country’s timber resources. The total stand has been estimated at
275,000,000,000 feet, and is second only to that of Douglas fir, though
the combined stand of the four southern yellow pines is about
100,000,000,000 feet larger. It is a vigorous species, able to hold its
ground under ordinary circumstances. Next to incense cedar and the giant
sequoias which are associated with it in the Sierra Nevada mountains, it
is the most prolific seed bearer of the western conifers, and its seeds
are sufficiently light to insure wide distribution. It is gaining ground
within its range by taking possession of vacant areas which have been
bared by lumbering or fire. In some cases it crowds to death the more
stately sugar pine by cutting off its light and moisture. It resists
fire better than most of the forest trees with which it is associated.
On the other hand, it suffers from enemies more than its associates do.
A beetle (_Dendroctonus ponderosæ_), destroys large stands. In the Black
Hills in 1903 its ravages killed 600,000,000 feet.
This splendid pine has run the gamut of uses from the corral pole of the
first settler to the paneled door turned out by the modern factory. It
has almost an unlimited capacity for usefulness. It grows in dry regions
of the Rocky Mountains where it is practically the only source of wood
supply; and it is equally secure in its position where forests are
abundant and fine. It has supplied props, stulls, and lagging for mines
in nearly every state touched by its range. Without its ties and other
timbers some of the early railroads through the western mountains could
scarcely have been built. It has been one of the leading flume timbers
in western lumber and irrigation development. It fenced many ranches in
early times and is still doing so. It is used in general construction,
and in finish; from the shingle to the foundation sill of houses. It
finds its way to eastern lumber markets. Almost 20,000,000 feet a year
are used in Illinois alone. Competition with eastern white pine is met
in the Lake States because, grade for grade, the western wood is
cheaper, until lower grades are reached. The western yellow pine, in the
eastern market, is confused with the western white pine of Idaho and
Montana (_Pinus monticola_) and separate statistics of use are
impossible.
The makers of fruit boxes in California often employ the yellow pine in
lieu of sugar pine which once supplied the whole trade. It is also used
by coopers for various containers, but not for alcoholic liquors.
The leaves are in clusters of twos and threes, and are from five to
eleven inches long. Most of them fall during the third year. The cones
are from three to six inches long, and generally fall soon after they
reach maturity.
COULTER PINE (_Pinus coulteri_) is also known as nut pine, big cone
pine, and long cone pine. It is a California species, scarce, but of
much interest because of its cones. They are larger than those of
any other American pine and are armed with formidable curved spines
from half an inch to an inch and a half in length. The cones are
from ten to fourteen inches long. The tree is found on the Coast
Range mountains from the latitude of San Francisco to the boundary
between California and Mexico. It thrives at altitudes of from 3,000
to 6,000 feet. It never occurs in pure stands and the total amount
is small. It looks like the western yellow pine, but is much
inferior in size. Trunks seldom attain a length of fifteen feet or a
diameter of two. There is no evidence that Coulter pine is
increasing its stand on the ground which it already occupies, or
spreading to new ground. The wood is light, soft, moderately strong,
and very tough. The annual rings are narrow and consist largely of
summerwood. The heartwood is light red, the thick sapwood nearly
white. It is a poor tree for lumber, and it has been little used in
that way, but has been burned for charcoal for blacksmith shops, and
much is sold as cordwood. The leaves of Coulter pine are in clusters
of three, and they fall during the third and fourth years.
CALIFORNIA SWAMP PINE (_Pinus muricata_) clearly belongs among minor
species listed as timber trees. It meets a small demand for skids,
corduroy log roads, bridge floors, and scaffolds in the redwood
logging operations in California. It is scattered along the Pacific
coast 500 miles, beginning in Lower California and ending a hundred
miles north of San Francisco. It is known as dwarf marine pine,
pricklecone pine, bishop pine, and obispo pine. The last name is the
Spanish translation of the English word bishop. The largest trees
seldom exceed two feet in diameter, and a height of ninety feet. The
average size is little more than half as much. The wood is very
strong, hard, and compact, and the annual growth ring is largely
dense summerwood. Resin passages are few, but the wood is resinous,
light brown in color, and the thick sapwood is nearly white. The
needles are in clusters of two, and are from four to six inches
long. They begin to fall the second year. Some of the trees retain
their cones until death, but the seeds are scattered from year to
year. Under the stimulus of artificial conditions in the redwood
districts this pine seems to be spreading. Its seeds blow into
vacant ground from which redwood has been removed, and growth is
prompt. The seedlings are not at all choice as to soil, but take
root in cold clay, in peat bogs, on barren sand and gravel, and on
wind-swept ridges exposed to ocean fogs. Its ability to grow where
few other trees can maintain themselves holds out some hope that its
usefulness will increase.
