up to the timber line at 12,000 feet, and seldom occurring below 6,000 or 7,000 feet. It maintains its existence under adverse circumstances, its home being on dry, stony ridges, cold and stormy in winter, and subject to excessive drought during the brief growing season. Trees of large trunks and fine forms are impossible under such conditions. The bristlecone pine’s bole is short, tapers rapidly and is excessively knotty. The species reaches its best development in Colorado. Though it is seldom sawed for lumber, it is of much importance in many localities where better material is scarce. In central Nevada many valuable mines were developed and worked by using the wood for props and fuel. Charcoal made of it was particularly important in that region, and it was carried long distances to supply blacksmith shops in mining camps. Railways have made some use of it for ties. Though rough, it is liked for fence posts. The resin in the wood assists in resisting decay, and posts last many years in the dry regions where the tree grows. Ranchmen among the high mountains build corrals, pens, sheds, and fences of it; but the fibers of the wood are so twisted and involved that splitting is nearly impossible, and round timbers only are employed. The bristlecone pine can never be more important in the country’s lumber supply than it is now. It occupies waste land where no other tree grows, and it crowds out nothing better than itself. It clings to stony peaks and wind-swept ridges where the ungainly trunks are welcome to the traveler, miner, or sheepherder who is in need of a shed to shelter him, or a fire for his night camp. In situations exposed to great cold and drying winds, the bristlecone pine is a shrub, with little suggestion of a tree, further than its green foliage and small cones. The needles are in clusters of five. They cling to the twigs for ten or fifteen years. The seeds are scattered about the first of October, and the wind carries them hundreds of feet. They take root in soil so sterile that no humus is visible. Young trees and the small twigs of old ones present a peculiar appearance. The bark is chalky white, but when the trees are old the bark becomes red or brown.Foxtail Pine(Pinus balfouriana) owes its name to the clustering of its needles round the ends of the branches, bristling like a fox’s tail. The needles are seldom more than one and one-half inches in length, and are in clusters of fives. They cling to the branches ten or fifteen years before falling. The cones are about three inches long, and are armed with slender spines. The tree is strictly a mountain species and grows at a higher altitude than any other tree in the United States, although whitebark pine is not much behind it. It reaches its best development near Mt. Whitney, California, where it is said to grow at an altitude of 15,000 feet above sea level. It has been officially reported at Farewell Gap, in the Sierra Nevada mountains, at an altitude of 13,000. At high altitudes it is scrubby and distorted, but inmore favorable situations it may be sixty feet high and two in diameter. On high mountains it is generally not more than thirty feet high and ten inches in diameter. It is of remarkably slow growth, and comparatively small trees may be 200 or 300 years old. The wood is moderately light, is soft, weak, brittle. Resin passages are few and very small. The wood is satiny and susceptible of a good polish, and would be valuable if abundant. The seeds are winged and the wind scatters them widely, but most of them are lost on barren rocks or drifts of eternal snow. The untoward circumstances under which the tree must live prevent generous reproduction. It holds its own but can gain no new foothold on the bleak and barren heights which form its environment. The dark green of its foliage makes the belts of foxtail pines conspicuous where they grow above the timber line of nearly all other trees. Its range is confined to a few of the highest mountains of California, particularly about (but not on) Mt. Shasta and among the clusters of peaks about the sources of Kings and Kern rivers. Those who travel and camp among the highest mountains of California are often indebted to foxtail pine for their fuel. Near the upper limit of its range it frequently dies at the top, and stands stripped of bark for many years. The dead wood, which frequently is not higher above the ground than a man’s head, is broken away by campers for fuel, and it is often the only resource.Whitebark pine branch

