Bibliography--Glossary--Index of Latin Names--Index of Common
Names 251-257
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG. PAGE
1. Board of pine 13
2. Wood of spruce 14
3. Group of fibres from pine wood 15
4. Block of oak 31
5. Board of oak 32
6. Cross-section of oak highly magnified 32
7. Highly magnified fibres of wood 33
8. Isolated fibres and cells of wood 34
9. Cross-section of basswood 35
10. A large red gum 52
11. A tupelo gum slough 53
12. Second growth red gum 57
13. A cypress slough in dry season 58
14. A large cottonwood 78
15. Spiral grain in wood 87
16. Alternating spiral grain in cypress 87
17. Wavy grain in beech 88
18. Section of wood showing position of the grain at base of limb 89
19. Cross-section of a group of wood fibres 91
20. Isolated fibres of wood 91
21. Orientation of wood samples 93
22. Work of ambrosia beetles in tulip or yellow poplar 100
23. Work of ambrosia beetles in oak 100
24. Work of round-headed and flat-headed borers in pine 102
25. Work of timber worms in oak 103
26. Work of powder post borers in hickory poles 104
27. Work of powder post borers in hickory poles 104
28. Work of powder post borers in hickory handles 105
29. Work of round-headed borers in white pine staves 111
30. U. S. Forest Service humidity controlled dry kiln 161
31. Section through moist-air dry kiln 189
32. Live steam single pipe heating apparatus 190
33. Live steam double pipe heating apparatus 191
34. Vertical Pipe heating apparatus 193
35. Progressive dry kilns 197
36. Apartment dry kilns 199
37. Pocket dry kilns 201
38. Tower dry kiln 203
39. Box dry kiln 205
40. Edge-wise method of piling 206
41. Edge-wise method of piling 207
42. Automatic lumber stacker 208
43. Automatic lumber stacker 208
44. Battery of three automatic lumber stackers 209
45. Battery of three automatic lumber stackers 209
46. Lumber loaded edge-wise on kiln truck 210
47. The lumber unstacker 211
48. The lumber unstacker car 211
49. Method of piling veneer on edge 212
50. Kiln truck loaded cross-wise of kiln 213
51. Kiln truck loaded cross-wise of kiln 214
52. Kiln truck loaded end-wise of kiln 214
53. Kiln truck loaded end-wise of kiln 215
54. Method of piling staves on kiln truck 216
55. Method of piling staves on kiln truck 216
56. Method of piling tub or pail staves on kiln truck 217
57. Method of piling bundled staves on kiln truck 217
58. Method of piling shingles on kiln truck 218
59. Method of piling shingles on kiln truck 218
60. Method of piling shingles on kiln truck 219
61. Kiln truck designed for loose pail staves 219
62. Kiln truck designed for handling short stock 221
63. Stave bolt truck 221
64. Stave bolt truck 222
65. Stave bolt truck 222
66. Stave bolt truck 223
67. Stave bolt truck 223
68. Stave bolt truck 224
69. Regular 3-rail transfer car 224
70. Regular 3-rail transfer car 225
71. Special 4-rail transfer car 225
72. Regular 2-rail transfer car 225
73. Regular 2-rail transfer car 226
74. Underslung type 3-rail transfer car 226
75. Underslung type 2-rail transfer car 226
76. Flexible type 2-rail transfer car 227
77. Regular transfer car for stave bolt trucks 228
78. Regular transfer car for stave bolt trucks 228
79. Special transfer car for stave bolt trucks 228
80. Regular channel iron kiln truck for cross-wise piling 229
81. Regular channel iron kiln truck for cross-wise piling 229
82. Regular channel iron kiln truck for end-wise piling 230
83. Special channel iron kiln truck for end-wise piling 230
84. Regular dolly kiln truck for end-wise piling 230
85. Asbestos-lined kiln door 231
86. Twin door carrier with door loaded 232
87. Twin door carrier for doors 18 to 35 feet wide 232
88. Kiln door carrier 233
89. Kiln door construction 234
90. Kiln door construction 235
91. Kiln door construction 235
92. Kiln door construction 236
93. The Humidity diagram _facing_ 237
94. The hygrodeik 242
95. The recording hygrometer 243
96. The registering hygrometer 244
97. The recording thermometer 245
98. The registering thermometer 246
99. The recording steam gauge 246
100. The troemroid scalometer 247
101. The electric heater 250
SEASONING OF WOOD
SECTION I
TIMBER
Characteristics and Properties
Timber was probably one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of
materials used by man for constructional purposes. With it he built
for himself a shelter from the elements; it provided him with fuel and
oft-times food, and the tree cut down and let across a stream formed
the first bridge. From it, too, he made his "dug-out" to travel along
and across the rivers of the district in which he dwelt; so on down
through the ages, for shipbuilding and constructive purposes, timber
has continued to our own time to be one of the most largely used of
nature's products.
Although wood has been in use so long and so universally, there still
exists a remarkable lack of knowledge regarding its nature, not only
among ordinary workmen, but among those who might be expected to know
its properties. Consequently it is often used in a faulty and wasteful
manner. Experience has been almost the only teacher, and
theories--sometimes right, sometimes wrong--rather than well
substantiated facts, lead the workman.
One reason for this imperfect knowledge lies in the fact that wood is
not a homogeneous material, but a complicated structure, and so
variable, that one piece will behave very differently from another,
although cut from the same tree. Not only does the wood of one species
differ from that of another, but the butt cut differs from that of the
top log, the heartwood from the sapwood; the wood of quickly-grown
sapling of the abandoned field, from that of the slowly-grown, old
monarch of the forest. Even the manner in which the tree was cut and
kept influences its behavior and quality. It is therefore extremely
difficult to study the material for the purpose of establishing
general laws.
The experienced woodsman will look for straight-grained, long-fibred
woods, with the absence of disturbing resinous and coloring matter,
knots, etc., and will quickly distinguish the more porous red or black
oaks from the less porous white species, _Quercus alba_. That the
inspection should have regard to defects and unhealthy conditions
(often indicated by color) goes without saying, and such inspection is
usually practised. That knots, even the smallest, are defects, which
for some uses condemn the material entirely, need hardly be mentioned.
But that "season-checks," even those that have closed by subsequent
shrinkage, remain elements of weakness is not so readily appreciated;
yet there cannot be any doubt of this, since these, the intimate
connections of the wood fibres, when once interrupted are never
reestablished.
Careful woods-foremen and manufacturers, therefore, are concerned as
to the manner in which their timber is treated after the felling, for,
according to the more or less careful seasoning of it, the season
checks--not altogether avoidable--are more or less abundant.
There is no country where wood is more lavishly used or criminally
neglected than in the United States, and none in which nature has more
bountifully provided for all reasonable requirements.
In the absence of proper efforts to secure reproduction, the most
valuable kinds are rapidly being decimated, and the necessity of a
more rational and careful use of what remains is clearly apparent. By
greater care in selection, however, not only will the duration of the
supply be extended, but more satisfactory results will accrue from its
practice.
There are few more extensive and wide-reaching subjects on which to
treat than timber, which in this book refers to dead timber--the
timber of commerce--as distinct from the living tree. Such a great
number of different kinds of wood are now being brought from various
parts of the world, so many new kinds are continually being added, and
the subject is more difficult to explain because timber of practically
the same character which comes from different localities goes under
different names, that if one were always to adhere to the botanical
name there would be less confusion, although even botanists differ in
some cases as to names. Except in the cases of the older and better
known timbers, one rarely takes up two books dealing with timber and
finds the botanical names the same; moreover, trees of the same
species may produce a much poorer quality of timber when obtained from
different localities in the same country, so that botanical knowledge
will not always allow us to dispense with other tests.
The structure of wood affords the only reliable means of
distinguishing the different kinds. Color, weight, smell, and other
appearances, which are often direct or indirect results of structure,
may be helpful in this distinction, but cannot be relied upon
entirely. Furthermore, structure underlies nearly all the technical
properties of this important product, and furnishes an explanation why
one piece differs in these properties from another. Structure explains
why oak is heavier, stronger, and tougher than pine; why it is harder
to saw and plane, and why it is so much more difficult to season
without injury. From its less porous structure alone it is evident
that a piece of young and thrifty oak is stronger than the porous wood
of an old or stunted tree, or that a Georgia or long-leaf pine excels
white pine in weight and strength.
Keeping especially in mind the arrangement and direction of the fibres
of wood, it is clear at once why knots and "cross-grain" interfere
with the strength of timber. It is due to the structural peculiarities
that "honeycombing" occurs in rapid seasoning, that checks or cracks
extend radially and follow pith rays, that tangent or "bastard" cut
stock shrinks and warps more than that which is quarter-sawn. These
same peculiarities enable oak to take a better finish than basswood or
coarse-grained pine.
Structure of Wood
The softwoods are made up chiefly of tracheids, or vertical cells
closed at the ends, and of the relatively short parenchyma cells of
the medullary rays which extend radially from the heart of the tree.
The course of the tracheids and the rays are at right angles to each
other. Although the tracheids have their permeable portions or pits in
their walls, liquids cannot pass through them with the greatest ease.
The softwoods do not contain "pores" or vessels and are therefore
called "non-porous" woods.
The hardwoods are not so simple in structure as softwoods. They
contain not only rays, and in many cases tracheids, but also
thick-walled cells called fibres and wood parenchyma for the storage
of such foods as starches and sugars. The principal structural
features of the hardwoods are the pores or vessels. These are long
tubes, the segments of which are made up of cells which have lost
their end walls and joined end to end, forming continuous "pipe lines"
from the roots to the leaves in the tree. Since they possess pores or
vessels, the hardwoods are called "porous" woods.
Red oak is an excellent example of a porous wood. In white oak the
vessels of the heartwood especially are closed, very generally by
ingrowths called tyloses. This probably explains why red oak dries
more easily and rapidly than white oak.
The red and black gums are perhaps the simplest of the hardwoods in
structure. They are termed "diffuse porous" woods because of the
numerous scattered pores they contain. They have only vessels, wood
fibres, and a few parenchyma cells. The medullary rays, although
present, are scarcely visible in most instances. The vessels are in
many cases open, and might be expected to offer relatively little
resistance to drying.
Properties of Wood
Certain general properties of wood may be discussed briefly. We know
that wood substance has the property of taking in moisture from the
air until some balance is reached between the humidity of the air and
the moisture in the wood. This moisture which goes into the cell walls
hygroscopic moisture, and the property which the wood substance has of
taking on hygroscopic moisture is termed hygroscopicity. Usually wood
contains not only hygroscopic moisture but also more or less free
water in the cell cavities. Especially is this true of sapwood. The
free water usually dries out quite rapidly with little or no shrinkage
or other physical change.
In certain woods--for example, _Eucalyptus globulus_ and possibly some
oaks--shrinkage begins almost at once, thus introducing a factor at
the very start of the seasoning process which makes these woods very
refractory.
The cell walls of some species, including the two already mentioned,
such as Western red cedar and redwood, become soft and plastic when
hot and moist. If the fibres are hot enough and very wet, they are not
strong enough to withstand the resulting force of the atmospheric
pressure and the tensile force exerted by the departing free water,
and the result is that the cells actually collapse.
In general, however, the hygroscopic moisture necessary to saturate
the cell walls is termed the "fibre saturation point." This amount has
been found to be from 25 to 30 per cent of the dry wood weight. Unlike
_Eucalyptus globulus_ and certain oaks, the gums do not begin to
shrink until the moisture content has been reduced to about 30 per
cent of the dry wood weight. These woods are not subject to collapse,
although their fibres become very plastic while hot and moist.
Upon the peculiar properties of each wood depends the difficulty or
ease of the seasoning process.
Classes of Trees
The timber of the United States is furnished by three well-defined
classes of trees: (1) The needle-leaved, naked-seeded conifers, such
as pine, cedar, etc., (2) the broad-leaved trees such as oak poplar,
etc., and (3) to an inferior extent by the (one-seed leaf) palms,
yuccas, and their allies, which are confined to the most southern
parts of the country.
Broad-leaved trees are also known as deciduous trees, although,
especially in warm countries, many of them are evergreen, while the
needle-leaved trees (conifers) are commonly termed "evergreens,"
although the larch, bald cypress, and others shed their leaves every
fall, and even the names "broad-leaved" and "coniferous," though
perhaps the most satisfactory, are not at all exact, for the conifer
"ginkgo" has broad leaves and bears no cones.
Among the woodsmen, the woods of broad-leaved trees are known as
"hardwoods," though poplar is as soft as pine, and the "coniferous
woods" are known as "softwoods," notwithstanding the fact that yew
ranks high in hardness even when compared with "hardwoods."
Both in the number of different kinds of trees or species and still
more in the importance of their product, the conifers and broad-leaved
trees far excel the palms and their relatives.
In the manner of their growth both the conifers and broad-leaved trees
behave alike, adding each year a new layer of wood, which covers the
old wood in all parts of the stem and limbs. Thus the trunk continues
to grow in thickness throughout the life of the tree by additions
(annual rings), which in temperate climates are, barring accidents,
accurate records of the tree. With the palms and their relatives the
stem remains generally of the same diameter, the tree of a hundred
years old being as thick as it was at ten years, the growth of these
being only at the top. Even where a peripheral increase takes place,
as in the yuccas, the wood is not laid on in well-defined layers for
the structure remains irregular throughout. Though alike in the manner
of their growth, and therefore similar in their general make-up,
conifers and broad-leaved trees differ markedly in the details of
their structure and the character of their wood.
The wood of all conifers is very simple in its structure, the fibres
composing the main part of the wood all being alike and their
arrangement regular. The wood of the broad-leaved trees is complex in
structure; it is made up of different kinds of cells and fibres and
lacks the regularity of arrangement so noticeable in the conifers.
This difference is so great that in a study of wood structure it is
best to consider the two kinds separately.
In this country the great variety of woods, and especially of useful
woods, often makes the mere distinction of the kind or species of tree
most difficult. Thus there are at least eight pines of the thirty-five
native ones in the market, some of which so closely resemble each
other in their minute structure that one can hardly tell them apart,
and yet they differ in quality and are often mixed or confounded in
the trade. Of the thirty-six oaks, of which probably not less than six
or eight are marketed, we can readily recognize by means of their
minute anatomy at least two tribes--the white and black oaks. The same
is true of the eleven kinds of hickory, the six kinds of ash, etc.,
etc.
