White Pine Groves 



1 Present-Day Trees and the Giants of Eld 

 —Were They Another Variety?. 



BY WINTHROP PACKARD 



A TINT brown wing brushed my 

 cheek this morning, Sitting mad- 

 ly southeastward on the wings o£ 

 b. the November gale. It was a 

 belated one of many that have scat- 

 tered from the pine- tope this autumn, 

 for It was the single wing of a white 

 pine seed and the cone harvest has 

 been good. Ever since August the squir- 

 relB have known this and the stripped 

 spindles lie by the score under the big 

 pasture pines where these have left them 

 after eating the seeds. It seems much 

 work for small pay tor the squirrel. He 

 must climb venturesomely to the very 

 tip of the slippery limb, gnaw the cone 

 from its hold, then run down the tree 

 and gnaw it to pieces for the tiny seeds 

 within. So light are these seeds, wing 

 and all, that it takes tgmity to thirty 

 thousand of them to weigh a pound and 

 It Is probably fortunate that squirrels do 

 not live by pine seed alone. However, 

 the gnawing means as much to the squir- 

 rel as the eating, for the squirrel's teeth 

 grow constantly and he must continually 

 wear them off or he dies, stabbed by his 

 own incisors which grow In the arc of 

 a circle. Yet the squirrel is on adept at 

 getting at the tiny, toothsome seed and 

 he can strip a cone of its scales far faster 

 than I can, even if I use my knife. He 

 holds the cone stem end upward in his 

 fore paws which are so like hands, severs 

 the base of the scale with his ivory 

 shears and has munched the two little 

 seeds that cling close under the very bot- 

 tom of the scale, almost before you can 

 Bee him do It. 



Certain wise naturalists assure us that 

 the squirrel does not use reason in this 

 handling of the conn, merely acting au- 

 tomatically by blind instinct. Yet he 

 gets his results In the shortest time and 

 with the least effort, "he highest rea- 

 soning could teach him no more and if 

 Instinct is such a splendid short cut to 

 the solution of problems It is a pity that 

 It is not added to our common school 

 course. The squirrel, they say, does It 

 because he and his ancestors have done 

 tt In the same way for untold genera- 

 tions, the automatic Impulse being born 

 In him and bound to appear at the right 

 moment, Just as his teeth grow without 

 his own volition. Yet. there, must have 

 been a time when the first squirrel sat 

 up on a limb with his first pine cone in 

 his paws. Did he reason out the way to 

 get. those seeds or did he know in- 

 stinctively? ,And if so what is Instinct In 

 his case? 



For all the squirrels got so many cones 

 that lii some places in the woods the 

 ground Is fairly carpeted with the brown 

 scales which they severed, prompted by 

 this clever whatever-it -Is that Is such 

 an excellent substitute for wisdom, there 

 are plenty still left on the trees where 

 they danOIo from the branch tips, their 

 scales gaping and the seeds for the most 

 part gone. Left to themselves 'hey have 

 been flying away ever since September, 

 a few at a time on dry. windy days when 

 their single wings would scull in em 

 farthest. One might Impute instinct or 

 whatever It is to the pine tree too, she 

 works so methodically for the preeelYa- 

 tibn of her species. A year ago last 

 spring the mother pine put forth tho be- 

 ginnings of those pine cones lhat now 

 dangle brown and, pitchy, or drop to tho 

 ground, useless except as kindlings for 

 my campflre. Then they were woe gold- 

 en-green buds of pistillate flowers, get 

 high on the uppermost branch tips that 

 the pollen from tho tree's own stamin- 

 ate blooms might miss then In its flight 

 down the wind and thus avoid inbreeding. 

 If they miss fertilization altogether they 

 fall off It is commonly said that tho 

 pines produce a crop of cones once In five 

 or seven years, which is true In part, 

 iiu'st as the statement that every seventh 

 wave at sea Is larger than aiiy of its 

 preceding six is occasionally borne out 

 by the facts. X do not recall years In 

 which the pines have failed to pitl rorth 

 both staminate and pistillate blossoms. 

 Sometimes frost gets these and they fall 

 to reproduce. Sometimes a long rain will 

 prevent the pollen from being dissemin- 

 ated by the wind until Its time is passed 

 and again there is a failure in cones. 

