t 



THE SCOTCH PINE. 275 



the whole of Cape Cod, to its eastern extremities, could be 

 covered with sufficiently large tracts of the Scotch pine to 

 render the remaining portions better suited for agricultural 

 purposes ; while the product of such plantations in Barnstable 

 and the other eastern counties in the shape of fuel for brick- 

 baking, would always find a ready market, taking the place 

 of the imported firewood from the shores of the Bay of 

 Fundy, already nearly stripped of its forest growth to supply 

 the increasing demand of Boston and the other New England 

 seaports. 



But fuel is the least valuable use to which the wood of the 

 Scotch pine can be turned. In Europe the lumber from this 

 pine is considered more valuable than that of any other 

 coniferous tree, the larch excepted, and for all economic pur- 

 poses it is rated far above American white pine. 



The nature of these two woods, and the uses to w^hich they 

 are each specially adapted, are so dissimilar, that any com- 

 parison between them is not particularly interesting. A 

 number of experiments* made at the Royal Woolwich Dock- 

 yard have shown that the wood of the Scotch pine wnll resist 

 a transverse strain .11 greater than that of the white pine; 

 that its resistance to a tensile strain is about twice as great, 

 and its resistance to a vertical strain is .56 greater ; while its 

 specific gravity is 541 to 513 for the white pine. All 

 European writers on timber, from Duhamel to Laslett, agree 

 that the wood of the Scotch pine is the most durable pine wood. 



Newlands says "the lightness and stiffness of the Scotch 

 pine render it superior to any other kinds of timber for beams, 

 girders, joists, rafters, and indeed for framing in general." 

 . From its greater strength, spars, top-masts, and the masts 

 of small vessels which are often subjected to violent and sud- 

 den shocks, are made from the Scotch pine, in preference to 

 any other wood, although, on account of its greater lightness, 

 the white pine is preferred for heavy masts and large spars. 

 Since the supply of larch has become entirely inadequate to 

 the demand, the Scotch pine is used in Europe for railroad 

 sleepers more generally than any other tree, enormous 

 quantities even being shipped from the northern ports to India 

 for this purpose. 



* Timber and Timber Trees. Laslett. London, 1875. 