The list of names of all trees indigenous to the United States, as
enumerated by the United States Forest Service, is 495 in number, the
designation of "tree" being applied to all woody plants which produce
naturally in their native habitat one main, erect stem, bearing a
definite crown, no matter what size they attain.
Timber is produced only by the Spermatophyta, or seed-bearing plants,
which are subdivided into the Gymnosperms (conifers), and Angiosperms
(broad-leaved). The conifer or cone-bearing tree, to which belong the
pines, larches, and firs, is one of the three natural orders of
Gymnosperms. These are generally classed as "softwoods," and are more
extensively scattered and more generally used than any other class of
timber, and are simple and regular in structure. The so-called
"hardwoods" are "Dicotyledons" or broad-leaved trees, a subdivision of
the Angiosperms. They are generally of slower growth, and produce
harder timber than the conifers, but not necessarily so. Basswood,
poplar, sycamore, and some of the gums, though classed with the
hardwoods, are not nearly as hard as some of the pines.
SECTION II
CONIFEROUS TREES
WOOD OF THE CONIFEROUS TREES
Examining a smooth cross-section or end face of a well-grown log of
Georgia pine, we distinguish an envelope of reddish, scaly bark, a
small, whitish pith at the center, and between these the wood in a
great number of concentric rings.
Bark and Pith
The bark of a pine stem is thickest and roughest near the base,
decreases rapidly in thickness from one to one-half inches at the
stump to one-tenth inch near the top of the tree, and forms in general
about ten to fifteen per cent of the entire trunk. The pith is quite
thick, usually one-eighth to one-fifth inch in southern species,
though much less so in white pine, and is very thin, one-fifteenth to
one twenty-fifth inch in cypress, cedar, and larch.
In woods with a thick pith, the pith is finest at the stump, grows
rapidly thicker toward the top, and becomes thinner again in the crown
and limbs, the first one to five rings adjoining it behaving
similarly.
What is called the pith was once the seedling tree, and in many of the
pines and firs, especially after they have been seasoning for a good
while, this is distinctly noticeable in the center of the log, and
detaches itself from the surrounding wood.
Sap and Heartwood
Wood is composed of duramen or heartwood, and alburnum or sapwood, and
when dry consists approximately of 49 per cent by weight of carbon, 6
per cent of hydrogen, 44 per cent of oxygen, and 1 per cent of ash,
which is fairly uniform for all species. The sapwood is the external
and youngest portion of the tree, and often constitutes a very
considerable proportion of it. It lies next the bark, and after a
course of years, sometimes many, as in the case of oaks, sometimes
few, as in the case of firs, it becomes hardened and ultimately forms
the duramen or heartwood. Sapwood is generally of a white or light
color, almost invariably lighter in color than the heartwood, and is
very conspicuous in the darker-colored woods, as for instance the
yellow sapwood of mahogany and similiar colored woods, and the reddish
brown heartwood; or the yellow sapwood of _Lignum-vitae_ and the dark
green heartwood. Sapwood forms a much larger proportion of some trees
than others, but being on the outer circumference it always forms a
large proportion of the timber, and even in sound, hard pine will be
from 40 per cent to 60 per cent of the tree and in some cases much
more. It is really imperfect wood, while the duramen or heartwood is
the perfect wood; the heartwood of the mature tree was the sapwood of
its earlier years. Young trees when cut down are almost all sapwood,
and practically useless as good, sound timber; it is, however, through
the sapwood that the life-giving juices which sustain the tree arise
from the soil, and if the sapwood be cut through, as is done when
"girdling," the tree quickly dies, as it can derive no further
nourishment from the soil. Although absolutely necessary to the
growing tree, sapwood is often objectionable to the user, as it is the
first part to decay. In this sapwood many cells are active, store up
starch, and otherwise assist in the life processes of the tree,
although only the last or outer layer of cells forms the growing part,
and the true life of the tree.
The duramen or heartwood is the inner, darker part of the log. In the
heartwood all the cells are lifeless cases, and serve only the
mechanical function of keeping the tree from breaking under its own
great weight or from being laid low by the winds. The darker color of
the heartwood is due to infiltration of chemical substances into the
cell walls, but the cavities of the cells in pine are not filled up,
as is sometimes believed, nor do their walls grow thicker, nor are the
walls any more liquified than in the sapwood.
Sapwood varies in width and in the number of rings which it contains
even in different parts of the same tree. The same year's growth which
is sapwood in one part of a disk may be heartwood in another. Sapwood
is widest in the main part of the stem and often varies within
considerable limits and without apparent regularity. Generally, it
becomes narrower toward the top and in the limbs, its width varying
with the diameter, and being the least in a given disk on the side
which has the shortest radius. Sapwood of old and stunted pines is
composed of more rings than that of young and thrifty specimens. Thus
in a pine two hundred and fifty years old a layer of wood or an annual
ring does not change from sapwood to heartwood until seventy or eighty
years after it is formed, while in a tree one hundred years old or
less it remains sapwood only from thirty to sixty years.
The width of the sapwood varies considerably for different kinds of
pine. It is small for long-leaf and white pine and great for loblolly
and Norway pines. Occupying the peripheral part of the trunk, the
proportion which it forms of the entire mass of the stem is always
great. Thus even in old long-leaf pines, the sapwood forms 40 per cent
of the merchantable log, while in the loblolly and in all young trees
the sapwood forms the bulk of the wood.
The Annual or Yearly Rings
The concentric annual or yearly rings which appear on the end face of
a log are cross-sections of so many thin layers of wood. Each such
layer forms an envelope around its inner neighbor, and is in turn
covered by the adjoining layer without, so that the whole stem is
built up of a series of thin, hollow cylinders, or rather cones.
A new layer of wood is formed each season, covering the entire stem,
as well as all the living branches. The thickness of this layer or the
width of the yearly ring varies greatly in different trees, and also
in different parts of the same tree.
In a normally-grown, thrifty pine log the rings are widest near the
pith, growing more and more narrow toward the bark. Thus the central
twenty rings in a disk of an old long-leaf pine may each be one-eighth
to one-sixth inch wide, while the twenty rings next to the bark may
average only one-thirtieth inch.
In our forest trees, rings of one-half inch in width occur only near
the center in disks of very thrifty trees, of both conifers and
hardwoods. One-twelfth inch represents good, thrifty growth, and the
minimum width of one two hundred inch is often seen in stunted spruce
and pine. The average width of rings in well-grown, old white pine
will vary from one-twelfth to one-eighteenth inch, while in the slower
growing long-leaf pine it may be one twenty-fifth to one-thirtieth of
an inch. The same layer of wood is widest near the stump in very
thrifty young trees, especially if grown in the open park; but in old
forest trees the same year's growth is wider at the upper part of the
tree, being narrowest near the stump, and often also near the very tip
of the stem. Generally the rings are widest near the center, growing
narrower toward the bark.
In logs from stunted trees the order is often reversed, the interior
rings being thin and the outer rings widest. Frequently, too, zones or
bands of very narrow rings, representing unfavorable periods of
growth, disturb the general regularity.
Few trees, even among pines, furnish a log with truly circular
cross-section. Usually it is an oval, and at the stump commonly quite
an irregular figure. Moreover, even in very regular or circular disks
the pith is rarely in the center, and frequently one radius is
conspicuously longer than its opposite, the width of some rings, if
not all, being greater on one side than on the other. This is nearly
always so in the limbs, the lower radius exceeding the upper. In
extreme cases, especially in the limbs, a ring is frequently
conspicuous on one side, and almost or entirely lost to view on the
other. Where the rings are extremely narrow, the dark portion of the
ring is often wanting, the color being quite uniform and light. The
greater regularity or irregularity of the annual rings has much to do
with the technical qualities of the timber.
Spring- and Summer-Wood
Examining the rings more closely, it is noticed that each ring is made
up of an inner, softer, light-colored and an outer, or peripheral,
firmer and darker-colored portion. Being formed in the forepart of the
season, the inner, light-colored part is termed spring-wood, the
outer, darker-portioned being the summer-wood of the ring. Since the
latter is very heavy and firm it determines to a very large extent the
weight and strength of the wood, and as its darker color influences
the shade of color of the entire piece of wood, this color effect
becomes a valuable aid in distinguishing heavy and strong from light
and soft pine wood.
In most hard pines, like the long-leaf, the dark summer-wood appears
as a distinct band, so that the yearly ring is composed of two sharply
defined bands--an inner, the spring-wood, and an outer, the
summer-wood. But in some cases, even in hard pines, and normally in
the woods of white pines, the spring-wood passes gradually into the
darker summer-wood, so that a darkly defined line occurs only where
the spring-wood of one ring abuts against the summer-wood of its
neighbor. It is this clearly defined line which enables the eye to
distinguish even the very narrow lines in old pines and spruces.
In some cases, especially in the trunks of Southern pines, and
normally on the lower side of pine limbs, there occur dark bands of
wood in the spring-wood portion of the ring, giving rise to false
rings, which mislead in a superficial counting of rings. In the disks
cut from limbs these dark bands often occupy the greater part of the
ring, and appear as "lunes," or sickle-shaped figures. The wood of
these dark bands is similar to that of the true summer-wood. The cells
have thick walls, but usually the compressed or flattened form.
Normally, the summer-wood forms a greater proportion of the rings in
the part of the tree formed during the period of thriftiest growth. In
an old tree this proportion is very small in the first two to five
rings about the pith, and also in the part next to the bark, the
intermediate part showing a greater proportion of summer-wood. It is
also greatest in a disk taken from near the stump, and decreases
upward in the stem, thus fully accounting for the difference in weight
and firmness of the wood of these different parts.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Board of Pine. CS, cross-section; RS,
radial section; TS, tangential section; _sw_, summer-wood;
_spw_, spring-wood.]
In the long-leaf pine the summer-wood often forms scarcely ten per
cent of the wood in the central five rings; forty to fifty per cent of
the next one hundred rings, about thirty per cent of the next fifty,
and only about twenty per cent in the fifty rings next to the bark. It
averages forty-five per cent of the wood of the stump and only
twenty-four per cent of that of the top.
Sawing the log into boards, the yearly rings are represented on the
board faces of the middle board (radial sections) by narrow parallel
strips (see Fig. 1), an inner, lighter stripe and its outer, darker
neighbor always corresponding to one annual ring.
On the faces of the boards nearest the slab (tangential or bastard
boards) the several years' growth should also appear as parallel, but
much broader stripes. This they do if the log is short and very
perfect. Usually a variety of pleasing patterns is displayed on the
boards, depending on the position of the saw cut and on the regularity
of growth of the log (see Fig. 1). Where the cut passes through a
prominence (bump or crook) of the log, irregular, concentric circlets
and ovals are produced, and on almost all tangent boards arrow or
V-shaped forms occur.
Anatomical Structure
Holding a well-smoothed disk or cross-section one-eighth inch thick
toward the light, it is readily seen that pine wood is a very porous
structure. If viewed with a strong magnifier, the little tubes,
especially in the spring-wood of the rings, are easily distinguished,
and their arrangement in regular, straight, radial rows is apparent.
[Illustration: Fig. 2. Wood of Spruce. 1, natural size; 2,
small part of one ring magnified 100 times. The vertical
tubes are wood fibres, in this case all "tracheids." _m_,
medullary or pith ray; _n_, transverse tracheids of ray; _a_,
_b_, and _c_, bordered pits of the tracheids, more enlarged.]
Scattered through the summer-wood portion of the rings, numerous
irregular grayish dots (the resin ducts) disturb the uniformity and
regularity of the structure. Magnified one hundred times, a piece of
spruce, which is similar to pine, presents a picture like that shown
in Fig. 2. Only short pieces of the tubes or cells of which the wood
is composed are represented in the picture. The total length of these
fibres is from one-twentieth to one-fifth inch, being the smallest
near the pith, and is fifty to one hundred times as great as their
width (see Fig. 3). They are tapered and closed at their ends,
polygonal or rounded and thin-walled, with large cavity, lumen or
internal space in the spring-wood, and thick-walled and flattened
radially, with the internal space or lumen much reduced in the
summer-wood (see right-hand portion of Fig. 2). This flattening,
together with the thicker walls of the cells, which reduces the lumen,
causes the greater firmness and darker color of the summer-wood.
There is more material in the same volume. As shown in the figure, the
tubes, cells or "tracheids" are decorated on their walls by
circlet-like structures, the "bordered pits," sections of which are
seen more magnified as _a_, _b_, and _c_, Fig. 2. These pits are in
the nature of pores, covered by very thin membranes, and serve as
waterways between the cells or tracheids. The dark lines on the side
of the smaller piece (1, Fig. 2) appear when magnified (in 2, Fig. 2)
as tiers of eight to ten rows of cells, which run radially (parallel
to the rows of tubes or tracheids), and are seen as bands on the
radial face and as rows of pores on the tangential face. These bands
or tiers of cell rows are the medullary rays or pith rays, and are
common to all our lumber woods.
In the pines and other conifers they are quite small, but they can
readily be seen even without a magnifier. If a radial surface of
split-wood (not smoothed) is examined, the entire radial face will be
seen almost covered with these tiny structures, which appear as fine
but conspicuous cross-lines. As shown in Fig. 2, the cells of the
medullary or pith are smaller and very much shorter than the wood
fibre or tracheids, and their long axis is at right angles to that of
the fiber.
[Illustration: Fig. 3. Group of Fibres from Pine Wood. Partly
schematic. The little circles are "border pits" (see Fig. 2,
_a-c_). The transverse rows of square pits indicate the
places of contact of these fibres and the cells of the
neighboring pith rays. Magnified about 25 times.]
In pines and spruces the cells of the upper and lower rows of each
tier or pith ray have "bordered" pits, like those of the wood fibre or
tracheids proper, but the cells of the intermediate rows in the rays
of cedars, etc., have only "simple" pits, _i.e._, pits devoid of the
saucer-like "border" or rim. In pine, many of the pith rays are larger
than the majority, each containing a whitish line, the horizontal
resin duct, which, though much smaller, resembles the vertical ducts
on the cross-section. The larger vertical resin ducts are best
observed on removal of the bark from a fresh piece of white pine cut
in the winter where they appear as conspicuous white lines, extending
often for many inches up and down the stem. Neither the horizontal nor
the vertical resin ducts are vessels or cells, but are openings
between cells, _i.e._, intercellular spaces, in which the resin
accumulates, freely oozing out when the ducts of a fresh piece of
sapwood are cut. They are present only in our coniferous woods, and
even here they are restricted to pine, spruce, and larch, and are
normally absent in fir, cedar, cypress, and yew. Altogether, the
structure of coniferous woods is very simple and regular, the bulk
being made up of the small fibres called tracheids, the disturbing
elements of pith rays and resin ducts being insignificant, and hence
the great uniformity and great technical value of coniferous woods.
