The Pines 



The average Northerner probably first sees this Southern yel- 

 low pine as lumber in the woodwork and floors of a dwelling 

 house or in the arches that support the roof of a church. The 

 rich orange wood, with its pale, soft spring wood and the darker, 

 harder summer wood in alternating bands, produces patterns of 

 exquisite beauty and variety, to which the "natural finish" is 

 generally given. A coat of oil is all sufficient, and time deepens 

 and enriches the colour of this wood. The " curly pine " high- 

 est in value because of finest and most intricately waved grain 

 grows slowly in hard, sandy soils, on the damp, flat plains of the 

 Gulf coast. 



Within the past few years this Southern pine has come North 

 in another form. The seedling trees just tall enough to show 

 themselves above the forest floor are cut by thousands and 

 shipped North for Christmas greens. No palm or Ficiis elasticus 

 is more effective in formal decoration than these tufted stems, 

 standing erect with all their long, flexible leaves bending out- 

 ward like a fountain of shining green. The enthusiasm with 

 which the longleaf pine has been received by florists and the 

 general public has already become a menace to the life of the 

 species in sections of the South. Lumbering is going on at a ter- 

 rible rate, taking the trees of merchantable size for an infinite 

 range of uses. Now that the saplings 2 feet high have a price set 

 on their heads, wherewithal shall the forests be renewed "? It is 

 a momentous problem, for a great part of the wealth of the South 

 is in these hard-pine tracts. 



The longleaf pine is second to none in the qualities that adapt 

 lumber to building. Masts and spars, great timbers for trestles 

 of bridges and aqueducts are made by simply squaring or dressing 

 the slender, tall trunks. There are few knots, for the limbs are 

 small and clustered at the top. In European dockyards there is 

 an ever-increasing demand for these great timbers. Smaller 

 "sticks," squared lox 12 inches and 36 to ^42 feet long, free from 

 blemish, are used in the building of railroad cars. Great quan- 

 tities of small timber are used every year for railroad ties all over 

 the country. Their durability in soil also commends these young 

 trees for posts. Building and manufacture consume billions of 

 board feet every year. 



Quite independent of the lumber industry, the resinous prod- 

 ucts of the longleaf pine are of momentous importance to the 



37 