This interesting and peculiar pine has a number of names, most of which are descriptive. The whiteness of the bark and the stunted and recumbent position which the tree assumes on bleak mountains are referred to in the names whitestem pine in California and Montana, scrub pine in Montana, whitebark in Oregon, white in California, and elsewhere it is creeping pine, whitebark pine, and alpine whitebark pine. It is a mountain tree. There are few heights within its range which it cannot reach. Its tough, prostrate branches, in its loftiest situations, may whip snow banks nine or ten months of the year, and for the two or three months of summer every starry night deposits its sprinkle of frost upon the flowers or cones of this persistent tree. It stands the storms of centuries, and lives on, though the whole period of its existence is a battle for life under adverse circumstances. At lower altitudes it fares better but does not live longer than on the most sterile peak. Its range covers 500,000 square miles, but only in scattered groups. It touches the high places only, creeping down to altitudes of 5,000 or 6,000 feet in the northern Rocky Mountains. It grows from British Columbia to southern California, and is found in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, and California. Its associates are the mountain climbers of the tree kingdom, Engelmann spruce, Lyall larch, limber pine, alpine fir, foxtail pine, Rocky Mountain juniper, knobcone pine, and western juniper. Its dark green needles, stout and rigid, are from one and one-half to two and one-half inches long. They hang on the twigs from five to eight years. In July the scarlet flowers appear, forming a beautiful contrast with the white bark and the green needles. In August the seeds are ripe. The cones are from one and one-half to three inches long. The seeds are nearly half an inch long, sweet to the taste. The few squirrels and birds which inhabit the inhospitable region where the whitebark pine grows, get busy the moment the cones open, and few escape. Nature seems to have played a prank on this pine by giving wings to the seeds and rendering their use impossible. The wing is stuck fast with resin to the cone scales, and the seed can escape only by tearing its wing off. The heavy nut then falls plumb to the ground beneath the branches of its parent. It might be supposed that a tree situated as the whitebark pine is would be provided with ample means of seedflight in order to afford wide distribution, and give opportunity to survive the hardships which are imposed by surroundings; but such is not the case. The willow and the cottonwoodwhich grow in fertile valleys have the means of scattering their seeds miles away; but this bleak mountain tree must drop its seeds on the rocks beneath. In this instance, nature seems more interested in depositing the pine nuts where the hungry squirrels can get them, than in furnishing a planting place for the nuts themselves—therefore, tears off their wings before they leave the cone. The battle for existence begins before the seeds germinate, and the struggle never ceases. The tree, in parts of its range, survives a temperature sixty degrees below zero. Its seedlings frequently perish, not from cold and drought, but because the wind thrashes them against the rocks which wear them to pieces. Trees which survive on the great heights are apt to assume strange and fantastic forms, with less resemblance to trees than to great, green spiders sprawling over the rocks. Trees 500 years old may not be five feet high. Deep snows hold them flat to the rocks so much of the time that the limbs cannot lift themselves during the few summer days, but grow like vines. The growth is so exceedingly slow that the new wood on the tips of twigs at the end of summer is a mere point of yellow. John Muir, with a magnifying glass, counted seventy-five annual rings in a twig one-eighth of an inch in diameter. Trunks three and one-half inches in diameter may be 225 years old; one of six inches had 426 rings; while a seventeen-inch trunk was 800 years old, and less than six feet high. Such a tree has a spread of branches thirty or forty feet across. They lie flat on the ground. Wild sheep, deer, bear, and other wild animals know how to shelter themselves beneath the prostrate branches by creeping under; and travelers, overtaken by storms, sometimes do the same; or in good weather the sheepherder or the hunter may spread his blankets on the mass of limbs, boughs, and needles, and spend a comfortable night on a springy couch—actually sleeping in a tree top within two feet of the ground. In regions lower down, the whitebark pine reaches respectable tree form. Fence posts are sometimes cut from it in the Mono basin, east of the Sierra Nevada mountains. In the Nez Perce National Forest trees forty feet high have merchantable lengths of twenty-four feet. Similar growth is found in other regions. In its best growth, the wood of whitebark pine resembles that of white pine. It is light, of about the same strength as white pine, but more brittle. The annual rings are very narrow; the small resin passages are numerous. The sapwood is very thin and is nearly white. Men can never greatly assist or hinder this tree. It will continue to occupy heights and elevated valleys.

Bristlecone Pine(Pinus aristata) owes its name to the sharp bristles on the tips of the cone scales. It is known also as foxtail pine and hickory pine. The latter name is given, not because of toughness,but on account of the whiteness of the sapwood. It is strictly a high mountain tree, running up to the timber line at 12,000 feet, and seldom occurring below 6,000 or 7,000 feet. It maintains its existence under adverse circumstances, its home being on dry, stony ridges, cold and stormy in winter, and subject to excessive drought during the brief growing season. Trees of large trunks and fine forms are impossible under such conditions. The bristlecone pine’s bole is short, tapers rapidly and is excessively knotty. The species reaches its best development in Colorado. Though it is seldom sawed for lumber, it is of much importance in many localities where better material is scarce. In central Nevada many valuable mines were developed and worked by using the wood for props and fuel. Charcoal made of it was particularly important in that region, and it was carried long distances to supply blacksmith shops in mining camps. Railways have made some use of it for ties. Though rough, it is liked for fence posts. The resin in the wood assists in resisting decay, and posts last many years in the dry regions where the tree grows. Ranchmen among the high mountains build corrals, pens, sheds, and fences of it; but the fibers of the wood are so twisted and involved that splitting is nearly impossible, and round timbers only are employed. The bristlecone pine can never be more important in the country’s lumber supply than it is now. It occupies waste land where no other tree grows, and it crowds out nothing better than itself. It clings to stony peaks and wind-swept ridges where the ungainly trunks are welcome to the traveler, miner, or sheepherder who is in need of a shed to shelter him, or a fire for his night camp. In situations exposed to great cold and drying winds, the bristlecone pine is a shrub, with little suggestion of a tree, further than its green foliage and small cones. The needles are in clusters of five. They cling to the twigs for ten or fifteen years. The seeds are scattered about the first of October, and the wind carries them hundreds of feet. They take root in soil so sterile that no humus is visible. Young trees and the small twigs of old ones present a peculiar appearance. The bark is chalky white, but when the trees are old the bark becomes red or brown.

Foxtail Pine(Pinus balfouriana) owes its name to the clustering of its needles round the ends of the branches, bristling like a fox’s tail. The needles are seldom more than one and one-half inches in length, and are in clusters of fives. They cling to the branches ten or fifteen years before falling. The cones are about three inches long, and are armed with slender spines. The tree is strictly a mountain species and grows at a higher altitude than any other tree in the United States, although whitebark pine is not much behind it. It reaches its best development near Mt. Whitney, California, where it is said to grow at an altitude of 15,000 feet above sea level. It has been officially reported at Farewell Gap, in the Sierra Nevada mountains, at an altitude of 13,000. At high altitudes it is scrubby and distorted, but inmore favorable situations it may be sixty feet high and two in diameter. On high mountains it is generally not more than thirty feet high and ten inches in diameter. It is of remarkably slow growth, and comparatively small trees may be 200 or 300 years old. The wood is moderately light, is soft, weak, brittle. Resin passages are few and very small. The wood is satiny and susceptible of a good polish, and would be valuable if abundant. The seeds are winged and the wind scatters them widely, but most of them are lost on barren rocks or drifts of eternal snow. The untoward circumstances under which the tree must live prevent generous reproduction. It holds its own but can gain no new foothold on the bleak and barren heights which form its environment. The dark green of its foliage makes the belts of foxtail pines conspicuous where they grow above the timber line of nearly all other trees. Its range is confined to a few of the highest mountains of California, particularly about (but not on) Mt. Shasta and among the clusters of peaks about the sources of Kings and Kern rivers. Those who travel and camp among the highest mountains of California are often indebted to foxtail pine for their fuel. Near the upper limit of its range it frequently dies at the top, and stands stripped of bark for many years. The dead wood, which frequently is not higher above the ground than a man’s head, is broken away by campers for fuel, and it is often the only resource.

