500 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



A Word for tKe Pitck Pine 

 By J. M. G. Emory 



LET us presume that we are on an express train, west- 

 bound from Jersey City and are swiftly flying 

 through the rolling fields of New Jersey. Scattered 

 wood-lots and occasional timbered swamps are rapidly 

 being replaced by a more general forest cover as the 

 train rushes westward. Tall tulip trees, magnificent oaks 

 and other hardwoods crowd to the very track, while 

 deeper in the forest g'.ades dark hemlocks and blue-green 

 pines give the woodland scene a more sombre hue. But 

 as the train 

 twists out into 

 a cleared farm- 

 ing settlement, 

 a new tree, of 

 very pictur- 

 esque develop- 

 ment and of a 

 w arm green 

 foliage, stands 

 sentinel -like 

 alone in a 

 rocky pasture. 

 It is a pitch 

 pine, most gen- 

 erally disliked 

 of our eastern 

 evergreens, and 

 yet when al- 

 lowed to grow 

 unmolested by 

 fire and the 

 human hand, 

 develops into 

 an exceedingly 

 picturesque and 

 interesting tree. 

 Many very 

 beautiful pho- 

 tographs have been made using this pine in the composi- 

 tion, often in silhoutte against a setting sun. 



The pitch pine for real beauty and value can not com- 

 pare, of course, with our eastern white pine or the red 

 pine, yet there is no other tree which will exist in quite 

 the barren soils and exposed sites that this tree will, and 

 still be of value commercially and esthetically, for the 

 wood of the pitch pine, although coarse and extremely 

 resinous, is very useful. It is very durable in the soil 

 and consequently valuable for poits and poles, and sawed 

 into rough lumber, makes flooring of a very durable 

 nature. The pitch pine also yields crude turpentine of 

 very fair quality, and before the great pineries of the 

 South were exploited, this pine supplied the turpentine, 

 pitch and tar of the country. In the olden days pitch 

 pine was used to some extent as fuel, and torches were 

 made from the resinous knots. 



Since pitch pine occurs on the most sandy and sterile 



HANDSO.MK OLD PITCH PI.XE IX 

 JERSEY 



of soils where few other trees can exist, it is of great 

 economic importance. It fixes the sands and prevents 

 them from shifting and over-running more valuable farm- 

 ing land. Moreover, as the years go on, great quantities 

 of needles and debris accumulate on the forest floor, 

 forming a rich humus which makes the production of 

 more valuable trees possible. For these reasons, it seems 

 that the pitch pine fills a position in the production of 

 forest resources which very few other trees could, and 

 therefore is deserving of more careful protection than it 

 has previously been afforded. It should be looked upon 

 as a useful member of the forest family and not a mere, 

 troublesome weed to be eradicated as quickly as possible. 



Trees to Take tKe Place of Those 



Destroyed by Bligkt 

 By C. H. Thomas 



f^ HESTNUT replacements, the trees which will fill the 

 ^ gaps in Pennsylvania forests caused by the ravages 

 of the chestnut blight, will not be so hard to find as was 

 first anticipated, says Professor Illick, of the State For- 

 estry Department, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Many 

 of the denuded forest areas which were laid bare when 

 the blight finished its deadly work are once more grow- 

 ing new timber producing species. 



Not only have students of forestry been encouraged 

 by the number of species -which can be substituted for 

 the once numerous chestnut trees in Pennsylvania, but 

 they have a ray of hope that eventually the chestnut trees 

 may be brought back. This hope is based upon the belief 

 held by some foresters that the blight will generate its 

 own antitoxin and that the ultimate result will be chest- 

 nut trees with greater power of resistance than those 

 which fell victims to the blight. Until this hope is 

 realized foresters are studying the various substitutes for 

 chestnut trees. 



Of the several species found suitable to the soil and 

 climate of Pennsylvania the rock oak or commonly known 

 chestnut oak, because of its close resemblance to the 

 chestnut tree, is destined to play a big part in the refor- 

 esting of the areas denuded by the blight. It is now being 

 grown to some extent in Pennsylvania. As a common 

 species of the chestnut, the rock oak has been discovered 

 to grow much more rapidly than was at first supposed. 

 Foresters formerly reckoned its apparent growth upon 

 the rings on the trunk and the growth demarcations oii 

 the twigs. Formerly it was supposed that each ring and 

 each demarcation marked a years growth, but Professor 

 Illick discovered, upvon close observation of specimens 

 under cultivation on State Forest lands that two or even 

 three growth periods occur frequently in a single growing 

 season. The chestnut oak was found to reach a height 

 of 17.8 feet in a period of 17 years. It showed amazing 

 .development in experiments conducted on the State plan- 

 tation at Mont Alto, although it was in competition with 

 the rapidly growing chestnut tree. The fact developed 

 some years ago that its growth was retarded by the close 

 proximity of the chestnut, was confirmed when the chest- 

 nuts were killed by the blight, the rock oak showing an 