LIST OF IMPORTANT CONIFEROUS WOODS
CEDAR
Light soft, stiff, not strong, of fine texture. Sap- and heartwood
distinct, the former lighter, the latter a dull grayish brown or red.
The wood seasons rapidly, shrinks and checks but little, and is very
durable in contact with the soil. Used like soft pine, but owing to
its great durability preferred for shingles, etc. Cedars usually occur
scattered, but they form in certain localities forests of considerable
extent.
(_a_) White Cedars
=1. White Cedar= (_Thuya occidentalis_) (Arborvitæ, Tree of Life).
Heartwood light yellowish brown, sapwood nearly white. Wood light,
soft, not strong, of fine texture, very durable in contact with the
soil, very fragrant. Scattered along streams and lakes, frequently
covering extensive swamps; rarely large enough for lumber, but
commonly used for fence posts, rails, railway ties, and shingles. This
species has been extensively cultivated as an ornamental tree for at
least a century. Maine to Minnesota and northward.
=2. Canoe Cedar= (_Thuya gigantea_) (Red Cedar of the West). In Oregon
and Washington a very large tree, covering extensive swamps; in the
mountains much smaller, skirting the water courses. An important
lumber tree. The wood takes a fine polish; suitable for interior
finishing, as there is much variety of shading in the color.
Washington to northern California and eastward to Montana.
=3. White Cedar= (_Chamæcyparis thyoides_). Medium-sized tree. Heartwood
light brown with rose tinge, sapwood paler. Wood light, soft, not
strong, close-grained, easily worked, very durable in contact with the
soil and very fragrant. Used in boatbuilding cooperage, interior
finish, fence posts, railway ties, etc. Along the coast from Maine to
Mississippi.
=4. White Cedar= (_Chamæcyparis Lawsoniana_) (Port Orford Cedar, Oregon
Cedar, Lawson's Cypress, Ginger Pine). A very large tree. A fine,
close-grained, yellowish-white, durable timber, elastic, easily
worked, free of knots, and fragrant. Extensively cut for lumber;
heavier and stronger than any of the preceding. Along the coast line
of Oregon.
=5. White Cedar= (_Libocedrus decurrens_) (Incense Cedar). A large tree,
abundantly scattered among pine and fir. Wood fine-grained. Cascades
and Sierra Nevada Mountains of Oregon and California.
=6. Yellow Cedar= (_Cupressus nootkatensis_) (Alaska Cedar, Alaska
Cypress). A very large tree, much used for panelling and furniture. A
fine, close-grained, yellowish white, durable timber, easily worked.
Along the coast line of Oregon north.
(_b_) Red Cedars
=7. Red Cedar= (_Juniperus Virginiana_) (Savin Juniper, Juniper, Red
Juniper, Juniper Bush, Pencil Cedar). Heartwood dull red color, thin
sapwood nearly white. Close even grain, compact structure. Wood light,
soft, weak, brittle, easily worked, durable in contact with the soil,
and fragrant. Used for ties, posts, interior finish, pencil cases,
cigar boxes, silos, tanks, and especially for lead pencils, for which
purpose alone several million feet are cut each year. A small to
medium-sized tree scattered through the forests, or in the West
sparsely covering extensive areas (cedar brakes). The red cedar is the
most widely distributed conifer of the United States, occurring from
the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Florida to Minnesota. Attains a
suitable size for lumber only in the Southern, and more especially the
Gulf States.
=8. Red Cedar= (_Juniperus communis_) (Ground Cedar). Small-sized tree,
its maximum height being about 25 feet. It is found widely distributed
throughout the Northern hemisphere. Wood in its quality similar to the
preceding. The fruit of this species is gathered in large quantities
and used in the manufacture of gin; whose peculiar flavor and
medicinal properties are due to the oil of Juniper berries, which is
secured by adding the crushed fruit to undistilled grain spirit, or by
allowing the vapor to pass over it before condensation. Used locally
for construction purposes, fence posts, etc. Ranges from Greenland to
Alaska, in the East, southward to Pennsylvania and northern Nebraska;
in the Rocky Mountains to Texas, Mexico, and Arizona.
=9. Redwood= (_Sequoia sempervirens_) (Sequoia, California Redwood,
Coast Redwood). Wood in its quality and uses like white cedar. Thick,
red heartwood, changing to reddish brown when seasoned. Thin sapwood,
nearly white, coarse, straight grain, compact structure. Light, not
strong, soft, very durable in contact with the soil, not resinous,
easily worked, does not burn easily, receives high polish. Used for
timber, shingles, flumes, fence posts, coffins, railway ties, water
pipes, interior decorations, and cabinetmaking. A very large tree,
limited to the coast ranges of California, and forming considerable
forests, which are rapidly being converted into lumber.
CYPRESS
=10. Cypress= (_Taxodium distinchum_) (Bald Cypress, Black, White, and
Red Cypress, Pecky Cypress). Wood in its appearance, quality, and uses
similar to white cedar. "Black" and "White Cypress" are heavy and
light forms of the same species. Heartwood brownish; sapwood nearly
white. Wood close, straight-grain, frequently full of small holes
caused by disease known as "pecky cypress." Greasy appearance and
feeling. Wood light, soft, not strong, durable in contact with the
soil, takes a fine polish. Green wood often very heavy. Used for
carpentry, building construction, shingles, cooperage, railway ties,
silos, tanks, vehicles, and washing machines. The cypress is a large,
deciduous tree, inhabiting swampy lands, and along rivers and coasts
of the Southern parts of the United States. Grows to a height of 150
feet and 12 feet in diameter.
FIR
This name is frequently applied to wood and to trees which are not
fir; most commonly to spruce, but also, especially in English markets,
to pine. It resembles spruce, but is easily distinguished from it, as
well as from pine and larch, by the absence of resin ducts. Quality,
uses, and habits similar to spruce.
=11. Balsam Fir= (_Abies balsamea_) (Balsam, Fir Tree, Balm of Gilead
Fir). Heartwood white to brownish; sapwood lighter color;
coarse-grained, compact structure, satiny. Wood light, not durable or
strong, resinous, easily split. Used for boxes, crates, doors,
millwork, cheap lumber, paper pulp. Inferior to white pine or spruce,
yet often mixed and sold with these species in the lumber market. A
medium-sized tree scattered throughout the northern pineries, and cut
in lumber operations whenever of sufficient size. Minnesota to Maine
and northward.
=12. White Fir= (_Abies grandis_ and _Abies concolor_). Medium-to very
large-sized tree, forming an important part of most of the Western
mountain forests, and furnishes much of the lumber of the respective
regions. The former occurs from Vancouver to California, and the
latter from Oregon to Arizona and eastward to Colorado and Mexico. The
wood is soft and light, coarse-grained, not unlike the "Swiss pine" of
Europe, but darker and firmer, and is not suitable for any purpose
requiring strength. It is used for boxes, barrels, and to a small
extent for wood pulp.
=13. White Fir= (_Abies amabalis_). Good-sized tree, often forming
extensive mountain forests. Wood similar in quality and uses to _Abies
grandis_. Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon.
=14. Red Fir= (_Abies nobilis_) (Noble Fir) (not to be confounded with
Douglas spruce. See No. 40). Large to very large-sized tree, forming
extensive forests on the slope of the mountains between 3,000 and
4,000 feet elevation. Cascade Mountains of Oregon.
=15. Red Fir= (_Abies magnifica_). Very large-sized tree, forming
forests about the base of Mount Shasta. Sierra Nevada Mountains of
California, from Mount Shasta southward.
HEMLOCK
Light to medium weight, soft, stiff, but brittle, commonly
cross-grained, rough and splintery. Sapwood and heartwood not well
defined. The wood of a light reddish-gray color, free from resin
ducts, moderately durable, shrinks and warps considerably in drying,
wears rough, retains nails firmly. Used principally for dimension
stuff and timbers. Hemlocks are medium- to large-sized trees, commonly
scattered among broad-leaved trees and conifers, but often forming
forests of almost pure growth.
=16. Hemlock= (_Tsuga canadensis_) (Hemlock Spruce, Peruche).
Medium-sized tree, furnishes almost all the hemlock of the Eastern
market. Maine to Wisconsin, also following the Alleghanies southward
to Georgia and Alabama.
=17. Hemlock= (_Tsuga mertensiana_). Large-sized tree, wood claimed to
be heavier and harder than the Eastern species and of superior
quality. Used for pulp wood, floors, panels, and newels. It is not
suitable for heavy construction, especially where exposed to the
weather, it is straight in grain and will take a good polish. Not
adapted for use partly in and partly out of the ground; in fresh water
as piles will last about ten years, but as it is softer than fir it is
less able to stand driving successfully. Washington to California and
eastward to Montana.
LARCH or TAMARACK
Wood like the best of hard pine both in appearance, quality, and uses,
and owing to its great durability somewhat preferred in shipbuilding,
for telegraph poles, and railway ties. In its structure it resembles
spruce. The larches are deciduous trees, occasionally covering
considerable areas, but usually scattered among other conifers.
=18. Tamarack= (_Larix laricina_ var. _Americana_) (Larch, Black Larch,
American Larch, Hacmatac). Heartwood light brown in color, sapwood
nearly white, coarse conspicuous grain, compact structure, annual
rings pronounced. Wood heavy, hard, very strong, durable in contact
with the soil. Used for railway ties, fence posts, sills, ship
timbers, telegraph poles, flagstaffs. Medium-sized tree, often
covering swamps, in which case it is smaller and of poor quality.
Maine to Minnesota, and southward to Pennsylvania.
=19. Tamarack= (_Larix occidentalis_) (Western Larch, Larch).
Large-sized trees, scattered, locally abundant. Is little inferior to
oak in strength and durability. Heartwood of a light brown color with
lighter sapwood, has a fine, slightly satiny grain, and is fairly free
from knots; the annual rings are distant. Used for railway ties and
shipbuilding. Washington and Oregon to Montana.
PINE
Very variable, very light and soft in "soft" pine, such as white pine;
of medium weight to heavy and quite hard in "hard" pine, of which the
long-leaf or Georgia pine is the extreme form. Usually it is stiff,
quite strong, of even texture, and more or less resinous. The sapwood
is yellowish white; the heartwood orange brown. Pine shrinks
moderately, seasons rapidly and without much injury; it works easily,
is never too hard to nail (unlike oak or hickory); it is mostly quite
durable when in contact with the soil, and if well seasoned is not
subject to the attacks of boring insects. The heavier the wood, the
darker, stronger, and harder it is, and the more it shrinks and checks
when seasoning. Pine is used more extensively than any other wood. It
is the principal wood in carpentry, as well as in all heavy
construction, bridges, trestles, etc. It is also used in almost every
other wood industry; for spars, masts, planks, and timbers in
shipbuilding, in car and wagon construction, in cooperage and
woodenware; for crates and boxes, in furniture work, for toys and
patterns, water pipes, excelsior, etc. Pines are usually large-sized
trees with few branches, the straight, cylindrical, useful stem
forming by far the greatest part of the tree. They occur gregariously,
forming vast forests, a fact which greatly facilitates their
exploitation. Of the many special terms applied to pine as lumber,
denoting sometimes differences in quality, the following deserve
attention: "White pine," "pumpkin pine," "soft pine," in the Eastern
markets refer to the wood of the white pine (_Pinus strobus_), and on
the Pacific Coast to that of the sugar pine (_Pinus lambertiana_).
"Yellow pine" is applied in the trade to all the Southern lumber
pines; in the Northwest it is also applied to the pitch pine (_Pinus
regida_); in the West it refers mostly to the bull pine (_Pinus
ponderosa_). "Yellow long-leaf pine" (Georgia pine), chiefly used in
advertisements, refers to the long-leaf Pine (_Pinus palustris_).
(_a_) Soft Pines
=20. White Pine= (_Pinus strobus_) (Soft Pine, Pumpkin Pine, Weymouth
Pine, Yellow Deal). Large to very large-sized tree, reaching a height
of 80 to 100 feet or more, and in some instances 7 or 8 feet in
diameter. For the last fifty years the most important timber tree of
the United States, furnishing the best quality of soft pine. Heartwood
cream white; sapwood nearly white. Close straight grain, compact
structure; comparatively free from knots and resin. Soft, uniform;
seasons well; easy to work; nails without splitting; fairly durable in
contact with the soil; and shrinks less than other species of pine.
Paints well. Used for carpentry, construction, building, spars, masts,
matches, boxes, etc., etc., etc.
=21. Sugar Pine= (_Pinus lambertiana_) (White Pine, Pumpkin Pine, Soft
Pine). A very large tree, forming extensive forests in the Rocky
Mountains and furnishing most of the timber of the western United
States. It is confined to Oregon and California, and grows at from
1,500 to 8,000 feet above sea level. Has an average height of 150 to
175 feet and a diameter of 4 to 5 feet, with a maximum height of 235
feet and 12 feet in diameter. The wood is soft, durable,
straight-grained, easily worked, very resinous, and has a satiny
luster which makes it appreciated for interior work. It is extensively
used for doors, blinds, sashes, and interior finish, also for
druggists' drawers, owing to its freedom from odor, for oars,
mouldings, shipbuilding, cooperage, shingles, and fruit boxes. Oregon
and California.
=22. White Pine= (_Pinus monticolo_). A large tree, at home in Montana,
Idaho, and the Pacific States. Most common and locally used in
northern Idaho.
=23. White Pine= (_Pinus flexilis_). A small-sized tree, forming
mountain forests of considerable extent and locally used. Eastern
Rocky Mountain slopes, Montana to New Mexico.
(_b_) Hard Pines
=24. Long-Leaf Pine= (_Pinus palustris_) (Georgia Pine, Southern Pine,
Yellow Pine, Southern Hard Pine, Long-straw Pine, etc.). Large-sized
tree. This species furnishes the hardest and most durable as well as
one of the strongest pine timbers in the market. Heartwood orange,
sapwood lighter color, the annual rings are strongly marked, and it is
full of resinous matter, making it very durable, but difficult to
work. It is hard, dense, and strong, fairly free from knots,
straight-grained, and one of the best timbers for heavy engineering
work where great strength, long span, and durability are required.
