34 USES OF COMMERCIAL WOODS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



FARM TIMBER AND BOAT BUILDING. 



The builders of water mills in early times found that pitch pine 

 was peculiarly well suited for wheels that worked in damp situations, 

 and it was made into overshot, undershot, breast, and flutter wheels, 

 being used for both buckets and spokes. Its principal virtue was its 

 resistance to decay. For the same reason, timbers largely of heart- 

 wood were hewed for barn sills and sleepers and as foundation logs 

 for various buildings. The wood was made into fences to a con- 

 siderable extent, especially board fences with locust posts. It is 

 occasionally so used still. Along the Atlantic seaboard boat makers 

 drew supplies from pitch pine at a time when other woods were 

 abundant ; but the amount so used- was not large in comparison with 

 white pine, oak, and red and white cedar. In recent years consider- 

 able quantities of pitch pine have been used for boat building. It 

 was in early use for ship pumps, the heartwood only being employed 

 for that purpose. It was available in long stock, and, as with Norway 

 pine, was liked for that reason by pump makers. 



MANUFACTURING. 



Bridge timbers and other beams for heavy construction are cut 

 from pitch pine, though it is seldom highly recommended for uses 

 which demand stiffness. Its botanical name, Pinus rigida, would 

 seem to indicate that the wood's chief characteristic is stiffness, but 

 the reference is to the leaves and not to the wood. In fact, in com- 

 parison with the pines, its elasticity is in the lowest rank, and not 

 half that of longleaf. Some use has been made of it for railway 

 ties. The chief objection to it, aside from its tendency to decay, 

 which is common to nearly all pines, has been its poor holding power 

 on spikes. Shipbuilders complain of it in the same way, and in 

 certain parts of vessels where strain is great it is not advisable to 

 employ it unless reenforced by oak or some other wood that holds 

 spikes well. It has also been used extensively in Pennsylvania for 

 mine props. In this capacity it comes into competition with loblolly 

 and longleaf pine. In the mines the real test comes on durability. 

 Pitch pine is more durable than loblolly, but less durable than 

 longleaf. 



One of the largest uses for pitch pine is for box and crate making. 

 In quantity, however, it is far below other pines associated with it. 

 In Massachusetts, in 1909, box makers used 600,000 feet of pitch pine 

 and 263,000,000 feet of white pine, and in Maryland they used 615,000 

 feet of pitch pine and 70,000,000 of loblolly. 



Pitch pine floors wear well, look well, and have long been in use. 

 In Pike County, Pa., a pitch pine floor, laid with boards 2 feet wide 



