conifers. SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 149 



trees ; north of Lake Superior it often grows to a large size and is common, but probably is most 

 abundant, and attains its greatest size and beauty in the region west of Lake Winnipeg and north 

 of the Saskatchewan, where it frequently stretches over great areas of sandy sterile soil, abounding in 

 the valley of the Mackenzie as Pinus contorta does on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains 

 in the same latitude. 1 



The wood of Pinus divaricata is light, soft, not strong and close-grained ; it is clear pale brown 

 or rarely orange-color, with thick nearly white sapwood, and contains broad conspicuous resinous bands 

 of small summer cells, few small resin passages, and numerous obscure medullary rays. The specific 

 gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0.4761, a cubic foot weighing 29.67 pounds. It is cut for 

 fuel in the Province of Quebec, and sometimes is used for railway ties and posts ; occasionally it is 

 manufactured into lumber. By the Indians of Canada it was valued for the frames of canoes. 2 



Pinus divaricata was probably cultivated in England before the middle of the eighteenth century. 3 

 Its short spreading leaves and open habit do not, however, greatly commend it to the planters of 

 ornamental trees, and a colder climate than that of any part of the United States south of its northern 

 border is needed to develop its beauty and insure its long life. 4 



land from which the forest has been cut, until they are overtopped * Curious fancies concerning this tree have taken possession of 



by them at the end of a few years, and then as undergrowth serve the popular mind in some parts of the country. It is considered 



to prevent the development of limbs on the trunks of the more dangerous to those who pass within ten feet of its limbs, the danger 



valuable species ; and it is not improbable that large areas in these being greater for women than for men ; it is believed to poison the 



states would now be practically deserts but for the existence of soil in which it grows and to be fatal to cattle browsing near it ; 



this hardy and fast-growing tree. (See Ayres, Garden and Forest, and if any misfortune comes to a man who has one of these trees 



ii. 261. — See, also, Douglas, Garden and Forest, ii. 285.) on his land, or to his cattle, it must be burned down with wood, 



1 G. M. Dawson, Garden and Forest, i. 59. which is piled around it, for the prejudice against it is so strong 



2 Richardson, Franklin Jour. Appx. No. 7, 752. that no one possessed of this belief would venture to cut down a 



3 Loudon, Arb. Brit. iv. 2190, f. 2064-2067. Gray Pine. 



