r 



JACK PINE. 3. 



tingiiished hj absence of pormancnt prickles on the cones. Most 



characteristic, however, is the position of the cones. In jack pine the 



cones are subterminal; that is, they grow near the ends of the twigs. 



In lodgepole pine the cones are Literal; that is, they grow on the sides 



of the larger twigs. 



RANGE. 



Jack pine ranges from the southern shores of Lake Michigan to 

 latitude 65° on the Mackenzie River, and from Nova Scotia to the 

 southeastern corner of Yukon Territory and northeastern British 

 Columbia, extending nearly to the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. 

 (See fig. 1).^ Its range east and west is some 2,500 miles; its north 

 and south extension is 1,600 miles, and averages about 600 miles along 

 any meridan. 



In the United States jack pine ranges from western Maine through 

 northern New Hampshire and northern New York, and extends north 

 from northwestern Indiana, northeastern Illinois, through most of 

 Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. It has also been extensively 

 and successfully planted in the sand hiUs of western Nebraska. Its 

 occurrence in commercial stands in the United States is limited to cer- 

 tain parts of the Lake States — the Northern Peninsula and the north- 

 ern half of the Southern Peninsula of Michigan, the northern half of 

 Wisconsin, and the northern half of Minnesota east of the ninty-sixth 

 meridian. In the eastern States it is always a small tree occurring in 

 small, widely scattered groups on sandy barrens. 



In Canada jack pine has a much greater range and is of more impor- 

 tance commercially than in the United States. It occurs most 

 abundantly in northern Ontario and Quebec, and in Manitoba, Sas- 

 katchewan, and Alberta. In the region west of Lake Winnipeg it 

 reaches a fine development. It is found north of the Saskatchewan 

 River as far west as Fort Assiniboine, and extends north into the valley 

 of the Mackenzie River, It is one of the most abundant trees in the 

 extensive but largely noncommercial forests which cover northern 

 Canada. 



GEOLOGY AND CLIMATE OF THE JACK PINE REGION. 



The soil in wliich jack pine occurs in southern Canada, New Eng- 

 land, New York, and the Lake States is largely of glacial origin, 

 deposited and spread out by the waters of the melting ice sheet in 

 the last glacial period. To the north, including portions of northern 

 Minnesota and throughout most of its range in Canada, the country is 

 for the most part a region of crystalline rock (granite, gneisses, and 

 schists) severely glaciated and denuded of its mantle of original 

 alluvial soils and only partially covered with thin, light soils of recent 



'Botanical range outlined by W. H. Lamb, of the Section of Forest Distribution; commercial range in 

 Canada furnished by R. II. Campbell, Director of the Canadian Forestry Branch; and for the United 

 States by the author. 