Whitebark pine branch

LONGLEAF PINELongleaf pineLongleaf Pine

Longleaf pineLongleaf Pine

Longleaf Pine

LONGLEAF PINE(Pinus Palustris)Longleaf is generally considered to be the most important member of the group of hard or pitch pines in this country[2]. It is known by many names in different parts of its range, and outside of its range where the wood is well known.[2]There is no precise agreement as to what should be included in the group of hard pines in the United States, but the following twenty-two are usually placed in that class: Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris), Shortleaf Pine (Pinus echinata), Loblolly Pine (Pinus tæda), Cuban Pine (Pinus heterophylla), Norway Pine (Pinus resinosa), Western Yellow Pine (Pinus ponderosa), Chihuahua Pine (Pinus chihuahuana), Arizona Pine (Pinus arizonica), Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida), Pond Pine (Pinus serotina), Spruce Pine (Pinus glabra), Monterey Pine (Pinus radiata), Knobcone Pine (Pinus attenuata), Gray Pine (Pinus sabiniana), Coulter Pine (Pinus coulteri), Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta), Jack Pine (Pinus divaricata), Scrub Pine (Pinus virginiana), Sand Pine (Pinus clausa), Table Mountain Pine (Pinus pungens), California Swamp Pine (Pinus muricata), Torry Pine (Pinus torreyana).The names southern pine, Georgia pine, and Florida pine are not well chosen, because there are other important pines in the regions named. Turpentine pine is a common term, but other species produce turpentine also, particularly the Cuban pine. Hard pine is much employed in reference to this tree, and it applies well, but it describes other species also. Heart pine is a lumberman’s term to distinguish this species from loblolly, shortleaf, and Cuban pines. The sapwood of the three last named is thick, the heartwood small, while in longleaf pine the sap is thin, the heart large, hence the name applied by lumbermen. In Tennessee where it is not a commercial forest tree, it is called brown pine, and in nearly all parts of the United States it is spoken of as yellow pine, usually with some adjective as “southern,” “Georgia,” or “longleaf.” The persistency with which Georgia is used as a portion of the name of this tree is due to the fact that extensive lumbering of the longleaf forests began in that state. The center of operations has since shifted to the West, and is now in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. The tree has many other names, among them being pitch pine and fat pine. These have reference to its value in the naval stores industry. The name longleaf pine is now well established in commercial transactions. It has longer leaves than any other pine in this country. They range in length from eight to eighteen inches. The needles of Cuban pine are from eight to twelve inches; loblolly’s are from six to nine; and those of shortleaf from three to five.Longleaf pine’s geographic range is more restricted than that ofloblolly and shortleaf, but larger than the range of Cuban pine. Longleaf occupies a belt from Virginia to Texas, following the tertiary sandy formation pretty closely. The belt seldom extends from the coast inland more than 125 miles. The tree runs south in Florida to Tampa bay. It disappears as it approaches the Mississippi, but reappears west of that river in Louisiana and Texas. Its western limit is near Trinity river, and its northern in that region is near the boundary between Louisiana and Arkansas.Longleaf attains a height of from sixty to ninety feet, but a few trees reach 130. The diameters of mature trunks range from one foot to three, usually less than two. The leaves grow three in a bundle, and fall at the end of the second year. They are arranged in thick, broom-like bunches on the ends of the twigs. It is a tree of slow growth compared with other pines of the region. Its characteristic narrow annual rings are usually sufficient to distinguish its logs and lumber from those of other southern yellow pines. Its thin sapwood likewise assists in identification. The proportionately high percentage of heartwood in longleaf pine makes it possible to saw lumber which shows little or no sapwood. It is difficult to do that with other southern pines.The wood is heavy, exceedingly hard for pine, very strong, tough, compact, durable, resinous, resin passages few, not conspicuous; medullary rays numerous, not conspicuous; color, light red or orange, the thin sapwood nearly white. The annual rings contain a large proportion of dark colored summerwood, which accounts for the great strength of longleaf pine timber. The contrast in color between the springwood and the summerwood is the basis of the figure of this pine which gives it much of its value as an interior finish material, including doors. The hardness of the summerwood provides the wearing qualities of flooring and paving blocks. The coloring matter in the body of the wood protects it against decay for a longer period than most other pines. This, in connection with its hardness and strength, gives it high standing for railroad ties, bridges, trestles, and other structures exposed to weather.Longleaf pine is as widely used as any softwood in this country. It serves with hardwoods for a number of purposes. It has been a timber of commerce since an early period, and was exported from the south Atlantic coast long before the Revolutionary war; but it was later than that when it came into keen competition with the Riga pine of northern Europe. It has since held its own in the European markets, and its trade has extended to many other foreign countries, particularly to the republics of South and Central America, Mexico, and the West Indies.It did not attain an important position in the commerce of thiscountry until after the Civil war, but it had a place in shipbuilding before that time, and it has held that place. The builders of cars employ large quantities for frames and other parts of gondolas, box cars, and coaches. Over 175,000,000 feet were so used in 1909 in Illinois. It is the leading car building timber in this country. Its great strength, hardness, and stiffness give it that place.It is scarcely less important as an interior wood for house finish. It is not so much its strength as its beauty that recommends it for that purpose. Its beauty is due to a combination of figure and color. Splendid variety is possible by carefully selecting the material. Manufacturers of furniture, fixtures, and vehicles are large users of longleaf pine. In these lines its chief value is due to strength.In the naval stores industry in this country, it is more important than all other species combined. For a century and a half it has supplied this country and much of the rest of the world. The principal commodities made from the resin of this tree are spirits of turpentine and rosin. These two articles are produced by distilling the resin which exudes from wounds in the tree. The distillate is spirits of turpentine, the residue is rosin. The manufacture of naval stores has destroyed tens of thousands of trees in the past; but better methods are now in use and loss is less. Georgia and South Carolina were once the center of naval stores production; but it has now moved to Louisiana and Florida.The supply of longleaf pine has rapidly decreased during the past twenty years, and though the end is not yet at hand, it is approaching. Young trees are not coming on to take the place of those cut for lumber. They grow slowly at best, and a new forest could not be produced in less than a hundred years. Both protection and care have been lacking. Fire usually kills seedlings in their first or second year. The result is that many extensive tracts where longleaf pine once grew in abundance have few young and scarcely any old trees now. As far as can be foreseen, this valuable timber will reach its end when existing stands have been cut.Cuban Pine(Pinus heterophylla). The Cuban pine has several local names; slash pine in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi; swamp pine in Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi; meadow pine in Florida and Mississippi; pitch pine in Florida; and spruce pine in Alabama. Its range is confined to the coast region from South Carolina to Louisiana, from sixty to one hundred miles inland. It is the only pine in the extreme south of Florida. The wood is heavy, hard, very strong, tough, compact, durable, resinous, the resin passages few but conspicuous, rich dark orange color, the sapwood often nearly white. The annualring is usually more than half dark colored summerwood. The Cuban pine grows rapidly, quickly appropriates vacant ground, and the species is spreading. Its needles, from eight to twelve inches long, fall the second year. The wood possesses nearly the strength, hardness, and stiffness of longleaf pine, and the trunks are as large. The two woods which are so similar in other respects differ in figure, owing to the wider annual rings of the Cuban pine. The sapwood of the latter species greatly exceeds in thickness that of longleaf pine. For that reason it is often mistaken for loblolly pine. Cuban pine never goes to market under its own name, but is mixed with and passes for one of the other southern yellow pines.Sand Pine(Pinus clausa). This tree is generally twenty or thirty feet high, and eight or twelve inches in diameter. Under favorable conditions it attains a height of sixty or eighty feet and a diameter of two. The leaves are two or three inches long, and fall the third and fourth years. Its range is almost wholly in Florida but extends a little over the northern border. It grows as far south as Tampa on the west coast, and nearly to Miami on the east. It is not much cut for lumber because of its small size and generally short, limby trunk. In a few localities shapely boles are developed, and serviceable lumber is made. It is a poor-land tree, as its name implies. The cones adhere to the branches many years, and may be partly enclosed in the growing wood.Longleaf pine branch

