AMERICAN FOREST TREES 63 



elevators, fixtures for stores and offices, foot or running boards for tank 

 cars, foundry flasks, freight cars, hand rails, insulation for refrigerator 

 cars, ladders, picture moldings, roofing, sash, siding for cattle cars, sign 

 boards and advertising signs, tanks, and windmill towers. 



As with white pine, Norway pine has past the period of greatest 

 production, though much still goes to market every year and will long 

 continue to do so. The land which lumbermen denuded in the Lake 

 States, particularly Michigan and Wisconsin, years ago, did not reclothe 

 itself with Norway seedlings. That would have taken place in most 

 instances but for fires which ran periodically through the slashings until 

 all seedlings were destroyed. In many places there are now few seed- 

 lings and few large trees to bear seeds, and consequently the pine forest 

 in such places is a thing of the past. The outlook is better in other 

 localities. 



The Norway pine is much planted for ornament, and is rated one of 

 the handsomest of northern park trees. 



PITCH PINE (Pinus rigida). The name pitch pine is locally applied to almost 

 every species of hard, resinous pine in this country. The Pinus rigida has other 

 names than pitch pine. In Delaware it is called longleaved pine, since its needles are 

 longer than the scrub pine's with which it is associated. For the same reason it is 

 known in some localities as longschat pine. In Massachusetts it is called hard pine, in 

 Pennsylvania yellow pine, in North Carolina and eastern Tennessee black pine, and 

 black Norway pine in New York. The botanical name is translated "rigid pine," but 

 the rigid refers to the leaves, not the wood. Its range covers New England, New 

 York, Pennsylvania, southern Canada, eastern Ohio, and southward along the 

 mountains to northern Georgia. It has three leaves in a cluster, from three to five in- 

 ches long, and they fall the second year. Cones range in length from one to three 

 inches, and they hang on the branches ten or twelve years. The wood is medium 

 light, moderately strong, but low in stiffness. It is soft and brittle. The annual 

 rings are wide, the summerwood broad, distinct, and very resinous. Medullary rays 

 are few but prominent ; color, light brown or red, the thick sapwood yellow or often 

 nearly white. The difference in the hardness between springwood and summerwood 

 renders it difficult to work, and causes uneven wear when used as flooring. It is 

 fairly durable in contact with the soil. 



The tree attains a height of from forty to eighty feet and a diameter of three. 

 This pine is not found in extensive forests, but in scattered patches, nearly always on 

 poor soil where other trees will not crowd it. Light and air are necessary to its 

 existence. If it receives these, it will fight successfully against adversities which 

 would be fatal to many other species. In resistance to forest fires, it is a salamander 

 among trees. That is primarily due to its thick bark, but it is favored also by the 

 situations in which it is generally found open woods, and on soil so poor that ground 

 litter is thin. It is a useful wood for many purposes, and wherever it is found in 

 sufficient quantity, it goes to market, but under its own name only in restricted lo- 

 calities. Its resinous knots were once used in place of candles in frontier homes. 

 Tar made locally from its rich wood was the pioneer wagoner's axle grease, and the 

 ever-present tar bucket and tar paddle swung from the rear axle. Torches made by 

 tying splinters in bundles answered for lanterns in night travel. It was the best pine 



