68 



Tin: WHITE PINK. 



I'eeliun of doubt ami even suspieiou, and long before anything definite could possibly be said about 

 flie matter tin' merits and faults of tiie Wliite Tine were extensively diseussed. Tlie "in-aetical" 

 man, and with him some scientilic men, were satisfied that such a light colored softwood could not 

 possibly be durable or otherwise desirable, and the small quantities ottered from time to time did 

 not always find ready market. Of late years this condition has changed. In a series of excel- 

 lent articles, Dr. L. Wappes. a Bavarian forester, records the experience had in one of the oldest 

 bodies of White Pine iu Germany, in which he shows that the tree in pure growth, and also as 

 mixture with pine, spruce, or hardwoods, has jjroven a most excellent lactor of the German forest; 

 that it seeds early and heavily, and as i)lant material is easily and cheaply secured : that it is readily 

 and even preferably re()roduced by natural seeding, a rapid grower, capable to withstand crowd- 

 ing and shading, and that it is a tree especially capable of producing a large amount of timber 

 even <m poor .soils, all of which coincides with the observations on its native habitat laid down iu 

 thismonograpli. He shows that besides the Fir (Balsam), the White Pine is the only tree which, in 

 the Palatinate and on poor .soils will, at the age of one hundred ami ten years, make timber of Class I 

 (according to (German notation, diameter at half length, 22 inches and better); that while the com- 

 mon pine at tliat age furnishes only 1.'? per cent of Class III and better (diameter 12 inches and 

 over), the White Piue furnishes 27 iier cent, or more than double this amount of these and more 

 valuable tliameter classes. Dr. Wappes emphatically states that White Pine, wherever known, is 

 eageily bought, and that the oi)inion of the consumers has ratlically changed. lie proves by the 

 figures of large sales from the State forests, that since 1SS2 the value of White Pine has nearly 

 doubled, while thatof Spruce and commou Scotch Pine has increased by only 20 percent, and that 

 of Fir and Lan'h has actually declined during this period. The foUowing figures give an idea of 

 the growth of White Piue abroad. The groves of the Palatinate are stocked on very inferior soil, 

 nearly all other groves cited being ou loamy sand. The figures for total volume are somewhat 

 mi.sleading, since they do not include the timber which has been removed from the older groves iu 

 thinnings, which would add probably from 10 to l."> ])er cent to make ui) whole production. 



It will be of interest to give more in detail the conditions of the lastmeutioned plantation, 

 reported this year in Dr. Lorey's AUgemeine Forst unil Jagdzeituug: 



The plantation of about 9 acres, ou fresh loamy sand, situated at au elevation of 2,200 feet 

 above sea level in Wurtemberg, consists of White Pine mixed with Scotch Pine, Spruce, and Fir 

 in single individuals or groups. The White Pine; represents, numerically, two-thirds of the total 

 number, Scotch Pine is found among the dominant growth in part, but the Sjiruce and the small 

 number of Firs show only codomiiutnt and oppressed trees. 



The density of the growth was reported as satisfactory uutil in 1.S75, when a snowstorm broke 

 dowu much material, so that at present the density does not average over 0.7. 



The stand, originating from seed, was several times thinned, and the last time, occasioned by 

 the snowstorm, 400 White I'ines were removed, with o\er 10,000 cnbii- feet of wood. The number 

 of trees averaged 183 per acre, of which 142 White Pines, with diameters varying from 7 to 24 

 iuches, and 10 inches in the average, yielded altogether 9, .510 cubic feet, while the other species 

 added only 1,290 cubic feet. Comparison with the other acre yiehls recorded shows that under 

 these conditions the product was less than in more favored situations, either the site or light 

 conditions reducing the growth. 



The diameters represented ou a sample area were distributed as follows: 



Diameters iucbes. 



Xuinber of trees 



X to 10 



10 to 12 

 -'0 



to 11 

 24 



14 to 10 

 30 



n; to IS 

 33 



18 to 20 20 to 22 

 23 4 



22 to 24 

 1 



Of the Scotch Piues only four had reached diameters over IG iuches, and of the Spruces none 



over 14 inches. The superiority of the White Pine also appears from the comparison of height 



growth, which was established for every five years by the measurement of average sample trees, 



as follows : 



Height ijrowth of White Pine, Scotch Fine, and Spruce, by years. 



