THE WHITE PINE 



389 



inch long. By autumn they are about an inch 

 long, with a purpHsh color. The next spring the cones 

 turn green and their increasing weight causes them to 

 hang downward, incurving toward the branch. By July 

 of the second season the cones are fully grown, usually 

 from three to si.x inches long, sometimes ten inches. In 

 addition to being slender the ripened cone is known by 

 its light brown color and its smooth rounded scales, 

 entirely free from spines at their tips. E.xcept for a 

 few sterile scales at the base and tip of the cone, each 

 scale bears two brawn, winged seeds. Most of the seeds 

 are scattered during September and October as the 

 cones open, but all through the winter old Boreas con- 

 tinues to whirl them over the snow. Many of the 

 seeds are carried to a distance equal to twice the height 

 of the mother tree, and some travel considerably far- 

 ther. The cones drop from the tree after they have shed 

 their seed. Some cones fall before this is accomplished. 



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WHITE FINE GROWN IN THE OPEN 



This is a typical White pine growing at Raquette Lake in the Adiron- 

 dack Mountains. The photograpli is from a collection owned by 

 the American Museum of Natural History and was taken by Ernest 

 F. Keller. 



for White pine seeds are greatly relished by the squirrels 

 for winter food, and early in September they begin to 

 cut large quantities of the cones from the trees and bury 

 them in big or little piles, for future use. Although some 

 cones are produced every year, it is usual for heavy 

 crops to be borne every three to five years. 



Gathering White pine seed for planting or for sowing 

 in nursery beds is an established business. A bushel 

 measure will hold about 1,000 cones and yield about a 

 pound of clean seed containing more than 30,000 sep- 



arate seeds. In a good seed year, a single large tree 

 will yield from two to five or more bushels of cones. 

 The seeds germinate best in mineral soil and ordinarily 

 from lo to 20 per cent fail to start growth. If the 

 accumulation of needles under the seed trees is very 

 great the young seedlings are apt to die before the roots 

 reach the mineral soil from which they obtain their 

 nourishment. 



THE AREA OF WHITE PINE GROWTH 



Late in the spring the tiny seedlings may be seen push- 

 ing upward the old seed shell that binds the ends of 

 the ten baby leaves into a spindle-shaped cluster. The 

 tips of these leaves remain imbedded in the food stored 

 up in the seed shell until all of the nourishment is ab- 

 sorbed. Then the shell is thrown off and the young 

 leaves proudly spread out into a tiny ten-pointed star, 

 at the center of which is the bud which unfolds year after 

 year and carries the stem upward, straight as an arrow. 

 Surrounding this central bud are other buds, usually five 

 in number, from which five branches start when the 

 growth of each year begins. For this reason, each succes- 

 sive year's progress is plainly marked by a whorl of 

 branches, and since the main stem of the tree between the 

 nodes is generally free from branches, it is very easy to 

 determine how many years a young pine has required for 

 its growth by simply counting the number of whorls. 

 White pine seedlings that come up in dense shade under 

 older trees will live for a number of years, but without 

 making much growth. If the over-shadowing trees are 

 suddenly removed and the seedlings exposed to full, in- 

 tense sunlight, most of them die before they can become 

 accustomed to the new conditions. If the larger trees are 

 removed so as to gradually admit the air and sunlight, 

 the young seedlings readily adapt themselves to the 

 change and eventually grow into vigorous trees. 



The bark of a young White pine is so thin and tender 

 that even a very light fire produces sufficient heat to kill 

 it. One of the greatest losses by forest fires is caused by 

 the death of these little trees which so many do not see, 

 or at least believe to be only valueless "brush." True, 

 little pinelets struggle with each other and with other 

 kinds of trees for moisture from the soil and for the space 



