to call black oaks. The difference is only a difference in name for the
same group of trees. The general dark color of the bark suggests the
name to botanists, while the red tint of the wood appeals more to the
lumberman, and he prefers the general name red oaks for the group. They
mature their acorns the second year, while the trees belonging to the
white oak group ripen theirs the first year. There are other
differences, some of which are apparent to the casual observer, and
others are seen only by the trained eye--often aided by the
microscope--of the dendrologist. Several of the black oaks have leaves
with sharp pointed lobes, ending in bristles. This helps to separate
them from the white oaks, but not from one another, for the true red
oak, the scarlet oak, the yellow oak, the pin oak, and others, have the
sharp-pointed lobes on their leaves; while the willow oaks have no lobes
or bristles on theirs, yet are as truly in the black oak group as any of
the others. The identification of tree species, particularly when they
are as much alike as some of the oaks are, is too difficult for the
layman if he undertakes to carry it along the whole line; but it is
comparatively easy if confined to the leading woods only. An
understanding of the geographical range of a certain tree often helps to
separate it from others. The knowledge that a tree does not grow in a
particular part of the country, is proof at once that a tree in that
region resembling it must be something else. If that principal is borne
in mind it will greatly lessen mistakes in identifying trees. In
accounts of the black oaks in the following pages, a careful delimiting
of ranges will be attempted in the case of each.
The range of red oak extends from Nova Scotia and southern New Brunswick
through Quebec and along the northern shore of Lake Huron, west to
Nebraska. It covers the Ohio valley and reaches as far south as middle
Tennessee. It runs south through the Atlantic states to Virginia, while
among the Appalachian mountains the range is prolonged southward into
northern Georgia. That is the tree’s extreme southern limit. It reaches
its largest size in the region north of the Ohio river, and among the
mountain valleys of West Virginia, and southward to Tennessee and North
Carolina. It is a northern species. Toward its southern limit it meets
the northern part of the Texan red oak’s range (_Quercus texana_). There
is some overlapping, and in many localities the two species grow side by
side.
The red oak is known by that name in all parts of its range, but in some
regions it is called black oak, and in others Spanish oak. The latter
name properly belongs to another oak (_Quercus digitata_) which touches
it along the southern border of its range.
The average size of red oak in the best part of its range is a little
under that of white oak, but some specimens are 150 feet high and six
feet in diameter. Heights of seventy and eighty feet are usual, and
diameters of three and four are frequent. The forest grown tree disposes
of its lower limbs early in life, and develops a long, smooth trunk,
with a narrow crown. The bark on young stems and on the upper parts of
limbs of old trees is smooth and light gray. All leaves do not have the
same number of lobes, and they are sharp pointed, and fall early in
autumn.
The acorns are bitter, and are regarded as poor mast. Hogs will leave
them alone if they can find white oak acorns, and squirrels will do
likewise. The best red oak timber grows from acorns, though stumps will
send up sprouts. The sprout growth may become trees of fairly large
size, but they are apt to decay at the butt. The acorn-grown tree is as
free from defects as the average forest tree. Cracks sometimes develop
in the trunk, extending up and down many feet. Unless the logs are
carefully sawed, a considerable loss occurs where these cracks cross the
boards. Trunks are occasionally bored by worms, as all other oaks may
be.
Red oak grows rapidly. It will produce small sawlogs in the lifetime of
a man. It is a favorite tree for crossties, and railroads have made
large plantings for that purpose. The ties do not last well in their
natural state, but they are easy to treat with preservatives by which
several years are added to their period of service. It has been a
favorite tree with European planters for the past two hundred years; but
the most of the plantings beyond the sea have been for ornament in parks
and private grounds.
The principal interest in red oak in this country is due to its value
for lumber. That interest is of comparatively recent date. Some red oak
has always been used for rails, clapboards, slack cooperage, and rough
lumber; but while white oak was cheap and plentiful, sawmill men usually
let red oak alone. It had a poor reputation, which is now known to have
been undeserved.
