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Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 



local pride, yet all have ideals in com- 

 mon and all bear allegiance to a cen- 

 tral government. The struggles and 

 strife that resulted in this common al- 

 legiance revealed increasing depend- 

 ence upon trees. A few States early 

 identified themselves by some of the 

 trees that were characteristic of their 

 area. Eventually, there developed a 

 Nation-wide movement to designate a 

 typical tree for each State a mascot, 

 as it were. 



Maine was early dubbed the Pine 

 Tree State, yet no single species of the 

 pine has been officially recognized. 

 That was perhaps too obvious since it 

 could have been none other than 

 the eastern white pine, whose clean, 

 straight boles had early been selected 

 by the King's men to serve as masts and 

 spars for the British Navy and so had 

 borne the blaze of the Broad Arrow. 



Remembering her contributions to 

 the development of the great agricul- 

 tural and industrial Midwest during 

 the turn of the century, Minnesota 

 chose the same white pine for her em- 

 blem. Idaho chose the taller western 

 white pine and has been vigorously 

 vociferous in claiming for that tree the 

 official name of Idaho white pine. 



Two Southern States bear witness 

 to the fecundity of forests and the eco- 

 nomic importance of pines in their de- 

 velopment. Alabama designated as 

 her tree the slash pine, a dual-purpose 

 tree. On it and the longleaf pine, a 

 native also of Georgia, depends the 

 naval stores industry which, until the 

 recent age of chemistry, was the source 

 of all our turpentine and rosin. Ar- 

 kansas chose the shortleaf pine, her 

 most numerous of these southern lum- 

 ber producers. 



Moving to the west, we find Mon- 

 tana has recognized the potential pos- 

 sibilities of the versatile ponderosa 

 pine, whose easily worked wood long 

 struggled under the name of western 

 yellow pine. Wyoming memorialized 

 the home-making efforts of her In- 

 dians and accepted the lodgepole pine. 

 Other tribes of Indians were a strong 

 influence upon the selection of New 



Mexico and of Nevada. New Mexico 

 designated the pinyon pine and Ne- 

 vada the singleleaf pinyon, whose nut- 

 like seeds formed an important item 

 in the Indian diet. 



Recalling the Gothic arch under 

 which General Washington reviewed 

 the Colonial troops at Cambridge, and 

 similar trees that grace her village 

 streets and country highways, Massa- 

 chusetts honored herself by singling 

 out the American elm. 



The Charter Oak, whose cavity 

 played so significant and also so ro- 

 mantic a part in early Colonial his- 

 tory, was a white oak. So history may 

 be said to have made the decision 

 for Connecticut. White oak is also the 

 choice of Maryland, whose Wye Oak, 

 standing on her Eastern Shore, is said 

 to be America's largest oak tree. Neigh- 

 boring West Virginia, remembering 

 that many families and industries de- 

 pend on her heavy stands of hard- 

 wood forest, also chose the white oak. 

 The settlers who trekked west found 

 counterparts of those trees in the oak 

 openings of the prairies, and Illinois 

 chose the "native oak," the most com- 

 mon being the bur oak. 



A sweet tooth and pride in the spe- 

 cial quality of a product for which 

 Vermont has long laid claim made the 

 maple her natural choice. To desig- 

 nate this sugar maple, hard maple, or 

 white maple is of little consequence, 

 for all are names for the same tree. 

 Whether New York chose the same 

 tree because of its annual crop of sirup 

 and sugar is a question. The children 

 of Wisconsin, by vote, have asked their 

 legislature to name the sugar maple as 

 their State tree, also. These States may 

 as logically have given weight to the 

 hard, firm, white wood, whose uses 

 range from shoe trees to flooring, and 

 to the symmetry of the leaves and the 

 brilliant autumn foliage. 



The straight-grained, lightweight, 

 easily cleaved, and durable eastern 

 redcedar was cut and split into rails 

 and posts for many southern pioneer 

 fences. The first three of these qualities 

 later singled out the wood as peculiarly 



