PINE. 205 
Pinus divaricata. (P. banksiana.) Jack Pine. Nor- 
thern Scrub Pine. Gray Pine. 
Leaves in twos, short, from three-quarters to one and one- 
half inches long, acute, rigid, thick, more or less curved and 
twisted, falling the second or third season; inner side channeled; 
margins very minutely serrate, sheaths short; buds very resinous. 
Cones ovoid acuminate, about two inches long, often curved, 
laterally located on branchlets, often in pairs. They are gen- 
erally opened by the sun, but where they are in the shade they 
will remain on the trees unopened for several years until they 
become deeply covered with moss and sometimes until over- 
grown and imbedded in the wood and bark. The seeds are 
about one-eighth of an inch long, with four to five cotyledons. 
Those from the old cones seem to grow as readily as fresh seeds 
when sown. A very pronounced peculiarity of this tree is its 
habit of forming several whorls of branches on the new growth. 
This is especially noticeable when the trees are young and grow- 
ing rapidly, when as many as six whorls of branches may be seen 
on a year’s growth. This tree, under favorable conditions, will 
occasionally attain a height of 125 feet and a diameter of two 
feet. However it is seldom over seventy feet high and eight to 
twelve inches in diameter, and generally where it occurs in pine 
forests it is only forty or fifty feet high. 
Distribution.—It is distributed from northern New England 
and the valley of the St. Lawrence westward along our northern 
frontier to the Rocky Mountains and north to the Arctic circle; 
found growing in sandy land and land that has been recently 
severely burned. It covers large areas of poor, sandy lands in 
Minnesota. In this state it probably has about the same range 
as Norway Pine. 
Propagation.—By seeds. The cones may be obtained at any 
season of the year and kept out of doors until spring, when they 
can be opened by the application of a little heat. The seeds from 
the old cones seem to have as much vitality as those from young 
cones. In the wocds the cones of Jack Pine often remain closed 
until a fire sweeping over the land causes them to open, and 
allows the seeds to fall in the loose ashes, where they soon start 
into growth. On account of this peculiarity it is sometimes 
called the Fire Pine. The seedlings are very hardy, and grow 
