SILVICULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS 41 



Until it became scarce it was the chief building lumber. Now the 

 better grades are used largely for interior finishing and other 

 special purposes. The cheaper grades are used for match stock 

 and the very poorest grades for box boards. Its high value and 

 rapid growth, combined with its abihty to thrive on the sandiest 

 and poorest sites, make the white pine the most important tree 

 to raise in New England; it should be encouraged wherever it 

 occurs. 



Red or Norway Pine {Pimis resinosa). 



The red pine has about the same natural range east and west 

 as the white pine, but does not extend so far south. In New 

 England it is a comparatively rare tree, and is scattered in- 

 exphcably in small clumps from the Canadian Hne to northern 

 Connecticut. It derives its name from the fact that it was first 

 noticed near Norway, Maine. 



The demands of the red pine on soil, light, and moisture are 

 about the same as those of white pine. It will grow, however, 

 on an even drier sand, but is more exacting of light. 



Measurements made in several New England plantations 

 show an average height of thirty-five feet and a diameter of six 

 inches, in thirty years. In mixture with white pine its height 

 growth is fully equal to that of the latter, and its diameter 

 growth only a little smaller. It does not attain as large a size 

 in New England as does white pine, specimens one hundred 

 feet high and three feet in diameter being rare. 



The seed years of the red pine are more infrequent than those 

 of the white pine, and in off years there is no crop; with white 

 pine there are often some cones between regular crops. The 

 seed germinates well in hot, dry situations, as on a fitter of 

 needles, on exposed mineral soil, or in thin grass growth, so that 

 in spite of the comparative scarcity of seed reproduction is fairly 

 profific wherever seed trees occur. 



This tree is free from insects and diseases, and suffers less from 

 fire than the white pine. Its wood is harder than white pine, 

 but is often classed in with it and for many purposes is nearly 

 as good. 



