VALUE AND USES OF THE WOOD. 47 



The timber from the damp flat woods of the coastal plain east of the Mississippi River, with 

 a soil of almost pure, fine, closely compacted sand, is of slow growth and generally of the finest 

 grain, often exhibiting that irregularity known as "curly pine." In the perpetually damp to wet 

 soil of the pine flats in southwestern Louisiana and in Texas, with a deep retentive subsoil richer 

 in nutritive elements, causing a better and quicker development of the tree, the wood is of a more 

 open grain. Owing to the excellent qualities of the wood of Longleaf Pine, its use in the various 

 mechanical afts and industries is as extensive as it is manifold. Its greatest value rests in its 

 adaptability for heavy constructions in naval architecture, for masts and spars; in civil engi- 

 neering, for the building of bridges, viaducts, trestlework, and for supports in the construction of 

 buildings. Large quantities of long and heavy sticks of square timber sawn or hewn for such 

 purposes are shipped to the British ports and to the dockyards of the European continent, with a 

 constantly increasing demand. 



In the building of railroad cars, where great strength and elasticity is needed, the timber 

 of Longleaf Pine is preferred to any other. For this purpose sticks from 36 to 42 feet, 10 by 12 

 inches, are required, free from blemish. 



Enormous quantities of the younger timber of this tree are cut every year to serve for cross- 

 ties, used by the railroads not only in the pine regions, but in other parts of the country. The 

 demand for these ties forms a constant and increasing draft upon the forest. The ties delivered 

 are, on the average, 8 feet long, 9 inches wide, and 7 inches thick, and must be all heartwood and 

 free from blemish. The trees selected for this purpose are from 15 to 16 inches in diameter, and 

 preferably only the butt cuts are accepted. On an average 10 cross-ties are cut from 1 acre, each 

 tie representing a log which would make at least 75 superficial feet of lumber. Since such a tie, 

 ready for the roadbed, contains not more than 50 feet, board measure, it will be readily seen what 

 an enormous waste results from this practice. 



On the damp, sandy tracts of the lower South, such ties will last five or six years, and 3,000 

 ties are needed for 1 mile of road. Hence, for the construction of the 3,240 miles of railroad 

 traversing the forest of Longleaf Pine east of the Mississippi . River, nearly 10,000,000 ties have 

 been required, which being renewed every six years involves an annual cut of 116,000,000 feet, 

 board measure, to which must be added the amount exported to other regions. 



In the Southern States, the West Indies, many places on the coast of Mexico, and-Central and 

 South America the lumber of the Longleaf Pine forms the chief, if not the only, material in the 

 construction of houses. For similar purposes considerable quantities are of late years shipped to 

 ITorthern markets, East and West, replacing in many cases, at least in parts of the buildings, the 

 lumber of the White Pine, on account of its increasing scarcity. The fine-grained and "curly" 

 varieties of Longleaf Pine lumber, by their beauty and the high polish of which they are susceptible, 

 begin, of late years, to take a place among the higher-priced kinds of wood for ornamental inside 

 work. 



The importance and value of Longleaf Pine lumber as a material for constructions can not be 

 better evideuced than by the fact that little less than 1,500,000,000 feet, board measure, or about 

 one-third of all the lumber manufactured in the South, is being exported from Southern ports annu- 

 ally to domestic and foreign ports, besides furnishing almost the only material used at home in che 

 construction of dwellings and all kinds of buildings. It also supplies material for furniture, as 

 well as fuel, both in the form of firewood and charcoal, and its exploitation affords the means of 

 subsistence to thousands. 



fAi/htiroml. Whenever the sapwood of the tree is laid bare copious exudation of resin takes 

 place and the surrounding wood becomes charged with it. Thus the wood of the trunks of the 

 trees tapped tor the extraction of their resin soon becomes charged with this along the scarified 

 surface, and, as with the evaporation of water from the dead wood, the resinification proceeds and 

 the wood increases in weight and durability. In low, damp places particularly this process takes 

 place more extensively. This resin-charged wood is termed lightwood. The lightwood timber, con- 

 sidered very durable when exposed to alternating conditions of moisture and dryness, is much 

 preferred for posts, etc. Being highly inflammable, it serves for torches and kindling, and hence 

 its name. Of late years a profitable industry has been started to utilize the resinous stumps of 

 .abandoned orchards as kindling material by cutting the same close to the ground and then, veneer 