Longleaf is generally considered to be the most important member of the group of hard or pitch pines in this country[2]. It is known by many names in different parts of its range, and outside of its range where the wood is well known.

[2]There is no precise agreement as to what should be included in the group of hard pines in the United States, but the following twenty-two are usually placed in that class: Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris), Shortleaf Pine (Pinus echinata), Loblolly Pine (Pinus tæda), Cuban Pine (Pinus heterophylla), Norway Pine (Pinus resinosa), Western Yellow Pine (Pinus ponderosa), Chihuahua Pine (Pinus chihuahuana), Arizona Pine (Pinus arizonica), Pitch Pine (Pinus rigida), Pond Pine (Pinus serotina), Spruce Pine (Pinus glabra), Monterey Pine (Pinus radiata), Knobcone Pine (Pinus attenuata), Gray Pine (Pinus sabiniana), Coulter Pine (Pinus coulteri), Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta), Jack Pine (Pinus divaricata), Scrub Pine (Pinus virginiana), Sand Pine (Pinus clausa), Table Mountain Pine (Pinus pungens), California Swamp Pine (Pinus muricata), Torry Pine (Pinus torreyana).

The names southern pine, Georgia pine, and Florida pine are not well chosen, because there are other important pines in the regions named. Turpentine pine is a common term, but other species produce turpentine also, particularly the Cuban pine. Hard pine is much employed in reference to this tree, and it applies well, but it describes other species also. Heart pine is a lumberman’s term to distinguish this species from loblolly, shortleaf, and Cuban pines. The sapwood of the three last named is thick, the heartwood small, while in longleaf pine the sap is thin, the heart large, hence the name applied by lumbermen. In Tennessee where it is not a commercial forest tree, it is called brown pine, and in nearly all parts of the United States it is spoken of as yellow pine, usually with some adjective as “southern,” “Georgia,” or “longleaf.” The persistency with which Georgia is used as a portion of the name of this tree is due to the fact that extensive lumbering of the longleaf forests began in that state. The center of operations has since shifted to the West, and is now in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. The tree has many other names, among them being pitch pine and fat pine. These have reference to its value in the naval stores industry. The name longleaf pine is now well established in commercial transactions. It has longer leaves than any other pine in this country. They range in length from eight to eighteen inches. The needles of Cuban pine are from eight to twelve inches; loblolly’s are from six to nine; and those of shortleaf from three to five.

