226 Forestry Quarterly. 



albicavilis was noticed growing with spruce in a creek bottom on 

 the Lewis & Clark National Forest that measured i8 inches d. 

 b. h. and had a tall straight trunk that would yield four good i6 

 foot saw-logs. The average merchantable stand of this species, 

 however, usually runs quite uniform, with a merchantable length 

 varying from lo to 30 feet, depending upon the situation. 



White-bark Pine is usually not very straight, even at its best. 

 It has considerable taper and crook which is usually markedly 

 contrasted with the straightness of the Lodgepole Pine and spruce 

 growing with it. Very characteristic also is the tendency it has 

 to fork a foot or so above the ground. In general, this species 

 is very similar to Limber Pine and the two species are commonly 

 confused. However, the trunk of Finns alhicaulis is generally 

 much shorter and more crooked than that of Finns ilexilis, and 

 the bark of the former is usually much thinner, and more or less 

 scaly-smooth, rather than ridged and furrowed. The purple 

 cones of White-bark Pine are shorter and stubbier, and the cone- 

 scales very pointed. Moreover, the cones are longer persistent 

 on the trees than are those of the Limber Pine, and open very 

 slowly after they are ripe. Since the seeds are a favorite food 

 of the jays, magpies and squirrels which inhabit the high alti- 

 tudes, the cones are usually cut or torn to pieces before they are 

 ready to fall, and for months afterwards one may see the bare 

 central shaft and a few of the basal scales still remaining in place 

 on the tree, but no entire cones anywhere. Should the birds or 

 rodents not get the seeds, the cones may remain closed after fall- 

 ing until the scales, rotted at the bases, break away in bunches, 

 liberating the seeds. The fact, therefore, that under the Limber 

 Pine the old cones may be found entire, while under the White- 

 bark they are rarely or never so, affords one of the simplest and 

 safest ways of distinguishing between the two species. 



Characteristics of Wood. — The wood of White-bark Pine is 

 light-brown in color, soft, close-grained, light in weight when 

 seasoned, and in other ways quite similar to ordinary White Pine. 

 It may prove to be more brittle, however. In contrast to the 

 brittleness of the wood of the trunk, that of the branches is 

 extremely tough. The grain is nearly always twisted, which 

 makes the wood unsuitable for matches and for some other uses 

 to which ordinary White Pine is put. For the commoner uses 



