NOMENCLATURE OF SHORTLEAF PINE. 99 



Lave been shipped from points in Texas, Arkansas, and southern Missouri to Northern markets. 

 This amount may be swelled by the production east of the Mississippi to round numbers of 

 1,500,000,000 feet, board measure. 



As stated before, an estimate of the timber of this species standing is impossible on account 

 of its scattered distribution and prevalent occurrence in mixed growths. But considering the 

 extent of the areas within which it occurs and the average cut on the same, or comparing with the 

 amounts of Longleaf Pine, which on account of the compact bodies in which it occurs, can be more 

 readily approximated, it is safe to assume that very much less than 100,000,000,000 feet remain 

 available, while the cut can be roughly estimated at 1,500,000,000 feet, board measure. 



PRODUCTS. 



Among the coniferous trees of eastern North America the Shortleaf Pine stands next to 

 the Longleaf Pine in importance to the lumber industry and in the value of its timber. Freer 

 from resinous matter, softer, more easily worked, not less susceptible of a good finish, the 

 lumber of the Shortleaf Pine is often preferred by the cabinetmaker and the house carpenter to 

 that of the Longleaf Pine. Less tenacious, and of less power of resistance under strain, it is 

 principally used for the lighter framework in buildings, for weatherboardiug, flooring, ceiling, 

 wainscoting, cases for windows and doors, for frames and sashes of all kinds, and for shingles. 

 Most of the dwellings located within the districts where this tree prevails are built almost entirely 

 of Shortleaf Pine lumber, which bears ample testimony to its wide' usefulness. It is also 

 extensively employed in car building, for cross-ties, and in the manufacture of furniture. 



NOMENCLATURE AND CLASSIFICATION. 



This species, like all of the same genus of a decidedly Southern distribution in the Atlantic 

 forest, belongs to the section Pinaster as defined by Engelmann, with cones of tough, woody scales 

 their exposed ends thickened by an umbonate swelling (apophysis), which is armed with a weaker 

 or stronger deciduous or persistent prickle or mucro. It was first described by Miller in the year 

 17<>s as Pinus echinata, 1 and under that name recognized by the earliest writers on North American 

 forest trees; 2 it was subsequently named by an obscure writer Firm* nrginiana var. echinata, 

 Du Boi. 3 Michaux described this tree in his North American Flora 4 under the name of Pinm 

 mitis, which received general recognition and by which it is known to botanists to the present 

 day. Pinus vnriabilis, the name under which it was described at about the same time by Lam- 

 bert, 5 was adopted by Wildenow, and following that author by Pursh, Nuttall, Elliott, and a few 

 others of the writers on the botany of this country. In following strictly the rule of priority, at 

 present most strongly advocated as the only measure to avoid further the confusion arising from 

 an endless number of synonyms, Pinus mitis, the name under which it is generally known, will 

 have to be abandoned, and the more obscure one, Pinus echinata, under which this species was 

 first published, restored. 



( 1 reat confusion is caused by the various appellations this tree has received in the English ver- 

 nacular, being indiscriminately called Shortleaf Pine, Yellow Pine, and Spruce Pine, although most 

 widely known under the first of these names, and in the markets it is now somewhat doubtfully 

 established under the name of Yellow Pine. In the States of the lower South it is frequently 

 confounded with the Loblolly Pine, as the timber of the two is often, if not mostly, mixed. M. A. 

 < Hi tis, in his "Trees of North Carolina," selected for this tree the name of Yellow Pine, strongly 

 recommending its general adoption in order to introduce greater uniformity in the designations of 

 our forest trees. Unfortunately the same name is in many of the Southern lumbering districts 

 bcstort'ed upon the Longleaf Pine, particularly when the timber is spoken of. It is often quite 

 impossible to determine to which of the two species the timber is to be referred when under that 

 name it is quoted in the reports of the lumber markets. 



1 Miller, Card. Dictionary, 8th ed., London, 1768. 



2 MarHball, Arliiistriiin Aincricanum: Philadelphia, 1785. 



3 Du Koi, Harb. Banmz. Nordam. 1771-72. 



4 A. Michaux, Flora Boreali-Americaua. Paris, 1803. 



6 Lambert, Description of the Genus Pinus: (ed.) 1803 and (ed.) 1824. 