Used for heavy construction, shipbuilding, cars, docks, beams, ties,
flooring, and interior decoration. Coast region from North Carolina to
Texas.
=25. Bull Pine= (_Pinus ponderosa_) (Yellow Pine, Western Yellow Pine,
Western Pine, Western White Pine, California White Pine). Medium- to
very large-sized tree, forming extensive forests in the Pacific and
Rocky Mountain regions. Heartwood reddish brown, sapwood yellowish
white, and there is often a good deal of it. The resinous smell of the
wood is very remarkable. It is extensively used for beams, flooring,
ceilings, and building work generally.
=26. Bull Pine= (_Pinus Jeffreyi_) (Black Pine). Large-sized tree, wood
resembles _Pinus ponderosa_ and replacing same at high altitudes. Used
locally in California.
=27. Loblolly Pine= (_Pinus tæda_) (Slash Pine, Old Field Pine, Rosemary
Pine, Sap Pine, Short-straw Pine). A large-sized tree, forms extensive
forests. Wider-ringed, coarser, lighter, softer, with more sapwood
than the long-leaf pine, but the two are often confounded in the
market. The more Northern tree produces lumber which is weak, brittle,
coarse-grained, and not durable, the Southern tree produces a better
quality wood. Both are very resinous. This is the common lumber pine
from Virginia to South Carolina, and is found extensively in Arkansas
and Texas. Southern States, Virginia to Texas and Arkansas.
=28. Norway Pine= (_Pinus resinosa_) (American Red Pine, Canadian Pine).
Large-sized tree, never forming forests, usually scattered or in
small groves, together with white pine. Largely sapwood and hence not
durable. Heartwood reddish white, with fine, clear grain, fairly tough
and elastic, not liable to warp and split. Used for building
construction, bridges, piles, masts, and spars. Minnesota to Michigan;
also in New England to Pennsylvania.
=29. Short-Leaf Pine= (_Pinus echinata_) (Slash Pine, Spruce Pine,
Carolina Pine, Yellow Pine, Old Field Pine, Hard Pine). A medium- to
large-sized tree, resembling loblolly pine, often approaches in its
wood the Norway pine. Heartwood orange, sapwood lighter; compact
structure, apt to be variable in appearance in cross-section. Wood
usually hard, tough, strong, durable, resinous. A valuable timber
tree, sometimes worked for turpentine. Used for heavy construction,
shipbuilding, cars, docks, beams, ties, flooring, and house trim.
_Pinus echinata_, _palustris_, and _tæda_ are very similar in
character, of thin wood and very difficult to distinguish one from
another. As a rule, however, _palustris_ (Long-leaf Pine) has the
smallest and most uniform growth rings, and _Pinus tæda_ (Loblolly
Pine) has the largest. All are apt to be bunched together in the
lumber market as Southern Hard Pine. All are used for the same
purposes. Short-leaf is the common lumber pine of Missouri and
Arkansas. North Carolina to Texas and Missouri.
=30. Cuban Pine= (_Pinus cubensis_) (Slash Pine, Swamp Pine, Bastard
Pine, Meadow Pine). Resembles long-leaf pine, but commonly has a wider
sapwood and coarser grain. Does not enter the markets to any extent.
Along the coast from South Carolina to Louisiana.
=31. Pitch Pine= (_Pinus rigida_) (Torch Pine). A small to medium-sized
tree. Heartwood light brown or red, sapwood yellowish white. Wood
light, soft, not strong, coarse-grained, durable, very resinous. Used
locally for lumber, fuel, and charcoal. Coast regions from New York
to Georgia, and along the mountains to Kentucky.
=32. Black Pine= (_Pinus murryana_) (Lodge-pole Pine, Tamarack).
Small-sized tree. Rocky Mountains and Pacific regions.
=33. Jersey Pine= (_Pinus inops_ var. _Virginiana_) (Scrub Pine).
Small-sized tree. Along the coast from New York to Georgia and along
the mountains to Kentucky.
=34. Gray Pine= (_Pinus divaricata_ var. _banksiana_) (Scrub Pine, Jack
Pine). Medium- to large-sized tree. Heartwood pale brown, rarely
yellow; sapwood nearly white. Wood light, soft, not strong,
close-grained. Used for fuel, railway ties, and fence posts. In days
gone by the Indians preferred this species for frames of canoes.
Maine, Vermont, and Michigan to Minnesota.
REDWOOD (See Cedar)
SPRUCE
Resembles soft pine, is light, very soft, stiff, moderately strong,
less resinous than pine; has no distinct heartwood, and is of whitish
color. Used like soft pine, but also employed as resonance wood in
musical instruments and preferred for paper pulp. Spruces, like pines,
form extensive forests. They are more frugal, thrive on thinner soils,
and bear more shade, but usually require a more humid climate. "Black"
and "White" spruce as applied by lumbermen usually refer to narrow and
wide-ringed forms of black spruce (_Picea nigra_).
=35. Black Spruce= (_Picea nigra_ var. _mariana_). Medium-sized tree,
forms extensive forests in northwestern United States and in British
America; occurs scattered or in groves, especially in low lands
throughout the northern pineries. Important lumber tree in eastern
United States. Heartwood pale, often with reddish tinge; sapwood pure
white. Wood light, soft, not strong. Chiefly used for manufacture of
paper pulp, and great quantities of this as well as _Picea alba_ are
used for this purpose. Used also for sounding boards for pianos,
violins, etc. Maine to Minnesota, British America, and in the
Alleghanies to North Carolina.
=36. White Spruce= (_Picea canadensis_ var. _alba_). Medium- to
large-sized tree. Heartwood light yellow; sapwood nearly white.
Generally associated with the preceding. Most abundant along streams
and lakes, grows largest in Montana and forms the most important tree
of the sub-arctic forest of British America. Used largely for floors,
joists, doors, sashes, mouldings, and panel work, rapidly superceding
_Pinus strobus_ for building purposes. It is very similar to Norway
pine, excels it in toughness, is rather less durable and dense, and
more liable to warp in seasoning. Northern United States from Maine to
Minnesota, also from Montana to Pacific, British America.
=37. White Spruce= (_Picea engelmanni_). Medium- to large-sized tree,
forming extensive forests at elevations from 5,000 to 10,000 feet
above sea level; resembles the preceding, but occupies a different
station. A very important timber tree in the central and southern
parts of the Rocky Mountains. Rocky Mountains from Mexico to Montana.
=38. Tide-Land Spruce= (_Picea sitchensis_) (Sitka Spruce). A
large-sized tree, forming an extensive coast-belt forest. Used
extensively for all classes of cooperage and woodenware on the Pacific
Coast. Along the sea-coast from Alaska to central California.
=39. Red Spruce= (_Picea rubens_). Medium-sized tree, generally
associated with _Picea nigra_ and occurs scattered throughout the
northern pineries. Heartwood reddish; sapwood lighter color,
straight-grained, compact structure. Wood light, soft, not strong,
elastic, resonant, not durable when exposed. Used for flooring,
carpentry, shipbuilding, piles, posts, railway ties, paddles, oars,
sounding boards, paper pulp, and musical instruments. Montana to
Pacific, British America.
BASTARD SPRUCE
Spruce or fir in name, but resembling hard pine or larch in
appearance, quality and uses of its wood.
=40. Douglas Spruce= (_Pseudotsuga douglasii_) (Yellow Fir, Red Fir,
Oregon Pine). One of the most important trees of the western United
States; grows very large in the Pacific States, to fair size in all
parts of the mountains, in Colorado up to about 10,000 feet above sea
level; forms extensive forests, often of pure growth, it is really
neither a pine nor a fir. Wood very variable, usually coarse-grained
and heavy, with very pronounced summer-wood. Hard and strong ("red"
fir), but often fine-grained and light ("yellow" fir). It is the chief
tree of Washington and Oregon, and most abundant and most valuable in
British Columbia, where it attains its greatest size. From the plains
to the Pacific Ocean, and from Mexico to British Columbia.
=41. Red Fir= (_Pseudotsuga taxifolia_) (Oregon Pine, Puget Sound Pine,
Yellow Fir, Douglas Spruce, Red Pine). Heartwood light red or yellow
in color, sapwood narrow, nearly white, comparatively free from
resins, variable annual rings. Wood usually hard, strong, difficult to
work, durable, splinters easily. Used for heavy construction,
dimension timber, railway ties, doors, blinds, interior finish, piles,
etc. One of the most important of Western trees. From the plains to
the Pacific Ocean, and from Mexico to British America.
TAMARACK (See Larch)
YEW
Wood heavy, hard, extremely stiff and strong, of fine texture with a
pale yellow sapwood, and an orange-red heartwood; seasons well and is
quite durable. Extensively used for archery bows, turner's ware, etc.
The yews form no forests, but occur scattered with other conifers.
=42. Yew= (_Taxus brevifolia_). A small to medium-sized tree of the
Pacific region.
SECTION III
BROAD-LEAVED TREES
WOOD OF BROAD-LEAVED TREES
[Illustration: Fig. 4. Block of Oak. CS, cross-section; RS,
radial section; TS, tangential section; _mr_, medullary or
pith ray; _a_, height; _b_, width; and _e_, length of pith
ray.]
[Illustration: Fig. 5. Board of Oak. CS, cross-section; RS,
radial section; TS, tangential section; _v_, vessels or
pores, cut through.; A, slight curve in log which appears in
section as an islet.]
[Illustration: Fig. 6. Cross-section of Oak (Magnified about
5 times).]
On a cross-section of oak, the same arrangement of pith and bark, of
sapwood and heartwood, and the same disposition of the wood in
well-defined concentric or annual rings occur, but the rings are
marked by lines or rows of conspicuous pores or openings, which occupy
the greater part of the spring-wood for each ring (see Fig. 4, also
6), and are, in fact the hollows of vessels through which the cut has
been made. On the radial section or quarter-sawn board the several
layers appear as so many stripes (see Fig. 5); on the tangential
section or "bastard" face patterns similar to those mentioned for pine
wood are observed. But while the patterns in hard pine are marked by
the darker summer-wood, and are composed of plain, alternating stripes
of darker and lighter wood, the figures in oak (and other broad-leaved
woods) are due chiefly to the vessels, those of the spring-wood in oak
being the most conspicuous (see Fig. 5). So that in an oak table, the
darker, shaded parts are the spring-wood, the lighter unicolored parts
the summer-wood. On closer examination of the smooth cross-section of
oak, the spring-wood part of the ring is found to be formed in great
part of pores; large, round, or oval openings made by the cut through
long vessels. These are separated by a grayish and quite porous
tissue (see Fig. 6, A), which continues here and there in the form of
radial, often branched, patches (not the pith rays) into and through
the summer-wood to the spring-wood of the next ring. The large vessels
of the spring-wood, occupying six to ten per cent of the volume of a
log in very good oak, and twenty-five per cent or more in inferior and
narrow-ringed timber, are a very important feature, since it is
evident that the greater their share in the volume, the lighter and
weaker the wood. They are smallest near the pith, and grow wider
outward. They are wider in the stem than limb, and seem to be of
indefinite length, forming open channels, in some cases probably as
long as the tree itself. Scattered through the radiating gray patches
of porous wood are vessels similar to those of the spring-wood, but
decidedly smaller. These vessels are usually fewer and larger near the
outer portions of the ring. Their number and size can be utilized to
distinguish the oaks classed as white oaks from those classed as black
and red oaks. They are fewer and larger in red oaks, smaller but much
more numerous in white oaks. The summer-wood, except for these radial,
grayish patches, is dark colored and firm. This firm portion, divided
into bodies or strands by these patches of porous wood, and also by
fine, wavy, concentric lines of short, thin-walled cells (see Fig. 6,
A), consists of thin-walled fibres (see Fig. 7, B), and is the chief
element of strength in oak wood. In good white oak it forms one-half
or more of the wood, if it cuts like horn, and the cut surface is
shiny, and of a deep chocolate brown color. In very narrow-ringed wood
and in inferior red oak it is usually much reduced in quantity as well
as quality. The pith rays of the oak, unlike those of the coniferous
woods, are at least in part very large and conspicuous. (See Fig. 4;
their height indicated by the letter _a_, and their width by the
letter _b_.) The large medullary rays of oak are often twenty and more
cells wide, and several hundred cell rows in height, which amount
commonly to one or more inches. These large rays are conspicuous on
all sections. They appear as long, sharp, grayish lines on the
cross-sections; as short, thick lines, tapering at each end, on the
tangential or "bastard" face, and as broad, shiny bands, "the
mirrors," on the radial section. In addition to these coarse rays,
there is also a large number of small pith rays, which can be seen
only when magnified. On the whole, the pith rays form a much larger
part of the wood than might be supposed. In specimens of good white
oak it has been found that they form about sixteen to twenty-five per
cent of the wood.
[Illustration: Fig. 7. Portion of the Firm Bodies of Fibres
with Two Cells of a Small Pith Ray _mr_ (Highly Magnified).]
[Illustration: Fig. 8. Isolated Fibres and Cells, _a_, four
cells of wood, parenchyma; _b_, two cells from a pith ray;
_c_, a single joint or cell of a vessel, the openings _x_
leading into its upper and lower neighbors; _d_, tracheid;
_e_, wood fibre proper.]
Minute Structure
[Illustration: Fig. 9. Cross-section of Basswood (Magnified).
_v_, vessels; _mr_, pith rays.]