 Only once in a while is the season per- 

 fectly favorable, and then we get that 

 seventh wave in pine cones and tho 

 squirrels rejoice that they can file their 

 teeth and All their cheek pouches at the 

 samo time. Tho years when there are 

 no cones at all sending forth their seeds 

 in September ate r« w indeed. This year 

 the harvest in iny neighborhood has been 

 an excellent one. 



The fertilized bloom soon ceases to be 

 a little Christmas candle on the tree top, 

 closes Its tiny scales over its growing 

 seeds and becomes a little green cone, 

 still sitting upright on the upper branch 

 tip where It grew. By autumn it is In inch 

 snd a half long, the short peduncle which 

 attaches it to the branch has lengthened 

 and thickened, but is hot Hide to hold it 

 wholly erect, so much has It gained in 

 weight. At that season the young cone 

 and its fellows have tipped over horizon- 

 tal or even becomes slightly pendulous. 

 Thus it remains through the winter, its 

 scales pressed close to its core and to 

 one another, defending the tender seeds 

 from all cold and making a seemingly 

 solid chunk of the whole. Toward spring 

 I have known squirrels to attack these 



young cones, but. rarely, and I am not 

 sure whether it Was because of the pres- 

 sure of hunger or whether some young 

 squirrel's instinct to sharpen his teeth 

 on them made him a bit precocl 

 These adolescent cones begin growing: 

 again very early In the spring. Youlh 

 will have its way, and in this caa 

 seems to seize on the first sap that gets 

 as far as the topmost branch tips, c 

 polling it to the nourishing of the yo 

 cones before It can go to tho making of 

 new leaves or even of the crop of stam- 

 inate and pistillate blossoms for the en- 

 suing summer. The cones add a quart __ 

 of an inch tb their length before the 

 blossoms of that year" appear, and their 

 weight sags them still more on the st 

 making them distinctly pendulous. By 

 the last of August Ihese greedy feeders 

 have not only ripened the seeds within 

 the still close-pressed scales, but have 

 multiplied their own length by four, be- 

 ing four to six fnches long and hanging 

 pretty nearly straight down by thet 

 weight. 



Their work is done then. Fifty or 

 more scales has earli cone, a hundred 

 or more seeds, if the fertilization has 

 been perfect, are ripe and ready to go 

 forth and produce other pine trees. -In 

 early September the sap begins to recede 

 from these ripe cones, the scales lo»» 

 thetr green plumpness and begin to dry 

 and curl back toward the base of the 

 cone. This givjes the seed eating birds, 

 the siskins, the pine, grosbeaks and es- 

 pecially the crossbills their best oppor- 

 tunity and they eager! v pluck out sue!? 

 soeds as the narrow openings will give 

 them a chance at. Between these and 

 the squirrels the pine forests of the 

 future are decimated before their seeds 

 have been planted. Nature provides 

 bountifully for the reproduction of 

 all her favorites, yet far more 

 bountifully, in some Instances than 

 In others. A thousand young birches 

 spring from seed, ui one pine in 

 our Massachusetts woods, and no 

 wonder. Each birch tree ripens ft thou- 

 sand seeds to one that comes to maturity 

 In the great cones of the pine. Yet there 

 are compensations for the pihe tree. 

 Barring axes and accidents it may live 

 out Us third century and yearly give 

 more and more comfort and Inspiration 

 to mankind as It increases In dignity and 

 beauty. The birch may give comfort ami 

 inspiration too through Its grace and 

 beauty, but it Is lucky if It lasts out 

 a score of years. 



It is often a surprise to me to see how 

 far a seed will tly with but one wing. The 

 air currents set It spinning the moment 

 If leaves its parent tree making of it at 

 once a tiny gyroscope wllh a single blade 

 of a propeller. Its gyroscopic quality 

 steadies it and the whirl of its propeller 

 lends always to lift Its weight. Hence 

 with a downward current it falls with a 

 less velocity than the wind which whirl'? 

