552 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



dish or orange brown. 3. Sapwood very thick. While 

 the wood produced by the southern pines is grouped into 

 only three standard kinds, it is actually produced by seven 

 different kinds of trees. The common and scientific 

 names of these seven trees are: 



SCIENTIFIC NAME 



Pinus palustris 

 Pinus echinata 

 Pinus taeda 

 Pinus heterophylla 

 Pinus serotina 

 Pinus glabra 

 Pinus clausa 



COMMON NAME 



1. Longleaf Pine 



2. Shortleaf Pine 



3. Loblolly Pine 



4. Cuban Pine 



5. Pond Pine 



6. Spruce Pine 



7. Sand Pine 



These seven trees vary widely in their economic im- 

 portance. The first three produce large quantities of 

 wood and other 

 forest products 

 of high com- 

 mercial value, 

 while the last 

 three are trees 

 of little eco- 

 nomic impor- 

 tance on ac- 

 count of their 

 restricted 

 range and 

 small size. All 

 of the south- 

 ern pines be- 

 long to the 

 Yellow Pine 

 group. They 

 are called yel- 

 low pine be- 

 cause of the 

 yellowish col- 

 or of their 

 wood and 

 bark. They 

 are also called 

 hard pines be- 

 cause their 

 wood is very 

 hard in com- 

 parison with 

 the wood of 

 such trees as 

 white pine and 

 sugar pine, 

 both of which 

 belong to the 

 soft pine 

 group. The wood of the southern yellow pine is famed, 

 not only for its hardness, but also for its strength and 

 durability. In fact, the wood has such good qualities 

 that it is put to a wide range of uses in every part of the 

 civilized world. The pine forests of the South have been 

 exploited for naval stores and other forest products 

 from the time of the first settlers, but there was no ex- 



SHOWING DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF CONE AND LEAF 



Left (Shortleaf). The needles usually occur in twos and sometimes threes, rarely fours, 

 and they run from two to four inches long while the cones are oval, 

 about two inches long. 

 Right (Longleaf). These needles always occur in threes, and are 9 to 15 inches long, 

 while the cones measure from 6 to 9 inches long. 



tensive development of the lumber industry until the 

 early seventies of the last century. It was then that the 

 yellow pines of the South were first placed upon the 

 market on a large scale. The wood was then exceed- 

 ingly low in price. This created a strong demand for 

 it and as a natural consequence, by the early nineties 

 southern yellow pine was leading the country in the 

 cut of soft wood lumber. 



In 1909 the production of southern yellow pine 

 reached its peak. It then produced nearly one-half of the 

 entire country's cut of soft woods. It is still the most 

 important single factor in the lumber products of the 

 United States. It furnishes about 35 per cent of the to- 

 tal lumber cut of the country. Experts predict that it 



will remain an 

 important fac- 

 tor for the 

 next ten or 

 fifteen years, 

 but it is also 

 believed that 

 within the 

 next eight or 

 ten years a 

 profound 

 change will 

 take place for 

 it is very evi- 

 dent that its 

 supply is be- 

 i n g rapidly 

 exhausted. 



Each of the 

 seven pines of 

 the South 

 has a number 

 of striking dis- 

 t i n g u i s hing 

 characteristics, 

 which are pres- 

 ent at all sea- 

 sons of the 

 year. One can 

 find very evi- 

 d e n t differ- 

 ences in their 

 leaves, cones, 

 bark and the 

 soil upon 

 which they 

 prefer to grow. 

 Today the area of original yellow pine forests is some- 

 what more than 23 million acres or a little less than one- 

 fifth of the original area. The stand of timber upon this 

 remaining area is about 139 billion board feet, or a little 

 over one-fifth of the original stand. 



The following simple table gives the principal char- 

 acteristics of each species : 



