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Pines — Part 11

An early Spanish explorer erroneously described this tree as identical with the variety of the Scotch pine that grows in Norway. In this way it came by its second name.

There is a lustiness and symmetry of growth and an expression of hardiness and health in the red pine which makes the other pitch pines look ragged and discouraged, and the graceful white pines delicate and unequal to the struggle of life. No handsomer pine than this one is found in the Northeastern States.

The wood of red pine is not what we might expect from such a tree. Rich in resin and fine grained, yet its durability is not to be depended upon. Its height gave masts and spars of great size and free of blemishes. It was once shipped in quantities to England out of the Canadian woods to be used at the dockyards, and for piles and bridge timbers. Of late years better pine has been substituted. Turpentine and tar are not derived from this tree, despite its name, resinosa, "full of resin." Less pitchy than P. rigida, soft like P. Strobus, the wood seems intermediate between the two.

The living tree is more valuable than its log; when the lumberman scoffs at the red pine the landscape gardener takes it up. It grows on exposed and sterile coasts, where it rapidly forms effective windbreaks and beautiful groves. It adds a distinct type of beauty to park and private grounds. Its hardiness and rapidity of growth commend it to the colder states. Not the least of its good points in the home grounds is that its two leaves in their close, deep sheaths furnish children exactly the right material for chains, the making of which is one of the most absorbing pleasures of childhood.

The Prickle-Cone Pine (P. muricata, D. Don.) is a handsome round-topped evergreen, covered with dense tufts of stiff, yellow-green leaves. It is the dominant pine of the coast of Mendocino County, and follows down in sight of the ocean into Lower California. The oblique cones, whose thickened scales are armed with sharp, strong beaks, are conspicuous by their persistence for years unopened on the branch. It is rare for them to fall, even after they open and discharge the seed. They usually remain throughout the lifetime of the tree, but strangely are never swallowed up by the growth of the branch that bears them.

The Table-Mountain Pine (P. pungens, Michx.), with cones quite as formidable as those of the preceding species, and closely resembling them in appearance, has the same tardy habit of opening and casting its cones that marks P. muricata. But P. pungens is Eastern, growing on gravelly ridges of the Appalachian Mountains from Pennsylvania and New Jersey to North Carolina and Tennessee. It has clustered blue-green foliage of sombre hue, and forms a flattened, irregular head, its long, horizontal branches often drooping, but the twigs erect. The wood is used for fuel and for charcoal in some localities. Its dingy colour, barren habitat and scraggly growth earn it the name, "poverty pine." The thin bark, breaking into loose, scaly plates, is probably responsible for the name, "hickory pine." There is no quality of the brittle, coarse-gained wood to account for it.

It is interesting to note in Bulletin 10 of the Kansas Agricultural College, which is located at Manhattan in the western part of the state, that P. pungens is one of the hardiest and best pines for that region. The leaves are a decided yellow-green there, a cheerful contrast to the sombre Austrian pines so generally planted. The waywardness of the tree's habit is made a virtue. The terminal shoot bends strongly out of the vertical, producing a grotesque leaning tree, which breaks the monotony of the prim and formal European species with which it is successfully grouped in grounds of considerable extent. The following Western species and varieties were tried and failed on the college grounds: P. contorta, edulis, Jeffreyi and ponderosa. Besides P. pungens, other Eastern pines that were successfully grown were rigida and echinata. P. Strobus grew often into handsome, shapely specimens, but died young in the hot winds.

The Scrub Pine (P. contorta, Lond.) is one of four stunted, gnarly, round-shouldered trees that are prostrated by exposure to the ocean winds. They are the beach pines. This one grows from northern California into Alaska in bogs and sand dunes, bearing its cones when only a few inches high in the bleakest situations. These trees form a windbreak behind which many sorts of tender plants thrive in quiet security. The bark is thin and pale and gummy on these dwarfs, and once a fire is started it devours all within reach. Now a very interesting habit of the tree comes into prominence. The cones hang on the trees for years without opening, but their seeds are safely sealed up and retain their vitality. The burned trees drop their cones, which, opening, free the seeds. From them young trees spring up to take the places of those wiped out by the fire.