=Remarks.=--White pine on account of the excellent qualities of its wood
is in great demand, and has always ranked as one of our leading timber
trees. In fact it was so highly prized that practically all of the
original stand of this species has been cut.
The tree adapts itself to many habitats, hence has been used extensively
for forestry purposes both in America and Europe. In fact it was the
most used tree in forestry until about ten years ago when the white pine
blister rust was discovered in America. This disease is now found in
practically all of the states where this species forms dense stands.
However, Federal and State authorities are trying to stamp out the
disease. In Indiana it is a species well worth a trial for forestry
purposes, especially in windbreaks where other species are used.
=2.= =Pinus Banksiàna= Lambert. Gray Pine. Jack Pine. Plate 3. A small
tree 10-15 m. high with reddish-brown bark, broken into short flakes;
shoots of season yellow-green, turning reddish-brown, smooth; leaves
dark green, in twos, 2-5 cm. long, divergent, curved or twisted, rigid,
sharp-pointed, persisting for two or three years; cones sessile,
sharp-pointed, oblique at the base, 3-5 cm. long, usually pointing in
the direction of the branch; wood light, soft and weak.
=Distribution.=--The most northern of all of our pines. Nova Scotia to
northern New York, northern Illinois, Minnesota and northward. In
Indiana it is found only on and among the sand dunes in the immediate
vicinity of Lake Michigan, and in no instance has it been seen more than
three miles from the Lake. Found sparingly in Lake, Porter and Laporte
Counties. It is the most abundant in the vicinity of Dune Park.
[Illustration: Plate 3.