 It, in a level breeze it often holds its 

 own, while In the upward slanting 

 streams of air which flow so often along 

 and away from the, earth's surface It 

 rises easily, Tho stranger the wind the 

 more the faster whirl of that tiny pro- 

 peller tends to keep it in air and with a 

 good September gale thrashing seed But 

 or its cones a pine iree may be planting 

 its kind for miles to leeward, The seed 

 that brushed my cheek this morning 

 made no such offing. Caught in A back 

 eddy it whirled round a sunny glade for 

 a moment, then in a sudden lull spun 

 directly downward to the grass. There 

 again its shape favored it. The first 

 grass spear stopped its spinning and it 

 dived plummet-like out of sight, the 

 thin propeller becoming a tall That kept 

 It head downward while it clipped most 

 eannlly tf> the vary mould. TH*r» 1 r»«»<1 

 it, still in such a position that every 

 movement, every pressure, would carry 

 it down oul of sight, of all seed eating- 

 creatures where it might rest and rlptu 

 till spring when It would be ready to 

 germinate. 



Searching the pine grove and the 

 scrubbv country that outlles it, I found 

 all stages of pine growth, from the 

 gnarled patriarch four feet In diameter 

 at the butt to the germinating seedling. 

 Tho patriarch Is nearly a hundred feet 

 tall, and though 1 know many pines of 

 his height, I have found none of quite 

 his diameter, and I am very sure none of 

 his age, hereabouts. His age I can but 

 guess, yet I know that fifty years ago he 

 was as largo as he Is now. Indeed, he 

 had more wood in him, for his lower 

 limbs that then were green and flourish- 

 ing and six to eight inches in diameter 

 have since decayed and fallen away. Re- 

 cently a pine was felled in Pennsylvania 

 which was 155 fuet tall and 42 Inches 

 through at 4 feet 6 ilnches from the 

 ground. This tree was 3ul years old. r 

 have reason to believe my patriarch is as 

 old as that fine. His height Is not so 

 great, but he has three trunks instead 

 of one. springing from that gnarlad butt 

 at a number of feet above the ground. 

 There are occasional trees like this one 

 Ptlll standing in eastern Massachusetts. 

 They have seen their children and grand- 

 children grow to marketable size and fall 

 before the woodchopper's axe. They 

 have seen one or two generations of 

 hardwood grow between these cuttings, 

 yet they still are allowed to remain. In 

 cutting off wood It used to be the cus- 

 tom of our forefathers to leave here and 

 there a particularly gnarled and difficult 

 pine that the seed might furnish a 

 growth for succeeding generations. 

 Hence these occasional trees. I may be 

 wrong, but I have an idea that my' pa- 

 triarch was growing right where he 

 stands, a young and vigorous sapling, 

 when quaint old Josselyn wrote about 

 those two voyages to New England in 



h- 



the early years of the seventeenth 

 tury. 



Josseiyn gives us to understand that 

 the wood of the white pine is that men- 

 tioned in Hie Scriptures na gopher wood 

 out of which Nonh built the ark. Cii-~ 

 talnly If iha white pine of Josselyn'a day 

 was abundant in tni neighborhood o't 

 Ararat in Noah's time he could tiHve done 

 no better. The wood is light, Soft close 

 and straight grained. You may search 

 the world for one more easily worked or 

 more generally satisfactory, indeed the 

 last half-century has seen the good whit* 

 pine of tho world pretty nearly uaed up, 

 certainly all the best ..r ... for wood* 

 working purposes. Fifty years ago It 

 was the cheapest New England wood, to- 

 day It is the highest-priced, and the old- 

 time clear pine, free from knots and sap- 

 wood la almost impossible to obtain at 

 any price. For all the forestry we caa 

 brine Into play it will take more tha 

 three centuries to grow for us such tree 

 as were common In Maine and New 

 Hampshire a century ago. In whlta 

 Pines were not rare in Maine six feet In 

 diameter and 240 feel high. In ITS8 near 

 the Merrlmac River above Dunstable In 

 New Hampshire a pine was out. 'straight 

 and sound and having a diameter at the 

 butt of 7 foet 8 Inches. Half a thousand 

 years were none too many In which to 

 grow auch a pine as that. Could a man 

 have a few of these on his farm any- 

 where In New England today they would 

 be worth more than any other crop th* 

 centuries could have rals«d ror him. 



