66 FORESTRY INVESTIGATIONS U. R. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



"Virginia pine" or '-Virginia yellow pine" are names hardly known elsewhere than in the 

 markets of Baltimore and Washington, where the bulk of the common building timber consists of 

 it. It applies in the main to the loblolly, with a very small percentage of shortleaf making its 

 way into the pile. While this is mostly coarse-grained inferior material, selected stuff, when well 

 seasoned, furnishes good finishing and flooring material. 



Field Names. 



Field names are those applied to the four Southern pine lumber species in the tree and logs. 

 Such names are usually more or less known to dealers and manufacturers, but, aside from the 

 market names already discussed, have only lately been applied to lumber in the market. 



Of the three pines, longleaf, shortleaf, and loblolly, the first alone is perfectly known by 

 lumbermen and woodmen as a distinct " variety" (species). The remaining species, presenting to 

 the lumberman's eye various forms according to the site producing the timber, are commonly 

 supposed " varieties" or " crosses" more or less related to the longleaf pine. Specific differences 

 in the lumber, both in appearance and quality, form, however, a sufficient basis of distinction as 

 far as lumber is concerned, although this distinction is not necessarily carried out in putting 

 lumber on the market. 



A few of the names in common use are frequently applied by lumbermen to entirely different 

 species from those usually known to botanists by the same name. The perplexity thus arising, upon 

 the supposition that the common names of our botanical text-books are applied to the species by 

 lumbermen, is not inconsiderable, and can doubtless be avoided only by a more careful attention 

 on the part of the people to real specific distinctions. 



The confusion in names is such that it is almost impossible to analyze properly the use of these 

 names in the various regions. In the tabulated account of names on the next page, a geographical 

 distribution has heen given, as far as possible. Here only a few of the names are to be discussed. 



" Pitch-pine" is the name most commonly applied to the longleaf in the Atlantic regions, and 

 where it occurs associated with the shortleaf and loblolly the former is called " yellow pine" and 

 the latter is called "shortleaf." The name "longleaf or long-leaved pine" is rarely heard in the 

 field, "longstraw" being substituted. 



The greatest difference of names and consequent confusion exists in the case of the loblolly, 

 due no doubt to the great variety of localities which it occupies and consequent variety of habit of 

 growth and quality. "Swamp" and "sap-pine" refer to comparatively young growth of the 

 loblolly, coarse-grained, recognized by the rather deep longitudinal ridges of the bark, growing on 

 low ground. " Slash-pine" in Virginia and North Carolina is applied to old well-developed trees of 

 both loblolly and shortleaf; in Florida it is exclusively applied to the Cuban pine. When applied 

 to the loblolly it designates a tree of fine grain, one half to two-thirds sap, recognized by the bark 

 being broken into large, broad, smooth plates. This same form is also called "shortleaf pine" in 

 North Carolina. 



"Eosemary-pine" is a name peculiar to a growth of loblolly in the swamp region of the Caro- 

 linas, representing fully grown trees, fine grained, large amount of heart, and excellent quality, 

 now nearly exhausted. 



" Loblolly" or "old-field pine," as applied to Finns treda, is a name given to the second growth 

 springing up on old fields in the North and South Carolinas, while in Alabama and Mississippi, 

 etc., the "old-field" pine is applied to Finns echinata. 



The confusion arises mainly from an indiscriminate use of local names and from ignorance as 

 to the differences in characteristics of their lumber, as well as the difficulty in describing these. 

 Besides the names used m designating different species, there are names used by lumbermen to 

 designate differences of quality in the same species and, in addition, names used in the markets 

 without good distinction, until it becomes almost impossible to unravel the multiplicity of desig- 

 nations and define their meaning. Architects are apt to specify "Southern pine," not knowing 

 that the greatest range of qualities can be supplied under that name; or refuse to accept "Texas" 

 or "North Carolina pine" for "Georgia pine," although the same pine and quality can be furnished 

 from either State. Dealers handle "longleaf pine" from Arkansas, where the timber that is 

 understood by that name never grew. Millmen fill their orders for this pine, either overlooking 

 differences or without knowing them. 