Red oak is lighter than white oak, and it is generally regarded as
possessing less strength and stiffness. The wide rings of annual growth,
and the distinct layers of springwood and summerwood, give the basis for
good figure. To this may be added broad and regular medullary rays which
are nicely brought out by quarter-sawing. The tone of the wood is red,
to which fact the name red oak is due. It has large, open pores. A
magnifying glass is not required to see them in the end of a stick. It
is said that smoke may be blown through a piece of red oak a foot in
length. These open pores disqualify the wood for use in tight cooperage.
Liquids will leak through the pores. Statistics of sawmill output in
this country do not separate the white and black oaks, and the quantity
of lumber sawed from any one species is not known. Manufacturers are
disposed to separate them. Some furniture makers use red oak exclusively
for certain purposes, and the same rule is followed by makers of other
commodities.
[Illustration]
TEXAN RED OAK
[Illustration: TEXAN RED OAK]
TEXAN RED OAK
(_Quercus Texana_)
The line between red oak (_Quercus rubra_) and Texan red oak is closely
drawn by botanists, but lumbermen do not recognize much difference
except toward the extreme ranges of each. Some call one simply red oak
and the other southern red oak, but that leaves doubtful the timber on a
large area occupied by both species. Their ranges overlap two or three
hundred miles in the Ohio valley and on the southern tributaries of the
Ohio river in Kentucky and Tennessee. A large amount of red oak from
that region goes to market, and no one knows, and few care, whether it
is of the northern or southern species. It is usually a mixture of both.
But outside of the common zone where both trees grow, the woods of the
two are kept fairly well separate. Thirty years ago Texan red oak
received slight recognition from botanists. When Charles S. Sargent
compiled in 1880 a volume of over 600 pages, “Forest Trees of North
America,” for the United States government, and which was published as
volume 9 of the Tenth Census, he did not so much as accord this tree the
dignity of a species, but called it a variety of the common red oak. Its
range and its great importance were little understood at that time.
Sargent thus described its range: “Western Texas, valley of the Colorado
river with the species and replacing it south and west, extending to the
valley of the Neuces river and the Limpia mountains.”
Compare that restricted range with that given by the same author
twenty-five years later in his “Manual of the Trees of North America.”
He gives it thus: “Northeastern Iowa and central Illinois, through
southern Illinois and Indiana and western Kentucky and Tennessee, to the
valley of the Apalachicola river, Florida, northern Georgia, central
South Carolina, and the coast plains of North Carolina, and through
southern Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana to the mountains of western
Texas; most abundant and of its largest size on the low bottom lands of
the Mississippi basin, often forming a considerable part of lowland
forests; less abundant in the eastern Gulf states; in western Texas on
low limestone hills and on bottom lands in the neighborhood of streams.”
This quotation is given in full because it shows how scientific men
change their opinions to conform to new evidence. The range of that
particular species was as wide in 1880 as in 1905, but botanists had not
yet worked it out. Thus knowledge increases constantly, and year by year
the resources of American forests are better understood. In this
instance, what in 1880 was supposed to be a rather insignificant
variety, occupying a restricted area in Texas, was found by 1905 to be a
separate species, covering sixteen states in whole or in part. Similar
progress concerning the forests has been made all over the country, not
only by botanists but by lumbermen. Trees which were formerly considered
so nearly alike that no distinctions were made, are now recognized to be
quite different.
The Texan red oak is frequently called spotted oak. The appearance of
the bark suggests the name. Large, irregular, whitish patches cover the
trunks. That peculiarity is not noticeable everywhere and on all trees,
but is common west of the Mississippi river. The tree is sometimes known
as Spanish oak in the southwestern part of its range, but the name is
ill-advised, for the true Spanish oak (_Quercus digitata_) occurs in the
same region. The most usual name for this species, in nearly all parts
of its range, is simply red oak.
The Texan red oak varies greatly in size of trees, as is natural in so
wide a geographical range. Trees have been reported 200 feet high and
eight feet in diameter; but sizes like that are extraordinary and
attempts to locate anything approaching them at this day have not been
successful. The average in the lower Mississippi valley is eighty or
ninety feet in height, and two or three in diameter. In Texas this size
is seldom reached, the average not much exceeding half of it.
