CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 



THE PINE 



.'.? 



Like two cathedral towers these stately pines 

 Uplift their fretted summits tipped with cones ; 

 The arch beneath them is not built with stones, 

 Not Art but Nature traced these lovely lines, 

 And carved this graceful arabesque of vines. 



LONGFELLOW 



MORE of our lumber comes from the pine than from 

 any other one tree, yet many people do not know a pine 

 when they see one. Some think that all evergreens are 

 pines. 



Pine trees have slender leaves, called " needles," 

 growing in clusters. When young, each cluster has a 

 sheath of papery scales at its base. The cone scales of 

 the pine are thicker than those of spruce or fir. Pines, 

 like spruces and most other conifers, are excurrent trees. 

 Many species have trunks that extend to a height of 

 more than 100 feet, and some species to a height of more 

 than 200 feet. They often grow in pure stands; that 

 is, to the exclusion of other kinds of trees, 



Products of pine trees. Tar, turpentine, and rosin 

 are obtained from several species of pine. These, 

 materials have long been called " naval stores," but 

 they are now used more extensively on land than in 

 connection with ships. Pieces of pine stumps and roots 

 are heated in retorts, ovens, or kilns, and the turpentine 

 thus driven off as a vapor is condensed by cooling it and 

 afterwards separated from the acids, wood alcohol, and 

 other products that come from wood when it is heated 

 without air. Tar requires more heat to change it to 



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