554 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



BARK OF THE LONGLEAF YELLOW PL\E 



The stem of the Longleaf Pine is straight, tapering but slightly 

 and it is usually free from limbs for more than one-half way 

 to its top. The bark is thin and orange brown, separating on 

 the surface into large, papery scales which lie flat against the 

 trunk. 



scars which they bear from resin tapping operations. 

 The height of its stems rarely is more than 120 feet, and 

 a diameter of 2>4 feet is seldom exceeded. Probably 

 the average tree cut in lumbering operations does not 

 exceed 80 feet in height and 2 feet in diameter breast- 

 high. 



Longleaf Pine is emphatically a light-demanding tree 

 and very exacting in regard to climatic and soil factors. 

 These exacting demands are restricting the development 



of young trees, and the strong demand for its lumber 

 is making heavy inroads on the rapidly decreasing sup- 

 ply of mature timber left in the forest. Unless some- 

 thing effective is done at once to protect the young growth 

 and regulate the supply of the existing timber, the time 

 is not far distant when Longleaf Pine will hold a low 

 place in the American lumber industry and play a very 

 subordinate role in the future practice of forestry in the 

 South, 



For more than two centuries Shortleaf Pine has held 

 a prominent commercial place in the American lumber 

 industry. It is found over an area covering more than 

 440,000 square miles and is of commercial importance 

 on at least two-thirds of its natural range. Its natural 

 range extends as far north as Western Connecticut, but 

 near Mont Alto in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, is be- 

 lieved to be the most northern heavy stand of Shortleaf 

 Pine in America. In this stand are many stately trees 

 with trunks 2^ feet in diameter breast-high, and clear 

 of branches for 60 feet from the ground. These knights 

 of the forest are covered with a distinctive armored 

 bark, fully as typical as any grown in the South. 



The Shortleaf Pine is commonest in the South, where 

 it makes its best growth at elevation of 400 to 1,500 feet 

 It does, however, extend from sea level to an altitude of 



FLOWERS, CONE AND NEEDLES OF THE 

 LONGLEAF PINE 



a. Branch with mature cones and female flowers at top, just 

 below which are young cones of one or two season's g^rowth. 



b. Cluster of male or pollen-bearing flowers. 



c. Detached female flower. 



d. Detached young seed-bearing cone scales. 



e-f. Detached male flowers. 



g. Detached pollen sacks (anthers). 



h-i. Detached very young female flowers showing two ovules 

 at the base, which later develop into seeds. 



