DESCRIPTION OF WOOD OP SKORTLEAF PINE. 103 



After fertilization has taken place the shoots bearing the fertile flowers increase rapidly in 

 length. Fertile catkins are frequently found on the older branches, produced on branchlets from 

 adventitious buds. The tree begins to produce flowers when from ten to twelve years old, according 

 to exposure; male flowers have been observed one or two seasons earlier. 



Cones. — Every season cones are produced in great abundance. The conelets of the first year, 

 borne on a short, horizontal stalk, are oval in shape, scarcely ouehalf an inch in length, the 

 squarrose tips of the scales giving them the echinate appearance from which the botanical name 

 first given to this species was undoubtedly derived (PI. XV, <). 



Fully matured by the end of the second year, the cones are nearly sessile, oval, of dull or 

 leather brown color, li to rarely 2 inches long, and when open, nearly as wide; they are frequently 

 smooth (I'l. XVI, ,/, I). The scales are hard, with a slightly swelled apophysis, devoid of or armed 

 with the weak, more or less deciduous prickle (PI. XVI, c, d). The cones open early in the fall, and 

 remain, after the discharge of their seeds, for several years on the branches. In consequence, 

 the older trees are covered with them through all seasons. 



Seed. — The Shortleaf Pine i)rodaces seeds in greatest abundance; its crops seem never to fail. 

 The seeds are small, triangular, three-sixteenths of an inch long by one eighth of an inch wide, the 

 hard, roughish testa marked with three indistinct ridges and more or less with confluent specks; 

 the wing is of a light, reddish brown, half an inch in length and deciduous during germination 

 (PI. XV, ,,/'). The seeds retain their vitality for several years; fresh, they will germinate in from 

 ten to fifteen days. The number of seeds to the ounce is about 5,000; wafted by the wind over 

 wide distances and germinating early during the first days of spring, their oti'spring are found to 

 take possession of every opening in the Ibrest and of the old fields in localities favorable to their 

 growth. 



THE WOOD. 



The wood of Shortleaf Pine resembles that of the Loblolly in almost every resi)ect. The 

 sapwood is clearly defined, being quite broad, and even in very old trees forms fully one-half of the 

 total volume of the trunk. In thirteen trees one hundred to one hundred and fifty years old, the 

 average width of sapwood was found to be about -t inches, while even in trees over one hundred 

 and fifty years old its average width was 3 inches. In the former case, the sapwood formed Co to 

 70 per cent of the volume of the logs; in the latter, 50 to 55 per cent, while in a set of trees fifty 

 to one hundred years old it formed fully 80 per cent of all the wood. The change from sapwood to 

 hardwood proceeds much as in Loblolly Pine. It begins when the tree (or any disk) is about 

 twenty-five to thirty years old, and is retarded more and more with age, so that in old trees as 

 many as eighty or even one hundred rings are counted in the sapwood, while in young and thrifty 

 trees not more than thirty to forty may occur. 



In keeiiiug with the large amount of sapwood, the weight of green Shortleaf Pine is rath(U- 

 great, varying, for entire logs, from 45 to 55 pounds per cubic foot, commonly approa<;hing GO pounds 

 in the largely water- filled outer portions of the sapwood. 



When kiln dried, tiie wood of trees one hundred to one hundred and fifty years old weighs 

 on the average about 32 pounds per cubic foot. As in other pines, the butt is 15 to 20 per cent 

 heavier than the top, and the wood of the inner forty to fifty rings excels in weight and strength 

 the wood of the outer parts of old logs. As was stated for Loblolly, the sapwood may be light, 

 heavy, weak, or strong, according to the age of the tree from which it is obtained. As might be 

 expected from the great range of distribution of this tree, its wood, like that of Loblolly, varies 

 within very wide limits. Specimens from Missouri (near its northern limits) are generally lighter 

 and less resinous than those from farther south, and frequently resemble tlie wood of the Norway 

 Pine, while many select specimens from the Gulf and South Atlantic States rival in weight and 

 strength the best grades of Longleaf Pine. In its strength, as in its weight, the Shortleaf follows 

 Loblolly Pine. 



The average of a large series of tests furnishes the following average values for dry pieces of 

 this species : 



Lbs. per S(|. iuch. 



Modulus of elasticity 1,600,000 



Transverse strength <i, 230 



Compressiou eudwise 5,900 



Sbeariug along the fiber 688 



