92 USES OF COMMEECIAL WOODS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



white bark pine, when grown in the same situations, the limber pine 

 has the longer, straighter trunk of the two. 



USES. 



It is seldom that the quality of the wood of this pine is sufficiently 

 good for saw timber, and even then a good proportion will be very 

 knotty. Frequently large trees show decay at the heart. When logs 

 fairly clear and sound can be procured the lumber is suitable for 

 window frames and interior finish. In the Rocky Mountains this 

 wood is among the best native species for flooring, when sufficiently 

 clear for that use ; but very little of the grades demanded for flooring 

 or finish ever reaches market, and what does go to market is listed 

 simply as pine, and the purchaser seldom knows the exact species 

 he is using. 



When green the wood is extremely heavy, and if left in water any 

 length of time will sink. After being seasoned, however, it becomes 

 extremely light. At a sawmill which formerly operated on Dupuyer 

 Creek, on the Lewis and Clark National Forest, it was found that 

 limber pine could be manufactured into a good grade of lumber and 

 shingles. The stem of the tree was generally free from defects and 

 knots and could be used for the better grades of finishing lumber. 

 This limber pine had grown mixed with a heavy stand of Douglas 

 fir in a sheltered canyon, and the trees had grown tall and straight. 

 It is seldom, of course, that the quality of the wood can be found as 

 good as that on Dupuyer Creek. In its most common form of 

 growth limber pine is useful only for fence posts and for fuel. The 

 posts are nearly always very knotty and are often of undesirable 

 shape. The wood holds staples well for wire fence, and is durable 

 in contact with the ground, though it is not considered as long last- 

 ing as bristle-cone pine when set as posts. 



A very unique method of securing a preservative treatment of lim- 

 ber and white-bark pine timber for fence posts is practiced by ranch- 

 ers in the vicinity of the Madison National Forest, in Montana. A 

 sapling growth the size of the posts desired is selected, and in the 

 spring as soon as the sap runs freely so that the bark will slip, the 

 rancher peels the bark from the standing tree for the length to be 

 used. The tree immediately exudes a sufficient quantity of resin to 

 cover the wound and dies. Six or eight months later the rancher cuts 

 the tree, now thoroughly seasoned, smears the cut ends with tar, and 

 has a post impervious to water and immune to insects or fungus. 

 Posts so treated are said to last many years. One lot was examined 

 which had been set for 20 years, and the posts seemed as sound as 

 ever. 



Railroads within reach of this pine buy ties made of sound, fire- 

 killed timber. Miners employ the wood for props, posts, and other 

 timbers, both above and below ground. It is used in mountain roads 



