few other trees can maintain themselves holds out some hope that its
usefulness will increase.
MONTEREY PINE (_Pinus radiata_). This scarce and local species is
restricted to the California coast south of San Francisco, and to
adjacent islands. Under favorable circumstances it grows rapidly and
promises to be of more importance as a lumber source in the future
than it has been in the past. It is, however, somewhat particular as
to soil. It must have ground not too wet or too dry. If these
requirements are observed, it is a good tree for planting. Its
average height is seventy or ninety feet, diameter from eighteen to
thirty inches. Trunks six feet in diameter are occasionally heard
of. The wood is light, soft, moderately strong, tough, annual rings
very wide and largely of springwood; color, light brown, the very
thick sapwood nearly white. The leaves are from four to six inches
long, in clusters of two and three, and fall the third year. Cones
are from three to five inches long. The lumber is too scarce at
present to have much importance, but its quality is good. In
appearance it resembles wide-ringed loblolly pine, and appears to be
suitable for doors and sash, and frames for windows and doors. Its
present uses are confined chiefly to ranch timbers and fuel. If it
ever amounts to much as a lumber resource, it will be as a planted
pine, and not in its natural state.
JACK PINE (_Pinus divaricata_) is a far northern species which
extends its range southward in the United States, from Maine to
Minnesota, and reaches northern Indiana and Illinois. It grows
almost far enough north in the valley of Mackenzie river to catch
the rays of the midnight sun. It must necessarily adapt itself to
circumstances. When these are favorable, it develops a trunk up to
two feet in diameter and seventy feet tall; but in adversity, it
degenerates into a many-branched shrub a few feet high. The average
tree in the United States is thirty or forty feet tall, and a foot
or more in diameter. Its name is intended as a term of contempt,
which it does not deserve. Others call it scrub pine which is little
better. Its other names are more respectful, Prince’s pine in
Ontario, black pine in Wisconsin and Minnesota, cypress in Quebec
and the Hudson Bay country, Sir Joseph Banks’ pine in England, and
juniper in some parts of Canada. “Chek pine” is frequently given in
its list of names, but the name is said to have originated in an
attempt of a German botanist to pronounce “Jack pine” in dictating
to a stenographer. The tree straggles over landscapes which
otherwise would be treeless. It is often a ragged and uncouth
specimen of the vegetable kingdom, but that is when it is at its
worst. At its best, as it may be seen where cared for in some of the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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