THE TIMBERS OF COMMERCE 



No. 243. WHITE PINE. Pinus Strobus. Linn. 

 (Not of Buch., or Thb.) 

 PLATE XVI. FIG. 137. 



Natural Order. Coniferae. 



Alternative Names. Weymouth Pine. Yellow Pine (60). 

 American White Pine. New England, Pumpkin, Apple or Sap- 

 ling Pine (113). Pin du Lord (69). Pin blanc, Pin du Nord, 

 Weymouths-kiefer (129). Hough calls this tree Wehmuths- 

 kiefer, i.e. Melancholy Pine, which seems a much more probable 

 derivation than that the tree was named after Lord Weymouth. 



Sources of Supply. North America, United States, Canada, 

 Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Cultivated in Europe and else- 

 where. 



Boulger gives the names of Pitch, Hard or Norway Pine as 

 being in use in Nova Scotia for this species. I suspect an error 

 here as the adjectives are not appropriate to this wood. 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight, 20-30 Ibs. per 

 cu. ft. Hardness Grade 8, one of the softest woods. Smell 

 " dealy " if any. Taste terebinthine, as strong as that of Pitch 

 Pine. Burns very well with a tarry, piquant smell and a lively 

 vigorous flame : embers glow in still air : ash grey or white. Solu- 

 tion colourless. 



Grain. Fine, even and smooth. Surface smooth, brilliantly 

 lustrous : crystalline when magnified. 



Bark. " For a long time smooth, with a reddish lustrous ap- 

 pearance " (106). When old i-i J inches thick, flaking in scales 

 which are clearly marked off in section : deeply fissured, rugged, 

 of a chocolate-brown colour : an inner lighter-coloured layer 

 about -^ inch thick. 



Uses, etc. Similar to those of the Common Spruce in England. 

 " Shrinks or swells but little " (49). " Has not much durability 

 as paving blocks " (92). " Very fissile : moderately elastic and 

 durable " (129). The common and most valuable building 

 timber in the United States : not strong, easily worked. The 

 European-grown wood " is not to be recommended : lacks elasti- 

 city and durability : warps badly " (69) 



Authorities. Nordlinger (86), vol. iii. p. 12. Schwartz (106), 

 p. 478. Laslett (60), p. 256. Stevenson (113), p. 171. Hough 

 (49), pt. ii. p. 41. Macoun (66), p. 464. Westermeier (129), 

 p. 44. Mathieu (69), p. 629. Sargent (100), No. 347. Wiesner 

 (131), p. 147. 



Colour. Delicate pinkish-brown with a thin brown, white or 

 yellowish sap-wood. Heart- wood excentric. " Often mottled " 

 (gewassert) (86). " Orange to sienna " (104). " Reddish- yellow 

 to bluish-red " (86). 



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