12 THE WlllTK I'INE. 



Tlie botanical range of the White IMnc may be circumscribed as follows: From Xewfouudlaud 

 and tlie Atlantic coast north of the (Inlf of St. Lawrence its northein limit iiiiis in a wavy 

 line between flie forty ninth and fifty-first (iegree of latitude, its most noitliern extension ocenr- 

 ring near its western limit, when, skirting the southeastern end of Lake Winnipeg, it turns 

 southward, following more or less closely the ninety-sixth meridian of longitude, and in a 

 southeastern (lirection the line wliieh demarcates the boundary between forest and prairie; to the 

 Ci'<lar lliver at tlie Iowa line, and along the .Mississi|(pi l{i\er, crossing it near Rock Kiver, when, 

 following this river for some time, it takes an easterly course to the head of Lake Michigan, then 

 in a northeasterly direction through Michigan to the sliores of Lake St. Clair and across Ontario, 

 skirting the southern shores of Lake Erie in the two most northeasterly (counties of (Jhio. then 

 turns southward through the eastern counties of tiiat State, and following into West Virginia 

 near the l,0((l»-fnot contour line along the foothills of the AUegheiiics through Kentucky and 

 Tennessee, gradually withdrawing to higher elevations (1,200 feet) into northeastern (Jeorgia; the 

 line then returning iioitliwai<l along the eastern slope and crossing u|)per Delaware, reaches the 

 Atlantic coast in soutliern ><'ew .Jersey. 



The distribution of commercially valuable timber is, to be sure, very different and much 

 more confined. The norlliern parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan contained jnobably 

 the largest amount of White Pine, the broad belt of coininercial pine of these States continiiiiig 

 eastward through Ontario, northern New York, anil the northern New Kngland States to New 

 IJriinswick and Newfoundland, and following the New I'>iigland coast, while the higher elevations 

 of the New I'^ngland .States showed i)iepoiiderantly spruce with pine intermixed. The northern 

 counties of western Pennsylvania al-so contained a large amount of White Pine timber mixed with 

 Hemlock and hardwoods. The (diaracter of this distribution is exhibited by general outlines 

 and shadings on the accompanying map (PI. I). The extreme limits of its sporadic, occurrence 

 can not be fixed with absolute i)recision, and from the nature of the case must remain more or less 

 indefinite. Similarly, the limits of greater or less develo]iment can only be approximately stated. 



The oeeurrenee of the White Pine was generally as a component of the mixed hardwood 

 forest of the Atlantic, even in the best developed jiortions of its range, and nnder such condi- 

 tions, tliat is, in mixture with other s[)ecies, it seems to attain its most [lerfect development. 



The finest specimens of the highly esteemed "Cork Pine"' of Michigan grew among liard- 

 woo<l8 on a better quality of soils than those which ])roduced less value(l grades. On the lighter 

 sands true pinery i pureor nearly imre growth of Wliite Pine) oi'curs. Here its admixtures are 

 most frequently of Red Pine (Pinns rcsinosa) and in its iioitliein limits of .lack Pine [PinuH divar- 

 i(v»/rt), while on the bi-tter and cooler situations it accompanies the spruces (P/cf^f W(uvVnia and 

 I', en iiadeiitiiii) with iialsam l-'ir (Abiis lidhitinrin and Hemlock ( 'I'siif/K cuiKKlcusis). 



CHARACTER OF DISTRIBUTION. BY REGIONS 



The character of the occuirence of the White Pine in the forest within its field of distribution 

 will readily appear from the descriptions in the tables of acre yielil in tiie Apjiendix. 



In Maine, the lower altitudes, along the coast and some of the river valleys, contained in their 

 hardwood forests the White Pine in tine develo|uiieiit, which gave to that State its cognomen of 

 the •' Pine Tree State." Reports of frees (! to 7 feet and over in diamefer and up to -'50 feet in height 

 testify to the capacity of the species in this region. The original stand of this jiine in the Statcis 

 practically entirely removed, while the young growth furnishes now again small quantities of 

 logging material. The higher altitudes, with their slate and granite .soils, are stocked entirely with 

 the spruce and hardwood forest in which the jiine occurs only as a .scattering mixture and of 

 inferior devclopmenf. 



This same manner of distribution applies more or less to Xnr //rn»/).v/(/(v ami iioiihcin Xew 

 York. In the Ailirondacks tlie pine, now almost entirely remo\ed, fringes witii the Spruce and 

 Balsam Fir the many lakes and water courses and keeps to the lower altitudes; mixed in with the 

 Maples, Birches, Beech, and Si)ruce, it towers 50 to 60 feet above the general level of the woods, 

 ■with diameters of '.W to 10 inches. Its reproduction nnder the shade of its competitors, however, 

 is prevented, young pine being rarely seen exceiit on old abantloued opening.s in the forest. (See 

 ri. II.) 



