40 THE WHITE PINE 



occurrence, its use for forestal purposes would seem to be circumscribed by conditions of liuinid 

 and cool atmospheres, sndi as are found in northern latitudes and hifjh altitudes. Its distribution 

 is niauit'estly more dependent on hiiiniility than on temperature, or rather, on a low transi)iration 

 factor, that is, such a relation of heat and moisture, both at the foot and at the top, that the thin 

 foliage can readily perform its functions; hence, its failure in cultivation in the trans-Missouri 

 States, the contraction of its southern field to the high altitudes, and its best development in 

 (luantity if not in ipiality within the influence of the Oreat Lakes and to the northward and 

 eastward. 



While adapting itself readily to almost any variety of soil, the White Pine manifestly prefers 

 one with a fair admixture of sand, insuring a moderati-ly rajiid drainage. The ])ine tribe in 

 general occui)ies the sandy soils, to wliich it is better adapted than most of the deciduous tree 

 species; but the White IMne is capable of disputing possession witii its competitors even of tlie 

 fresh medium iieavy loam and clay soils, making here the best individual growth. 



Its shallow root system, in which it resembles, as in many other respects, the spruces, i)crmits 

 it to accompany the latter to the thinner soils of the rocky slopes in tiie Adirondacks and New 

 England States, although here its development is naturally less thrifty. Its growth on the rocky 

 hills of Massacliusetts within the hardwoods of that region is, however, at least for the first .sixty 

 to eighty years not much less thrifty than in the better soils in the valleys. It does not shun even 

 the wetter and occasionally overllowed and swampy ground, and is here fouud, together with the 

 Fir, Arborvita-, and even Tamarack : yet, ou the dry, light sandy, coarse, and gravelly soil the 

 Red I'iue and Jack Pine seem to be able to outdo it. 



ASSOCIATEI1 SPECIES. 



The White Pine is less gregarious than any other pines of the Eastern United States. Although 

 it occurs in pure growths as true pinery ou the red clays and moister gravels, it more frequently 

 is an admixture in the hardwoods, sharing with them the compacter, heavier soils from which the 

 other pines are excluded. 



Spruce, Hemlock, aud Arborvitie (,€edarj are most frecpient concomitants of the White Pine 

 in Canada; various species of Birch and Maple with Beech aud Spruce form the composition of 

 the forest in the Adirondacks, overtowered by the pines, and there is hardly any species of the 

 Northern Atlantic forest which in one or the other region of its distribution may not be found in 

 association with the White Pine. 



Owing to the fact that the hardwoods as a rule occupy the better soils, the be.st individual 

 development of the White Pine is also found in these mixtures. In the pinery of the northwest 

 Red Pine and Jack Pine are the associates, while the Pitch Pine (P. rif/ida), and, in the southern 

 field, the Shortlcaf Pine (P. cchinata) are not unfrequently found in its company. 



The samples of "acre yields" following will serve to illustrate more in detail the manner of 

 distribution, the associations, and the capacity of White Pine in the native forests in different 

 parts of its range. More extensive tabulation will be found in the Appendix. 