MONTEREY PINE (_Pinus radiata_). This scarce and local species is
restricted to the California coast south of San Francisco, and to
adjacent islands. Under favorable circumstances it grows rapidly and
promises to be of more importance as a lumber source in the future
than it has been in the past. It is, however, somewhat particular as
to soil. It must have ground not too wet or too dry. If these
requirements are observed, it is a good tree for planting. Its
average height is seventy or ninety feet, diameter from eighteen to
thirty inches. Trunks six feet in diameter are occasionally heard
of. The wood is light, soft, moderately strong, tough, annual rings
very wide and largely of springwood; color, light brown, the very
thick sapwood nearly white. The leaves are from four to six inches
long, in clusters of two and three, and fall the third year. Cones
are from three to five inches long. The lumber is too scarce at
present to have much importance, but its quality is good. In
appearance it resembles wide-ringed loblolly pine, and appears to be
suitable for doors and sash, and frames for windows and doors. Its
present uses are confined chiefly to ranch timbers and fuel. If it
ever amounts to much as a lumber resource, it will be as a planted
pine, and not in its natural state.
JACK PINE (_Pinus divaricata_) is a far northern species which
extends its range southward in the United States, from Maine to
Minnesota, and reaches northern Indiana and Illinois. It grows
almost far enough north in the valley of Mackenzie river to catch
the rays of the midnight sun. It must necessarily adapt itself to
circumstances. When these are favorable, it develops a trunk up to
two feet in diameter and seventy feet tall; but in adversity, it
degenerates into a many-branched shrub a few feet high. The average
tree in the United States is thirty or forty feet tall, and a foot
or more in diameter. Its name is intended as a term of contempt,
which it does not deserve. Others call it scrub pine which is little
better. Its other names are more respectful, Prince’s pine in
Ontario, black pine in Wisconsin and Minnesota, cypress in Quebec
and the Hudson Bay country, Sir Joseph Banks’ pine in England, and
juniper in some parts of Canada. “Chek pine” is frequently given in
its list of names, but the name is said to have originated in an
attempt of a German botanist to pronounce “Jack pine” in dictating
to a stenographer. The tree straggles over landscapes which
otherwise would be treeless. It is often a ragged and uncouth
specimen of the vegetable kingdom, but that is when it is at its
worst. At its best, as it may be seen where cared for in some of the
Michigan cemeteries, it is as handsome a tree as anyone could
desire. The characteristic thinness and delicacy of its foliage
distinguish it at once from its associates. The peculiar green of
its soft, short needles wins admiration. The wood is light, soft,
not strong; annual rings are moderately wide, and are largely
composed of springwood. The thin bands of summerwood are resinous,
and the small resin ducts are few. The thick sapwood is nearly
white, the heartwood brown or orange. It is not durable.
Jack pine can never be an important timber tree, because too small;
but a considerable amount is used for bed slats, nail kegs,
plastering lath, barrel headings, boxes, mine props, pulpwood, and
fuel. Aside from its use as lumber and small manufactured products,
it has a value for other purposes. It can maintain its existence in
waste sands; and its usefulness is apparent in fixing drifting dunes
along some of the exposed shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.
It lives on dry sand and sends its roots several feet to water; or,
under circumstances entirely different, it thrives in swamps where
the watertable is little below the surface of the ground. It fights
a brave battle against adversities while it lasts, but it does not
live long. Sixty years is old age for this tree. It grows fast while
young, but later it devotes all its energies to the mere process of
living, and its increase in size is slow, until at a period when
most trees are still in early youth, it dies of old age, and the
northern winds quickly whip away its limbs, leaving the barkless
trunk to stand a few years longer.
