40 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



than one-third as much box lumber as of the rings known as summer growth — 

 white pine suppHes, and spruce ranks and cuts in all directions like a pumpkin. 



fourth. 



RANGE AND NAMES. 



Trees which occur over extensive 

 geographical regions are usually bur- 

 dened with names. Loblolly 

 pine, for example, which does 

 not cover half as much area 

 as white pine, has twenty-three 

 well-recognized names. White 

 pine bears one name every- 

 where for the living tree, but 

 sometimes when the quality 

 of the wood is referred to, the 

 terms cork, soft, and pumpkin 

 pine are used. White oak is 

 another noted example of a tree 

 with wide geographical range 

 and with but one name. In 

 the case of both the oak and 

 the pine the "white" in the 

 name refers principally to the 

 color of the wood. 



The terms cork pine and 

 pumpkin pine were formerly 

 heard, but less frequently now, 

 except as matters of history. 

 They had reference to quali- 

 ties of the wood. Pumpkin 

 pine was the usual term in 

 New England, but cork pine 

 was preferred in western New 

 York and in the Lake States. 

 Both meant the same. The 

 wood was described "as light 

 as cork and cuts like a pump- 

 kin." Such stock came from 

 large, mature trees which grew 

 in good soil and grew rapidly. 

 The annual ring was j^rinci- 

 pally springwood, therefore 

 soft, white, and light. New 

 England ship builders mounted 

 a wooden ball, a foot or less 

 in diameter, on the ship's flag- 

 staff, for ornament. The ball 

 was sometimes called a pump- 

 kin, because of its shape; and 

 since it was cut from the soft- 

 est and best white pine, it was 

 natural that the desired grade should be 

 called pumpkin pine. The origin of the 

 name has been ascribed by others to the 

 fact that such pine has little of the 

 flinty wood — which is due to the part 



No better reason can be given for the 

 term cork pine than that the wood is 

 light. 



Soft pine naturally applies in the 

 same way, but it is a more general term. 



Stacks of White Pine for Export, 

 here is shown some of minnesota's best product. this gr.\de is 



OFTEN CALLED "CORK" PINE AND CORRESPONTJS TO THE "PUMPKIN" 

 PINE ONCE .\BL'ND.\NT IN NEW ENGL.\ND. IT DRIES AS STR.\IGHT 



AS AN ARROW. PATTERN MAKERS WANT THIS KIND. 



There are thirty-seven species of pine 

 in the United States, and twelve of 

 them are classed soft pine. The division 

 between hard and soft is somewhat 

 arbitrary, if the terms are meant to 



