68 



THE WHITE PINE. 



feeling of doubt and even suspicion, and long before anything definite could possibly be said about 

 the matter the merits and faults of the White Pine were extensively discussed. The " practical" 

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

 possibly be durable or otherwise desirable, and the small quantities offered 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 in Germany, in which he shows that the tree in pure growth, and also as 

 mixture with piue, spruce, or hardwoods, has proven a most excellent factor of the German forest; 

 that it seeds early and heavily, and as plant material is easily and cheaply secured ; that it is readily 

 and even preferably reproduced 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 on poor soils, all of which coincides with the observations on its native habitat laid down in 

 this monograph. 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 and 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 that age furnishes only 13 per cent of Class III and better (diameter 12 inches and 

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

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

 eagerly bought, and that the opinion of the consumers has radically changed. He proves by the 

 figures of large sales from the State forests, that since 1882 the value of White Pine has nearly 

 doubled, while that of Spruce and common Scotch Pine has increased by only 20 per cent, and that 

 of Fir and Larch has actually declined during this period. The following figures give an idea of 

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

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

 misleading, since they do not include the timber which has been removed from the older groves in 

 thinnings, which would add probably from 10 to 15 per cent to make up whole production. 



It will be of interest to give more in detail the conditions of the last-mentioned plantation, 

 reported this year in Dr. Lorey's Allgemeine Forst und Jagdzeituug : 



The plantation of about 9 acres, on fresh loamy sand, situated at an 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 Spruce and the small 

 number of Firs show only codomiuant and oppressed trees. 



The density of the growth was reported as satisfactory until in 1875, when a snowstorm broke 

 down 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 Pines were removed, with over 10,000 cubic feet of wood. The number 

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

 inches, and 16 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 yields 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 on a sample area were distributed as follows : 



10 to 12 12 to 14 14 to 16 16 to 18 18 to 20 20 to 22 22 to 24 

 20 . 24 30 33 23 . 4 1 



Of the Scotch Pines only four had reached diameters over 1C inches, 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 growth of White Pine, Scotch Pine, and Spruce, by years. 



Diameters inches.. 8 to 10 



Number of trees 7 