If a well-smoothed thin disk or cross-section of oak (say
one-sixteenth inch thick) is held up to the light, it looks very much
like a sieve, the pores or vessels appearing as clean-cut holes. The
spring-wood and gray patches are seen to be quite porous, but the firm
bodies of fibres between them are dense and opaque. Examined with a
magnifier it will be noticed that there is no such regularity of
arrangement in straight rows as is conspicuous in pine. On the
contrary, great irregularity prevails. At the same time, while the
pores are as large as pin holes, the cells of the denser wood, unlike
those of pine wood, are too small to be distinguished. Studied with
the microscope, each vessel is found to be a vertical row of a great
number of short, wide tubes, joined end to end (see Fig. 8, _c_). The
porous spring-wood and radial gray tracts are partly composed of
smaller vessels, but chiefly of tracheids, like those of pine, and of
shorter cells, the "wood parenchyma," resembling the cells of the
medullary rays. These latter, as well as the fine concentric lines
mentioned as occurring in the summer-wood, are composed entirely of
short tube-like parenchyma cells, with square or oblique ends (see
Fig. 8, _a_ and _b_). The wood fibres proper, which form the dark,
firm bodies referred to, are very fine, thread-like cells, one
twenty-fifth to one-tenth inch long, with a wall commonly so thick
that scarcely any empty internal space or lumen remains (see Figs. 8,
_e_, and 7, B). If, instead of oak, a piece of poplar or basswood (see
Fig. 9) had been used in this study, the structure would have been
found to be quite different. The same kinds of cell-elements, vessels,
etc., are, to be sure, present, but their combination and arrangement
are different, and thus from the great variety of possible
combinations results the great variety of structure and, in
consequence, of the qualities which distinguish the wood of
broad-leaved trees. The sharp distinction of sap wood and heartwood is
wanting; the rings are not so clearly defined; the vessels of the
wood are small, very numerous, and rather evenly scattered through the
wood of the annual rings, so that the distinction of the ring almost
vanishes and the medullary or pith rays in poplar can be seen, without
being magnified, only on the radial section.
LIST OF MOST IMPORTANT BROAD-LEAVED TREES (HARDWOODS)
Woods of complex and very variable structure, and therefore differing
widely in quality, behavior, and consequently in applicability to the
arts.
AILANTHUS
=1. Ailanthus= (_Ailanthus glandulosa_). Medium to large-sized tree.
Wood pale yellow, hard, fine-grained, and satiny. This species
originally came from China, where it is known as the Tree of "Heaven,"
was introduced into the United States and planted near Philadelphia
during the 18th century, and is more ornamental than useful. It is
used to some extent in cabinet work. Western Pennsylvania and Long
Island, New York.
ASH
Wood heavy, hard, stiff, quite tough, not durable in contact with the
soil, straight-grained, rough on the split surfaces and coarse in
texture. The wood shrinks moderately, seasons with little injury,
stands well, and takes a good polish. In carpentry, ash is used for
stairways, panels, etc. It is used in shipbuilding, in the
construction of cars, wagons, etc., in the manufacture of all kinds of
farm implements, machinery, and especially of all kinds of furniture;
for cooperage, baskets, oars, tool handles, hoops, etc., etc. The
trees of the several species of ash are rapid growers, of small to
medium height with stout trunks. They form no forests, but occur
scattered in almost all our broad-leaved forests.
=2. White Ash= (_Fraxinus Americana_). Medium-, sometimes large-sized
tree. Heartwood reddish brown, usually mottled; sapwood lighter color,
nearly white. Wood heavy, hard, tough, elastic, coarse-grained,
compact structure. Annual rings clearly marked by large open pores,
not durable in contact with the soil, is straight-grained, and the
best material for oars, etc. Used for agricultural implements, tool
handles, automobile (rim boards), vehicle bodies and parts, baseball
bats, interior finish, cabinet work, etc., etc. Basin of the Ohio, but
found from Maine to Minnesota and Texas.
=3. Red Ash= (_Fraxinus pubescens_ var. _Pennsylvanica_). Medium-sized
tree, a timber very similar to, but smaller than _Fraxinus Americana_.
Heartwood light brown, sapwood lighter color. Wood heavy, hard,
strong, and coarse-grained. Ranges from New Brunswick to Florida, and
westward to Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas.
=4. Black Ash= (_Fraxinus nigra_ var. _sambucifolia_) (Hoop Ash, Ground
Ash). Medium-sized tree, very common, is more widely distributed than
the _Fraxinus Americana_; the wood is not so hard, but is well suited
for hoops and basketwork. Heartwood dark brown, sapwood light brown or
white. Wood heavy, rather soft, tough and coarse-grained. Used for
barrel hoops, basketwork, cabinetwork and interior of houses. Maine to
Minnesota and southward to Alabama.
=5. Blue Ash= (_Fraxinus quadrangulata_). Small to medium-sized tree.
Heartwood yellow, streaked with brown, sapwood a lighter color. Wood
heavy, hard, and coarse-grained. Not common. Indiana and Illinois;
occurs from Michigan to Minnesota and southward to Alabama.
=6. Green Ash= (_Fraxinus viridis_). Small-sized tree. Occurs from New
York to the Rocky Mountains, and southward to Florida and Arizona.
=7. Oregon Ash= (_Fraxinus Oregana_). Small to medium-sized tree. Occurs
from western Washington to California.
=8. Carolina Ash= (_Fraxinus Caroliniana_). Medium-sized tree. Occurs in
the Carolinas and the coast regions southward.
ASPEN (See Poplar)
BASSWOOD
=9. Basswood= (_Tilia Americana_) (Linden, Lime Tree, American Linden,
Lin, Bee Tree). Medium- to large-sized tree. Wood light, soft, stiff,
but not strong, of fine texture, straight and close-grained, and white
to light brown color, but not durable in contact with the soil. The
wood shrinks considerably in drying, works well and stands well in
interior work. It is used for cooperage, in carpentry, in the
manufacture of furniture and woodenware (both turned and carved), for
toys, also for panelling of car and carriage bodies, for agricultural
implements, automobiles, sides and backs of drawers, cigar boxes,
excelsior, refrigerators, trunks, and paper pulp. It is also largely
cut for veneer and used as "three-ply" for boxes and chair seats. It
is used for sounding boards in pianos and organs. If well seasoned and
painted it stands fairly well for outside work. Common in all northern
broad-leaved forests. Found throughout the eastern United States, but
reaches its greatest size in the Valley of the Ohio, becoming often
130 feet in height, but its usual height is about 70 feet.
=10. White Basswood= (_Tilia heterophylla_) (Whitewood). A small-sized
tree. Wood in its quality and uses similar to the preceding, only it
is lighter in color. Most abundant in the Alleghany region.
=11. White Basswood= (_Tilia pubescens_) (Downy Linden, Small-leaved
Basswood). Small-sized tree. Wood in its quality and uses similar to
_Tilia Americana_. This is a Southern species which makes it way as
far north as Long Island. Is found at its best in South Carolina.
BEECH
=12. Beech= (_Fagus ferruginea_) (Red Beech, White Beech). Medium-sized
tree, common, sometimes forming forests of pure growth. Wood heavy,
hard, stiff, strong, of rather coarse texture, white to light brown
color, not durable in contact with the soil, and subject to the
inroads of boring insects. Rather close-grained, conspicuous medullary
rays, and when quarter-sawn and well smoothed is very beautiful. The
wood shrinks and checks considerably in drying, works well and stands
well, and takes a fine polish. Beech is comparatively free from
objectionable taste, and finds a place in the manufacture of
commodities which come in contact with foodstuffs, such as lard tubs,
butter boxes and pails, and the beaters of ice cream freezers; for the
latter the persistent hardness of the wood when subjected to attrition
and abrasion, while wet gives it peculiar fitness. It is an excellent
material for churns. Sugar hogsheads are made of beech, partly because
it is a tasteless wood and partly because it has great strength. A
large class of woodenware, including veneer plates, dishes, boxes,
paddles, scoops, spoons, and beaters, which belong to the kitchen and
pantry, are made of this species of wood. Beech picnic plates are made
by the million, a single machine turning out 75,000 a day. The wood
has a long list of miscellaneous uses and enters in a great variety of
commodities. In every region where it grows in commercial quantities
it is made into boxes, baskets, and crating. Beech baskets are chiefly
employed in shipping fruit, berries, and vegetables. In Maine thin
veneer of beech is made specially for the Sicily orange and lemon
trade. This is shipped in bulk and the boxes are made abroad. Beech is
also an important handle wood, although not in the same class with
hickory. It is not selected because of toughness and resiliency, as
hickory is, and generally goes into plane, handsaw, pail, chisel, and
flatiron handles. Recent statistics show that in the production of
slack cooperage staves, only two woods, red gum and pine, stood above
beech in quantity, while for heading, pine alone exceeded it. It is
also used in turnery, for shoe lasts, butcher blocks, ladder rounds,
etc. Abroad it is very extensively used by the carpenter, millwright,
and wagon maker, in turnery and wood carving. Most abundant in the
Ohio and Mississippi basin, but found from Maine to Wisconsin and
southward to Florida.
BIRCH
=13. Cherry Birch= (_Betula lenta_) (Black Birch, Sweet Birch, Mahogany
Birch, Wintergreen Birch). Medium-sized tree, very common. Wood of
beautiful reddish or yellowish brown, and much of it nicely figured,
of compact structure, is straight in grain, heavy, hard, strong, takes
a fine polish, and considerably used as imitation of mahogany. The
wood shrinks considerably in drying, works well and stands well, but
is not durable in contact with the soil. The medullary rays in birch
are very fine and close and not easily seen. The sweet birch is very
handsome, with satiny luster, equalling cherry, and is too costly a
wood to be profitably used for ordinary purposes, but there are both
high and low grades of birch, the latter consisting chiefly of sapwood
and pieces too knotty for first class commodities. This cheap material
swells the supply of box lumber, and a little of it is found wherever
birch passes through sawmills. The frequent objections against sweet
birch as box lumber and crating material are that it is hard to nail
and is inclined to split. It is also used for veneer picnic plates and
butter dishes, although it is not as popular for this class of
commodity as are yellow and paper birch, maple and beech. The best
grades are largely used for furniture and cabinet work, and also for
interior finish. Maine to Michigan and to Tennessee.
=14. White Birch= (_Betula populifolia_) (Gray Birch, Old Field Birch,
Aspen-leaved Birch). Small to medium-sized tree, least common of all
the birches. Short-lived, twenty to thirty feet high, grows very
rapidly. Heartwood light brown, sapwood lighter color. Wood light,
soft, close-grained, not strong, checks badly in drying, decays
quickly, not durable in contact with the soil, takes a good polish.
Used for spools, shoepegs, wood pulp, and barrel hoops. Fuel, value
not high, but burns with bright flame. Ranges from Nova Scotia and
lower St. Lawrence River, southward, mostly in the coast region to
Delaware, and westward through northern New England and New York to
southern shore of Lake Ontario.
=15. Yellow Birch= (_Betula lutea_) (Gray Birch, Silver Birch). Medium-
to large-sized tree, very common. Heartwood light reddish brown,
sapwood nearly white, close-grained, compact structure, with a satiny
luster. Wood heavy, very strong, hard, tough, susceptible of high
polish, not durable when exposed. Is similar to _Betula lenta_, and
finds a place in practically all kinds of woodenware. A large
percentage of broom handles on the market are made of this species of
wood, though nearly every other birch contributes something. It is
used for veneer plates and dishes made for pies, butter, lard, and
many other commodities. Tubs and pails are sometimes made of yellow
birch provided weight is not objectionable. The wood is twice as heavy
as some of the pines and cedars. Many small handles for such articles
as flatirons, gimlets, augers, screw drivers, chisels, varnish and
paint brushes, butcher and carving knives, etc. It is also widely used
for shipping boxes, baskets, and crates, and it is one of the
stiffest, strongest woods procurable, but on account of its excessive
weight it is sometimes discriminated against. It is excellent for
veneer boxes, and that is probably one of the most important places it
fills. Citrus fruit from northern Africa and the islands and countries
of the Mediterranean is often shipped to market in boxes made of
yellow birch from veneer cut in New England. The better grades are
also used for furniture and cabinet work, and the "burls" found on
this species are highly valued for making fancy articles, gavels, etc.
It is extensively used for turnery, buttons, spools, bobbins, wheel
hubs, etc. Maine to Minnesota and southward to Tennessee.
=16. Red Birch= (_Betula rubra_ var. _nigra_) (River Birch). Small to
medium-sized tree, very common. Lighter and less valuable than the
preceding. Heartwood light brown, sapwood pale. Wood light, fairly
strong and close-grained. Red birch is best developed in the middle
South, and usually grows near the banks of rivers. Its bark hangs in
tatters, even worse than that of paper birch, but it is darker. In
Tennessee the slack coopers have found that red birch makes excellent
barrel heads and it is sometimes employed in preference to other
woods. In eastern Maryland the manufacturers of peach baskets draw
their supplies from this wood, and substitute it for white elm in
making the hoops or bands which stiffen the top of the basket, and
provide a fastening for the veneer which forms the sides. Red birch
bends in a very satisfactory manner, which is an important point. This
wood enters pretty generally into the manufacture of woodenware within
its range, but statistics do not mention it by name. It is also used
in the manufacture of veneer picnic plates, pie plates, butter dishes,
washboards, small handles, kitchen and pantry utensils, and ironing
boards. New England to Texas and Missouri.
=17. Canoe Birch= (_Betula paprifera_) (White Birch, Paper Birch). Small
to medium-sized tree, sometimes forming forests, very common.
Heartwood light brown tinged with red, sapwood lighter color. Wood of
good quality, but light, fairly hard and strong, tough, close-grained.
Sap flows freely in spring and by boiling can be made into syrup. Not
as valuable as any of the preceding. Canoe birch is a northern tree,
easily identified by its white trunk and its ragged bark. Large
numbers of small wooden boxes are made by boring out blocks of this
wood, shaping them in lathes, and fitting lids on them. Canoe birch is
one of the best woods for this class of commodities, because it can be
worked very thin, does not split readily, and is of pleasing color.
Such boxes, or two-piece diminutive kegs, are used as containers for
articles shipped and sold in small bulk, such as tacks, small nails,
and brads. Such containers are generally cylindrical and of
considerably greater depth than diameter. Many others of nearly
similar form are made to contain ink bottles, bottles of perfumery,
drugs, liquids, salves, lotions, and powders of many kinds. Many boxes
of this pattern are used by manufacturers of pencils and crayons for
packing and shipping their wares. Such boxes are made in numerous
numbers by automatic machinery. A single machine of the most improved
pattern will turn out 1,400 boxes an hour. After the boring and
turning are done, they are smoothed by placing them into a tumbling
barrel with soapstone. It is also used for one-piece shallow trays or
boxes, without lids, and used as card receivers, pin receptacles,
butter boxes, fruit platters, and contribution plates in churches. It
is also the principal wood used for spools, bobbins, bowls, shoe
lasts, pegs, and turnery, and is also much used in the furniture
trade. All along the northern boundary of the United States and
northward, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
BLACK WALNUT (See Walnut)
BLUE BEECH
=18. Blue Beech= (_Carpinus Caroliniana_) (Hornbeam, Water Beech,
Ironwood). Small-sized tree. Heartwood light brown, sapwood nearly
white. Wood very hard, heavy, strong, very stiff, of rather fine
texture, not durable in contact with the soil, shrinks and checks
considerably in drying, but works well and stands well, and takes a
fine polish. Used chiefly in turnery, for tool handles, etc. Abroad
much used by mill-and wheelwrights. A small tree, largest in the
Southwest, but found in nearly all parts of the eastern United States.
