20 Till': wHiTi-: pine. 



arc rarely lelt behind, and ''clean t,iUtinjit" "O"' means tin; removal of all lo}?s, however delective. 

 In lo<j;<rin}i, ice roads, improved by nijrhtly si)rinklinf;'. enable the transport of enormous loads 

 (."),()(KI feet and more) by sin;,'le or double teams. The lo^^'iiin railway is fast linding favor, and in 

 many places the lofrgin;; is thereby made continuous, being carried on at all seasons. (See I'l. IV.) 



The yields in White Pine are, as might be expected, very variable. 



A cut of 2 million feet T5. ^f. on a •• forty." or 50.(1(10 feet per acre, was not a rare one in the 

 pineries of southern Michigan, and ocasionally such cuts ai-c made in Wisconsin and Minnesota. 

 To yield such a result the entire "forty" must be well and evenly stocked. The best acre, then, 

 need not be far above the a\fragc, and, in I'act, rarely exceeds 75,000 feet. 



A stand of 1 million feet on a •• forty," or 25,0(10 feet per acre, is a good one, but was of quite 

 common occurrence in all White Pine districts, and may still be found in many places, while whole 

 townshijis or counties have averaged 10,000 feet per acre. 



These yieUls depend, of course, on the character of the forest growth, the greater or smaller 

 admixture of other species occasioning the diiferences. Thus, if any large territory of the pine 

 districts were taken into consideration, a yield of 150 million feet i)cr township would be found a 

 fair sratemeut for most parts of the pineries of Wisconsin and ^lichigan. 



The best yields do not usually come from those tracts which contain the largest trees, but 

 where the pine is least mixed with other species and stands most dense. 



Such areas, pineries proper, wiiere no merchantable hardwoods were mixed with the pine, are 

 usually tracts of loamy sand, and occur in extensive bodies in all three of the Lake States, 

 lienerally. White Pine cuts more wasteful than Norway or Red Pine, has a thicker bark, more 

 large dead limbs and knots, these latter often coming to within 20 feet of the ground, even on large 

 trees, and is (piite given to forking. This latter ]>ecnliarity seems natural to the tree, and has 

 been observed abroad as well as here. It seems independent of the character of the soil, as it 

 occurs on clay and sand alike, but it is often localized, so that on a small tract of 10 or I'O acres 

 nearly all trees are forked. Trees with three and four forks are not rare, and five forks occur. lu 

 addition, ANhitc Pine is extensively defective by decay, so much so that in .some localities 15 toi'O 

 per cent must be allowed for the loss from this source. 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



The oldest description of the White Pine appears to be that of Plukenet, i)ublished in 1700. 

 Its scientific name of 7*(7i((.s .s'^>'oi«s was given the species by Linna'us in 1753, and unlike most 

 trees but one other scientific name has been applied to it, the .synonym being J'inits Iciiuifolia Salis- 

 bury, 17'JG. Besides the generally accei)ted common name of White Pine, the species is locally 

 known in the United States as Soft Pine, Northern Pine, and Spruce Pine, and to a limited extent 

 by its usual European name of Weymouth TMne. 



The species was first introduced in Europe at Badminton, England, and was soon after exten- 

 sively planted on the estate of Lord Weymouth, whence its common name abroad. It was also 

 extensively planted in Germany at the end of the last century under the same name, Weymuth- 

 kiefer. 



BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION. 



White Pine {Pinus strohtts L.) in its natural habitat is a tree of large size, 100 feet or more in 

 height (not unfrequcntly attaining a height of over 130 feet, even trees of 250 feet in height having 

 been reported), with smooth, thin, grayish bark (fig. 1), becoming at the base thick and deejily 

 furrowed v.ith age. The leaves are slender, straight, triangular in section, five in a sheath, 2.^ to 

 44 inches long; resin ducts, chiefiy two near the dorsal face; stomata in three to five rows on the 

 ventral faces; fibro-va.scular bundle, one. Cones, single or in groui)S of two to three, stalked and 

 pendulous, 4 to iiu'hes long. cyiiinlri<'al, slightly tapering and curved, fruit-scales oblong wedge- 

 shaped, the apophysis half pyramidal, with a triangular blunt point. Seeds, one-fifth to one-fourth 

 inch long, grayish-brown, with a thin membranaceous wing. Cotyledons, seven to eleven. 



.\ number of varieties, more or less distinctly marked, are recognized in cultivation. Among 

 these are iitiiia,a, dwarf, bushy form, cultivated in gardens in the Old World; iiirea, viridis, and 

 aurea, named from the color of their leaves; brevi/olia, and several others {umhracuUfera, minima, 



