Pinus io 93 



scantlings were needed ; and gives details-of experiments on its strength and elasticity 

 made for the Admiralty. 



Sargent describes the timber as exceedingly hard, very strong, tough-grained, 

 and durable, of light red or orange colour, with nearly white sap-wood. In the 

 United States it is preferred to any other wood for the construction of railway cars, 

 and is now in great demand for railway sleepers, which are replacing those made of 

 oak and chestnut in the northern states. 



In consequence of the large consumption in America, and of the great quantity 

 of trees destroyed for resin and by fire, the price has lately risen very much in the 

 English market, being in February 1906 as much as is. 6d. to 2s. per cubic foot ; and 

 for very long squared balks a higher price is obtained. 



Mr. Weale writes as follows: "The heaviest of the American pines; princi- 

 pally exported from Pensacola and Mobile. It contains resin in quantity, which 

 makes it very durable, and permits its employment in exposed situations. Is 

 moderately hard and straight-grained, and being easily obtainable in long lengths, is 

 in demand for bridge and pier work, and as a building timber. The wood is 

 frequently figured, and used for panelling. For school fittings and furniture, church 

 pews and seatings, it is eminently suitable. In America it is in request for railway 

 sleepers and mining timber, but the low prices at which the Baltic goods are imported 

 prevents its use for the latter purposes in this country." 



A handsomely marked variety of this wood, known as curly pitch pine, is 

 found on the outside of some logs, which, when polished, has a nice effect in 

 panels, and being- cheap and easy to match, is oftener used in England than the 

 more beautiful, though softer, curly redwood, a variety of the wood of Sequoia 

 sempervirens. 



Pinchot 1 states that in the Government statistics, under the heading "Yellow 

 Pine," are grouped all the reports of pine production in the south and west, except 

 those of white pine (P. Strobus) and Norway pine (P. resinosa). Several species, 

 such as P. palustris, P. Tada, P. caribcza, P. echinata, and P. rigida, enter into this 

 total. Most of the lumber cut in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, 

 and Florida is P. palustris ; while practically all that of Arkansas and Missouri is 

 P. echinata. Most of the pine cut in Virginia and North and South Carolina is 

 P. Tcsda. 



The resin 2 or crude turpentine obtained by tapping P. palustris, and to a lesser 

 extent P. caribcea, 3 furnishes the raw material for the production of resin and spirits 

 of turpentine. At present these two species furnish the great bulk of the supply for 

 the whole world. France and Austria, the only other countries where resin is pro- 

 duced on a considerable scale, account for perhaps one-tenth of the total produce. 

 In 1907 the total export of resin from the eastern states was i\ million barrels, 

 valued at $11,000,000; while that of spirits of turpentine amounted to 16 million 



1 U.S. Forestry Bull. 77, p. 18 (1906). 



* This industry is known in America as turpentine orcharding, and is well described by Ashe in N. Carolina Geol. Survey 

 Bull. No. 5 (1894) ; by Mohr, op. cit. 67 (1897) ; and by Bastin and Trimble, N. Amer. Conifera, 48 (1897). 



8 P. serotina is occasionally tapped in the coast region of North Carolina. P. Tada is never tapped. See our remarks 

 under these species. 



