18 USES OF COMMEKCIAL WOODS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



leaf pine now comes from west of the Mississippi, in Texas, Arkansas, 

 Louisiana, and Missouri. Estimates of the stand east of the Missis- 

 sippi River would be hard to make, because the trees are scattered over 

 200,000 square miles, with dense timber growth scarcely anywhere. 



The Commissioner of Corporations, in his report on the lumber 

 industry in 1911, estimated the yellow-pine supply of the South to be 

 384 billion feet, of which 232 billion feet are of longleaf and 152 

 billion feet of shortleaf and loblolly combined. 



It is the opinion of those who have studied the shortleaf pine's 

 habit of growth and the extent of its natural range that it promises 

 to continue one of the important timber trees of the South. If it 

 fulfills that promise, however, it will be when better care has been 

 taken of it than has been shown in the past. It has been exploited 

 and abandoned to periodic forest fires, and the result is seen in a thin 

 stand and a gradually contracting range. It possesses one advantage 

 over nearly all other pines the power to send up sprouts from 

 stumps. The shortleaf pine's ability to send up sprouts is more pro- 

 nounced west of the Mississippi than farther east. 



EARLY USES. 



The custom which has prevailed since early times of sending sev- 

 eral species of pine to market under one name or many names ren- 

 ders it impossible to determine exactly to what extent shortleaf was 

 used during the colonial period and later. It is known, however, 

 that shortleaf was an important commodity more than 100 years 

 ago. In fact, there is contemporaneous record that extensive cut- 

 ting had depleted the supply a century ago along the Atlantic sea- 

 board. It had gone to foreign countries, particularly to the West 

 Indies, and at home it was a standard stock in shipyards at Balti- 

 more, Philadelphia, New York, and Norfolk. It was used for masts, 

 spars, yards, beams, planking, and interior lining, and for cabins 

 and decks. The wood from New Jersey, Delaware, and the East- 

 ern Shore of Maryland was generally considered finer grained and 

 more compact than that grown farther south and back from the 

 coast. Little or none is now cut in the coastal regions which once 

 supplied the wood so highly esteemed for its excellent qualities. 



Residences and farm buildings within the range of shortleaf pine 

 and outside that of longleaf pine were largely built of it. It was 

 seldom, however, the only wood used for that purpose. It was gen- 

 erally the floor material, the frames for doors and windows, and fre- 

 quently the siding and ceiling. Where cypress or white cedar could 

 be had for shingles, one or the other was usually employed, but in 

 regions remote from the coast neither could be had, and in that 

 case shingles were made from shortleaf pine, which often formed 

 nine-tenths of the wood in a building. Farm fences and the pickets 



