1 88 



Minnesota Plant Life. 



Pine trees do not spring up again after fires with nearly the 

 vigor possessed hv a nimiber of hardwood trees. In ]\Iinne- 

 sota hundreds of tliousands of young trees are annually de- 

 stroyed by fire and their place is occupied by plants which are 

 comparatively worthless in the commerce of the state. 



The Norway or red pine. The other commercial pine of 

 Minnesota is a somewhat smaller tree. a\craging fifty to eighty 

 feet in height. This is commonly called the Norway pine by log- 

 gers, though a more correct name would be red ])ine. The bark 

 is of a reddish tint and much smoother than that of the white 

 pine. When standing in groves the tops of the red pines are 



round, not irregular and crested 

 as are the tops of the white pine. 

 The leaves are ])roduced in pairs 

 on short special branches. They 

 '^'¥A are dark-green, five or six inches 

 "^ in length and shaped somewhat 

 like half-c\linders. The stami- 



nate cones are longer and slen- 

 derer than those of the white 

 ])ine, grow in more elongated 

 clusters and are of a puri)lish 

 J''^^^ color. The pistillate cones are 

 f^'C./- at first almost spherical, red in 

 ' O^'iA color and a (piarter of an inch or 

 Fi(;.7i. Jack pine, .\fter Hritton and more iu length. Like cones of 



the white pme these pistdlate 

 flowers take two years to mature and finally drop from between 

 their scales the smaller, darker seeds with wings shaped ditYer- 

 ently from those of the white i)ine seeds. The seedling plant 

 has fewer seed-leaves and is limited to eight, while five, six 

 or seven .nre more conunoii numbers. The wood is not so 

 easily worked as that of the white i)ine. nor do the logs fioat 

 so well in dri\es. The timber is, however, abundantly em- 

 ployed in the manufacture of buildings, trestles and sometimes 

 in railway construction. 



The jack pine. Tlie third species of pine in Mimiesota. the 

 jack pine, is \ery prexalent in sandy soil throughout the north- 

 ern part of the state. It is a smaller tree than either of the 



