JACK PINE. 21 



13 per cent, of the remaining supply is red pine. It is treated 

 like white pine in all branches of exploitation but brings a 

 smaller price and is more extensively cut into dimension stuff. 

 Its frugality, rapid growth, fine dimensions, and heavy yield 

 highly recommend this tree in considerations of reforestation. 



JACK PINE. 



Jack pine, in! Wisconsin, generally takes possession of all the 

 poorer sands, where hardwoods and even white pine no longer 

 thrive. Nevertheless, it is also found on sandy loam areas (Sha- 

 wano and parts of Marinette counties) where better trees have 

 grown, and it appears that its presence in these localities is due 

 to large fires which many years ago completely consumed the 

 former forest and so reduced the fertility of the soil that none 

 but this most frugal of conifers could reclothe the land. Jack 

 pine forms characteristic dense thickets and even forests of many 

 miles in extent, mixes frequently vdth red pine, less frequently 

 with white pine and still less often with hardwoods except the 

 scarlet and other scrub oaks and to a less extent the white birch, 

 which axe its normal companions. 



In Wisconsin it is always a small tree, generally less than 10 

 inches in diameter and below 60 feet in height; frequently 

 groves of several hundred acres consist apparently of trees of 

 nearly one age and si^e. The tree reproduces well, grows quite 

 rapidly, but only while young, and is generally short lived, 

 reaching its best growth before the 80th year. At present it is 

 not used to any extent, neither stumpage nor logs having real 

 commercial value except in parts of the jack pine and oak open- 

 ings, where it is used as fuel and for farm purposes. The total 

 stand of this pine if taken down to 4 inches diameter is about 

 3,500 million feet, of which about 1,700 million might well be 

 used for dimension stuff while the rest could be employed as 

 pulp wood. Its great frugality, ease of propagation, rapid 

 growth, and large yields will recommend the jack pine for the 

 purpose of restocking all poorer sands. 



