BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 377 
No. 33.— Facts gathered by observation and experience relat- 
ing to the White Pine (Pinus Strobus L.) By Epmunp 
Hersey, Instructor in Agriculture at the Bussey Institu- 
tion, and Superintendent of the Bussey Farm. 
Part II. VALUE OF THE PINE AS A TIMBER TREE. 
When white pine trees are cut down, sawed into lumber, and 
seasoned at a proper time, 7.e., during that portion of the year 
when the seasoned wood will be left in the best possible condition, 
the lumber can be used to advantage for a great variety of pur- 
poses; but if the trees are cut in March, sawed into lumber, and 
dried in the usual manner, all of that portion of the tree which is 
known as the ‘‘sap” will soon be eaten by worms to such an 
_ extent as to render the wood of little value for any purpose; and 
if the logs are left lying in the air over summer without being 
sawed, even the heart of many of them will be penetrated by 
some of the larger worms. 
Early in life my attention was called to the keeping qualities of 
pine timber, by observing the hewed pine beams and rafters which 
were always exposed to view in the old style barns. While in 
some barns I could not climb over a beam without being covered 
with the fine dust, caused by the action of the worms, in others 
the beams were perfectly sound. The reason for this difference 
was not discovered until later in life at a time when I was engaged 
in a business that required large quantities of pine timber, cut at 
different seasons of the year. 
The fact that the season of the year in which the timber was cut 
made a great difference in its quality, soon became so evident that 
I gave particular attention to the matter and investigated it thor- 
oughly in order to determine when to cut a tree so that the best 
results might be secured. After more than forty years of obser- 
vation and trial, August was found to be the best month, and 
September, October, November, December, July, and January 
were found to be the next best, in the order named; the most un- 
desirable seasons are March, April, and May in the order named, 
though it needs to be said of Massachusetts that the variations 
in seasons will sometimes make April a better month than January, 
or July better than December. 
