In late years sugar pine operators have looked beyond the local markets,
and have been sending their lumber to practically every state in the
Union, except probably the extreme South. It comes in direct competition
with the white pine of New England and the Lake States. The two woods
have many points of resemblance. The white pine would probably have lost
no markets to the California wood if the best grades could still be had
at moderate prices; but most of the white pine region has been stripped
of its best timber, and the resulting scarcity in the high grades has
been, in part, made good by sugar pine. Some manufacturers of doors and
frames claim that sugar pine is more satisfactory than white pine,
because of better behavior under climatic changes. It is said to shrink,
swell, and warp less than the eastern wood.
Sugar pine has displaced white pine to a very small extent only, in
comparison with the field still held by the eastern wood, whose annual
output is about thirty times that of the California species. Their uses
are practically the same except that only the good grades of sugar pine
go east, and the corresponding grades of white pine west, and therefore
there is no competition between the poor grades of the two woods. The
annual demand for sugar and white pine east of the Rocky Mountains is
probably represented as an average in Illinois, where 2,000,000 feet of
the former and 175,000,000 of the latter are used yearly.
While there is a large amount of mature sugar pine ready for lumbermen,
the prospect of future supplies from new growth is not entirely
satisfactory. The western yellow pine is mixed with it throughout most
of its range, and is more than a match for it in taking possession of
vacant ground. It is inferred from this fact that the relative positions
of the two species in future forests will change at the expense of sugar
pine. It endures shade when small, and this enables it to obtain a start
among other species; but as it increases in size it becomes intolerant
of shade, and if it does not receive abundance of light it will not
grow. A forest fire is nearly certain to kill the small sugar pines, but
old trunks are protected by their thick bark. Few species have fewer
natural enemies. Very small trees are occasionally attacked by mistletoe
(_Arceuthobium occidentale_) and succumb or else are stunted in their
growth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account