896 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



BARK OF LONGLKAF I'lNIi 



The bark is thin and orange-lirown, separating on the surface 

 into large papery scales which lie flat against the trunk. 



have a hard and often unsuccessful struggle to live. 



While it may be only seven inches high at seven years 



of age, its tap root may be all of seven feet long, and 



when the tree is full grown this tap root is often sixteen 



feet long. After reaching seven years of age, the tree 

 grows rapidly until it is sixty or seventy years old, when 

 the growth becomes slow again. 



The bark of the tree is thin and orange brown, sepa- 

 rating on the surface into large, papery scales which lie 

 flat against the trunk. 



The wood is heavy, exceedingly hard and strong. It 

 is usually fine-grained and durable, orange color, some- 

 times of a very deep shade. It is largely used for build- 

 ing, both framing, flooring and interior finishing; also 

 bridging, rail- 

 w a y ties, 

 fencing ; and 

 for masts and 

 sp a r s. Al- 

 though it 

 makes a hot 

 fire, it burns 



slowly and warehouses and storage houses built of it are 

 said to be of slow burning construction. It is rich in 

 resinous materials and thousands of acres of trees are 

 tapped annually for the "gum" (oleo-resin) from which 

 resin and turpentine are derived. The older methods of 

 obtaining the "gum'' resulted in killing a great many of 

 the trees in a very few years ; recent improved modern 

 methods are not so harmful. The wood, however, is 

 not injured by this tapping. 



Unless protection against fire and means of reproduc- 

 tion are looked to, it is expected that there will be prac- 

 tically no longleaf pine trees left in a few years. They 

 are being cut for lumber in large quantities every year, 

 and without protection they are likely gradually to be- 

 come extinct. 



Commercial Uses of Longleaf Pine 



By p. L. Buttrick 



WHAT the white pine has been to the Northern 

 States, the longleaf pine has been, and still 

 is, to the Southern. If the great white pine 

 forests of northern New England, New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania, and the Lake States have vastly aflfected the lives 

 of the people, not only within their borders, but in the 

 nation as a whole, and have left it the poorer for their 

 passing, the vast pineries of the South Atlantic and Gulf 

 States have had no less an effect, and their passing is 

 no less to be regretted. 



It is said that England won the title "Mistress of the 

 Seas" with ships whose masts were of New England 

 pine. These same ships 

 tarred their rigging 



and calked their seam? 

 with tar and pitch de- 

 rived from the longleaf 

 pine of the South, for 

 this tree was justly 

 noted as a producer of 

 naval stores before its 



Properties of Longleaf Pine 



Heavy, hard, very strong, tough; 

 Grain fine, even, straight; 

 Compact ; 



Annual rings narrow; 

 Proportion of heart wood large; 

 Very resinous ; 



wood was much used as lumber. Later the famous 

 frigates of the American Navy which so boldly disputed 

 England's title, were in part built of longleaf timbers. 

 About all the original wood which remains today in the 

 famous old frigate Constitution is its figurehead, which 

 is of longleaf pine. 



Although the longleaf is the pine tree par excellence 

 of the South, there are other valuable pines in that sec- 

 tion, and they are sometimes confused with it, chieflv 

 because of the similarity of some of their common names, 

 for all are called "Southern Pine" and all are called "Yel- 

 low Pine," but the trees are themselves quite distinct. 



Besides the longleaf 

 pine, the other com- 

 mon southern pines 

 are: the shortleaf pine, 

 the loblolly pine, and 

 the Cuban pine. 



The shortleaf is a 

 tree of higher altitudes 

 than the others, and 



Color, light brown or red ; 

 Thin sapwood light yellow ; 

 Durable in contact with soil; 

 Height, 55 to 100 feet; 

 Diameter, IJ/^ to 3 feet. 



