EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 471 



passed the seedling stage and in good locations will grow about two 

 feet in height a year. The lumber is valuable. Box boards will be pro- 

 duced in about 30 years. For forest plantations it is best to use small 

 seedlings, 2-year-old stock, spacing the trees 6 by 6 feet. The planting 

 of white pine should be limited to certain counties, as it is subject to a 

 disease, the white pine blister rust, which has one generation on the 

 white pine and the next on currant or gooseberry bushes. This disease 

 has gained considerable headway in the East and in adjoining, states, 

 but so far has not appeared to any extent in Michigan. It can only 

 spread when the two hosts, currants or gooseberries, both wild and culti- 

 vated, and white pine, are comparatively near together, within three 

 hundred yards of each other. In many localities in Michigan, currants 

 and gooseberries are of commercial importance and in such localities 

 white pine should not be planted, since, if the disease appears, one or 

 the other of the hosts must be destroyed in order to eradicate it. The 

 counties where currant and gooseberry culture is of importance and 

 where white pine should not be planted at present are those along the 

 west side of the State from the Indiana line to Traverse City, as well as 

 Kent, Newaygo, Kalamazoo, Washtenaw, Oakland and perhaps a few 

 others. 



iRED OR NORWAY [PINE 



Red or Norway pine is very similar in rate of growth to white pine 

 but it will do better on poorer, sandier soils. The wood is quite similar 

 to the white pine, though a little heavier and harder, and is used for the 

 same purposes. The red pine has thinner foliage than the white pine, 

 it prunes itself of side branches better and is not subject to serious injury 

 by insects or fungi. Owing to scarcity of seed, red pine seedlings are 

 difficult to obtain but where they can be secured it is one of the best 

 trees for forest plantations on the poor qualities of soil. A rather 

 wider spacing may be used with red pine than with white pine as the 

 trees will prune themselves of side branches more readily. A wider spac- 

 ing reduces the number of trees required per acre and so reduces the 

 cost and labor of planting. This is of importance in the case of red 

 pine as the planting stock is scarce and more expensive than some other 

 trees. It is often planted in mixture with white pine or Norway spruce, 

 the species being alternated with a spacing of 6 by 6 feet. 



JAlCJK (PI'NIE 



Jack pine will do well on dry sandy soil. It is a tree which grows 

 fast at first but slows down later on and never reaches a large size. The 

 wood is soft and light, and not durable in contact with the soil unless 

 it has been treated with creosote or some other preservative. After such 

 treatment it may be used for fence posts. The wood will undoubtedly be 

 used for paper pulp within a few years and after that it will be more 

 extensively planted than at present. 



ISOOTOH FINE 



Scotch pine is not a native of Michigan but has been used quite ex- 

 tensively in the State. It does well on dry sandy soil. It is very similar 

 to jack pine in habits of growth, although the timber is rather better. 

 Two-year-old seedlings are a good size for field planting with a spacing 



