SUGAR PINE. 65 



SUGAR PINE (Pinus lambertiana). 

 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. 



Dry weight of wood. 23.0 pounds per cubic foot (Sargent). 



Specific gravity. 0.37 (Sargent). 



Ash. 0.22 per cent of dry weight of wood (Sargent). 



Fuel value. 49 per cent that of white oak (Sargent). 



Breaking strength (modulus of rupture). 8,400 pounds per square inch, or 

 52 per cent that of longleaf pine (Sargent). 



Factor of stiffness (modulus of elasticity). 1,0^6,000 pounds per square inch, 

 or 52 per cent that of longleaf pine (Sargent). 



Character and qualities. Very light, soft, not strong; grain coarse and 

 straight; growth rings wide; summerwood thin, resinous, conspicuous; resin 

 passages numerous, very large; medullary rays numerous, obscure; color light 

 brown, sapwood nearly white ; easily worked with tools. 



Grow M. Height, 150 to 275 feet ; diameter, 5 to 10 feet. 



SUPPLY. 



The botanical range of sugar pine extends from southern Oregon 

 to Lower California in a comparatively narrow strip about 1,000 

 miles long. This pine is known also as big pine, shade pine, great 

 sugar pine, gigantic pine, and purple-coned sugar pine. The tree is 

 not cut for lumber in any considerable amount in more than half its 

 range. In Oregon * it has been cut for lumber during 50 years, but 

 the bulk of the output has been in California. In 1900 the cut was 

 about 52,000,000 feet; in 1904 it was placed at 120,000,000; in 190T, 

 at 115,000,000; and in 1908, at about 100,000,000. In the last year 

 named Oregon supplied 7 per cent of the total. Practically the entire 

 California output comes from the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and is 

 cut in regions where the annual precipitation is 40 inches or more. 

 The sugar pine thrives best on well-drained ridges and flats when 

 the rainfall is plentiful. In Oregon its range comes down within 

 1,000 feet of sea level; but the limit gradually rises toward the south 

 along the Sierra Nevada Mountains, until southern California is 

 reached, where not much of the timber is found below an altitude of 

 8,000 to 10,000 feet. 



It is difficult to estimate the total stand of sugar pine, since it 

 never forms pure forests. It is regarded about the average if it con- 

 stitutes 25 per cent of the growth in any region. The stand in Cali- 

 fornia and Oregon has been estimated at from 25 to 30 billion feet. 



x The discovery of the sugar pine affords the same interest to the botanist that the 

 discovery of the planet Neptune presents to the astronomer both were discovered before 

 they were seen. David Douglas found seeds in the pocket of an Indian in Oregon nearly 

 100 years ago and at once saw that they belonged to an unknown tree. Following the 

 directions given by Indians, he traveled many miles over mountains and valleys and was 

 rewarded by discovering the largest pine In the world. He measured a fallen trunk that 

 had been 245 feet high and 18 feet in diameter 3 feet from the ground. 



The authors have been unable to learn of any trees observed in recent years which 

 were anything near the size of that reported by Douglas. 



101500 Bull. 9911 5 