The leaves of Texan red oak are about half the size of those of the
northern species. That alone will not serve to separate them, because of
such great variation. It applies only to averages. The southern trees’
leaves are from three to six inches long, two to five wide; the northern
species bears leaves from five to nine inches long and four to six wide.
The acorns of the two species do not show so much difference in size.
The states which use Texan red oak in largest amounts are Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, though some of this wood
finds its way to northern markets where it passes as red oak without any
questions. That condition renders very difficult the task of separating
the woods. It is not so difficult further south where the true red oak
is seldom seen. Shipments go north, not south. The two red oaks mingle
in the lumber yards north of the Ohio river, but seldom south of the
Tennessee river.
Investigations made by the Forest Service of the utilization of woods in
various states show that factories report the annual use of Texan red
oak as follows: Louisiana 1,777,000 feet, Mississippi 2,400,000, Texas
2,814,000, Alabama 5,500,000, and Arkansas 39,301,000. This does not
include lumber or other forest products used in the rough, or lumber
shipped out of the respective states.
Texan red oak is heavier than its northern relative, hard, light,
reddish-brown, much of it of rapid growth, with wide, clearly defined
annual rings. The medullary rays are prominent, and show well in
quarter-sawing. The best of the wood is as strong as red oak, and
compares favorably with it in physical properties.
One of the most exacting uses of wood is for fixtures, such as counters
in stores, bars in saloons, partitions in banks and counting rooms, and
standing desks in offices. Extra wide and long pieces are required, and
they must show satisfactory figure, and be finished to harmonize with
the interior of the room where they are placed. Texan red oak is
selected by builders in many southern cities for that class of fixtures,
and it meets the requirements. It is used also for interior finish and
furniture, and stair work.
Like most members of the black oak group, the wood is inclined to rot
quickly in damp situations, but it measures well up to the average of
the group to which it belongs. It is often employed in the South as
bridge material, particularly as flooring for wagon bridges, where the
wood’s hardness is its chief recommendation. Much is converted into
flooring for halls, houses, and factories.
The available supply of this valuable wood in the forests of the South
is not known, but there is little doubt that it exists in larger
quantities than any other species of oak within its range. Perhaps in
total quantity it exceeds red oak (_Quercus rubra_) in the whole United
States. It is quite generally distributed over an area exceeding 300,000
square miles, and toward the western part, it is the prevailing oak. The
future of this oak is assured. It is now cut at a rapid rate, and
doubtless the annual growth falls short of the yearly demand; but it
occurs in a range so extensive that scarcity will not come for a long
period. If the time ever comes in the South when planted timber must be
depended upon to meet the needs of the people, this oak will fill an
important place in woodlots. It does not grow as rapidly as willow oak,
but its range is more extensive, and it possesses certain desirable
properties not found in willow oak. The acorns are rather poor mast, and
this is in the tree’s favor, for the seed will be left to grow instead
of being devoured by hogs and small animals of the woods. In that
respect it has an advantage over cow oak and the other white oaks which
occupy parts of its range. Their acorns are sought as food by domestic
and wild animals. Texan red oak prunes itself well when it grows in
close stands, but is low and limby when it occupies open ground. The
trunks vary in form, but are inclined to enlarge at the base,
particularly when they grow in low, damp situations, as many of the best
do in the South.
GEORGIA OAK (_Quercus georgiana_) is one of the minor oaks of the
South and has not been found outside of Georgia. It grows in the
central part of the state on Stone mountain and on a few other
granite hills. Whether the species originated there and was never
able to work its way down to the more congenial valleys below, or
whether it once grew lower down and was crowded to its last retreat
by other species, is not known. But an interest attaches to it from
the very fact that its range is so restricted and that its habitat
is on the sterile summits. Lumbermen care nothing about this tree.
Few of them ever saw it or heard of it. The trunk is small, the
acorns only from one-third to half an inch long, and the leaves are
of a form midway between those of pin oak and turkey oak. The
characters of the wood have not been reported, but since there is
not enough of it to have any commercial value, the matter is not
very important.