[Illustration]
LODGEPOLE PINE
[Illustration: LODGEPOLE PINE]
LODGEPOLE PINE
(_Pinus Contorta_)
The common name of this tree was given it because its tall, slender,
very light poles were used by Indians of the region in the construction
of their lodges. They selected poles fifteen feet long and two inches in
diameter, set them in a circle, bent the tops together, tied them, and
covered the frame with skins or bark. The poles were peeled in early
summer, when the Indians set out upon their summer hunt, and were left
to season until fall, when they were carried to the winter’s camping
place, probably fifty miles distant. Tamarack is a common name for this
pine in much of its range; it is likewise known as black pine, spruce
pine, and prickly pine. Its leaves are from one to two inches long, in
clusters of two. The small cones adhere to the branches many
years--sometimes as long as twenty--without releasing the seeds, which
are sealed within the cone by accumulated resin. The vitality of the
seeds is remarkable. They don’t lose their power of germination during
their long imprisonment.
The lodgepole pine has been called a fire tree, and the name is not
inappropriate. It profits by severe burning, as some other trees of the
United States do, such as paper birch and bird cherry. The sealed cones
are opened by fire, which softens the resin, and the seeds are liberated
after the fire has passed, and wing their flight wherever the wind
carries them. The passing fire may be severe enough to kill the parent
tree without destroying or bringing down the cones. The seeds soon fall
on the bared mineral soil, where they germinate by thousands. More than
one hundred thousand small seedling trees may occupy a single acre. Most
of them are ultimately crowded to death, but a thick stand results. Most
lodgepole pine forests occupy old burns. The tree is one of the slowest
of growers. It never reaches large size--possibly three feet is the
limit. It is very tall and slender. A hundred years will scarcely
produce a sawlog of the smallest size.
The range of this tree covers a million square miles from Alaska to New
Mexico, and to the Pacific coast. Its characters vary in different parts
of its range. A scrub form was once thought to be a different species,
and was called shore pine.
The wood is of about the same weight as eastern white pine. It is light
in color, rather weak, and brittle, annual rings very narrow, summerwood
small in amount, resin passages few and small; medullary rays numerous,
broad, and prominent. The wood is characterized by numerous small knots.
It is not durable in contact with the ground, but it readily receives
preservative treatment. In height it ranges from fifty to one hundred
feet.
The government’s estimate of the stand of lodgepole pine in the United
States in 1909 placed it at 90,000,000,000 feet. That makes it seventh
in quantity among the timber trees of this country, those above it being
Douglas fir, the southern yellow pines (considered as one), western
yellow pine, redwood, western hemlock, and the red cedar of Washington,
Oregon, and Idaho.
Lodgepole pine has been long and widely used as a ranch timber in the
Far West, serving for poles and rails in fences, for sheds, barns,
corrals, pens, and small bridges. Where it could be had at all, it was
generally plentiful. Stock ranges high among the mountains frequently
depend almost solely upon lodgepole pine for necessary timber.
Mine operators find it a valuable resource. As props it is cheap,
substantial, and convenient in many parts of Colorado, New Mexico,
Wyoming, and Montana. A large proportion of this timber which is cut for
mining purposes has been standing dead from fire injury many years, and
is thoroughly seasoned and very light. It is in excellent condition for
receiving preservative treatment.
Sawmills do not list lodgepole pine separately in reports of lumber cut,
and it is impossible to determine what the annual supply from the
species is. It is well known that the quantity made into lumber in
Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho is large. Its chief market is
among the newly established agricultural communities in those states.
They use it for fruit and vegetable shipping boxes, fencing plank,
pickets, and plastering lath.
Railroads buy half a million lodgepole pine crossties yearly. When
creosoted, they resist decay many years. Lodgepole pine has been a tie
material since the first railroads entered the region, and while by no
means the best, it promises to fill a much more important place in the
future than in the past. It is an ideal fence post material as far as
size and form are concerned, and with preservative treatment it is bound
to attain a high place. It is claimed that treated posts will last
twenty years, and that puts them on a par with the cedars.
In Colorado and Wyoming much lodgepole was formerly burned for charcoal
to supply the furnaces which smelted ore and the blacksmith shops of the
region. This is done now less than formerly, since railroad building has
made coal and coke accessible.
