UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 820 v# 



.ft"Lr^^\«r<. 



Contribution from the Forest Service 

 HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester 



J^^^^U 



Washinfe'ton, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



May 22, 1920 



JACK PINE. 



By William Bknt Sterrett, Forest Examiner. 



Introduction 



Distinguishing characteristics 



Range 



Forest types 



Soil, moisture, and light requirements 



Form and development 



Reproduction 



CONTENTS. 



Page. Page. 



1 Susceptibility to injm'y 20 



2 Supply of jack pine timber 22 



3 Cliaracteristics of the wood 22 



. 5 Utilization 23 



6 Stumpage values 27 



7 Management 28 



18 Appendix 34 



INTRODUCTION. 



Jack pine ^ is a very frugal tree in its climatic and soil requirements. 

 The northern limit of its natural range is within l^ degrees of the 

 Arctic Circle and the southern is marked by the southern shores of 

 Lake Michigan. No other North American pine gro\ys naturally so 

 far north and all the others grow farther south. It develops commer- 

 cial stands and reproduces itself on dry, barren, sandy ridges and 

 plains unsuited to other native trees. The seed germinates more 

 quickly and grows more rapidly in its early years on lumbered and 

 burned-over forest land and on idle, worn-out, cleared land than the 

 other pines occurring within its range. On good soils or on poor soils 

 with a cover of moisture-conserving mulch resulting from forest 

 growth it gives v/ay to longer lived species. The fires which arc com- 

 mon on jack pine lands burn off the litter, keep the soil impoverished, 



1 Jack pine was described imder the name of Pinus divaricata by Du Mont de Courset in 1802, and a year 

 later by Lambert as Pinus banksiana (named after Sir Joseph Banks). From the latter are derived the names 

 Banksian and Banks pine, by which names the tree is commonly kno\^'u in Europe and in European 

 forestry literature. Lambert's description of itwasfrom atree planted in England some time in the eigh- 

 teenth century. The latter name is more widely used than the former, especially in Europe, but l.iy the law 

 of priority in nomenclature P. divaricata is the correct name. The term divarica!a, meaning spreading apart 

 or forked, is especially appropriate for jack pine trees growing in the open. The following common 

 names are applied to the tree in different parts of the country: Scrub pine, general; gray pine, Vermont, 

 Minnesota, and Ontario; jack pine. Lake States and Canada; Princess pine. New Bruns'n-ick and Nova 

 Scotia; black jack pine, Wisconsin; black pine, Minnesota; cypress, Quebec to Hudson Bay; Canada horn- 

 cone pine; check pine (probably a corruption of jack pine); Sir Joseph Banks pine, England; juniper, 

 Canada; Banksian pine, European literature; Laliradorpine; and Hudson Bay pine. 

 140205°— 20— Bull. 820 1 



