86 USES OF COMMERCIAL WOODS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



and 150 wide, a band or rim surrounding the central California 

 Valley. Its northern limit is near Mount Shasta, its southern near 

 the Mojave Desert. The timber does not descend into the valley 

 region of California, but grows as a fringe on the hills and moun- 

 tains on all sides of it. It actually occupies some 30,000 or 40,000 

 square miles, but the stand is scattered and the total quantity com- 

 paratively small. It is seldom fit for or counted as saw timber. 

 The trunks go to limb and are thick rather than tall. In many 

 instances this is due to the loss of the leader or topmost shoot, through 

 attack of two microscopic fungi, PeridermAum liarknessi and Dce- 

 dalia vorax. 



Gray pine appears to be holding its own in most parts of its range. 

 It grow T s rapidly under circumstances by no means favorable, and- 

 for that reason it is worth caring for. It endures drought, some- 

 times severe enough to kill the chaparral and oaks associated with 

 it. Parched and sterile soils afford it nourishment, but it responds 

 to better conditions, and a few years bring it to size fit for mine props 

 and cordwood, while a period of 85 years has been known to produce 

 timber 90 feet high and 46 inches in diameter. The extreme re- 

 corded age of this pine is 175 years. Better fire protection is doing 

 much to encourage its reproduction and grow r th. Seedlings are more 

 numerous than formerly, and though it is a light-demanding tree, 

 it thrives in tolerably dense stands, which produce a better kind of 

 wood softer and finer than open stands and straggling growths. 

 I Seeds do not plant themselves far from the parent tree, because they / 

 ! are heavy and have very small wings. This places them at a further * 

 : disadvantage, for seed eaters, be they bird, beast, or human, can eas- 

 ^ily find the large, chocolate-colored nuts where they fall. Herds of 

 hogs roaming the pine belts are the greatest enemies of this pine, next 

 after fire. If tree seeds are worth 5 cents a pound, a hog turned 

 loose to forage on wild mast will devour several times his own value 

 in a single season. The portion of its range lying in National For- 

 ests, where fire and hogs are held in check, shows promising young 

 growth of seedlings. Where within the habitat of the gray pine 

 the foothill oaks have been cut for fuel, and reproduction has almost 

 ceased, the pine is gaining and in time its importance as a fuel supply 

 will be recognized. 



This pine will, it is believed, produce saw timber if given a chance 

 on soils fairly good. In parts of California where it grows on adobe 

 soil the wood is willingly accepted for mine props, both on account of 

 strength and durability. 



EARLY USES. 



The' first settlers in California soon came in contact with gray 

 pine, which grew just above the oaks of the valleys, lower canyons, 

 and foothills. Oak was preferred for fuel where it was convenient, 



