AMERICAN FOREST TREES 45 



country until after the Civil war, but it had a place in shipbuilding before 

 that time, and it has held that place. The builders of cars employ large 

 quantities for frames and other parts of gondolas, box cars, and coaches. 

 Over 175,000,000 feet were so used in 1909 in Illinois. It is the leading 

 car building timber in this country. Its great strength, hardness, and 

 stiffness give it that place. 



It is scarcely less important as an interior wood for house finish. 

 It is not so much its strength as its beauty that recommends it for that 

 purpose. Its beauty is due to a combination of figure and color. 

 Splendid variety is possible by carefully selecting the material. Manu- 

 facturers of furniture, fixtures, and vehicles are large users of longleaf 

 pine. In these lines its chief value is due to strength. 



In the naval stores industry hi this country, it is more important 

 than all other species combined. For a century and a half it has sup- 

 plied this country and much of the rest of the world. The principal 

 commodities made from the resin of this tree are spirits of turpentine 

 and rosin. These two articles are produced by distilling the resin which 

 exudes from wounds in the tree. The distillate is spirits of turpentine, 

 the residue is rosin. The manufacture of naval stores has destroyed 

 tens of thousands of trees in the past; but better methods are now in 

 use and loss is less. Georgia and South Carolina were once the center of 

 naval stores production; but it has now moved to Louisiana and 

 Florida. 



The supply of longleaf pine has rapidly decreased during the past 

 twenty years, and though the end is not yet at hand, it is approaching. 

 Young trees are not coming on to take the place of those cut for lumber. 

 They grow slowly at best, and a new forest could not be produced in less 

 than a hundred years. Both protection and care have been lacking. 

 Fire usually kills seedlings in their first or second year. The result is 

 that many extensive tracts where longleaf pine once grew hi abundance 

 have few young and scarcely any old trees now. As far as can be 

 foreseen, this valuable timber will reach its end when existing stands 

 have been cut. 



CUBAN PINE (Pinus heterophylla). The Cuban pine has several 

 local names; slash pine in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi; 

 swamp pine hi Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi ; meadow pine in 

 Florida and Mississippi; pitch pine in Florida; and spruce pine in Ala- 

 bama. Its range is confined to the coast region from South Carolina to 

 Louisiana, from sixty to one hundred miles inland. It is the only pine 

 in the extreme south of Florida. The wood is heavy, hard, very strong, 

 tough, compact, durable, resinous, the resin passages few but conspicu- 

 ous, rich dark orange color, the sapwood often nearly white. The annual 