BOIS D'ARC (See Osage Orange)
BUCKEYE
Wood light, soft, not strong, often quite tough, of fine, uniform
texture and creamy white color. It shrinks considerably in drying, but
works well and stands well. Used for woodenware, artificial limbs,
paper pulp, and locally also for building construction.
=19. Ohio Buckeye= (_Æsculus glabra_) (Horse Chestnut, Fetid Buckeye).
Small-sized tree, scattered, never forming forests. Heartwood white,
sapwood pale brown. Wood light, soft, not strong, often quite tough
and close-grained. Alleghanies, Pennsylvania to Oklahoma.
=20. Sweet Buckeye= (_Æsculus octandra_ var. _flava_) (Horse Chestnut).
Small-sized tree, scattered, never forming forests. Wood in its
quality and uses similar to the preceding. Alleghanies, Pennsylvania
to Texas.
BUCKTHORNE
=21. Buckthorne= (_Rhanmus Caroliniana_) (Indian Cherry). Small-sized
tree. Heartwood light brown, sapwood almost white. Wood light, hard,
close-grained. Does not enter the markets to any great extent. Found
along the borders of streams in rich bottom lands. Its northern limits
is Long Island, where it is only a shrub; it becomes a tree only in
southern Arkansas and adjoining regions.
BUTTERNUT
=22. Butternut= (_Juglans cinerea_) (White Walnut, White Mahogany,
Walnut). Medium-sized tree, scattered, never forming forests. Wood
very similar to black walnut, but light, quite soft, and not strong.
Heartwood light gray-brown, darkening with exposure; sapwood nearly
white, coarse-grained, compact structure, easily worked, and
susceptible to high polish. Has similar grain to black walnut and when
stained is a very good imitation. Is much used for inside work, and
very durable. Used chiefly for finishing lumber, cabinet work, boat
finish and fixtures, and for furniture. Butternut furniture is often
sold as circassian walnut. Largest and most common in the Ohio basin.
Maine to Minnesota and southward to Georgia and Alabama.
CATALPA
The catalpa is a tree which was planted about 25 years ago as a
commercial speculation in Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. Its native
habitat was along the rivers Ohio and lower Wabash, and a century ago
it gained a reputation for rapid growth and durability, but did not
grow in large quantities. As a railway tie, experiments have left no
doubt as to its resistance to decay; it stands abrasion as well as the
white oak (_Quercus alba_), and is superior to it in longevity.
Catalpa is a tree singularly free from destructive diseases. Wood cut
from the living tree is one of the most durable timbers known. In
spite of its light porous structure it resists the weathering
influences and the attacks of wood-destroying fungi to a remarkable
degree. No fungus has yet been found which will grow in the dead
timber, and for fence posts this wood has no equal, lasting longer
than almost any other species of timber. The wood is rather soft and
coarse in texture, the tree is of slow growth, and the brown colored
heartwood, even of very young trees, forms nearly three-quarters of
their volume. There is only about one-quarter inch of sapwood in a
9-inch tree.
=23. Catalpa= (_Catalpa speciosa_ var. _bignonioides_) (Indian Bean).
Medium-sized tree. Heartwood light brown, sapwood nearly white. Wood
light, soft, not strong, brittle, very durable in contact with the
soil, of coarse texture. Used chiefly for railway ties, telegraph
poles, and fence posts, but well suited for a great variety of uses.
Lower basin of the Ohio River, locally common. Extensively planted,
and therefore promising to become of some importance.
CHERRY
=24. Cherry= (_Prunus serotina_) (Wild Cherry, Black Cherry, Rum
Cherry). Wood heavy, hard, strong, of fine texture. Sapwood yellowish
white, heartwood reddish to brown. The wood shrinks considerably in
drying, works well and stands well, has a fine satin-like luster, and
takes a fine polish which somewhat resembles mahogany, and is much
esteemed for its beauty. Cherry is chiefly used as a decorative
interior finishing lumber, for buildings, cars and boats, also for
furniture and in turnery, for musical instruments, walking sticks,
last blocks, and woodenware. It is becoming too costly for many
purposes for which it is naturally well suited. The lumber-furnishing
cherry of the United States, the wild black cherry, is a small to
medium-sized tree, scattered through many of the broad-leaved trees of
the western slope of the Alleghanies, but found from Michigan to
Florida, and west to Texas. Other species of this genus, as well as
the hawthornes (_Prunus cratoegus_) and wild apple (_Pyrus_), are not
commonly offered in the markets. Their wood is of the same character
as cherry, often finer, but in smaller dimensions.
=25. Red Cherry= (_Prunus Pennsylvanica_) (Wild Red Cherry, Bird
Cherry). Small-sized tree. Heartwood light brown, sapwood pale yellow.
Wood light, soft, and close-grained. Uses similiar to the preceding,
common throughout the Northern States, reaching its greatest size on
the mountains of Tennessee.
CHESTNUT
The chestnut is a long-lived tree, attaining an age of from 400 to 600
years, but trees over 100 years are usually hollow. It grows quickly,
and sprouts from a chestnut stump (Coppice Chestnut) often attain a
height of 8 feet in the first year. It has a fairly cylindrical stem,
and often grows to a height of 100 feet and over. Coppice chestnut,
that is, chestnut grown on an old stump, furnishes better timber for
working than chestnut grown from the nut, it is heavier, less spongy,
straighter in grain, easier to split, and stands exposure longer.
=26. Chestnut= (_Castanea vulgaris_ var. _Americana_). Medium-to
large-sized tree, never forming forests. Wood is light, moderately
hard, stiff, elastic, not strong, but very durable when in contact
with the soil, of coarse texture. Sapwood light, heartwood darker
brown, and is readily distinguishable from the sapwood, which very
early turns into heartwood. It shrinks and checks considerably in
drying, works easily, stands well. The annual rings are very distinct,
medullary rays very minute and not visible to the naked eye. Used in
cooperage, for cabinetwork, agricultural implements, railway ties,
telegraph poles, fence posts, sills, boxes, crates, coffins,
furniture, fixtures, foundation for veneer, and locally in heavy
construction. Very common in the Alleghanies. Occurs from Maine to
Michigan and southward to Alabama.
=27. Chestnut= (_Castanea dentata_ var. _vesca_). Medium-sized tree,
never forming forests, not common. Heartwood brown color, sapwood
lighter shade, coarse-grained. Wood and uses similar to the preceding.
Occurs scattered along the St. Lawrence River, and even there is met
with only in small quantities.
=28. Chinquapin= (_Castanea pumila_). Medium- to small-sized tree, with
wood slightly heavier, but otherwise similiar to the preceding. Most
common in Arkansas, but with nearly the same range as _Castanea
vulgaris_.
=29. Chinquapin= (_Castanea chrysophylla_). A medium-sized tree of the
western ranges of California and Oregon.
COFFEE TREE
=30. Coffee Tree= (_Gymnocladus dioicus_) (Coffee Nut, Stump Tree). A
medium- to large-sized tree, not common. Wood heavy, hard, strong,
very stiff, of coarse texture, and durable. Sapwood yellow, heartwood
reddish brown, shrinks and checks considerably in drying, works well
and stands well, and takes a fine polish. It is used to a limited
extent in cabinetwork and interior finish. Pennsylvania to Minnesota
and Arkansas.
COTTONWOOD (See Poplar)
CRAB APPLE
=31. Crab Apple= (_Pyrus coronaria_) (Wild Apple, Fragrant Crab).
Small-sized tree. Heartwood reddish brown, sapwood yellow. Wood heavy,
hard, not strong, close-grained. Used principally for tool handles and
small domestic articles. Most abundant in the middle and western
states, reaches its greatest size in the valleys of the lower Ohio
basin.
CUCUMBER TREE (See Magnolia)
DOGWOOD
=32. Dogwood= (_Cornus florida_) (American Box). Small to medium-sized
tree. Attains a height of about 30 feet and about 12 inches in
diameter. The heartwood is a red or pinkish color, the sapwood, which
is considerable, is a creamy white. The wood has a dull surface and
very fine grain. It is valuable for turnery, tool handles, and
mallets, and being so free from silex, watchmakers use small splinters
of it for cleaning out the pivot holes of watches, and opticians for
removing dust from deep-seated lenses. It is also used for butchers'
skewers, and shuttle blocks and wheel stock, and is suitable for
turnery and inlaid work. Occurs scattered in all the broad-leaved
forests of our country; very common.
ELM
Wood heavy, hard, strong, elastic, very tough, moderately durable in
contact with the soil, commonly cross-grained, difficult to split and
shape, warps and checks considerably in drying, but stands well if
properly seasoned. The broad sapwood whitish, heartwood light brown,
both with shades of gray and red. On split surfaces rough, texture
coarse to fine, capable of high polish. Elm for years has been the
principal wood used in slack cooperage for barrel staves, also in the
construction of cars, wagons, etc., in boat building, agricultural
implements and machinery, in saddlery and harness work, and
particularly in the manufacture of all kinds of furniture, where the
beautiful figures, especially those of the tangential or bastard
section, are just beginning to be appreciated. The elms are medium- to
large-sized trees, of fairly rapid growth, with stout trunks; they
form no forests of pure growth, but are found scattered in all the
broad-leaved woods of our country, sometimes forming a considerable
portion of the arborescent growth.
=33. White Elm= (_Ulmus Americana_) (American Elm, Water Elm). Medium-
to large-sized tree. Wood in its quality and uses as stated above.
Common. Maine to Minnesota, southward to Florida and Texas.
=34. Rock Elm= (_Ulmus racemosa_) (Cork Elm, Hickory Elm, White Elm,
Cliff Elm). Medium- to large-sized tree of rapid growth. Heartwood
light brown, often tinged with red, sapwood yellowish or greenish
white, compact structure, fibres interlaced. Wood heavy, hard, very
tough, strong, elastic, difficult to split, takes a fine polish. Used
for agricultural implements, automobiles, crating, boxes, cooperage,
tool handles, wheel stock, bridge timbers, sills, interior finish,
and maul heads. Fairly free from knots and has only a small quantity
of sapwood. Michigan, Ohio, from Vermont to Iowa, and southward to
Kentucky.
=35. Red Elm= (_Ulmus fulva_ var. _pubescens_) (Slippery Elm, Moose
Elm). The red or slippery elm is not as large a tree as the white elm
(_Ulmus Americana_), though it occasionally attains a height of 135
feet and a diameter of 4 feet. It grows tall and straight, and thrives
in river valleys. The wood is heavy, hard, strong, tough, elastic,
commonly cross-grained, moderately durable in contact with the soil,
splits easily when green, works fairly well, and stands well if
properly handled. Careful seasoning and handling are essential for the
best results. Trees can be utilized for posts when very small. When
green the wood rots very quickly in contact with the soil. Poles for
posts should be cut in summer and peeled and dried before setting. The
wood becomes very tough and pliable when steamed, and is of value for
sleigh runners and for ribs of canoes and skiffs. Together with white
elm (_Ulmus Americana_) it is extensively used for barrel staves in
slack cooperage and also for furniture. The thick, viscous inner bark,
which gives the tree its descriptive name, is quite palatable,
slightly nutritious, and has a medicinal value. Found chiefly along
water courses. New York to Minnesota, and southward to Florida and
Texas.
=36. Cedar Elm= (_Ulmus crassifolia_). Medium- to small-sized tree,
locally quite common. Arkansas and Texas.
=37. Winged Elm= (_Ulmus alata_) (Wahoo). Small-sized tree, locally
quite common. Heartwood light brown, sapwood yellowish white. Wood
heavy, hard, tough, strong, and close-grained. Arkansas, Missouri, and
eastern Virginia.
[Illustration: Fig. 10. A Large Red Gum.]
GUM
This general term applies to three important species of gum in the
South, the principal one usually being distinguished as "red" or
"sweet" gum (see Fig. 10). The next in importance being the "tupelo"
or "bay poplar," and the least of the trio is designated as "black" or
"sour" gum (see Fig. 11). Up to the year 1900 little was known of gum
as a wood for cooperage purposes, but by the continued advance in
price of the woods used, a few of the most progressive manufacturers,
looking into the future, saw that the supply of the various woods in
use was limited, that new woods would have to be sought, and gum was
looked upon as a possible substitute, owing to its cheapness and
abundant supply. No doubt in the future this wood will be used to a
considerable extent in the manufacture of both "tight" and "slack"
cooperage. In the manufacture of the gum, unless the knives and saws
are kept very sharp, the wood has a tendency to break out, the corners
splitting off; and also, much difficulty has been experienced in
seasoning and kiln-drying.
[Illustration: Fig. 11. A Tupelo Gum Slough.]
In the past, gum, having no marketable value, has been left standing
after logging operations, or, where the land has been cleared for
farming, the trees have been "girdled" and allowed to rot, and then
felled and burned as trash. Now, however, that there is a market for
this species of timber, it will be profitable to cut the gum with the
other hardwoods, and this species of wood will come in for a greater
share of attention than ever before.
=38. Red Gum= (_Liquidamber styraciflua_) (Sweet Gum, Hazel Pine, Satin
Walnut, Liquidamber, Bilsted). The wood is about as stiff and as
strong as chestnut, rather heavy, it splits easily and is quite brash,
commonly cross-grained, of fine texture, and has a large proportion of
whitish sapwood, which decays rapidly when exposed to the weather; but
the reddish brown heartwood is quite durable, even in the ground. The
external appearance of the wood is of fine grain and smooth, close
texture, but when broken the lines of fracture do not run with
apparent direction of the growth; possibly it is this unevenness of
grain which renders the wood so difficult to dry without twisting and
warping. It has little resiliency; can be easily bent when steamed,
and when properly dried will hold its shape. The annual rings are not
distinctly marked, medullary rays fine and numerous. The green wood
contains much water, and consequently is heavy and difficult to float,
but when dry it is as light as basswood. The great amount of water in
the green wood, particularly in the sap, makes it difficult to season
by ordinary methods without warping and twisting. It does not check
badly, is tasteless and odorless, and when once seasoned, swells and
shrinks but little unless exposed to the weather. Used for boat
finish, veneers, cabinet work, furniture, fixtures, interior
decoration, shingles, paving blocks, woodenware, cooperage, machinery
frames, refrigerators, and trunk slats.
