142 THE PINES 



tion should be maintained while the cones are being dried. 

 White Pine is a slow grower the first few years of its life. 

 It seldom exceeds two inches in height the first year, and 

 generally grows not more than one inch. By the end of the 

 third year a height of four to six inches may have been 

 reached. An increase of four or five inches may occur the 

 fourth year, and the fifth should show a total height of 

 twelve to fifteen inches. In the sixth year it may add twelve 

 to eighteen inches, and after that a growth of two feet a 

 year may occur until the tree is thirty or forty years old, 

 providing it has not been crowded by other trees. It throws 

 out a whorl of limbs most generally five at the begin- 

 ning of each year's growth after the fourth or fifth year of 

 its age, and until the tree attains a height of forty to fifty 

 feet if close-grown these whorls of limbs give an ap- 

 proximate indication of the tree's age, each whorl repre- 

 senting a year. On an average the tree will have attained 

 a height of five feet in seven years. The buds for these 

 whorls called winter buds can be seen at the end of 

 each season's growth. There is seldom a bud formed on the 

 stem between these whorls. 



The root system of the tree accommodates itself to local 

 situations. In ground with a clay subsoil its roots will run 

 shallow, but in deep, fertile ground, not too moist, they go 

 down deep. Frequently on alluvial deposit, where the water- 

 bearing stratum is low down, stumps pulled out bring 

 ground from a depth of five or more feet. Its demand for 

 mineral food is very light, and when opportunity is offered, 

 it seeks what little it requires far below the surface. 



White Pine tolerates other species of trees for its near 

 neighbors. It grows equally well with such as do not make 

 a more rapid height growth as with its own kind. In trans- 

 planting it into the forest it might be well to mingle with 

 it other species of trees possessing the same rapidity of 

 growth ; but this would seem advisable only for the reason 

 that attacks of fungus diseases and insects are not generally 

 as severe in mixed stands. 



