Excerpt from Southern Pine: Mechanical and Physical Properties The names in the market are often used interchangeably and the materials in the yard mixed. All four species grow into tall but slender trunks, as a rule not exceeding 30 inches in diameter and 100 feet in height; the bulk of the logs cut at present fall below 20 inches. The sapwood forms in old trees of longleaf (with 2 to 4 inches) about 40 per cent of the total log volume; in Cuban, shortleaf, and loblolly 60 per cent andover. A reliable microscopic distinction of the wood of the four species has not yet been found. As a rule longleaf contains much less sapwood than the other three. The narrow-ringed wood of longleaf (averaging 20 to 25 rings to the inch) usually separates it also from the other three, while the especially broad ringed Cuban excels usually also by broader summerwood b'ands. In the log, shortleaf and loblolly may usually be recognized as distinguished from the former by the greater proportion of sapwood and lighter color due to smaller proportion of summerwood. The general appearance of the wood of all four species is, however, quite similar. The annual rings (grain) are sharply defined, the light yellowish springwood and the dark orange-brown sum merwood of each ring being strongly contrasted produce a pronounced pattern, which although pleasing especially in the curly forms, which occur occasionally, may become obtrusive when massed. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.