20 THE WHITE PINE. 



are rarely left behind, and "clean cutting" now means the removal of all logs, however defective. 



In logging, ice roads, improved by nightly sprinkling, enable the transport of enormous loads 



~..n<H) feet and more) by single or double teams. The logging railway is fast finding favor, and in 



many places the logging is thereby made continuous, being carried on at all seasons. (See PI. IV.) 



The yields in White Pine are, as might be expected, very variable. 



A cut of 2 million feet B. M. on a " forty," or 50,000 feet per acre, was not a rare one in the 

 pineries of southern Michigan, and oc"asionally such cuts are made in Wisconsin and Minnesota. 

 To yield such a result the entire " forty" must be well and evenly stocked. The best acre, then, 

 need not be far above the average, and, in fact, rarely exceeds 75,000 feet. 



A stand of 1 million feet on a "forty," or 25,000 feet per acre, is a good one, but was of quite 

 common occurrence in all White Pine districts, and may still be found in many places, while whole 

 townships or counties have averaged 10,000 feet per acre. 



These yields depend, of course, on the character of the forest growth, the greater or smaller 

 admixture of other species occasioning the differences. Thus, if any large territory of the pine 

 districts were taken into consideration, a yield of 150 million feet per township would be found a 

 fair statement for most parts of the pineries of Wisconsin and Michigan. 



The best yields do not usually come from those tracts which contain the largest trees, but 

 where the pine is least mixed with other species and stands most dense. 



Such areas, pineries proper, where no merchantable hardwoods were mixed with the pine, are 

 usually tracts of loamy sand, and occur in extensive bodies in all three of the Lake States. 

 Generally, White Pine cuts more wasteful than Norway or Red Pine, has a thicker bark, more 

 large dead limbs and knots, these latter often coming to within 20 feet of the ground, even on large 

 trees, and is quite given to forking. This latter peculiarity seems natural to the tree, and has 

 been observed abroad as well as here. It seems independent of the character of the soil, as it 

 occurs on clay and sand alike, but it is often localized, so that on a small tract of 10 or 20 acres 

 nearly all trees are forked. Trees with three and four forks are not rare, and five forks occur. In 

 addition. White Pine is extensively defective by decay, so much so that in some localities 15 to i-'O 

 per cent must be allowed for the loss from this source. 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



The oldest description of the White Pine appears to be that of Plukenet, published in 1700. 

 Its scientific name of Pinus strobus was given the species by Linna?us in 1753, and unlike most 

 trees but one other scientific name has been applied to it, the synonym being Pini<s tenuifolla Salis- 

 bury, 1796. Besides the generally accepted common name of White Pine, the species is locally 

 known in the United States as Soft Pine, Northern Pine, and Spruce Pine, and to a limited extent 

 by its usual European name of Weymouth Pine. 



The species was first introduced in Europe at Badminton, England, and was soon after exten- 

 sively planted on the estate of Lord Weymouth, whence its^dinmon name abroad. It was also 

 extensively planted in Germany at the end of the last century under the same name, Weymuth- 

 kiefer. 



BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION. 



White Pine (Pinus strobm L.) in its natural habitat is a' tree of large size, 100 feet or more in 

 height (not unfrequently attaining a height of over 150 feet, even trees of 250 feet in height having 

 been reported), with smooth, thin, grayish bark (fig. 1), becoming at the base thick and deeply 

 furrowed with age. The leaves are slender, straight, triangular in section, live in a sheath, 2i to 

 4i inches long; resin ducts, chiefly two near the dorsal face; stomata in three to five rows on the 

 ventral faces; fibro vascular bundle, one. Cones, single or in groups of two to three, stalked and 

 pendulous, 4 to 6 inches long, cylindrical, slightly tapering and curved, fruit-scales oblong wedge- 

 shaped, the apophysis half pyramidal, with a triangular blunt point. Seeds, one-fifth to one-fourth 

 inch long, grayish-brown, with a thin membranaceous wing. Cotyledons, seven to eleven. 



A number of varieties, more or less distinctly marked, are recogni/.ed in cultivation. Among 

 these are nana, a dwarf, bushy form, cultivated in gardens in the Old World; nivea, riritlis, and 

 aurea, named from the color of their leaves; brevifolia, and several others (umbraculifera, minima, 