Longleaf pine’s geographic range is more restricted than that ofloblolly and shortleaf, but larger than the range of Cuban pine. Longleaf occupies a belt from Virginia to Texas, following the tertiary sandy formation pretty closely. The belt seldom extends from the coast inland more than 125 miles. The tree runs south in Florida to Tampa bay. It disappears as it approaches the Mississippi, but reappears west of that river in Louisiana and Texas. Its western limit is near Trinity river, and its northern in that region is near the boundary between Louisiana and Arkansas.

Longleaf attains a height of from sixty to ninety feet, but a few trees reach 130. The diameters of mature trunks range from one foot to three, usually less than two. The leaves grow three in a bundle, and fall at the end of the second year. They are arranged in thick, broom-like bunches on the ends of the twigs. It is a tree of slow growth compared with other pines of the region. Its characteristic narrow annual rings are usually sufficient to distinguish its logs and lumber from those of other southern yellow pines. Its thin sapwood likewise assists in identification. The proportionately high percentage of heartwood in longleaf pine makes it possible to saw lumber which shows little or no sapwood. It is difficult to do that with other southern pines.

The wood is heavy, exceedingly hard for pine, very strong, tough, compact, durable, resinous, resin passages few, not conspicuous; medullary rays numerous, not conspicuous; color, light red or orange, the thin sapwood nearly white. The annual rings contain a large proportion of dark colored summerwood, which accounts for the great strength of longleaf pine timber. The contrast in color between the springwood and the summerwood is the basis of the figure of this pine which gives it much of its value as an interior finish material, including doors. The hardness of the summerwood provides the wearing qualities of flooring and paving blocks. The coloring matter in the body of the wood protects it against decay for a longer period than most other pines. This, in connection with its hardness and strength, gives it high standing for railroad ties, bridges, trestles, and other structures exposed to weather.

Longleaf pine is as widely used as any softwood in this country. It serves with hardwoods for a number of purposes. It has been a timber of commerce since an early period, and was exported from the south Atlantic coast long before the Revolutionary war; but it was later than that when it came into keen competition with the Riga pine of northern Europe. It has since held its own in the European markets, and its trade has extended to many other foreign countries, particularly to the republics of South and Central America, Mexico, and the West Indies.

It did not attain an important position in the commerce of thiscountry until after the Civil war, but it had a place in shipbuilding before that time, and it has held that place. The builders of cars employ large quantities for frames and other parts of gondolas, box cars, and coaches. Over 175,000,000 feet were so used in 1909 in Illinois. It is the leading car building timber in this country. Its great strength, hardness, and stiffness give it that place.

It is scarcely less important as an interior wood for house finish. It is not so much its strength as its beauty that recommends it for that purpose. Its beauty is due to a combination of figure and color. Splendid variety is possible by carefully selecting the material. Manufacturers of furniture, fixtures, and vehicles are large users of longleaf pine. In these lines its chief value is due to strength.

In the naval stores industry in this country, it is more important than all other species combined. For a century and a half it has supplied this country and much of the rest of the world. The principal commodities made from the resin of this tree are spirits of turpentine and rosin. These two articles are produced by distilling the resin which exudes from wounds in the tree. The distillate is spirits of turpentine, the residue is rosin. The manufacture of naval stores has destroyed tens of thousands of trees in the past; but better methods are now in use and loss is less. Georgia and South Carolina were once the center of naval stores production; but it has now moved to Louisiana and Florida.

The supply of longleaf pine has rapidly decreased during the past twenty years, and though the end is not yet at hand, it is approaching. Young trees are not coming on to take the place of those cut for lumber. They grow slowly at best, and a new forest could not be produced in less than a hundred years. Both protection and care have been lacking. Fire usually kills seedlings in their first or second year. The result is that many extensive tracts where longleaf pine once grew in abundance have few young and scarcely any old trees now. As far as can be foreseen, this valuable timber will reach its end when existing stands have been cut.

Cuban Pine(Pinus heterophylla). The Cuban pine has several local names; slash pine in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi; swamp pine in Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi; meadow pine in Florida and Mississippi; pitch pine in Florida; and spruce pine in Alabama. Its range is confined to the coast region from South Carolina to Louisiana, from sixty to one hundred miles inland. It is the only pine in the extreme south of Florida. The wood is heavy, hard, very strong, tough, compact, durable, resinous, the resin passages few but conspicuous, rich dark orange color, the sapwood often nearly white. The annualring is usually more than half dark colored summerwood. The Cuban pine grows rapidly, quickly appropriates vacant ground, and the species is spreading. Its needles, from eight to twelve inches long, fall the second year. The wood possesses nearly the strength, hardness, and stiffness of longleaf pine, and the trunks are as large. The two woods which are so similar in other respects differ in figure, owing to the wider annual rings of the Cuban pine. The sapwood of the latter species greatly exceeds in thickness that of longleaf pine. For that reason it is often mistaken for loblolly pine. Cuban pine never goes to market under its own name, but is mixed with and passes for one of the other southern yellow pines.

Sand Pine(Pinus clausa). This tree is generally twenty or thirty feet high, and eight or twelve inches in diameter. Under favorable conditions it attains a height of sixty or eighty feet and a diameter of two. The leaves are two or three inches long, and fall the third and fourth years. Its range is almost wholly in Florida but extends a little over the northern border. It grows as far south as Tampa on the west coast, and nearly to Miami on the east. It is not much cut for lumber because of its small size and generally short, limby trunk. In a few localities shapely boles are developed, and serviceable lumber is made. It is a poor-land tree, as its name implies. The cones adhere to the branches many years, and may be partly enclosed in the growing wood.

