12 THE WHITE PINE. 



The botanical range of the White Pine may be circumscribed as follows: From Newfoundland 

 and the Atlantic coast north of the Gulf of St. Lawrence its northern limit runs in a wavy 

 line between the forty ninth and fifty-first degree of latitude, its most northern extension occur- 

 ring near its western limit, when, skirting the southeastern end of Lake Winnipeg, it turns 

 southward, following more or less closely the ninety-sixth meridian of longitude, and in a 

 southeastern direction the line which demarcates the boundary between forest and prairie to the 

 Cedar River at the Iowa line, and along the Mississippi River, crossing it near Rock River, when, 

 following this river for some time, it takes an easterly course to the head of Lake Michigan, then 

 in a northeasterly direction through Michigan to the shores of Lake St. Glair and across Ontario, 

 skirting the southern shores of Lake Erie in the two most northeasterly counties of Ohio, then 

 turns southward through the eastern counties of that State, and following into West Virginia 

 near the 1,000-foot contour line along the foothills of the Allegheuies through Kentucky and 

 Tennessee, gradually withdrawing to higher elevations (1,200 feet) into northeastern Georgia; the 

 line then returning northward along the eastern slope and crossing upper Delaware, reaches the 

 Atlantic coast in southern New Jersey. 



The distribution of commercially valuable timber is, to be sure, very different and much 

 more confined. The northern parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan contained probably 

 the largest amount of White Pine, the broad belt of commercial pine of these States continuing 

 eastward through Ontario, northern New York, and the northern New England States to New 

 Brunswick and Newfoundland, and following the New England coast, while the higher elevations 

 of the New England States showed preponderantly spruce with pine intermixed. The northern 

 counties of western Pennsylvania also contained a large amount of White Pine timber mixed with 

 Hemlock and hardwoods. The character of this distribution is exhibited by general outlines 

 and shadings on the accompanying map (PI. I). The extreme limits of its sporadic occurrence 

 can not be fixed with absolute precision, and from the nature of the case must remain more or less 

 indefinite. Similarly, the limits of greater or less development can only be approximately stated. 



The occurrence of the White Pine was generally as a component of the mixed hardwood 

 forest of the Atlantic, even in the best developed portions of its range, and under such condi- 

 tions, that is, in mixture with other species, it seems to attain ite^most perfect development. 



The finest specimens of the highly esteemed (^ Cork Pine,/J)>f Michigan grew among hard- 

 woods on a better quality of soils than those which produced less valued grades. On the lighter 

 sands true pinery (pure or nearly pure growth of White Pine) occurs. Here its admixtures are 

 most frequently of Red Pine (Pinna reainoaa) and in its northern limits of Jack Pine (Pinna divar- 

 icata), while on the better and cooler situations it accompanies the spruces (Picea mariana and 

 P. canadensis) with Balsam Fir (Abies balaamen) and Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis). 



CHARACTER OF DISTRIBUTION, BY REGIONS. 



The character of the occurrence of the White Pine in the forest within its field of distribution 

 will readily appear from the descriptions in the tables of acre yield in the Appendix. 



In Maine, the lower altitudes, along the coast and some of the river valleys, contained in their 

 hardwood forests the White Pine in fine development, which gave to that State its cognomen of 

 the "Pine Tree State.'L^Reports of trees 6 to 7 feet and over in diameter and up to 250 feet in height 

 testify to the capacity of the species in this region. The original stand of this pine in the State is 

 practically entirely removed, while the young growth furnishes now again small quantities of 

 logging material. The higher altitudes, with their slate and granite soils, are stocked entirely with 

 the spruce and hardwood forest in which the pine occurs only as a scattering mixture and of 

 inferior development. 



This same manner of distribution applies more or less to X~ew Hamimliin- and northern Xeic 

 I'ork/ In the Adiroudacks the pine, now almost entirely removed, fringes with the Spruce and 

 Balsam Fir the many lakes and water courses and keeps to the lower altitudes; mixed in with the 

 Maples, Birches, Beech, a-ul Spruce, it towers 50 to 60 feet above the general level of the woods, 

 with diameters of 30 to 40 inches. Its reproduction under the shade of its competitors, however, 

 is prevented, young pine being rarely seen except on old abandoned openings in the forest. (See 

 PI. II.) 



