PINE 



4C79 



PINEAPPLE 



But the wood products are only a part of pine 

 culture. The naval-stores industry, which in- 

 cludes turpentine and tar gathering, is now of 

 great importance to the United States and 

 other countries. A forest of 10,000 long-leaf 

 pines should yield annually for four years about 

 400 barrels of liquid resin, from which tar, pitch. 

 turpentine and rosin are extracted. With the 

 price of turpentine averaging thirty-five cents 

 per gallon, and rosin two dollars a barrel. the 

 value of these by-products is enormous. In 

 tiim-s pa>t the waste involved in ivHii gathering 

 was serious, but improved methods have re- 

 duced it and have put to good use many con- 

 stituents which formerly escaped in steam and 

 smoke. Stumps and branches left in pine for- 

 ests after the woodsmen have done their work 

 are now turned into slabs, lath, shingles and 

 bundles of faggots which are sold for fuel ; and 

 a wonderful invention has made it possible to 

 n't ethyl-alcohol, the highest grade known, 

 from sawdust. 



In the south, long-leaf pine saplings are 



shipped in large quantities for Christmas greens, 



a practice which threatens the supply of that 



ty of tree. The European pine also has 



f economic value. Its inner bark is twisted, 



dried, mixed with meal and made into food, 



while the fibers are prepared and, under the 



name of wold wollc (wood wool), are woven 



into durable cloth. See FORESTS AND FORESTRY. 



The Pine Tree in Literature. Not only has 

 the pine a high commercial value, but it has 

 also been the theme of many beautiful verses. 

 Among them all none are more expressive than 

 these from the poem The Pines, written by the 

 Canadian, Robert Service : 



On the flanks of the storm -gorged ridges our 



black battalions massed ; 

 We surge in a host to the sullen coast, and we 



sing in the ocean blast ; 



m empire of sea to empire of snow we grip 

 our empire fast. 



T" 11- niggard lands were we driven, 'twixt 

 desert and foes are we penned ; 



is the Northland given, ours to strong- 

 hold and defen ! . 



Ours till the world be riven In the crash of the 

 end; 



Ours from the bleak beginning, through the aeons 



of deathlike sleep ; 

 Ours from the shock when the naked rock waa 



hurled from the hissing deep ; 

 : s through tin- twilight ages of weary glacier 

 creep. 



Wind of thr Knst. Win<1 <>r 

 to and fro, 



West, wandering 



Chant your songs in our topmost boughs, that the 



sons of men may know 



The peerless pine was the first to come, and the 

 pine will be last to go ! U.K. 



Consult Pinchot's Primer of Forestry ; Shaw's 

 The Genus Pinna. 



PINE 'APPLE, a delicious and fragrant 

 tropical fruit common in all markets. I- 

 ceived its name from its resemblance to a pine 

 cone, and is usually about the size of a cocoa- 

 nut, though the very large varieties may weigh 

 from sixteen to 

 twenty pounds. Un- 

 der its thorny, red- 

 dith skin there is a 

 firm, pale-yellow 

 meat. Protected by 

 its hard covering, it 

 will stand more rough 

 handling and keep 

 longer than any 

 other tropical fruit, 

 and it can be ob- 

 tained throughout 

 the year. Its excel- 

 lent and distinctive 

 flavor makes the 

 pineapple a favorite 

 dessert fruit. 



The plant, which is a biennial (see BIEN- 

 MALS), grows about two feet high and produces 

 a single a % xis and flower stalk. The fleshy part 

 of the stalk forms the fruit, which is crowned 

 by a cluster of leaves. It was introduced into 

 Europe by the Spaniards after their explora- 

 tions in South America; the earliest mention 

 of its use in England was made by Evelyn in 

 his Diary, in which he speaks of having tasted 

 a pineapple from Barbados at the table of 

 Charles II. For many years it was cultivated 

 in private gardens in England and on the con- 

 tinent of Europe, but owing to the great devel- 

 opment of pineapple culture in the tropics, the 

 hothouse plant is now rare. The European 

 markets are largely supplied by the plantations 

 of North . the Canaries, the Azores 



and the West Indies, and Queensland is the 

 source of the Australian supply. 



A considerable area in the United States, 

 practically all of which is in Florida, is w. 11 

 adapt' <i to ill. < iiltun of pineapples, the sandy 

 soil of the Keys being ideally suit. : ow- 



ing of this fruit. The annual crop of I 



779,000 crates, valued at more than $735,- 

 000. There are also small districts in Soutl 

 ; ornia, Georgia and Texas where pineapple* 



THI-: 



