FORESTRY IN THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 157 



our British horror of exalted sentiment, even pretend that we 

 pursue altruistic ends: it will pay us and pay all other nations 

 if we are all producing as much as possible and are as healthy 

 as possible: just as it is advantageous to be healthy and 

 prosperous oneself, and to live near healthy and prosperous 

 neighbours. This is, briefly, the best argument for afforestation : 

 but, Mr Stebbing may be quite certain, we shall not long be 

 healthy or prosperous if our neighbours are poor and unhealthy, 

 and if we refuse to buy or sell with them : we shall all be poor 

 together or prosperous together, all healthy or unhealthy together : 

 it is all doubtless very sad, but so it is. 



Here we fear that we must leave Mr Stebbing's book which, 

 if not suggestive in the usual sense, is at least provocative. 

 There are many points which we should like to challenge, but 

 to do so would be to write a commentary as long as the book 

 .itself. 



22. Red Pine or Norway Pine (Pinus resinosa). 



( With Plates.) 



By James Kay, Forestry Branch, Ottawa. 



From the commercial standpoint the red pine is a very 

 important timber tree, and it is found widely distributed over 

 North-Eastern America. It ranges from Nova Scotia through 

 Southern Quebec and Ontario to the valley of the Winnipeg 

 River. In the United States it is found from the Lake States to 

 Massachusetts and the mountains of Pennsylvania. 



It never forms large pure stands, these being rarely more than 

 50 to 100 acres in extent throughout its range. It is only found 

 pure on sandy and dry rocky ridges, reaching its best develop- 

 ment, however, on deep, light, sandy loam ; therefore it is not 

 exacting as to soil requirement. Throughout its range it is 

 associated with white pine, jack pine, and hardwoods (aspen and 

 birch in the openings). 



Botanical characteristics. — The leaves are in twos, slender, soft, 

 flexible, dark green, and lustrous, 5 to 6 inches long, falling 

 off about the fourth to fifth year. It flowers in May and June. 



The cones are ovate, conical, 2 to z\ inches long, maturing 

 in the second autumn, shedding their seed in September and 

 early October. Open-grown trees produce seed after the twenty- 

 fifth year, those in stands from 45 to 60 years old. 



The red pine, however, is not a prolific seed-bearer. In 



