168 THE PINES 



of its life, while in sterile soil and on dry and bleak sit- 

 uations it will outgrow it at every period of its life until it 

 reaches a diameter of about two feet, when its rapidity of 

 growth is much lessened. It is most commonly found run- 

 ning from twenty to thirty inches in diameter and from 

 seventy-five to ninety feet in height, although it has been 

 known to attain a diameter of three feet and a height of 

 one hundred and twenty-five feet. 



The wood is strong, very close-grained, hard, a trifle 

 heavier than White Pine when seasoned, and decidedly so 

 when green, for a newly cut log will sink, elastic, but 

 not durable in contact with the ground. The heartwood is 

 pale red, with thin yellow sapwood sometimes nearly white. 

 The medullary rays are quite conspicuous, more so than in 

 any other Pine. The summer wood is slightly darker colored 

 than the spring wood and perceptibly harder. It is used 

 for general construction and for nearly all purposes where 

 White Pine can be used, although because of its hardness, 

 not as well suited for doors, sash, and the like. It is supe- 

 rior to White Pine for flooring, and, among the Pines only 

 Longleaf and Cuban surpass it for that purpose. 



The leaves are dark green, from five to six inches long, 

 quite flexible, and with but two in a sheath. In vigorous 

 growth this sheath is frequently three fourths of an inch 

 long. It blooms in early spring, and the cones are ripe and 

 may be gathered the last of August or early September of 

 the following year. It will frequently begin to bear seed 

 when twenty or twenty-five years old, but it is not a prolific 

 seed-bearer at best, and the fact that the cones are nearly all 

 on the very topmost branches renders collecting them very 

 difficult. There is more difficulty in securing a supply of 

 seeds of this Pine than of any other eastern species, and 

 the price is correspondingly high. The tree is remark- 

 ably well adapted to natural regeneration. The seeds are 

 not as large as those of the White Pine, but the wing is 

 larger, which allows the wind to carry them to a great dis- 

 tance. Neither do the seeds all drop out as soon as ripe, 



