90 USES OP COMMERCIAL WOODS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



and other animals understand the value of the recumbent branches 

 in time of severe weather and creep beneath them for shelter. Trav- 

 elers, overtaken by storms, have done the same, and it is thus appar- 

 ent that the uses of this tree are not confined to what may be done 

 with the wood when it is cut. 



The slow growth of the white-bark pine, particularly in the most 

 exposed situations, may challenge comparison with the trees of slow- 

 est growth anywhere. Trunks 3^ inches in diameter may be 225 years 

 old; one 6 inches through had 426 rings; while one 17 inches in 

 diameter was over 800 years old and less than 6 feet high. By the 

 aid of a magnifying glass John Muir counted 75 rings in a branch 

 one-eighth inch in diameter. Such a branch is so tough and so pliant 

 that it may be tied in a knot like a cord. Muir said that he knew of 

 only two trees which are never uprooted by the wind the white-bark 

 pine and the mountain juniper, which is associated Avith it in the 

 Sierra Nevada Mountains. 1 Though the white-bark pine may never 

 be wind thrown, trunks with roots and branches attached are some- 

 times found at the base of precipices, on the summits, or against the 

 sides of cliffs where they once grew. The breaking away of the rock, 

 by freezing or otherwise, may have thrown them down. Such an acci- 

 dent sometimes furnishes fuel for a mountain traveler's night camp 

 where otherwise he would sleep without fire. Some of these trunks 

 and roots, when the branches have been broken off, are of such strange 

 form that a rather close examination may be necessary to determine 

 which end grew upward. 



It need scarcely be said that man will never do much to help or 

 hinder the growth or existence of this tree. Even forest fires seldom 

 touch the white-bark pine. It grows among rocky masses where fire 

 finds so little fuel that it can not go. The tree plants its seeds within 

 a few inches of where they ripen and fall. They come wingless from 

 the cones. It seems that nature's handicap begins even before the 

 seed makes its escape from the inclosing scales, for the short wing 

 that might be supposed to aid the seed in finding a place to be planted 

 grows fast to the scale and holds the seed until it can free itself by 

 tearing its wing off, when it falls to the inhospitable rocks or sterile 

 soil beneath. Under such adverse circumstances it is too much to 

 expect the white-bark pine to extend its range or to increase its im- 

 portance. The wonder is that it is able to hold its own. 



In its best growth the wood of white-bark pine much resembles 

 that of white pine. Where it grows in size to give a clear length of 

 from 20 to 30 feet, it should serve fairly well for rough construction 

 material in the form of building logs, mine props and stulls, bridge 

 timbers, fence posts, and for fuel. The seeds are used by Indians as 

 food. 



1 Mountains of California, by John Muir. 