Range of Red Gum
Red gum is distributed from Fairfield County, Conn., to southeastern
Missouri, through Arkansas and Oklahoma to the valley of the Trinity
River in Texas, and eastward to the Atlantic coast. Its commercial
range is restricted, however, to the moist lands of the lower Ohio and
Mississippi basins and of the Southeastern coast. It is one of the
commonest timber trees in the hardwood bottoms and drier swamps of the
South. It grows in mixture with ash, cottonwood and oak (see Fig. 12).
It is also found to a considerable extent on the lower ridges and
slopes of the southern Appalachians, but there it does not reach
merchantable value and is of little importance. Considerable
difference is found between the growth in the upper Mississippi
bottoms and that along the rivers on the Atlantic coast and on the
Gulf. In the latter regions the bottoms are lower, and consequently
more subject to floods and to continued overflows (see Fig. 11). The
alluvial deposit is also greater, and the trees grow considerably
faster. Trees of the same diameter show a larger percentage of sapwood
there than in the upper portions of the Mississippi Valley. The
Mississippi Valley hardwood trees are for the most part considerably
older, and reach larger dimensions than the timber along the coast.
Form of the Red Gum
In the best situations red gum reaches a height of 150 feet, and a
diameter of 5 feet. These dimensions, however are unusual. The stem is
straight and cylindrical, with dark, deeply-furrowed bark, and
branches often winged with corky ridges. In youth, while growing
vigorously under normal conditions, it assumes a long, regular,
conical crown, much resembling the form of a conifer (see Fig. 12).
After the tree has attained its height growth, however, the crown
becomes rounded, spreading and rather ovate in shape. When growing in
the forest the tree prunes itself readily at an early period, and
forms a good length of clear stem, but it branches strongly after
making most of its height growth. The mature tree is usually forked,
and the place where the forking commences determines the number of
logs in the tree or its merchantable length, by preventing cutting to
a small diameter in the top. On large trees the stem is often not less
than eighteen inches in diameter where the branching begins. The
over-mature tree is usually broken and dry topped, with a very
spreading crown, in consequence of new branches being sent out.
Tolerance of Red Gum
Throughout its entire life red gum is intolerant in shade, there are
practically no red seedlings under the dense forest cover of the
bottom land, and while a good many may come up under the pine forest
on the drier uplands, they seldom develop into large trees. As a rule
seedlings appear only in clearings or in open spots in the forest. It
is seldom that an over-topped tree is found, for the gum dies quickly
if suppressed, and is consequently nearly always a dominant or
intermediate tree. In a hardwood bottom forest the timber trees are
all of nearly the same age over considerable areas, and there is
little young growth to be found in the older stands. The reason for
this is the intolerance of most of the swamp species. A scale of
intolerance containing the important species, and beginning with the
most light-demanding, would run as follows: Cottonwood, sycamore, red
gum, white elm, white ash, and red maple.
Demands upon Soil and Moisture
While the red gum grows in various situations, it prefers the deep,
rich soil of the hardwood bottoms, and there reaches its best
development (see Fig. 10). It requires considerable soil moisture,
though it does not grow in the wetter swamps, and does not thrive on
dry pine land. Seedlings, however, are often found in large numbers on
the edges of the uplands and even on the sandy pine land, but they
seldom live beyond the pole stage. When they do, they form small,
scrubby trees that are of little value. Where the soil is dry the tree
has a long tap root. In the swamps, where the roots can obtain water
easily, the development of the tap root is poor, and it is only
moderate on the glade bottom lands, where there is considerable
moisture throughout the year, but no standing water in the summer
months.
Reproduction of Red Gum
[Illustration: Fig. 12. Second Growth Red Gum, Ash,
Cottonwood, and Sycamore.]
Red gum reproduces both by seed and by sprouts (see Fig. 12). It
produces seed fairly abundantly every year, but about once in three
years there is an extremely heavy production. The tree begins to bear
seed when twenty-five to thirty years old, and seeds vigorously up to
an age of one hundred and fifty years, when its productive power
begins to diminish. A great part of the seed, however, is abortive.
Red gum is not fastidious in regard to its germinating bed; it comes
up readily on sod in old fields and meadows, on decomposing humus in
the forest, or on bare clay-loam or loamy sand soil. It requires a
considerable degree of light, however, and prefers a moist seed bed.
The natural distribution of the seed takes place for several hundred
feet from the seed trees, the dissemination depending almost entirely
on the wind. A great part of the seed falls on the hardwood bottom
when the land is flooded, and is either washed away or, if already in
the ground and germinating, is destroyed by the long-continued
overflow. After germinating, the red gum seedling demands, above
everything else, abundant light for its survival and development. It
is for this reason that there is very little growth of red gum, either
in the unculled forest or on culled land, where, as is usually the
case, a dense undergrowth of cane, briers, and rattan is present.
Under the dense underbrush of cane and briers throughout much of the
virgin forest, reproduction of any of the merchantable species is of
course impossible. And even where the land has been logged over, the
forest is seldom open enough to allow reproduction of cottonwood and
red gum. Where, however, seed trees are contiguous to pastures or
cleared land, scattered seedlings are found springing up in the open,
and where openings occur in the forest, there are often large numbers
of red gum seedlings, the reproduction generally occurring in groups.
But over the greater part of the Southern hardwood bottom land forest
reproduction is very poor. The growth of red gum during the early part
of its life, and up to the time it reaches a diameter of eight inches
breast-high, is extremely rapid, and, like most of the intolerant
species, it attains its height growth at an early period. Gum sprouts
readily from the stump, and the sprouts surpass the seedlings in rate
of height growth for the first few years, but they seldom form large
timber trees. Those over fifty years of age seldom sprout. For this
reason sprout reproduction is of little importance in the forest. The
principal requirements of red gum, then, are a moist, fairly rich soil
and good exposure to light. Without these it will not reach its best
development.
[Illustration: Fig. 13. A Cypress Slough in the Dry Season.]
Second-Growth Red Gum
Second-growth red gum occurs to any considerable extent only on land
which has been thoroughly cleared. Throughout the South there is a
great deal of land which was in cultivation before the Civil War, but
which during the subsequent period of industrial depression was
abandoned and allowed to revert to forest. These old fields now mostly
covered with second-growth forest, of which red gum forms an
important part (see Fig. 12). Frequently over fifty per cent of the
stand consists of this species, but more often, and especially on the
Atlantic coast, the greater part is of cottonwood or ash. These stands
are very dense, and the growth is extremely rapid. Small stands of
young growth are also often found along the edges of cultivated
fields. In the Mississippi Valley the abandoned fields on which young
stands have sprung up are for the most part being rapidly cleared
again. The second growth here is considered of little value in
comparison with the value of the land for agricultural purposes. In
many cases, however, the farm value of the land is not at present
sufficient to make it profitable to clear it, unless the timber cut
will at least pay for the operation. There is considerable land upon
which the second growth will become valuable timber within a few
years. Such land should not be cleared until it is possible to utilize
the timber.
=39. Tupelo Gum= (_Nyssa aquatica_) (Bay Poplar, Swamp Poplar, Cotton
Gum, Hazel Pine, Circassian Walnut, Pepperidge, Nyssa). The close
similarity which exists between red and tupelo gum, together with the
fact that tupelo is often cut along with red gum, and marketed with
the sapwood of the latter, makes it not out of place to give
consideration to this timber. The wood has a fine, uniform texture, is
moderately hard and strong, is stiff, not elastic, very tough and hard
to split, but easy to work with tools. Tupelo takes glue, paint, or
varnish well, and absorbs very little of the material. In this respect
it is equal to yellow poplar and superior to cottonwood. The wood is
not durable in contact with ground, and requires much care in
seasoning. The distinction between the heartwood and sapwood of this
species is marked. The former varies in color from a dull gray to a
dull brown; the latter is whitish or light yellow like that of poplar.
The wood is of medium weight, about thirty-two pounds per cubic foot
when dry, or nearly that of red gum and loblolly pine. After
seasoning it is difficult to distinguish the better grades of sapwood
from poplar. Owing to the prejudice against tupelo gum, it was until
recently marketed under such names as bay poplar, swamp poplar, nyssa,
cotton gum, circassian walnut, and hazel pine. Since it has become
evident that the properties of the wood fit it for many uses, the
demand for tupelo has largely increased, and it is now taking rank
with other standard woods under its rightful name. Heretofore the
quality and usefulness of this wood were greatly underestimated, and
the difficulty of handling it was magnified. Poor success in seasoning
and kiln-drying was laid to defects of the wood itself, when, as a
matter of fact, the failures were largely due to the absence of proper
methods in handling. The passing of this prejudice against tupelo is
due to a better understanding of the characteristics and uses of the
wood. Handled in the way in which its particular character demands,
tupelo is a wood of much value.
Uses of Tupelo Gum
Tupelo gum is now used in slack cooperage, principally for heading. It
is used extensively for house flooring and inside finishing, such as
mouldings, door jambs, and casings. A great deal is now shipped to
European countries, where it is highly valued for different classes of
manufacture. Much of the wood is used in the manufacture of boxes,
since it works well upon rotary veneer machines. There is also an
increasing demand for tupelo for laths, wooden pumps, violin and organ
sounding boards, coffins, mantelwork, conduits and novelties. It is
also used in the furniture trade for backing, drawers, and panels.
Range of Tupelo Gum
Tupelo occurs throughout the coastal region of the Atlantic States,
from southern Virginia to northern Florida, through the Gulf States to
the valley of the Nueces River in Texas, through Arkansas and southern
Missouri to western Kentucky and Tennessee, and to the valley of the
lower Wabash River. Tupelo is being extensively milled at present only
in the region adjacent to Mobile Ala., and in southern and central
Louisiana, where it occurs in large merchantable quantities, attaining
its best development in the former locality. The country in this
locality is very swampy (see Fig. 11), and within a radius of one
hundred miles tupelo gum is one of the principal timber trees. It
grows only in the swamps and wetter situations (see Fig. 11), often in
mixture with cypress, and in the rainy season it stands in from two to
twenty feet of water.
=40. Black Gum= (_Nyssa sylvatica_) (Sour Gum). Black gum is not cut to
much extent, owing to its less abundant supply and poorer quality, but
is used for repair work on wagons, for boxes, crates, wagon hubs,
rollers, bowls, woodenware, and for cattle yokes and other purposes
which require a strong, non-splitting wood. Heartwood is light brown
in color, often nearly white; sapwood hardly distinguishable, fine
grain, fibres interwoven. Wood is heavy, not hard, difficult to work,
strong, very tough, checks and warps considerably in drying, not
durable. It is distributed from Maine to southern Ontario, through
central Michigan to southeastern Missouri, southward to the valley of
the Brazos River in Texas, and eastward to the Kissimmee River and
Tampa Bay in Florida. It is found in the swamps and hardwood bottoms,
but is more abundant and of better size on the slightly higher ridges
and hummocks in these swamps, and on the mountain slopes in the
southern Alleghany region. Though its range is greater than that of
either red or tupelo gum, it nowhere forms an important part of the
forest.
HACKBERRY
=41. Hackberry= (_Celtis occidentalis_) (Sugar Berry, Nettle Tree). The
wood is handsome, heavy, hard, strong, quite tough, of moderately fine
texture, and greenish or yellowish color, shrinks moderately, works
well and stands well, and takes a good polish. Used to some extent in
cooperage, and in the manufacture of cheap furniture. Medium- to
large-sized tree, locally quite common, largest in the lower
Mississippi Valley. Occurs in nearly all parts of the eastern United
States.
HICKORY
The hickories of commerce are exclusively North American and some of
them are large and beautiful trees of 60 to 70 feet or more in height.
They are closely allied to the walnut, and the wood is very like
walnut in grain and color, though of a somewhat darker brown. It is
one of the finest of American hardwoods in point of strength; in
toughness it is superior to ash, rather coarse in texture, smooth and
of straight grain, very heavy and strong as well as elastic and
tenacious, but decays rapidly, especially the sapwood when exposed to
damp and moisture, and is very liable to attack from worms and boring
insects. The cross-section of hickory is peculiar, the annual rings
appear like fine lines instead of like the usual pores, and the
medullary rays, which are also very fine but distinct, in crossing
these form a peculiar web-like pattern which is one of the
characteristic differences between hickory and ash. Hickory is rarely
subjected to artificial treatment, but there is this curious fact in
connection with the wood, that, contrary to most other woods, creosote
is only with difficulty injected into the sap, although there is no
difficulty in getting it into the heartwood. It dries slowly, shrinks
and checks considerably in seasoning; is not durable in contact with
the soil or if exposed. Hickory excels as wagon and carriage stock,
for hoops in cooperage, and is extensively used in the manufacture of
implements and machinery, for tool handles, timber pins, harness work,
dowel pins, golf clubs, and fishing rods. The hickories are tall trees
with slender stems, never forming forests, occasionally small groves,
but usually occur scattered among other broad-leaved trees in suitable
localities. The following species all contribute more or less to the
hickory of the markets:
=42. Shagbark Hickory= (_Hicoria ovata_) (Shellbark Hickory, Scalybark
Hickory). A medium- to large-sized tree, quite common; the favorite
among the hickories. Heartwood light brown, sapwood ivory or
cream-colored. Wood close-grained, compact structure, annual rings
clearly marked. Very hard, heavy, strong, tough, and flexible, but not
durable in contact with the soil or when exposed. Used for
agricultural implements, wheel runners, tool handles, vehicle parts,
baskets, dowel pins, harness work, golf clubs, fishing rods, etc. Best
developed in the Ohio and Mississippi basins; from Lake Ontario to
Texas, Minnesota to Florida.
=43. Mockernut Hickory= (_Hicoria alba_) (Black Nut Hickory, Black
Hickory, Bull Nut Hickory, Big Bud Hickory, White Heart Hickory). A
medium- to large-sized tree. Wood in its quality and uses similar to
the preceding. Its range is the same as that of _Hicoria ovata_.
