FORESTRY QUARTERLY 



Vol. IX.] March, 191 i. [No. i. 



SOME NOTES ON JACK PINE (Pinus drvaricata) IN 



WESTERN ONTARIO.* mwyc, 



TD T AT T:^ 8OTANICA 



By L. M. Ellis. n^ •» . c ^, 



The Jack Pine — Pinus banksiana or divaricata — does not rank 

 with White Pine, or Norway Pine, although it is a valuable 

 species, and is becoming increasingly more so as the virgin 

 supplies of the better kinds are becoming exhausted. 



The wood makes excellent railroad ties, and by its cheapness, a 

 large supply being available, it has become the tie tree par excel- 

 lence of Western Ontario. 



It grows chiefly on burnt-over areas — the extensive stands of 

 it to be found in that part of the province are due, to a large 

 extent, to past fires. This character of occupying brule country 

 it shares with aspen, with which it is frequently associated. 

 These two trees are pioneers in that they are not components of 

 the climax forest type of the region which is composed of a White 

 Pine — hardwood — balsam association. 



As a lumber tree it is inferior, as it never attains a very large 

 size, barely over 18 to 20 inch diameter. It furnishes knotty lum- 

 ber; the wood is soft and weak. 



Distribution and Association. 



Its botanical range covers the great Laurentian region. It is 

 found from Nova Scotia to the valley of the Athabasca River, and 

 down the Mackenzie to about latitude 65° North, ranging south- 



*The writer has mainly relied on his own investigation in the field. He 

 **■ has also consulted notes furnished by H. R. McMillan in Bulletin 6, For- 

 ^ estry Branch, and a report on tie timber to the Northern Pacific R. R. Co. 



DC 

 Q- 



