Page:Timber and Timber Trees, Native and Foreign.djvu/306

 CHAPTER XXXV.

PINES—(Continued).

THE AMERICAN PITCH PINE TREE (Pinus rigida).

tree is found spread over a wide tract of country lying between the Penobscot and the Mississippi rivers in North America. It is of erect and almost perfectly straight growth, and may be readily distinguished from others by its leaves being in threes, by the rigidity and sharp edges of the scales of the cones, by the extreme roughness of its bark, and by the density of the brushes of its stiff and crowded leaves. It requires a good supply of moisture to bring it to the greatest perfection, and flourishes well on a sandy soil if mixed with loam.

The Southern States produce the best spars for masts, square timber, and plank, and these are shipped to this country chiefly from the ports of Savannah, Darien, and Pensacola, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. The mast-pieces are generally of moderate dimensions, and take the place of Riga or Dantzic spars of 18 to 16 hands, whenever there is any difficulty in procuring either of those descriptions, and except that the Pitch Pine has a greater specific gravity, there is little to prevent it from being used more extensively than hitherto, in lieu of the Baltic Firs.

The timber is usually imported in well-hewn logs of 1 to 18 inches square by from 20 to 45 feet in length,