SILVICULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS 21 



Until more is known about the seriousness of this disease the 

 planting of white pine will be confined to regions which are fairly 

 free from currants. Even in such localities it will be safer to 

 mix it with some other tree such as the red or Scotch pines. In 

 this way the planter will avoid the result of having all his eggs 

 in one basket if the white pines are killed. 



On account of its smooth grain and the softness of its wood 

 the white pine is a most valuable wood for many purposes. 

 Until it became scarce it was the chief building lumber. Now 

 the better grades are used largely for interior finishing and other 

 special purposes. The cheaper grades are used for match stock 

 and the very poorest grades for box boards. Its high value and 

 rapid growth, combined with its ability to thrive on the sandiest 

 and poorest sites, make the white pine the most important tree 

 to raise in New England; it should be encouraged wherever it 

 occurs. 



NORWAY OR RED PINE (Pinus resinosa). 



The red pine has about the same range east and west as the 

 white pine, but does not extend so far south. In New England 

 it is a comparatively rare tree, and is scattered inexplicably in 

 small clumps from the Canadian line to northern Connecticut. 

 In the Adirondacks it is a common tree of the lake shores. It 

 derives its name from the fact that it was first noticed near 

 Norway, Maine. 



Measurements made in several New England plantations 

 show an average height of thirty-five feet and a diameter of 

 six inches in thirty years. In mixture with white pine its 

 diameter and height growth averages fully equal to that of the 

 latter. It does not attain as large a size as does white pine, 

 specimens one hundred feet high and three feet in diameter 

 being rare. 



The main advantages of the red over the white pine lie not 

 only in the fact that it makes a better growth, especially on poor 

 soils, but that it prunes itself of branches earlier, is more hardy, 

 and is less subject to injury by insects and fungi. It withstands 



