HABITS AND GROWTH. 



White pine grows naturally and best in a cool climate on a fresh, 

 light, deep, and sandy soil with a porous subsoil. It readily adapts 

 itself to both dry and moist soils, for it is found on the poorest and 

 dryest sand and on steep, rocky slopes, and also on moist clay flats 

 and river bottoms, provided the latter are not continuously wet. It 

 is capable of disputing possession with hardwoods, even on fresh, 

 medium-heavy clay and loam soils. It will endure windy and cold 

 exposures, but should not be planted near the seacoast, since it can 

 not withstand strong sea breezes. 



White pine can endure considerable shade for a number of years, 

 but as it becomes older it requires more and more light for its devel- 

 opment, and after it is 40 or 50 years old the crown demands full 

 sunlight. On this account white pine is best grown in mixture with 

 slower growing hardwoods or other conifers which will not overtop 

 or shade it from above. 



In artificial plantations or on abandoned farms which have been 

 reforested naturally, white pine usually grows much faster than in 

 the forest, especially during the early years. Records of plantations 

 in New England show that the average growth of the larger trees 

 ranges from one- fourth to one- third of an inch in diameter annually. 

 It is possible in the eastern portion of the United States to produce 

 saw timber in from sixty to seventy years. Smaller trees suitable for 

 box boards and match blocks can be produced in thirty or forty 

 years. 



Owing to the thinness of its bark, young white pine is very sus- 

 ceptible to injury by fire, which must be most carefully excluded 

 from plantations; but between the fifth and twentieth years the 

 greatest cause of injury to the white pine is a weevil which in the 

 grub stage mines in the terminal shoot and causes a crooked stem. 

 Repeated attacks make the tree unmerchantable. 



ECONOMIC USES. 



The wood of the white pine is soft, light, straight grained, and 

 easily worked, and will not warp. It was formerly used to a great 

 extent for general construction, but on account of its growing scar- 

 city and high price it has been largely superseded for this purpose by 

 other woods. The better grades of this lumber are still used in naval 

 construction for decking, interior finishing, and spars. 



Second-growth white pine is used principally for low-grade lum- 

 ber, match blocks, box boards, wooden ware, and straight-staved 

 cooperage. Where a demand for this material exists, white pine on 

 nonagricultural lands will prove of economic value. Throughout the 

 manufacturing regions of New England, wherever there is a market 



FPir R71 



