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 in more 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.
[Illustration]
LONGLEAF PINE
[Illustration: 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 of
loblolly 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 this country
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 annual ring 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.
[Illustration]
SHORTLEAF PINE
[Illustration: 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 estimated that 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 bark bears 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 like _Pinus 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.
[Illustration]
LOBLOLLY PINE
[Illustration: LOBLOLLY PINE]
LOBLOLLY PINE
(_Pinus Tæda_)