[Illustration]
YELLOW OAK
[Illustration: YELLOW OAK]
YELLOW OAK
(_Quercus Velutina_)
This tree is known as black oak in Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi,
Louisiana, Texas, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Michigan,
Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ontario; quercitron oak in Delaware, South
Carolina, Louisiana, Kansas and Minnesota; yellow oak in Rhode Island,
New York, Illinois, Texas, Kansas and Minnesota; tanbark oak in
Illinois; yellow-bark oak in Minnesota and Rhode Island; spotted oak in
Missouri; dyer’s oak in Texas; and yellow butt oak in Mississippi.
Those who call this tree black oak have in mind the bark which is
usually quite dark, though all members of this species do not present
the same appearance in that respect. Some trunks are gray, and in color
do not greatly differ from white oaks, but would hardly be mistaken for
them. Tanbark oak, a name occasionally given to this tree, is not
applied in the region where chestnut oak grows, because it is much
inferior to chestnut oak as tanning material. It is not only poorer in
tannin, but the coloring matter associated with the inner bark is
troublesome to the tanner who is compelled to remove it or neutralize it
unless he wants his leather given a yellow tone. Dyer’s oak is a name
which refers to the value of the bark for coloring purposes. The
botanical name _velutina_ refers to the velvety texture of the inner
bark.
This oak is one of the easiest to identify. The inner layer of the bark
is yellow. The point of a knife easily reaches it; cutting through a
deep crack in the bark, and no mistake is possible, for no other oak has
the yellow layer of bark. The tree may be identified by leaves, flowers,
and fruit, but the process is not always easy, for other members of the
black oak group bear more or less resemblance to this one.
The yellow oak’s range extends over nearly or quite a million square
miles. It exceeds the limits of most oaks in its geographical extension.
It endures severe winters and hot summers. The northern limit of its
range lies in Maine; it grows westward across southern Canada to
Minnesota; it extends two hundred miles west of the Mississippi into
eastern Nebraska and Kansas, and follows that meridian south into Texas.
It reaches the Gulf of Mexico east of the Mississippi, and is found in
many localities in all the southern states, and along the foothills of
the Appalachian ranges. It attains its largest size in the lower Ohio
valley. The average height is seventy or eighty feet, and its diameter
two or three feet. In some localities the trees are scrubby and produce
little merchantable timber.
The growth rings are only moderately wide in the typical yellow oak; the
ring is divided nearly evenly between springwood and summerwood. The
former contains two or three rows of large, open pores. The medullary
rays are fewer and smaller than those commonly found in oaks. A general
average of the properties of the wood is somewhat difficult to give,
because of remarkable variation in trees which grow under different
conditions. In some instances, where the soil is fertile and climate
favorable, the yellow oak produces a large, clear trunk, with sound
wood, of good color, and equal to that of red oak; but the reverse is
often the case--trunks are small and rough, wood hard and brittle, color
not satisfactory, and strength not up to standard. Sometimes first class
yellow oak passes without question as good red oak in the finish and
furniture business, but that is not its usual course. Well developed
wood is heavy, hard, strong, bright brown, tinged with red, with thin,
lighter colored sapwood. Its weight is 43.9 pounds per cubic foot.
The uses of yellow oak follow red oak pretty closely, but are not so
extensive. Figures cannot be given to show the total annual cut of
yellow oak, but the output is likely much below red oak, though it is
found over a wider area, and some of it gets into the lumber yards in
all regions where it grows. It is made into furniture from Maine to
Louisiana. In cheaper grades of furniture, it may be the outside
material, but its place is usually as frame stock, to give strength, but
is not visible in the finished article. An exception to this is found in
chairs where yellow oak is one of several species which go regularly to
the sawmills which cut chair stock. Massachusetts snow plow makers use
it, but of course it fills no such place in the South. In Mississippi,
Louisiana, and Texas it is bought by manufacturers of agricultural
machinery. It is worked into cotton gins in Mississippi. Some extra fine
stands of this oak occur in the Delta region of Mississippi. Frames of
freight cars are made of it in Louisiana and Texas, and warehouse and
depot floors are occasionally laid of this lumber. It is floor material
in Michigan also, but that is of a better class than is required for
warehouses. It is not infrequently sold as red oak for flooring and
interior finish. Throughout the whole extent of yellow oak’s range it
finds its way to wagon shops. It is less tough than white oak, but in
many places, such as bolsters, sandboards, and hounds, it serves as
well. Warehouse trucks and push cars are of this wood in many instances.
