162 THE PINES 



demanding than any of the Pines growing with it, which fea- 

 ture greatly aids in giving it the victory in the struggle for 

 existence. Yet, like all the other Pines, it must have light, 

 and when grown in dense stands of its own or other species 

 of trees, its lower limbs will die and drop off and the result 

 is a slim, moderately tapering stem, with thick, crooked, 

 and forked branches, that form a rounded crown when 

 lifted above its competitors for light. The tree grows to a 

 height of one hundred and twenty-five feet, with a diame- 

 ter of five feet, but these dimensions are very rare. The 

 size most generally cut runs from eighty to one hundred 

 feet high with a diameter of fifteen to thirty inches breast 

 high, and a stem suitable for lumber of forty to sixty feet 

 in height. 



It is a very rapid grower until after seventy or eighty 

 years of age. It is not an unusual thing to find young trees 

 ten feet high when only six or seven years old, and at ten 

 years of age fifteen or sixteen feet, with a diameter of seven 

 or eight inches two feet from the ground. In young trees 

 the leaves are but little longer than those of the Shortleaf, 

 which has contributed much towards confounding it with 

 that tree. In mature trees the leaves may be eight or nine 

 inches long, with three in a sheath. 



The wood is somewhat variable, owing to its wide range, 

 but in general it is brittle, weak, rather hard, coarse-grained, 

 of about the same weight as that of Shortleaf, not durable, 

 and with a marked difference between spring and summer 

 wood, both in color and hardness. The heartwood is light 

 brown, with nearly white sapwood of unusual thickness, 

 the latter frequently forming seventy per cent or even more 

 of the cubic contents of the mature tree. The heartwood 

 is charged with considerable resin and the sapwood is well 

 filled with turpentine which, however, is thick and does not 

 flow freely. It is used for interior finish, box boards and 

 veneers, general construction, and for most purposes where 

 great strength or durability when exposed is not required. 

 It must be kiln-dried as soon as sawed or " blueing " will 



