=3.= =Pinus virginiàna= Miller. Jersey Pine. Scrub Pine. Plate 4. Bark
dark-brown with rather shallow fissures, the ridges broken, somewhat
scaly; shoots green, light brown or purplish with a bloom, becoming a
gray-brown; leaves in bundles of two, rarely three, twisted, usually
about 4-5 cm. long, deciduous during the third or fourth year; cones
sessile or nearly so, narrowly conic when closed, 4-7 cm. long, opening
in the autumn of the second season; scales armed with a curved spine 2-4
mm. long; wood light, soft, weak, brittle and slightly resinous.
=Distribution.=--Long Island to South Carolina, Alabama and north to
Indiana and Licking County, Ohio. The distribution in Indiana is quite
limited, and has never been understood by authors who variously give it
as found throughout the southern part of Indiana. It is confined to the
knob area of Floyd, Clark and Scott Counties, and the southeastern part
of Washington County. In the original forest it is confined to the tops
of the knobs where it is associated with Quercus Prinus (Gray's Man. 7th
Edition). It propagates easily from self-sown seed, hence is soon found
on the lower slopes of cut-over lands, and soon occupies fallow fields.
It is now found in the open woods several miles east of the knobs in the
preceding counties, but pioneers of this section say it was not a
constituent of the original forests but has come in since the original
forests were heavily cut over. It is believed that it crowned the knobs
over our area from 5-10 miles wide extending through the counties named
and extending northward about 25 miles. This species is found in the
open woods on a few hills on the Millport Ridge in the northern part of
Washington County, and it appears as if native, but investigation showed
that it had spread from a tree on the site of a pioneer's cabin. It is
also found as a frequent escape on the wooded bluff of Raccoon Creek in
the southern part of Owen County, and appears as native here. It is
associated on the bluff and slope with hemlock. Chas. Green, a man of
sixty years, who owns the place says the trees were seeded by a tree
planted in his father's yard nearby. His father also planted a white
pine in his yard, and it is to be noted while the Jersey Pine has freely
escaped the white pine has not, although the habitat seems favorable.
=Remarks.=--In its native habitat on the exposed summits of the "knobs"
it is usually a small tree about 3 dm. in diameter and 10 m. high. When
it finds lodgement on the lower slopes and coves it may attain a
diameter of 7 dm. and a height of 25 m. This tree is really entitled to
be called "old field pine" on account of its ability to establish itself
on them.
From the ease with which this species propagates itself from seed it
seems worthy a trial for forestry purposes in the "knob" area of the
State. However, all attempts to grow this species from seedlings at the
Forest Reserve have failed.
=2. LÀRIX.= The Larches.
=Larix laricìná= (Du Roi) Koch. Tamarack. Plate No. 5. Tall spire-like
trees, usually 2-3 dm. in diameter, rarely as large as 5 dm. in
diameter; bark gray or reddish-brown, scaly; twigs slender, smooth,
light brown, becoming a dark gray brown; leaves scattered along the
shoots of the season, in fascicles on the older branches, usually 20-50
in a bundle; filiform, 1-2.5 cm. long, obtuse at apex, triangular in
cross-section, all falling off late in autumn; staminate flowers borne
on the short leafless branches, the pistillate appear with the leaves on
the branches of the previous season; cones borne on short, stout
branchlets, normally erect or inclined to be so, 10-20 mm. long,
purplish brown while growing, turning to a light brown at maturity,
persisting on the tree for about a year; wood hard, heavy, light brown,
variable in strength.
=Distribution.=--Labrador, Newfoundland south to southern New York, West
Virginia, northern Ohio and Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and northward.
In Indiana it is confined to the northern part of the State, and has not
been reported south of the northern part of Cass County. The most
southern station in the eastern part of the State is about Lake Everett
in the northwest part of Allen County. It is found on low borders of
lakes, in swamps and in bogs. In all of its stations in Indiana it is
found growing near the water level in great depths of organic matter
more or less decomposed or in beds of peat, which contain little or
practically no soil. Where it is found, it usually forms a pure stand.
=Remarks.=--Formerly the tamarack was a common tree in its area.
Recently many of the tamarack swamps have been drained. This with heavy
cutting has reduced the supply of tamarack in Indiana to an
insignificant amount. The tamarack is popularly classed as white and
yellow--the yellow being considered the better of the two. In our area
it is used principally for poles and posts. There is a diversity of
opinion as to the durability of tamarack in contact with the soil. The
most authentic information places the life of fence posts at about ten
years.
[Illustration: Plate 5.