32 USES OF COMMEKCIAL WOODS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



rays few but prominent ; color light brown or red, the thick sapwood yellow or 

 often nearly white, not very easily worked, due to difference in hardness 

 between spring and summer wood; fairly durable where used in contact with 

 the earth. 



Growth. Height, 40 to 80 feet ; diameter, 1 to 3 feet. 



SUPPLY. 



The botanical range of pitch pine covers half a million square 

 miles, but its commercial range is much less. It is in sufficient quan- 

 tity for use in Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, 

 Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Caro- 

 lina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Vir- 

 ginia, and West Virginia. Among the different names by which it 

 is known are longleaved pine, longschat pine, hard pine, yellow pine, 

 black pine, black Norway pine, rigid pine, and sap pine. 



No census of standing pitch pine in the United States has been 

 taken, and the amount is unknown. No extensive forests exist, but 

 it is dispersed widely, with small tracts of fairly dense stand. An 

 average stand of 100 feet per acre would be a liberal estimate for an 

 area of 100,000 square miles. The quantity used in Maryland in 

 1909 was about 625,000 feet, reported by manufacturers, and in 

 Massachusetts about 887,000 feet. 



The pitch pine is one of the trees which maintains its place in the 

 forests in the face of adversity. It must have light or it can not 

 grow; and in order to secure light it retreats to poor tracts and 

 sterile ridges where few other species can exist. It meets poor suc- 

 cess when it endeavors to extend its range into areas where other 

 trees can overtop it. If ability to grow on poor land w r ere the only 

 factor in its favor, its struggle against adversity would end in failure. 

 Its resistance to fire, however, is remarkable, and its seedlings fre- 

 quently survive when all others are killed. On a certain tract it 

 was found that fire killed 66 white pines to 1 pitch pine where size, 

 number, and situation of the two species were similar. It has an 

 advantage also in scattering its seeds, which are light and may be 

 carried considerable distances by the wind, and which are released 

 from the cones only in dry weather. 



It is not probable that pitch pine will ever be extensively planted 

 for the purpose of producing timber, for many other species grow 

 more rapidly and promise better returns; but in certain localities, 

 such as poor ridges and sandy tracts, it may pay to grow the tree* 



EARLY USES. 



Pitch pine supplied many needs of the early settlers, though in but 

 few localities could it properly be classed as the most important tree. 

 Over^wide regions it was the chief source of tar, and it was not 



