1 88 



Minnesota Plant Life. 



Pine trees do not spring up again after fires with nearly the 

 vigor possessed by a number of hardwood trees. In Minne- 

 sota hundreds of thousands of young trees are annually de- 

 stroyed by fire and their place is occupied by plants which are 

 comparatively worthless in the commerce of the state. 



The Norway or red pine. The other commercial pine of 

 Minnesota is a somewhat smaller tree, averaging fifty to eighty 

 feet in height. This is commonly called the Norway pine by log- 

 gers, though a more correct name would be red pine. The bark 

 is of a reddish tint and much smoother than that of the white 

 pine. When standing in groves the tops of the red pines are 



round, not irregular and crested 

 as are the tops of the white pine. 

 The leaves are produced in pairs 

 on short special branches. They 

 are dark-green, five or six inches 

 in length and shaped somewhat 

 like half-cylinders. The stami- 

 nate cones are longer and slen- 

 derer than those of the white 

 pine, grow in more elongated 

 clusters and are of a purplish 

 color. The pistillate cones are 

 at first almost spherical, red in 

 color and a quarter of an inch or 

 more in length. Like cones of 

 the white pine these pistillate 

 flowers take two years to mature and finally drop from between 

 their scales the smaller, darker seeds with wings shaped differ- 

 ently from those of the white pine seeds. The seedling plant 

 has fewer seed-leaves and is limited to eight, while five, six 

 or seven are more common numbers. The \vood is not so 

 easily worked as that of the white pine, nor do the logs float 

 so well in drives. The timber is, however, abundantly em- 

 ployed in the manufacture of buildings, trestles and sometimes 

 in railway construction. 



The jack pine. The third species of pine in Minnesota, the 

 jack pine, is very prevalent in sandy soil throughout the north- 

 ern part of the state. It is a smaller tree than either of the 



FIG. 71. 



Jack pine. After Britton and 

 Brown. 