In one respect, lodgepole pine is to the western mountains what loblolly
pine is to the flat country of the south Atlantic and other southern
states. It is aggressive, and takes possession of vacant ground.
Although the wood is not as valuable as loblolly, it is useful, and has
an important place to fill in the western country’s development. Its
greatest drawback is its exceedingly slow growth. A hundred years is a
long time to wait for trees of pole size. Two crops of loblolly sawlogs
can be harvested in that time. However, the land on which the lodgepole
grows is fit only for timber, and the acreage is so vast that there is
enough to grow supplies, even with the wait of a century or two for
harvest. The stand has increased enormously within historic time, the
same as loblolly, and for a similar reason. Men cleared land in the
East, and loblolly took possession; fires destroyed western forests of
other species and lodgepole seized and held the burned tracts.
If fires cease among the western mountains, as will probably be the case
under more efficient methods of patrol, and with stricter enforcement of
laws against starting fires, the spread of lodgepole pine will come to a
standstill, and existing forests will grow old without much extension of
their borders.
JEFFREY PINE (_Pinus jeffreyi_) is often classed as western yellow pine,
both in the forest and at the mill. Its range extends from southern
Oregon to Lower California, a distance of 1,000 miles, and its width
east and west varies from twenty to one hundred and fifty miles. It is a
mountain tree and generally occupies elevations above the western yellow
pine. In the North its range reaches 3,600 feet above sea level; in the
extreme South it is 10,000 feet. The darker and more deeply-furrowed
bark of the Jeffrey pine is the usual character by which lumbermen
distinguish it from the western yellow pine. It is known under several
names, most of them relating to the tree’s appearance, such as black
pine, redbark pine, blackbark pine, sapwood pine, and bull pine. It
reaches the same size as the western yellow pine, though the average is
a little smaller. The leaves are from four to nine inches long, and fall
in eight or nine years. The cones are large, and armed with slender,
curved spines. The seeds are too heavy to fly far, their wing area being
small. It is a vigorous tree, and in some regions it forms good forests.
Some botanists have considered the Jeffrey pine a variety of the western
yellow pine.
GRAY PINE (_Pinus sabiniana_), called also Digger pine because the
Digger Indians formerly collected the seeds, which are as large as
peanuts, to help eke out a living, is confined to California, and
grows in a belt on the foothills surrounding the San Joaquin and
Sacramento valleys. Its cones are large and armed with hooked
spines. When green, the largest cones weigh three or four pounds.
Leaves are from eight to twelve inches long, in clusters of two and
three, and fall the third and fourth years. The wood is remarkable
for the quickness of its decay in damp situations. It lasts one or
two years as fence posts. A mature gray pine is from fifty to
seventy feet high, and eighteen to thirty inches in diameter. Some
trees are much larger. It is of considerable importance, but is not
in the same class as western yellow and sugar pine. The wood is
light, soft, rather strong, brittle. The annual rings are generally
wide, indicating rapid growth. Very old gray pines are not known. An
age of 185 years seems to be the highest on record. The wood is
resinous, and it has helped in a small way to supply the Pacific
coast markets with high-grade turpentine, distilled from roots. It
yields resin when boxed like the southern longleaf pine. There are
two flowing seasons. One is very early, and closes when the weather
becomes hot; the other is in full current by the middle of August.
It maintains life among the California foothills during the long
rainless seasons, on ground so dry that semi-desert chaparral
sometimes succumbs; but it is able to make the most of favorable
conditions, and it grows rapidly under the slightest encouragement.
The seedlings are more numerous now than formerly, which is
attributed to decrease of forest fires. The tree has enemies which
generally attack it in youth. Two fungi, _Peridermium harknessi_,
and _Dædalia vorax_, destroy the young tree’s leader or topmost
shoot, causing the development of a short trunk. The latter fungus
is the same or is closely related to that which tunnels the trunk of
incense cedar and produces pecky cypress.
