Pine

Very variable, very light and soft in "soft" pine, such as white pine; of medium weight to heavy and quite hard in "hard" pine, of which longleaf or Georgia pine is the extreme form. Usually it is stiff, quite strong, of even texture, and more or less resinous. The sap wood is yellowish white; the heartwood, orange brown. Pine shrinks moderately, seasons rapidly and without much injury; it works easily; is never too hard to nail (unlike oak or hickory); it is mostly quite durable, and if well seasoned is not subject to the attacks of boring insects. The heavier the wood the darker, stronger, and harder it is, and the more it shrinks and checks. Pine is used more extensively than any other kind of wood. It is the principal wood in common carpentry, as well as in all heavy construction, bridges, trestles, etc. It is also used in almost every other wood industry, for spars, masts, planks, and timbers in shipbuilding, in car and wagon construction, in cooperage, for crates and boxes, in furniture work, for toys and patterns, railway ties, water pipes, excelsior, etc. Pines are usually large trees with few branches, the straight, cylindrical, useful stem forming by far the greatest part of the tree; they occur gregariously, forming vast forests, a fact which greatly facilitates their exploitation. Of the many special terms applied to pine as lumber, denoting sometimes differences in quality, the following deserve attention: - "White pine," "pumpkin pine,""soft pine," in the Eastern markets refer to the wood of the white pine (Pinus strobus), and on the Pacific Coast to that of the sugar pine (P. lambertiana). "Yellow pine" is applied in the trade to all the Southern lumber pines; in the Northeast it is also applied to the pitch pine (P. rigida); in the West it refers mostly to bull pine (P. ponderosa). "Yellow longleaf pine,""Georgia pine," chiefly used in advertisement, refers to longleaf pine (P. palustris). "Hard pine" is a common term in carpentry, and applies to everything except white pine. "Pitch pine" includes all Southern pines and also the true pitch pine (P. rigida), but is mostly applied, especially in foreign markets, to the wood of the longleaf pine (P. palustris).

For the great variety of confusing local names applied to the Southern pines in their homes, part of which have been adopted in the markets of the Atlantic seaboard, see report of Chief Division of Forestry for 1891, page 212, etc., and also the list below: -

A. Soft Pines

18. White Pine (Pinus Strobus)

Large to very large sized tree; for the last fifty years the most important timber tree of the Union, furnishing the best quality of soft pine. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New England, along the Alleghanies to Georgia.

19. Sugar Pine (Pinus Lambertiana)

A very large tree, together with Abies concolor forming extensive forests; important lumber tree. Oregon and California.

20. White Pine (Pinus Monticola)

A large tree, at home in Montana, Idaho, and the Pacific States; most common and locally used in northern Idaho.

21. White Pine (Pinus Flexilis)

A small tree, forming mountain forests of considerable extent and locally used; eastern Rocky Mountain slopes; Montana to New Mexico.

B. Hard Pines

22. Longleaf Pine (Pinus Palustris) (Georgia Pine, Yellow Pine, Long Straw Pine, Etc.)

Large tree; forms extensive forests and furnishes the hardest and strongest pine lumber in the market. Coast region from North Carolina to Texas.

23. Bull Pine (Pinus Ponderosa) (Yellow Pine)

Medium to very large sized tree, forming extensive forests in Pacific and Rocky Mountain regions; furnishes most of the hard pine of the West; sap-wood wide; wood very variable.

24. Loblolly Pine (Pinus Toeda) (Slash Pine, Old Field Pine, Rosemary Pine, Sap Pine, Short Straw Pine, Etc.)

Large-sized tree, forms extensive forests; wider ringed, coarser, lighter, softer, with more sapwood, than the longleaf pine, but the two often confounded. This is the common lumber pine from Virginia to South Carolina, and is found extensively in Arkansas and Texas. Southern States; Virginia to Texas and Arkansas.

25. Norway Pine (Pinus Resinosa)

Large-sized tree, never forming forests, usually scattered or in small groves, together with white pine; largely sapwood and hence not durable. Minnesota to Michigan; also in New England to Pennsylvania.

26. Shortleaf Pine (Pinus Echinata) (Slash Pine, Carolina Pine, Yellow Pine, Old Field Pine, Etc.)

Resembles loblolly pine; often approaches in its wood the Norway pine. The common lumber pine of Missouri and Arkansas. North Carolina to Texas and Missouri.

27. Cuban Pine (Pinus Cubensis) (Slash Pine, Swamp Pine, Bastard Pine, Meadow Pine)

Resembles long-leaf pine, but commonly has wider sapwood and coarser grain; does not enter the markets to any great extent. Along the coast from South Carolina to Louisiana.

28. Bull Pine (Pinus Jeffreyi) (Black Pine)

Large-sized tree, wood resembling bull pine (P. ponderosa); used locally in California, replacing P. ponderosa at high altitudes.

The following are small to medium sized pines, not commonly offered as lumber in the market; used locally for timber, ties, etc.: -

29. Black Pine (Pinus Murrayana) (Lodge-Pole Pine, Tamarack)

Rocky Mountains and Pacific regions.

30. Pitch Pine (Pinus Rigida)

Along the coast from New York to Georgia and along the mountains to Kentucky.

31. Jersey Pine (Pinus Inops) (Scrub Pine)

As before.

32. Gray Pine (Pinus Banksiana) (Scrub Pine)

Maine, Vermont, and Michigan to Minnesota.

Redwood

(See Cedar).