PITCH PINE 165 



the thick bark having served as a complete protection 

 to it. 



The heartwood is of a light reddish-brown color, some- 

 times heavily charged with resin, soft, brittle, coarse- 

 grained, and that part filled with resin moderately durable, 

 with a thick, yellowish sap wood the latter frequently 

 amounting to seventy-five per cent of the mature tree 

 which rapidly decays when exposed. There is a marked 

 difference between the spring and summer wood both in 

 color and hardness. The wood is used for rough construc- 

 tion, box boards, and the like, but, because of large knots, 

 is not often suitable for finer work or where great strength 

 is required. Trees of all dimensions, from six up to eigh- 

 teen inches, are shipped long distances and used for mine 

 props in Pennsylvania coal mines. The wood is also used 

 for pulp, being superior to White Pine for that, and, when 

 charcoal iron furnaces were in existence, for charcoal. From 

 the undecayed heartwood found in the forests large quan- 

 tities of tar were made in rude clay pits before the devel- 

 opment of the "naval stores" industry in the Southern 

 States. 



The Pitch Pine is an early and persistent seed-bearer, 

 often fruiting at the age of eight years. The cones are 

 small and hang on the trees for several years. They open 

 slowly when ripe. The seeds are small, 75,000 in a 

 pound, with proportionally large wings, which further 

 their even and ample distribution. There are three sharp- 

 pointed stiff leaves in a sheath. It grows slowly for the 

 first three to five years, but when fairly established it 

 shoots up rapidly, and on moderately fertile soil keeps up 

 a good growth until old age sets in. It seldom lives more 

 than one hundred years. 



Artificial aid in reforestation can be successful only by 

 gathering seed and planting, where the trees are to grow 

 in the forest, for the dry character of the soil where Pitch 

 Pine should be planted will preclude the possibility of suc- 

 cessful transplanting from the nursery. After a fire has 



