ADDITIONAL NOTES ON SHORTLEAF PINE. 



By FiLiitERT Roth. 

 (September 1, 1897.) 



As miybt be expected from its wide and extremely irregular distribution, this tree receives 

 many uames and in many localities is little or not known even to otherwise quite well-informed 

 woodmen. Thus in an entire county of South Carolina, where the tree occurs but sparsely, not a 

 single man was met who recognized this species. Among the many appellations the name "Kose- 

 mary" deserves mention, having wide and varied application and having led to considerable 

 controversy and much confusion. Api)arently this name originated in the North Carolina' ])inery, 

 where even to-day this tree, though by no means abundant, is well known to all woodmen. In the 

 country about the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds all woodmen interviewed invariably knew it 

 and consistently called it Rosemary Pine. In the towns and by manufacturers in this district and 

 also in the coast pine belt farther south the tree is generally not known at all, but the word 

 "Kosemary " is nevertheless in common use, and Rosemary Pine timber held iu especial regard. 

 (Questioning many of the exi)erienced manufacturers, it was found that Rosemary Pine in the market 

 towns refers not to a particular species but to large select fine grained timbers of any pine except 

 Longleaf, and was formerly a much-desired article for ship planking, etc., being less resinous, 

 softer, and claimed to be less prone to shrink and swell than the wood of Longleaf Pine. 



As mentioned in the monograph, Shditlcaf Pine occurs only scatteringly in the great pinery of 

 North Carolina and southern Vir-inia. and forms probably not as much as 1 per cent of the total 

 cut of the North Carolina pine on the market. In Texas, where this species is generally called 

 Shortleaf Pine, it was seen as far west as Houston, mingling in small (juantities and small sizes 

 with the Loblolly. Going in a northeastern direction, it becomes more and more abundant, being 

 the predominant tree east of the Neches River and north of the Longleaf Pine district. 



The Shortleaf Pine remains generally undersized in the coast pine belts, where fair-sized spec- 

 imens are rarely met. In its proper home, in eastern Texas and Arkansas, it attains fair dimen- 

 sions, generally 70 to 90 feet high and less than 30 inches diameter. Its growth, though occasionally 

 quite rapid, seems usually much slower than that of Loblolly, a fact especially true of the regions 

 where it is most abundant. In hundreds of groves the leaders of small saplings were found com- 

 monly less than 12 inches long, thus remaining much behind the other Southern pines in this 

 respect. More even than Loblolly, the Shortleaf requires a close stand to induce cleaning of 

 limbs. 



The phenomenon of sprouting was well illustrated all along the Houston, East and West 

 Texas and also the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern railways as far north as Iron Moun- 

 tain, Mo., where hundreds of acres of the right of way were covered with the bushy clusters of 

 vigorous sprouts, 10 to 30 from one stump. 



Like Pond Pine, the Shortleaf is sometimes bled for turpentine. One tree was seen with 

 two boxes which had been worked for at least ten years and then abandoned, and two new boxes 

 worked for the second season this year (1897). 



' Probably suggested by the small rosemary bead-like cones clustered in great abundance on old trees. 



Ill 