Longleaf pine branch

SHORTLEAF PINEShortleaf pineShortleaf Pine

Shortleaf pineShortleaf Pine

Shortleaf Pine

SHORTLEAF PINE(Pinus Echinata)In the markets the lumber of this species is known as yellow pine, southern yellow pine, and sap pine, and in some localities the term shortleaf is used. The latter is descriptive, and can be easily understood when reference is made to the living tree, because its short needles distinguish it from its associates in the pine forest; but in speaking of lumber only, the reference to the leaves has less meaning, particularly to one who is not acquainted with the tree’s appearance. Its wood so closely resembles that of Cuban and loblolly pine that they are not easily distinguished by sight alone. In the East the name Carolina pine or North Carolina pine is much used, but it is not often heard west of the Allegheny mountains. Referring to the manner and locality of its growth it is called slash pine in North Carolina and Virginia, old-field pine in Alabama and Mississippi, and poor-field pine in Florida. Its tendency to take possession of abandoned ground has given it these names. It is occasionally called pitch pine in Missouri. That name would not distinguish it in most parts of the South where several species of pitch pine grow. In some regions it is known as spruce pine, but the name is not based on any characteristic of the living tree or of its wood. In North Carolina and Alabama, and in literature, it is sometimes known as rosemary pine, but that name applies rather to fine timber cut from any southern yellow pine, than to this species in particular. In Delaware it is known as shortshat and in Virginia as bull pine. To those who are familiar with the tree’s appearance, the name shortleaf pine is most accurate in definition.The commercial range of shortleaf pine has contracted to a considerable extent since the settlement of the country. It once grew as far north as Albany, New York, and from fifty to a hundred years ago it was lumbered in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia in regions where it has now ceased to exist, or is found only as scattered trees. Its geographical range is now usually given from New York to Florida, west to Missouri and Oklahoma and northeastern Texas. It is important in lumber operations in North Carolina and southward, and westward to the limits of its range. The tree reaches its largest size and attains its finest stands west of the Mississippi river. In average size it exceeds longleaf pine. It may reach a height above 100 feet and a trunk diameter of three or four. Squared timbers of large size were formerly exported from Virginia and North Carolina. Similar sizes cannot now be procured there.Shortleaf pine varies greatly in the quality and amount of sapwood. It is normally a thick sap tree, but midway between loblolly and longleaf. The young tree increases rapidly in size until it is from six to ten inches in diameter, and the yearly rings are wide. The rate of growth then decreases and during the rest of its life the rings are narrow. This feature is often of assistance in identifying southern yellow pine logs or large timbers which contain the heart and also the sap. Wide rings near the heart, followed by narrow ones, and a thick sapwood are pretty good evidence that the timber—if a southern yellow pine—is shortleaf pine. The rule is not absolute; for a high authority on timber has said that no infallible rule can be laid down for distinguishing by sight alone the woods of the four southern yellow pines—longleaf, shortleaf, Cuban, and loblolly.The wood of shortleaf pine is strong, heavy, hard, and compact; very resinous, resin passages large and numerous; medullary rays numerous, conspicuous; color, orange, the sapwood nearly white. The thoroughly seasoned wood weighs thirty-eight pounds per cubic foot. It is about five pounds heavier than loblolly pine, five pounds lighter than longleaf, and nearly nine pounds lighter than Cuban pine. There is so great a variation in weight of shortleaf pine that only general averages have value.Shortleaf pine is not as strong as longleaf, and is not so extensively employed in heavy structural work, but in certain other lines it has the advantage of longleaf. It is softer, and door and sash makers like it better. It is easier to work, and when manufactured into doors and interior finish many consider it superior to longleaf. The wide rings of annual growth in the heartwood show fine contrast in color, and when these are developed by stains and fillers, the grain or figure of the wood is very pleasing. Where hardness is not an essential, it is much used for floors. It is in great demand by builders of freight cars, but less for frames and heavy beams than for siding and decking. Car builders in Illinois bought 77,000,000 feet of it in 1909. That was nearly half of the entire quantity of this wood used in the state. The second largest users in Illinois were manufacturers of sash, doors, blinds, and general millwork. If the whole country is considered, this is probably the largest use of the wood. Makers of boxes and crates in the South employ large quantities.The depletion of shortleaf forests has progressed rapidly, but in the absence of reliable statistics it is impossible to give figures by decades or years. In 1880 an estimate placed the amount west of the Mississippi at 95,000,000,000 feet. That was probably less than half of the country’s supply at that time. In 1911 the Commissioner of Corporations estimatedthat the combined remaining stand of loblolly and shortleaf pine in the South was 152,000,000,000 feet. It is doubtful if half of it was shortleaf. In that case, there was less shortleaf pine in the entire South in 1911 than there was west of the Mississippi river thirty years before.Rapid decrease in total stand of a species does not necessarily imply exhaustion. The cut will fall off as scarcity pinches. In the case of shortleaf pine, an influence is active which will bring good results in the future. This pine reproduces with vigor. Its small triangular seeds are equipped with wings which carry them into vacant areas where they quickly germinate if they fall on mineral soil. The seedling trees suffer much from fire, but their power of resistance is fairly good, and dense new growth is coming on in many localities. A good many years are required to bring a seedling to maturity, but it will reach sawlog size sometime, and there is no question but that the market will welcome it.The shortleaf pine is peculiar among eastern softwoods in one respect. Stumps will sprout. That occurs oftener west of the Mississippi than east. However, the tree’s ability to send up sprouts from the stump is of little practical value, since the sprouts seldom or never develop into merchantable trees. In that respect it differs from the other well-known sprouting softwood of this country, the California redwood, whose numerous sprouts grow into large trunks.Spruce Pine(Pinus glabra). This is one of the softest and the whitest of the hard pines of this country. Nothing but its scarcity stands in the way of its becoming an important timber tree. The best of it is a satisfactory substitute for white pine in the manufacture of doors. It grows rapidly, and the wide rings contain a high percentage of light colored springwood, though there is enough summerwood of darker color to give the dressed lumber a character. It weighs about the same as northern white pine, but is weaker. In South Carolina and Florida it is called white pine, but the name spruce is more general. It is known also as kingstree, poor pine, Walter’s pine, and lowland spruce pine. Its range is restricted to southern South Carolina, northern Florida and southern Alabama and Mississippi, and northeastern Louisiana. Its leaves are from one and a half to three inches in length, grow two in a bundle, and fall the second and third years. Large and well-formed trunks attain a height of from eighty to 100 feet and a diameter from two to nearly three. It reaches its best development in northwestern Florida, and its light, symmetrical trunks have long been in use there as masts for small vessels. It is too scarce to attract much attention from lumbermen, but they are well acquainted with its good qualities, and some of them take pains to keep the lumber separate from associated pines, and sell it to manufacturers of doors and interior finish. The barkbears considerable resemblance to spruce, which probably accounts for the name of the tree.Table Mountain Pine(Pinus pungens). The French botanist, Michaux the younger, has been criticized for the statement which he made more than a hundred years ago that this species was confined to a certain flat-topped mountain in the southern Appalachian ranges, and he called it table mountain pine. It lacked much of being confined within the narrow limits where it was discovered. It grows in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia. Its other names are prickly pine, hickory pine, and southern mountain pine. It supplies timber in all parts of its range, but, except in very restricted localities, it is not abundant. The lumber in the market is seldom distinguished from other pines, but some of the Tennessee mills sell it separately to local customers. The wood is medium light, rather strong (about likePinus rigida, or pitch pine, which it resembles in other respects), is less stiff than white pine, and is resinous. The thick sapwood is nearly white, the heartwood brown. It is not a durable timber in contact with the ground. Its fuel value is low. Its needles grow in clusters of two, and are generally less than two inches long. The cones which are in clusters of from three to eight, and from two to three and a half inches long, are armed with stout, curved hooks. The cones shed their seeds irregularly during two or three years, and sometimes hang on the trees for twenty years. In open ground this pine occasionally produces fertile seeds when only a few feet high. Its forest form and open-ground form are quite different. In thick woods the tree is tall, with good bole, but in open ground it is only twenty or thirty feet high, and is covered with limbs almost to the ground.Shortleaf pine branch

