WESTERN YELLOW PINE 



(Pinus Ponderosa) 



THE range of western yellow pine covers a million square miles. Its 

 eastern boundary is a line drawn from South Dakota to western 

 Texas. The species covers much of the country between that line and the 

 Pacific ocean. It is natural that it should have more names than one in 

 a region so extensive. It is best known as western yellow pine, but 

 lumbermen often call it California white pine. The standing timber is 

 frequently designated bull pine, but that name is not often given to the 

 lumber. Where there is no likelihood of confusing it with southern pines, 

 it is called simply yellow pine. The name heavy- wooded pine, sometimes 

 applied to the lumber in England, is misleading. When well seasoned it 

 weighs about thirty pounds per cubic foot, and ordinarily it would not 

 be classed heavy. In California it is called heavy pine, but that is to 

 distinguish it from sugar pine which is considerably lighter. The color 

 of its bark has given it the name Sierra brownbark pine. The same tree 

 in Montana is called black pine. 



The tree has developed two forms. Some botanists have held there 

 are two species, but that is not the general opinion. In the warm, damp 

 climate of the Pacific slope the tree is larger, and somewhat different in 

 appearance from the form in the Rocky Mountain region. The same 

 observation holds true of Douglas fir. 



The wood of western yellow pine is medium light, not strong, is 

 low in elasticity, medullary rays prominent but not numerous; resinous, 

 color light to reddish, the thick sapwood almost white. The annual 

 rings are variable in width, and the proportionate amounts of spring- 

 wood and summerwood also vary. It is not durable in contact with the 

 ground. 



The wood is easy to work and some of the best of it resembles 

 white pine, but as a whole it is inferior to that wood, though it is ex- 

 tensively employed as a substitute for it in the manufacture of doors, 

 sash, and frames. It is darker than white pine, harder, heavier, 

 stronger, almost exactly equal in stiffness, but the annual rings of 

 the two woods do not bear close resemblance. 



The tree reaches a height of from 100 to 200 feet, a diameter from 

 three to seven. It is occasionally much larger. Its size depends much 

 on its habitat. The best development occurs on the Sierra Nevada 

 mountains in California and the best wood comes from that region, 

 though certain other localities produce high-grade lumber. 



Western yellow pine holds and will long hold an important place 



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