ASH.--This name is applied to four species of forest trees. Most of
the species are indigenous in North America, and some are found in
Europe and Asia. The majority of these trees are large, affecting
shady and moist places, banks of rivers, or marshes. The wood is
tough and elastic, and is used by wheel-wrights, carriage-makers, and
ship-builders. The Hungarian species is a favorite with cabinet-makers.
CHERRY.--The common cherry tree (_Prunus cerasus_) is of Asiatic
origin, and is said by Pliny to have been introduced into Italy by
Lucullus about seventy years before Christ, and about 120 years after
was introduced into Britain. It is extensively cultivated in the timber
regions of Europe and America. There are now more than 300 varieties.
The wood is of a reddish hue, hard and tough, and much used by the
cabinet-maker; the gum is edible, and the fruit is eaten either fresh
or dried, and is used for preserves. The cherry is best propagated by
grafting with seedlings of the wild cherry.
MAHOGANY.--This wood is a native of South America, Honduras, and the
West Indies Islands, and among the most valuable of tropical timber
trees. It is a large, spreading tree, with pinnate, shining leaves.
The trunk often exceeds fifty feet in height, and four to five feet
in diameter. The flowers, three or four inches long, are small and
greenish-yellow, and are succeeded by fruit of an oval form and the
size of a turkey's egg. The wood is hard, heavy and close-grained, of
a dark, rich brownish-red color, and susceptible of a high polish. The
collection of mahogany for commerce is a most laborious business, often
involving the construction of a road through a dense forest, upon which
the wood may be transported to the nearest water-course. The natives
make this wood serve many useful purposes, as canoes and handles for
tools. The largest log ever cut in Honduras was seventeen feet long,
fifty-seven inches broad, and sixty-four inches deep, measuring 5,421
feet of inch boards, and weighing upward of fifteen tons.
Mahogany is said to have been employed about the year 1595 in repairing
some of Sir Walter Raleigh's ships, but it was not used for cabinet
work until 1720, when a few planks from the West Indies were given to
Dr. Gibbons of London. A man named Wollaston, employed to make some
articles from this wood, discovered its rare qualities, and it was soon
in high repute.
WHITE WALNUT.--Walnut (the nut of Jupiter) is the common name of
large nut-bearing forest trees of the genus _Juglans_, which, with
the hickories, make up the walnut family, in which the trees have a
colorless juice, a strong scented bark, and compound leaves. Three
species of the walnut are found in the United States. The wood is hard,
fine-grained, and durable.
BIRD'S-EYE MAPLE.--This is one of about fifty species, which are
distributed over North America, Europe, Northern Asia, Java,
and the Himalayas. While the wood of some of these is perfectly
straight-grained, that in other specimens presents marked and often
elegant varieties. The bird's-eye maple has its fibers so singularly
contorted as to produce numerous little knots which look like the eye
of a bird. It is a variety much valued for cabinet work of various
kinds and interior finishing, while the straight-grained wood is
used for making lasts, buckets, tubs, and other articles. It is also
employed in ship-building.
OAK.--The English name of trees of the genus _Quercus_. Oaks are found
over nearly the whole northern hemisphere, except the extreme north; in
the tropics along the Andes, and in the Moluccas. All oaks are readily
recognized by their peculiar fruit, consisting of an acorn with a cup
which never completely encloses the nut. Some of the oaks furnish
valuable timber. Tannic and gallic acids are obtained from them and
the bark of many is useful for tanning. The nuts not only supply human
food but that of various animals. The species vary so much that the
genus is puzzling to botanists. The character of the wood is affected
by the soil and locality in which the trees grow, lumbermen making
distinctions not recognized by botanists. The white oak is long-lived,
and specimens supposed to have been in existence before the settlement
of the country are still standing. It is of slow growth, but does
not cease to grow as it gets larger. The oak is much esteemed as an
ornamental tree. The names of some of the varieties are: Post oak, burr
oak, swamp oak, live oak, black oak, willow oak, scrub oak, scarlet
oak, and California evergreen oak.