In the markets the lumber of this species is known as yellow pine, southern yellow pine, and sap pine, and in some localities the term shortleaf is used. The latter is descriptive, and can be easily understood when reference is made to the living tree, because its short needles distinguish it from its associates in the pine forest; but in speaking of lumber only, the reference to the leaves has less meaning, particularly to one who is not acquainted with the tree’s appearance. Its wood so closely resembles that of Cuban and loblolly pine that they are not easily distinguished by sight alone. In the East the name Carolina pine or North Carolina pine is much used, but it is not often heard west of the Allegheny mountains. Referring to the manner and locality of its growth it is called slash pine in North Carolina and Virginia, old-field pine in Alabama and Mississippi, and poor-field pine in Florida. Its tendency to take possession of abandoned ground has given it these names. It is occasionally called pitch pine in Missouri. That name would not distinguish it in most parts of the South where several species of pitch pine grow. In some regions it is known as spruce pine, but the name is not based on any characteristic of the living tree or of its wood. In North Carolina and Alabama, and in literature, it is sometimes known as rosemary pine, but that name applies rather to fine timber cut from any southern yellow pine, than to this species in particular. In Delaware it is known as shortshat and in Virginia as bull pine. To those who are familiar with the tree’s appearance, the name shortleaf pine is most accurate in definition.

The commercial range of shortleaf pine has contracted to a considerable extent since the settlement of the country. It once grew as far north as Albany, New York, and from fifty to a hundred years ago it was lumbered in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia in regions where it has now ceased to exist, or is found only as scattered trees. Its geographical range is now usually given from New York to Florida, west to Missouri and Oklahoma and northeastern Texas. It is important in lumber operations in North Carolina and southward, and westward to the limits of its range. The tree reaches its largest size and attains its finest stands west of the Mississippi river. In average size it exceeds longleaf pine. It may reach a height above 100 feet and a trunk diameter of three or four. Squared timbers of large size were formerly exported from Virginia and North Carolina. Similar sizes cannot now be procured there.

Shortleaf pine varies greatly in the quality and amount of sapwood. It is normally a thick sap tree, but midway between loblolly and longleaf. The young tree increases rapidly in size until it is from six to ten inches in diameter, and the yearly rings are wide. The rate of growth then decreases and during the rest of its life the rings are narrow. This feature is often of assistance in identifying southern yellow pine logs or large timbers which contain the heart and also the sap. Wide rings near the heart, followed by narrow ones, and a thick sapwood are pretty good evidence that the timber—if a southern yellow pine—is shortleaf pine. The rule is not absolute; for a high authority on timber has said that no infallible rule can be laid down for distinguishing by sight alone the woods of the four southern yellow pines—longleaf, shortleaf, Cuban, and loblolly.