The youngest pine seedlings hide Sc 

 securely In the pasture grass and unde< 

 the low bushes that rarely does one plfc™ 

 notlos Hi-! i during the Unit summer'* {§g9 

 growth. By las end of thai time they Hflfl 

 arc! singularly, to my mlud, like fairv SBH 

 palm trees, planted iu the gardens wh 

 the little folk stroll on midsumr 

 nights. Their single stem and the spre, 

 ing whorl of leaves at the summit ol 

 are in about the same proportion as Mi 

 of a palmetto whoso great leaves hi 

 been tossed and shredded by the ti^ 

 winds. That so tiny a twig cou. 

 come. In tho passage nf centuries i 

 dm- foot tree seems difficult to believ 

 It looks no more likely than that tl 

 "ground-pine" which Is taller than tl 

 seedling and fully as sturdy should son 

 day be 20(1 feet tall. Yet the groum 

 pine may grow from its creeping roo 

 stock for a thousand years In the shat 

 if one grove and never be over a roi 

 tall. Thus easily may we be deceived 1 

 small beginnings. No palm over rivalK 

 a full-grown pine In height and girl 

 yet a palm comes out of the ground i 

 great In diameter of trunk and with I 

 abundant a leafage as It will ever have 

 Watching seedling pines grow vear » 

 yehr It Is difficult to see how the greil 

 clean trunked, old-time pines that lov 

 ered over two hundred feet (all and wet 

 from four to six feet in diameter can 

 about. The free growing pasture pii 

 makes a round headed shrub for' the An 

 ten years nr so of Its life, with abur 

 dant long limbs, and Is rlad In profm 

 foliage from top to bottom. Even as di 

 cades pass Its limbs still remain nume 

 oiis cui.l though there Is abundant w.„ 

 in the half century old pasture pine It 

 of little ose for lumber, for the limb 

 young and old, have filled its trunk w11 

 Knots. Where our present day trees ha\ 

 seeded fn thickly and uniformly over cot 

 sldefable apaob 1t is dlfrorent. Then t 

 the trees grow old they grow taller ear 

 struggling to outdo its neighbors «r 

 get more light and air. Lower lii»- 

 tie 



he- 



n 



WL 

 'Si 



in tin 



nd la the 



that and still their trunks, though fal 

 bare, show (he knots where the ltr 

 have been and produce anything 

 clear rumBafe [1 may Be thai bv giving I 



thefts ••.•».! ury i grot s£ am thei , .-v. I 



tury or two we should have something 

 like the old perfect boles (hat our great 

 grand lathers gut out of Hie Wains woods I 

 hUt 1 am nut so sure about it. 1 soe no I 

 promise of it In the conditions under! 

 which pines grow today. Even mv pa- I 

 Iri.iroh. (hough he has. I am very"sjun 

 sufficient years to his credit w-ould cii 

 Ijp Into only a medium quality OF box I 

 boards; there is ho clear lumber In htm. 



To produce the wonder trees nf the I 

 early half of the nineteenth century tha I 

 tiny seeds must have rooted plentifully I 

 in rich soil, the trees must Have grown I 

 so close together as to steadilv and Per- I 

 BlStetttJy crowd out the weaker and'T 

 shorter, and in the passing .,f two, three 

 01 four centuries we had remaining the 

 magnificent specimens, towering two 

 hundred or more feet In the air, their 

 franks without limb or knot for more 

 than half that distance. Such conditions I 

 may account for these enormous trees, 

 yet I am inilined to think Uieu t;,ty do 

 not. I am Inclined to the belief that In 

 these giant pines we had a variety of | 

 Plnus ftrobus whleh was very closely al- 

 lied to our smaller trees, but which was 

 not the same, Just as the Sequoia glgan- 

 tea of the higher Sierra;; is a gigantic 

 variety of redwood, closely allied to but 

 not the same as the Sequoia sempervi- 

 rens, which flourishes nearer the coast 

 and in the lower levels. That would 

 easily explain why our pines, which we 

 call "second growth," show little ten- 

 dency to become such majesllc nr so long 

 lived tress as the giants of a century and 

 more ago. It is doubtful if any of the 

 old time mighty ones remain in any re- 

 motest corner of our forests. It is a pity, 

 too, for It Is probahle that in destroying 

 the last one we destroyed a variety 

 pine that was far nobler tli.in any left. 



