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Pines — Part 10

The shortleaf pine is short leaved only in comparison with the exceedingly long needles of P. palustris. The leaves are about the length of those of the Austrian pine, so familiar in cultivation, and beside which the Scotch and white pines are short-leaved species.

Next to the longleaf in rank, the shortleaf pine is one of the most important lumber trees in the Eastern and Southern states. Just a shade inferior to the former in quality, this species is likely by its vigour and wide range to become greatest of them all in economic importance as the exploitation of the timber lands of the South progresses. Against the destructive agencies at work the longleaf cannot hold its own. Its ultimate extinction must follow present methods of lumbering and orcharding. But the shortleaf pine, less sensitive to injuries, more prolific of seeds, able to renew itself indefinitely by throwing up suckers from the stump, and to survive shading of its saplings better than the longleaf and Cuban pines, has a distinct advantage over these, its compeers in the South and East. The distribution of the species is over a vaster area, and each grove is the centre of a growing and widening territory. It industriously colonises adjacent land abandoned by the farmer or the lumberman. In a free fight with hardwood trees this pine is the winner, and the young forests it is planting will be marketable in 80 to 100 years.

The forest centre of this species is west of the Mississippi and below the Arkansas River. This great tract was practically untouched at the time the tenth Census Report, issued in 1880, estimated its merchantable timber then standing at 87,000,000,000 feet, board measure. This counted only the area in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, and left out the forests in Missouri and Oklahoma. There is little of the vast Eastern territory once covered by the shortleaf pine that has not been worked to some extent by lumbermen, especially where railroads make possible the distribution of the lumber. In the past twenty-five years astonishing inroads have been made upon the Southwestern forests.

While inferior to P. palustris, lumber of P. echinata is often preferred, because it is less resinous and softer and so more easily worked. Doors, sash and blinds are made of it and interior finish of houses. It is the common "yellow pine" of the Middle West, brought north on the river. It is the "North Carolina pine" which the kiln-drying process cured of its "black sap" and made a beautiful finishing lumber.

The Monterey Pine (P. radiata, D. Don.), like its companion, Torrey's pine, is restricted to a very narrow range. They occur together in Santa Rosa Island, and each has a narrow strip of territory on the mainland of southern California. On Point Pinos, south of Monterey Bay, P. radiata is most abundant and grows to 100 feet in height, with trunks occasionally 5 or 6 feet in diameter. Its wood is soft and weak.

The bright rich green of the leaves, which never linger more than 3 years to dull the freshness of the new ones, and a silvery sheen the young growth wears, make this tree one of the handsome pines. Its quick growth also destines it for popularity with landscape gardeners wherever the climate is mild enough in winter. It is a favourite park tree from Vancouver Island down the coast to its natural range. It has long been planted in pleasure grounds of western and southern Europe, and occasionally in our Southeastern States.

Red or Norway Pine (P. resinosa, Ait.)--Large, broadly pyramidal tree, 75 to 120 feet high, branched to the ground, with stout twigs. Bark shallowly furrowed into flat, scaly ridges, reddish brown, rich in tannin; branches rough, glabrous. Wood pale red, light, hard, resinous; sap wood yellow or white. Buds conical, tapering, with loose, red scales. Leaves in clusters of twos, from close, persistent sheaths, 1/2 inch long; needle-like, dark green, 6 inches long, sharp pointed, flexible semicircular in cross section, toothed near tip, with rows of pale dots lengthwise. Flowers: staminate red, abundant, clustered at base of season's shoot; pistillate 1 to 3, terminal, peduncled, reddish, oval. Fruits ovate, 1 to 3 inches long, standing at right angles with stem; biennial; scales thickened, 4-angled at apex, unarmed; seeds winged. Preferred habitat, dry, sandy plains and rocky ridges. Distribution, southern Canada, Northern States from Maine to Minnesota; south to Pennsylvania. Uses: Most picturesque and desirable of pitch pines for ornamental planting in the North; grows rapidly from seed; free from insect and fungous injuries. Lumber used in heavy construction; for bridges, piles, docks, buildings, masts and spars.

The red pine is the only American member of a group of Old-World pines of which P. sylvestris, the Scotch pine of Europe, is a familiar example. The paired leaves and red bark are signs of kinship. Both are common in cultivation in America, and we shall distinguish the native tree by its longer leaf and the heavy tufting of its twigs; the short leaves of P. sylvestris are thinly and evenly scattered along its branches.