The wood of shortleaf pine is strong, heavy, hard, and compact; very resinous, resin passages large and numerous; medullary rays numerous, conspicuous; color, orange, the sapwood nearly white. The thoroughly seasoned wood weighs thirty-eight pounds per cubic foot. It is about five pounds heavier than loblolly pine, five pounds lighter than longleaf, and nearly nine pounds lighter than Cuban pine. There is so great a variation in weight of shortleaf pine that only general averages have value.

Shortleaf pine is not as strong as longleaf, and is not so extensively employed in heavy structural work, but in certain other lines it has the advantage of longleaf. It is softer, and door and sash makers like it better. It is easier to work, and when manufactured into doors and interior finish many consider it superior to longleaf. The wide rings of annual growth in the heartwood show fine contrast in color, and when these are developed by stains and fillers, the grain or figure of the wood is very pleasing. Where hardness is not an essential, it is much used for floors. It is in great demand by builders of freight cars, but less for frames and heavy beams than for siding and decking. Car builders in Illinois bought 77,000,000 feet of it in 1909. That was nearly half of the entire quantity of this wood used in the state. The second largest users in Illinois were manufacturers of sash, doors, blinds, and general millwork. If the whole country is considered, this is probably the largest use of the wood. Makers of boxes and crates in the South employ large quantities.

The depletion of shortleaf forests has progressed rapidly, but in the absence of reliable statistics it is impossible to give figures by decades or years. In 1880 an estimate placed the amount west of the Mississippi at 95,000,000,000 feet. That was probably less than half of the country’s supply at that time. In 1911 the Commissioner of Corporations estimatedthat the combined remaining stand of loblolly and shortleaf pine in the South was 152,000,000,000 feet. It is doubtful if half of it was shortleaf. In that case, there was less shortleaf pine in the entire South in 1911 than there was west of the Mississippi river thirty years before.

Rapid decrease in total stand of a species does not necessarily imply exhaustion. The cut will fall off as scarcity pinches. In the case of shortleaf pine, an influence is active which will bring good results in the future. This pine reproduces with vigor. Its small triangular seeds are equipped with wings which carry them into vacant areas where they quickly germinate if they fall on mineral soil. The seedling trees suffer much from fire, but their power of resistance is fairly good, and dense new growth is coming on in many localities. A good many years are required to bring a seedling to maturity, but it will reach sawlog size sometime, and there is no question but that the market will welcome it.

The shortleaf pine is peculiar among eastern softwoods in one respect. Stumps will sprout. That occurs oftener west of the Mississippi than east. However, the tree’s ability to send up sprouts from the stump is of little practical value, since the sprouts seldom or never develop into merchantable trees. In that respect it differs from the other well-known sprouting softwood of this country, the California redwood, whose numerous sprouts grow into large trunks.

Spruce Pine(Pinus glabra). This is one of the softest and the whitest of the hard pines of this country. Nothing but its scarcity stands in the way of its becoming an important timber tree. The best of it is a satisfactory substitute for white pine in the manufacture of doors. It grows rapidly, and the wide rings contain a high percentage of light colored springwood, though there is enough summerwood of darker color to give the dressed lumber a character. It weighs about the same as northern white pine, but is weaker. In South Carolina and Florida it is called white pine, but the name spruce is more general. It is known also as kingstree, poor pine, Walter’s pine, and lowland spruce pine. Its range is restricted to southern South Carolina, northern Florida and southern Alabama and Mississippi, and northeastern Louisiana. Its leaves are from one and a half to three inches in length, grow two in a bundle, and fall the second and third years. Large and well-formed trunks attain a height of from eighty to 100 feet and a diameter from two to nearly three. It reaches its best development in northwestern Florida, and its light, symmetrical trunks have long been in use there as masts for small vessels. It is too scarce to attract much attention from lumbermen, but they are well acquainted with its good qualities, and some of them take pains to keep the lumber separate from associated pines, and sell it to manufacturers of doors and interior finish. The barkbears considerable resemblance to spruce, which probably accounts for the name of the tree.

Table Mountain Pine(Pinus pungens). The French botanist, Michaux the younger, has been criticized for the statement which he made more than a hundred years ago that this species was confined to a certain flat-topped mountain in the southern Appalachian ranges, and he called it table mountain pine. It lacked much of being confined within the narrow limits where it was discovered. It grows in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia. Its other names are prickly pine, hickory pine, and southern mountain pine. It supplies timber in all parts of its range, but, except in very restricted localities, it is not abundant. The lumber in the market is seldom distinguished from other pines, but some of the Tennessee mills sell it separately to local customers. The wood is medium light, rather strong (about likePinus rigida, or pitch pine, which it resembles in other respects), is less stiff than white pine, and is resinous. The thick sapwood is nearly white, the heartwood brown. It is not a durable timber in contact with the ground. Its fuel value is low. Its needles grow in clusters of two, and are generally less than two inches long. The cones which are in clusters of from three to eight, and from two to three and a half inches long, are armed with stout, curved hooks. The cones shed their seeds irregularly during two or three years, and sometimes hang on the trees for twenty years. In open ground this pine occasionally produces fertile seeds when only a few feet high. Its forest form and open-ground form are quite different. In thick woods the tree is tall, with good bole, but in open ground it is only twenty or thirty feet high, and is covered with limbs almost to the ground.

Shortleaf pine branch

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