ARBORICULTURE. 



309 



THE WHITE PINE. 



Throughout New England, in NoTth- 

 ern Michigan and Wisconsin, and many 

 other locaHties of the United States, the 

 white pine is, or was, the more aibundant 

 timber tree, and is yet the principal tree 

 from which lum'ber is obtained, although 

 greatly reduced in quantity from what 

 it was originally. 



Arboriculture has not thought it 

 necessary or expedient to make fre- 

 quent reference and descriptions of 

 Pinns strohxis, because the tree is so 

 widely known, and little could be said 

 that would be information to the public, 

 but rather has endeavored to educate the 

 people by advocating some of America's 

 trees which were not so widely distrib- 

 uted and were practically unknown to the 

 world, even to the educated and trained 

 foresters. 



But nevertheless we have at various 

 times called attention to the white pine, 

 and urged that it be extensively planted. 



For reasons which we hav^e often ex- 

 plained, the white pine forest, when 

 cleared away, does not readily reproduce 

 itself : but hardwood trees, who'se light- 

 winged seeds, as the birches, are borne 

 far and wide by the winds, and nut trees, 

 the seeds carried by birds and animals, 

 take the place of the pines. 



These trees are O'f much less value 

 than the pine, and for this reason the 

 various States, the Government, and cor- 

 porations owning lands, as well as indi- 

 vidual farmers, should plant the pine, in 

 order that they may have a profit and 

 produce a better grade of lumber. 



An exchange says: 



NEW ENGLAND WHITE PINE. 



White pine is easily the leading packing- 

 box material of New England, and three hun- 

 dred and forty-four box factories were reputed 



in the six New England States in 1905. Of 

 a total consumption of 600,493,000 board feet, 

 white pine furnished 81.8 per cent., or more 

 than four times as much as all other kinds 

 combined. For the boxmakers it is an ideal 

 wood, and the manufacturers would be hard 

 pressed to find a suitable substitute. Practi- 

 cally all of the wood used in the manufacture 

 of such boxes is obtained locally, and of late 

 years a shortage of lumber suitable for the pur- 

 pose has confronted the New England box 

 manufacturers, as they depend for their supply 

 of lumber mainly upon farmers' wood lots. 

 Forestry authorities assert that the land now 

 producing pine can be made to produce more, 

 and that land which now bears a growth of 

 inferior trees can be made to produce pine. 



One of the unfortunate conditions 

 which exists is, the unwise and really 

 wasteful, wicked practice of small saw- 

 mills, which are cutting pine trees which 

 will only make a single stick of 2 by 4 or, 

 possibly, 4 by 4 lumber, which s^hould be 

 left several years until the tree could be 

 cut into profitable lumber. 



This is on a par with the turpentine 

 operators of the South, who murder the 

 yellow-pine forests by girdling the little 

 trees for their sap, while the land is not 

 required for other use, thus soon to ex- 

 terminate the timber, and with it the liv- 

 ing of turpentine operators. 



OPINION OF A TECHNICAL 

 JOURNAL. 



John P. Brown in the latest issue of Arbori- 

 culture continues his energetic arguments for 

 the cultivation of Catalpa speciosa, a tree that 

 has suffered by the similarity of its name to 

 other and much less worthy members of the 

 catalpa family. For a vigorous showing of 

 catalpa possibilities, get a copy of Arboricul- 

 ture, which is edited by ]Mr. Brown at Con- 

 nersville, Ind. His conclusions are sometimes 

 disputed by other foresters, but his sturdy in- 

 dependence tends to clearer thinking for all 

 concerned. Assuredly the car - for catalpa loses 

 nothing in his hand?.— fFooaVra/'f, Cleveland, 

 Ohio. 



