50 AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



Shortleaf pine varies greatly in the quality and amount of sapwood. 

 It is normally a thick sap tree, but midway between loblolly and longleaf . 

 The young tree increases rapidly in size until it is from six to ten inches 

 in diameter, and the yearly rings are wide. The rate of growth then 

 decreases and during the rest of its life the rings are narrow. This 

 feature is often of assistance in identifying southern yellow pine logs or 

 large timbers which contain the heart and also the sap. Wide rings 

 near the heart, followed by narrow ones, and a thick sapwood are pretty 

 good evidence that the timber if a southern yellow pine is shortleaf 

 pine. The rule is not absolute ; for a high authority on timber has said 

 that no infallible rule can be laid down for distinguishing by sight alone 

 the woods of the four southern yellow pines longleaf, shortleaf, Cuban, 

 and loblolly. 



The wood of shortleaf pine is strong, heavy, hard, and compact; 

 very resinous, resin passages large and numerous; medullary rays numer- 

 ous, conspicuous; color, orange, the sapwood nearly white. The thor- 

 oughly seasoned wood weighs thirty-eight pounds per cubic foot. It is 

 about five pounds heavier than loblolly pine, five pounds lighter than 

 longleaf, and nearly nine pounds lighter than Cuban pine. There is so 

 great a variation in weight of shortleaf pine that only general averages 

 have value. 



Shortleaf pine is not as strong as longleaf, and is not so extensively 

 employed in heavy structural work, but in certain other lines it has the 

 advantage of longleaf. It is softer, and door and sash makers like it 

 better. It is easier to work, and when manufactured into doors and 

 interior finish many consider it superior to longleaf. The wide rings of 

 annual growth in the heartwood show fine contrast in color, and when 

 these are developed by stains and fillers, the grain or figure of the wood is 

 very pleasing. Where hardness is not an essential, it is much used for 

 floors. It is in great demand by builders of freight cars, but less for 

 frames and heavy beams than for siding and decking. Car builders in 

 Illinois bought 77,000,000 feet of it in 1909. That was nearly half of the 

 entire quantity of this wood used in the state. The second largest users 

 in Illinois were manufacturers of sash, doors, blinds, and general mill- 

 work. If the whole country is considered, this is probably the largest 

 use of the wood. Makers of boxes and crates in the South employ large 

 quantities. 



The depletion of shortleaf forests has progressed rapidly, but in the 

 absence of reliable statistics it is impossible to give figures by decades or 

 years. In 1880 an estimate placed the amount west of the Mississippi 

 at 95,000,000,000 feet. That was probably less than half of the country 's 

 supply at that time. In 1911 the Commissioner of Corporations esti- 