Gray pine has been cut to some extent for lumber, but its principal
uses have been as fuel and mine timbers. Many quartz mines have been
located in the region where the tree grows; and the engines which
pumped the shafts and raised and crushed the ore were often heated
with this pine. Thousands of acres of hillsides in the vicinity of
mines were stripped of it, and it went to the engine house ricks in
wagons, on sleds, and on the backs of burros. In two respects it is
an economical fuel for remote mines: it is light in weight, and
gives more heat than an equal quantity of the oak that is associated
with it.
CHIHUAHUA PINE (_Pinus chihuahuana_) is not abundant, but it exists
in small commercial quantities in southwestern New Mexico and
southern Arizona. Trees are from fifty to eighty feet high, and from
fifteen to twenty inches in diameter. The wood is medium light,
soft, rather strong, brittle, narrow ringed and compact. The resin
passages are few, large, and conspicuous; color, clear light orange,
the thick sapwood lighter. The tree reaches best development at
altitudes of from 5,000 to 7,000 feet. When the wood is used, it
serves the same purposes as western yellow pine; but the small size
of the tree makes lumber of large size impossible. The leaves are in
clusters of three, and fall the fourth year. The cones have long
stalks and are from one and a half to two inches long.
[Illustration]
TAMARACK
[Illustration: TAMARACK]
TAMARACK
(_Larix Laricina_)
There are three species of tamarack or larch in the United States, and
probably a fourth is confined to Alaska. One has its range in the
northeastern states, extending south to West Virginia and northwestward
to Alaska. Two are found in the northwestern states. Other species are
native of the eastern hemisphere, and some of them have been planted to
some extent in this country. A species of Europe is of much importance
in that country. The tamaracks lose their leaves in the fall and the
branches are bare during the winter. The name tamarack or larch should
be applied only to trees of the genus _larix_. This rule is not observed
in some parts of the West where the noble fir (_Abies nobilis_) is
occasionally called larch by lumbermen. It is not entitled to that name,
and confusion results from such use.
The larches are easily identified. They have needle leaves like those of
pines and firs, but they are differently arranged. They are produced in
little brush-like bundles, from twelve to forty leaves in each, on all
the shoots, except the leaders. On these the leaves occur singly. The
little brushes are so conspicuous, and so characteristic of this genus,
including all its species, that there should be little difficulty in
identifying the larches when the leaves are on. In winter, when the
branches are bare, there are other easy marks of identification.
The little brushes are interesting objects of study. Botanists tell us
that the excrescence or bud-like knob from which the leaves grow is
really a suppressed or aborted branch, with all its leaves crowded
together at the end. If it were developed, it would bear its leaves
singly, scattered along its full length, as they occur on the leading
shoots. The warty appearance of the branches in winter is a very
convenient means of identification when the leaves are down.
The cones of larches mature in a single season, and often hang on the
trees several years. They are conspicuous in winter when the branches
are bare of foliage. The adhering cones are generally seedless after the
first season, since they quickly let their winged seeds go. The male and
female flowers are produced singly on branches of the previous year.
The eastern and northern larch (_Larix laricina_) has a number of names.
It is commonly known as tamarack in the New England states and in New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan,
Minnesota, Ohio, and in Canada. The name larch is applied in practically
all the regions where it grows, but it is not used as frequently as
tamarack. Hackmatack, which was the Indian name for the tree in part of
its eastern range, is still in use in Maine, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, and Ontario.
Nurserymen call it American larch to distinguish it from other larches
on the market, particularly the European larch. Michaux, an early French
botanist who explored American forests, called it American larch (_Larix
americana_), and the name which he gave has been retained by many
scientists to this day. In the Canadian provinces north of the Great
Lakes, and also in Maine and New Brunswick, it is frequently called
juniper, but without good reason, for it has little of the appearance
and few of the qualities of the junipers. In some localities it is
called black larch, and in others red larch. The first name refers to
the color of its bark, the last to the leaves when about to fall, for
they then change to a brown or reddish color. They fall in the autumn,
and the branches are bare until the next spring. Some of the New York
Indians observed that peculiarity of the tree which they thought should
be an evergreen like the balsam and pines with which it was often
associated, and they named it kenehtens, meaning “the leaves fall”.
Indians did not, as a rule, give separate names to tree species, and
when they did so, it was because of food value, or from some peculiarity
which could not fail to attract the notice of a savage.