Slack coopers convert this wood into their wares in many regions. The
pores are too open to permit its use as tight cooperage, where liquids
are to be contained, but for barrels and kegs of many kinds, as well as
for boxes, baskets, and crates, it meets all requirements. It is good
fuel. Many burners of brick and pottery show it preference, and charcoal
burners make a clean sweep of it when it occurs in the course of their
operations; though when it is desirable to save the by-products of
charcoal kilns or retorts, yellow oak is considered less valuable than
birch, beech, and maple.
The bark of this tree is employed less now than formerly for dyeing
purposes. Aniline dyes have taken its place. In pioneer times the bark
was one of the best coloring materials the people had, and every family
looked after its own supply as carefully as it provided sassafras bark
for tea, slippery elm bark for poultices, and witch hazel for gargles.
The oak bark was peeled, dried, and pounded to a powder. The mass was
sifted, and the yellow particles, being finer than the black bark,
passed through the screen, and were set apart for the dye kettle, while
the screenings were rejected. Various arts and sciences were called into
requisition to add to or take from the natural color which the bark gave
the cloth. Salts of iron were commonly employed to modify the deepness
of the yellow.
The acorns of this oak are bitter, and escape the mast hunters. Old
stumps have little need to send up sprouts, for acorns keep the species
alive. Yellow oaks are in no immediate danger of extermination. Nature
plants generously, and the tree can get along on poor soil where the
farm hunter is not apt to molest it. It has a fairly thick bark, and is
able to take care of itself in a moderate fire, except when the
seedlings are quite small. The young tree’s tap root is much developed,
and goes deep for moisture, and the growing sapling flourishes on ground
where some other species would suffer for water.
WHITELEAF OAK (_Quercus hypoleuca_). The beauty of this small
evergreen oak of the mountains of western Texas, New Mexico, and
Arizona, is in its foliage rather than its wood. Large trunks--that
is, those twenty inches or more in diameter--are apt to be hollow,
but the sound wood is employed in repairing wagons in local shops,
and in rough ranch timbers. Its importance will never extend beyond
the region where it grows, but in that region it will continue to be
used where nothing better can be obtained. The largest trees are
sixty feet high, and two in diameter, but few reach those
dimensions. It is an arid land oak. It grows at from 4,000 to 6,000
feet elevations on mountains and plateaus. The leaves remain
thirteen months on the twigs. They are of the willow form, ranging
from two to four inches in length and one-half to one in width. The
acorns are small and bitter. The strength of this oak is remarkable,
if it may be judged by the figures given by Sargent. Two samples of
wood procured by himself and Dr. Engelmann on a dry, gravelly ground
among the Santa Rita mountains in Arizona, showed breaking strength
sixty-one per cent greater than the average given by the same author
for white oak. The stiffness of the specimens was a little above
white oak, and the weight three pounds more per cubic foot. It
should be borne in mind, however, that results derived from a test
of only two samples are not a safe basis for concluding that the
wood generally will average of so great strength. The annual rings
of growth are not clearly marked. The wood is porous, but the pores
are not generally arranged in bands, although they occasionally
follow that arrangement. The medullary rays are broad and abundant,
but are rather short, measured along the radial lines. They are of
pink color, a characteristic not unusual with oaks in semi-arid
regions. The foliage is doubtless the most valuable characteristic
of whiteleaf oak. The leaves are silver white below, and dark green
above. When they are agitated by wind the flashing of the different
tones and tints in the sunshine presents an attractive picture. It
belongs to the willow oak branch of the red oak group, and bears
two-year acorns.
[Illustration]
SCARLET OAK
[Illustration: SCARLET OAK]
SCARLET OAK
(_Quercus Coccinea_)