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[Illustration: Live Oak (_Quercus virginiana_), Louisiana.]
THE PRINCIPAL SPECIES OF WOOD: THEIR CHARACTERISTIC PROPERTIES.
by
CHARLES HENRY SNOW, C.E., Sc.D.,
Dean of the School of Applied Science, New York University;
Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, etc.
FIRST EDITION.
First Thousand.
New York:
John Wiley & Sons.
London: Chapman & Hall, Limited.
1903.
Copyright, 1903,
By
Charles Henry Snow.
Robert Drummond, Printer, New York.
PREFACE.
The following is a brief untechnical presentation of general features
characterizing economically important species of wood. It is the
result of notes originally brought together from many already
existing sources and later augmented, and verified so far as possible
for the present use, by personal observation. The work of preparation
has not been as simple as the result would indicate, and although
great care has been taken to check each fact, errors do no doubt
exist, although it is not believed that there are important ones.
Engineers while writing upon woods have, save exceptionally,
emphasized strength beyond most other properties. Other works
for expert foresters or botanists are of necessity too special,
voluminous, fragmental, or technical for the casual student. Some
popular books on trees, as distinct from woods, are available. The
present form is distinct from these and is intended for those who are
not foresters or botanists, but who use woods or desire knowledge of
their distinguishing properties. Allusions to trees, historical and
other references, aside from those directly regarding woods, are made
for completeness and in order to mark, distinguish, or separate the
species.
Acknowledgments are particularly due to the publications of the U. S.
Division of Forestry, to Prof. Sargent's studies as set forth in Vol.
IX of the Tenth U. S. Census, to Dr. B. E. Fernow, to Mr. Raphael G.
Zon for suggestions and for technical revision, to the _Northwestern
Lumberman_ and other trade journals, to many dealers, who have been
uniform in their courtesy, and incidentally to Mr. Morris K. Jesup,
whose magnificent collection of woods at the New York Museum of
Natural History has been available to the writer as to others. These,
with other sources of information acknowledged by the writer, and
suggested to others, are suitably arranged in the following list. Of
the 155 illustrations, 138 are original, the drawings having been
prepared under the supervision of the writer from actual specimens by
Mr. Irving T. Worthly of Cornell University and several students of
New York University, and the photographs by Mr. John Hopfengartner,
Jr., of Westchester, New York City. Other illustrations are, so far
as possible, acknowledged in place.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PART I.
_INTRODUCTION._
PAGE
Section 1. Wood. Definitions. "Structure." Weights.
Coefficients. Uses. Botanical and Common Nomenclatures.
General Information, etc. 1
PART II.
_EXOGENOUS SERIES._
Section 2. Definitions. Cellular Structure. Annual Rings.
Medullary or Pith Rays. Pith Cavities. Sapwood and Heartwood.
Cross, Radial and Tangential Distinctions. "Quarter Sawn"
Surfaces, Common and Botanical Subdivisions, etc. 7
BROADLEAF OR HARDWOODS.