The Pines 



pine, and is locally consumed as lumber and fuel in the coast 

 regions. Its poor quality is the result of very rapid growth. 



"Kiln-drying" of the lumber has greatly improved its 

 quality by adding to the durability and hardness of it. Heat 

 kills a fungus which in ordinary seasoning turns the wood blue. 

 Loblolly timbers are made durable by the " creosoting" process. 

 Though rich in resin, the tree is not one which yields resinous 

 substances, such as turpentine and pitch, for when tapped there 

 is scarcely any flow, and contact with the air hardens the little 

 resin that starts. As a fuel tree the cheap loblolly pine is un- 

 excelled. It gives a quick, intense heat when dried, and is 

 used in bakeries, kilns and in charcoal burning, 



The Pond, or Marsh Pine {P. serotina, Michx. ) is the 

 water-loving, round-headed pine, with yellow-green leaves from 

 6 to 8 inches long, and sturdy cones that open only after 

 they have hung, matured, for a year or two. In the flat, peaty 

 and sandy swamps from North Carolina down the coast to the 

 St. John's River in Florida, the traveller finds this pine with the 

 longleaf. It supplies some turpentine and some lumber in 

 North Carolina, but is not an important commercial tree. 



Longleaf Pine {P. paltistris, Mill.) A tall, slender trunk, 

 90 to 120 feet high, with deep tap root and short, stout, twisted 

 limbs, which form an elongated open head. Bark furrowed, 

 and crossed by deep fissures into thin, scaly plates; colour red- 

 dish brown, with blue tinge. Wood heavy, strong, yellowish 

 brown, resinous, durable. Excels that of all other pines. Buds 

 elongated, large, silvery, with linear scales. Leaves in threes, in 

 long, pale sheaths, tufted on ends of branches, 12 to 18 inches 

 long, pendant, flexible, dark green, shining, persistent 2 years. 

 Flo-dcers: staminate, 2 inches long, cylindrical, crowded at base 

 of new shoot, anthers purplish; pistillate, subterminal, clustered, 

 oval, with broad purple scales. Fruits narrow, tapering, reddish 

 brown; scales thickened, and keeled crosswise at tip, and set 

 with small recurved spine; seed triangular, with long, lustrous 

 wing. Preferred habitats: (i) low coast sands, imperfectly 

 drained; (2) uplands, rocky and well drained, with marl and 

 limestone deposits; (3) upland pine barrens. Distribution, Vir- 

 ginia to Florida (Tampa Bay), west to Mississippi River; a belt 

 about 125 miles wide somewhat back from coast; isolated 

 forests in northern Alabama, in Louisiana and Texas. 



36 



