Issued January 10, 1907. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



FOREST SERVICE Circular 67. 



GIFFORD PINCHOT, Forester. 



FOREST PLANTING LEAFLET. 



WHITE PINE (Pinus strobus). 



FORM AND SIZE. 



The white pine is the largest of all conifers indigenous to the east- 

 ern part of the United States. On proper soils it may reach the age 

 of 250 years or more and attain a height of 150 to 175 feet and a 

 diameter of 3 to 5 feet. The crowns of mature white pines in mixed 

 forests conspicuously overtop the surrounding hardwoods. Mature 

 forest-grown trees are characterized by straight, columnar trunks, 

 destitute of branches for a distance of 75 to 100 feet from the 

 ground, and thin, irregular crowns. At the base of the trunks of old 

 trees the bark is thick and deeply furrowed and of a dark brown 

 color, but becomes thinner and grayish toward the upper part of the 

 tree. 



RANGE. 



The northern boundary of the natural range of white pine is from 

 Newfoundland west to eastern Manitoba. Through the lake region 

 the range extends west to eastern Minnesota and south to northern 

 Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio. In the East it originally occurred 

 throughout New England and the Middle States, and, on the higher 

 elevations of the Appalachians, southward to Georgia and Alabama. 

 It was found in greatest abundance and reached its best development 

 in the St. Lawrence Valley and the lake region. It usually grows in 

 association with hardwoods and other conifers and reaches its largest 

 size in mixture with the former. 



White pine may be planted in suitable situations throughout its 

 natural range, but for economic purposes planting should be re- 

 stricted to nonagricultural lands in New England, Pennsylvania, 

 New York, the Lake States, and the higher slopes of the Appala- 

 chians, and should be resorted to only when conditions render nat- 

 ural replacement impracticable, since in many situations, if the land 

 is protected from fire, white pine will extend itself rapidly by nat- 

 ural seeding. Much of the abandoned agricultural land in New Eng- 

 land may be profitably planted with this tree, which can be recom- 

 mended for reforesting burned and cut-over areas generally through- 

 out its economic planting range. 

 16771 No. 6707 M 



