FOREST CONDITIONS 



119 



TABLE 13 



These figures are too scanty to allow of deducing reliable 

 conclusions, but it is significant that the trees are growing 

 rapidly up to i6o to 200 years, while after that age the rings 

 often cannot be counted without a magnifying glass. 



The wood of the Corsican pine is used for lumber and di- 

 mension stuff. During the years 1856 and 1872 trees were 

 tapped for resin because of the high prices prevailing during 

 the American Civil War. They produced a good quality of 

 resin but gave a scanty flow, and the results to-day show that 

 this tapping killed a good many of the mature trees and slowed 

 up their growth.^^ The average mature and over-mature stand 

 of Corsican pine closely resembles the western yellow pine 

 stands in Arizona and New Mexico, except that the tree does 

 not grow in such typical groups. 



Maritime Pine. — The maritime pine is found pure or in 

 mixture with holm oak and Corsican pine. It is of rapid growth 

 and attains a large size. In the forest of Marmano a 0.99-metre 

 (39-inch) tree was found 20 metres (666 feet) high and con- 

 taining 3^ good 4.9-metre (16-foot) saw logs. In the same 

 forest trees 0.7106 and 0.7369 metre (28 and 29 inches) in diam- 

 eter and 115 and 125 years old, respectively, were both rotten 

 at the heart. 



14 The results of this tapping raises doubts as to the advisability of tapping 

 western yellow pine on dry soil in the States of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colo- 

 rado, etc., for silvical reasons and whether it is wise to start a new industry de- 

 pendent on high prices for its success. 