Common, especially in the South.
=44. Pignut Hickory= (_Hicoria glabra_) (Brown Hickory, Black Hickory,
Switchbud Hickory). A medium- to large-sized tree. Heavier and
stronger than any of the preceding. Heartwood light to dark brown,
sapwood nearly white. Abundant, all eastern United States.
=45. Bitternut Hickory= (_Hicoria minima_) (Swamp Hickory). A
medium-sized tree, favoring wet localities. Heartwood light brown,
sapwood lighter color. Wood in its quality and uses not so valuable as
_Hicoria ovata_, but is used for the same purposes. Abundant, all
eastern United States.
=46. Pecan= (_Hicoria pecan_) (Illinois Nut). A large tree, very common
in the fertile bottoms of the western streams. Indiana to Nebraska and
southward to Louisiana and Texas.
HOLLY
=47. Holly= (_Ilex opaca_). Small to medium-sized tree. Wood of medium
weight, hard, strong, tough, of exceedingly fine grain, closer in
texture than most woods, of white color, sometimes almost as white as
ivory; requires great care in its treatment to preserve the whiteness
of the wood. It does not readily absorb foreign matter. Much used by
turners and for all parts of musical instruments, for handles on whips
and fancy articles, draught-boards, engraving blocks, cabinet work,
etc. The wood is often dyed black and sold as ebony; works well and
stands well. Most abundant in the lower Mississippi Valley and Gulf
States, but occurring eastward to Massachusetts and north to Indiana.
=48. Holly= (_Ilex monticolo_) (Mountain Holly). Small-sized tree. Wood
in its quality and uses similar to the preceding, but is not very
generally known. It is found in the Catskill Mountains and extends
southward along the Alleghanies as far as Alabama.
HORSE CHESTNUT (See Buckeye)
IRONWOOD
=49. Ironwood= (_Ostrya Virginiana_) (Hop Hornbeam, Lever Wood).
Small-sized tree, common. Heartwood light brown tinged with red,
sapwood nearly white. Wood heavy, tough, exceedingly close-grained,
very strong and hard, durable in contact with the soil, and will take
a fine polish. Used for small articles like levers, handles of tools,
mallets, etc. Ranges throughout the United States east of the Rocky
Mountains.
LAUREL
=50. Laurel= (_Umbellularia Californica_) (Myrtle). A Western tree,
produces timber of light brown color of great size and beauty, and is
very valuable for cabinet and inside work, as it takes a fine polish.
California and Oregon, coast range of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
LOCUST
=51. Black Locust= (_Robinia pseudacacia_) (Locust, Yellow Locust,
Acacia). Small to medium-sized tree. Wood very heavy, hard, strong,
and tough, rivalling some of the best oak in this latter quality. The
wood has great torsional strength, excelling most of the soft woods in
this respect, of coarse texture, close-grained and compact structure,
takes a fine polish. Annual rings clearly marked, very durable in
contact with the soil, shrinks and checks considerably in drying, the
very narrow sapwood greenish yellow, the heartwood brown, with shades
of red and green. Used for wagon hubs, trenails or pins, but
especially for railway ties, fence posts, and door sills. Also used
for boat parts, turnery, ornamentations, and locally for construction.
Abroad it is much used for furniture and farming implements and also
in turnery. At home in the Alleghany Mountains, extensively planted,
especially in the West.
=52. Honey Locust= (_Gleditschia triacanthos_) (Honey Shucks, Locust,
Black Locust, Brown Locust, Sweet Locust, False Acacia, Three-Thorned
Acacia). A medium-sized tree. Wood heavy, hard, strong, tough, durable
in contact with the soil, of coarse texture, susceptible to a good
polish. The narrow sapwood yellow, the heartwood brownish red. So far,
but little appreciated except for fences and fuel. Used to some extent
for wheel hubs, and locally in rough construction. Found from
Pennsylvania to Nebraska, and southward to Florida and Texas; locally
quite abundant.
=53. Locust= (_Robinia viscosa_) (Clammy Locust). Usually a shrub five
or six feet high, but known to reach a height of 40 feet in the
mountains of North Carolina, with the habit of a tree. Wood light
brown, heavy, hard, and close-grained. Not used to much extent in
manufacture. Range same as the preceding.
MAGNOLIA
=54. Magnolia= (_Magnolia glauca_) (Swamp Magnolia, Small Magnolia,
Sweet Bay, Beaver Wood). Small-sized tree. Heartwood reddish brown,
sap wood cream white. Sparingly used in manufacture. Ranges from Essex
County, Mass., to Long Island, N. Y., from New Jersey to Florida, and
west in the Gulf region to Texas.
=55. Magnolia= (_Magnolia tripetala_) (Umbrella Tree). A small-sized
tree. Wood in its quality similiar to the preceding. It may be easily
recognized by its great leaves, twelve to eighteen inches long, and
five to eight inches broad. This species as well as the preceding is
an ornamental tree. Ranges from Pennsylvania southward to the Gulf.
=56. Cucumber Tree= (_Magnolia accuminata_) (Tulip-wood, Poplar).
Medium- to large-sized tree. Heartwood yellowish brown, sapwood almost
white. Wood light, soft, satiny, close-grained, durable in contact
with the soil, resembling and sometimes confounded with tulip tree
(_Liriodendron tulipifera_) in the markets. The wood shrinks
considerably, but seasons without much injury, and works and stands
well. It bends readily when steamed, and takes stain and paint well.
Used in cooperage, for siding, for panelling and finishing lumber in
house, car and shipbuilding, etc., also in the manufacture of toys,
culinary woodenware, and backing for drawers. Most common in the
southern Alleghanies, but distributed from western New York to
southern Illinois, south through central Kentucky and Tennessee to
Alabama, and throughout Arkansas.
MAPLE
Wood heavy, hard, strong, stiff, and tough, of fine texture,
frequently wavy-grained, this giving rise to "curly" and "blister"
figures which are much admired. Not durable in the ground, or when
exposed. Maple is creamy white, with shades of light brown in the
heartwood, shrinks moderately, seasons, works, and stands well, wears
smoothly, and takes a fine polish. The wood is used in cooperage, and
for ceiling, flooring, panelling, stairway, and other finishing lumber
in house, ship, and car construction. It is used for the keels of
boats and ships, in the manufacture of implements and machinery, but
especially for furniture, where entire chamber sets of maple rival
those of oak. Maple is also used for shoe lasts and other form blocks;
for shoe pegs; for piano actions, school apparatus, for wood type in
show bill printing, tool handles, in wood carving, turnery, and scroll
work, in fact it is one of our most useful woods. The maples are
medium-sized trees, of fairly rapid growth, sometimes form forests,
and frequently constitute a large proportion of the arborescent
growth. They grow freely in parts of the Northern Hemisphere, and are
particularly luxuriant in Canada and the northern portions of the
United States.
=57. Sugar Maple= (_Acer saccharum_) (Hard Maple, Rock Maple). Medium-
to large-sized tree, very common, forms considerable forests, and is
especially esteemed. The wood is close-grained, heavy, fairly hard and
strong, of compact structure. Heartwood brownish, sapwood lighter
color; it can be worked to a satin-like surface and take a fine
polish, it is not durable if exposed, and requires a good deal of
seasoning. Medullary rays small but distinct. The "curly" or "wavy"
varieties furnish wood of much beauty, the peculiar contortions of the
grain called "bird's eye" being much sought after, and used as veneer
for panelling, etc. It is used in all good grades of furniture,
cabinetmaking, panelling, interior finish, and turnery; it is not
liable to warp and twist. It is also largely used for flooring, for
rollers for wringers and mangling machines, for which there is a large
and increasing demand. The peculiarity known as "bird's eye," and
which causes a difficulty in working the wood smooth, owing to the
little pieces like knots lifting up, is supposed to be due to the
action of boring insects. Its resistance to compression across the
grain is higher than that of most other woods. Ranges from Maine to
Minnesota, abundant, with birch, in the region of the Great Lakes.
=58. Red Maple= (_Acer rubrum_) (Swamp Maple, Soft Maple, Water Maple).
Medium-sized tree. Like the preceding but not so valuable. Scattered
along water-courses and other moist localities. Abundant. Maine to
Minnesota, southward to northern Florida.
=59. Silver Maple= (_Acer saccharinum_) (Soft Maple, White Maple,
Silver-Leaved Maple). Medium- to large-sized tree, common. Wood
lighter, softer, and inferior to _Acer saccharum_, and usually offered
in small quantities and held separate in the markets. Heartwood
reddish brown, sapwood ivory white, fine-grained, compact structure.
Fibres sometimes twisted, weaved, or curly. Not durable. Used in
cooperage for woodenware, turnery articles, interior decorations and
flooring. Valley of the Ohio, but occurs from Maine to Dakota and
southward to Florida.
=60. Broad-Leaved Maple= (_Acer macrophyllum_) (Oregon Maple).
Medium-sized tree, forms considerable forests, and, like the preceding
has a lighter, softer, and less valuable wood than _Acer saccharum_.
Pacific Coast regions.
=61. Mountain Maple= (_Acer spicatum_). Small-sized tree. Heartwood pale
reddish brown, sapwood lighter color. Wood light, soft, close-grained,
and susceptible of high polish. Ranges from lower St. Lawrence River
to northern Minnesota and regions of the Saskatchewan River; south
through the Northern States and along the Appalachian Mountains to
Georgia.
=62. Ash-Leaved Maple= (_Acer negundo_) (Box Elder). Medium- to
large-sized tree. Heartwood creamy white, sapwood nearly white. Wood
light, soft, close-grained, not strong. Used for woodenware and paper
pulp. Distributed across the continent, abundant throughout the
Mississippi Valley along banks of streams and borders of swamps.
=63. Striped Maple= (_Acer Pennsylvanicum_) (Moose-wood). Small-sized
tree. Produces a very white wood much sought after for inlaid and for
cabinet work. Wood is light, soft, close-grained, and takes a fine
polish. Not common. Occurs from Pennsylvania to Minnesota.
MULBERRY
=64. Red Mulberry= (_Morus rubra_). A small-sized tree. Wood moderately
heavy, fairly hard and strong, rather tough, of coarse texture, very
durable in contact with the soil. The sapwood whitish, heartwood
yellow to orange brown, shrinks and checks considerably in drying,
works well and stands well. Used in cooperage and locally in
construction, and in the manufacture of farm implements. Common in the
Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, but widely distributed in the eastern
United States.
MYRTLE (See Laurel)
OAK
Wood very variable, usually very heavy and hard, very strong and
tough, porous, and of coarse texture. The sapwood whitish, the
heartwood "oak" to reddish brown. It shrinks and checks badly, giving
trouble in seasoning, but stands well, is durable, and little subject
to the attacks of boring insects. Oak is used for many purposes, and
is the chief wood used for tight cooperage; it is used in
shipbuilding, for heavy construction, in carpentry, in furniture, car
and wagon work, turnery, and even in woodcarving. It is also used in
all kinds of farm implements, mill machinery, for piles and wharves,
railway ties, etc., etc. The oaks are medium- to large-sized trees,
forming the predominant part of a large proportion of our
broad-leaved forests, so that these are generally termed "oak
forests," though they always contain considerable proportion of other
kinds of trees. Three well-marked kinds--white, red, and live oak--are
distinguished and kept separate in the markets. Of the two principal
kinds "white oak" is the stronger, tougher, less porous, and more
durable. "Red oak" is usually of coarser texture, more porous, often
brittle, less durable, and even more troublesome in seasoning than
white oak. In carpentry and furniture work red oak brings the same
price at present as white oak. The red oaks everywhere accompany the
white oaks, and, like the latter, are usually represented by several
species in any given locality. "Live oak," once largely employed in
shipbuilding, possesses all the good qualities, except that of size,
of white oak, even to a greater degree. It is one of the heaviest,
hardest, toughest, and most durable woods of this country. In
structure it resembles the red oak, but is less porous.
=65. White Oak= (_Quercus alba_) (American Oak). Medium-to large-sized
tree. Heartwood light brown, sapwood lighter color. Annual rings well
marked, medullary rays broad and prominent. Wood tough, strong, heavy,
hard, liable to check in seasoning, durable in contact with the soil,
takes a high polish, very elastic, does not shrink much, and can be
bent to any form when steamed. Used for agricultural implements, tool
handles, furniture, fixtures, interior finish, car and wagon
construction, beams, cabinet work, tight cooperage, railway ties,
etc., etc. Because of the broad medullary rays, it is generally
"quarter-sawn" for cabinet work and furniture. Common in the Eastern
States, Ohio and Mississippi Valleys. Occurs throughout the eastern
United States.
=66. White Oak= (_Quercus durandii_). Medium- to small-sized tree. Wood
in its quality and uses similiar to the preceding. Texas, eastward to
Alabama.
=67. White Oak= (_Quercus garryana_) (Western White Oak). Medium- to
large-sized tree. Stronger, more durable, and wood more compact than
_Quercus alba_. Washington to California.
=68. White Oak= (_Quercus lobata_). Medium- to large-sized tree. Largest
oak on the Pacific Coast. Wood in its quality and uses similar to
_Quercus alba_, only it is finer-grained. California.
=69. Bur Oak= (_Quercus macrocarpa_) (Mossy-Cup Oak, Over-Cup Oak).
Large-sized tree. Heartwood "oak" brown, sapwood lighter color. Wood
heavy, strong, close-grained, durable in contact with the soil. Used
in ship- and boatbuilding, all sorts of construction, interior finish
of houses, cabinet work, tight cooperage, carriage and wagon work,
agricultural implements, railway ties, etc., etc. One of the most
valuable and most widely distributed of American oaks, 60 to 80 feet
in height, and, unlike most of the other oaks, adapts itself to
varying climatic conditions. It is one of the most durable woods when
in contact with the soil. Common, locally abundant. Ranges from
Manitoba to Texas, and from the foot hills of the Rocky Mountains to
the Atlantic Coast. It is the most abundant oak of Kansas and
Nebraska, and forms the scattered forests known as "The oak openings"
of Minnesota.
=70. Willow Oak= (_Quercus phellos_) (Peach oak). Small to medium-sized
tree. Heartwood pale reddish brown, sapwood lighter color. Wood heavy,
hard, strong, coarse-grained. Occasionally used in construction. New
York to Texas, and northward to Kentucky.
=71. Swamp White Oak= (_Quercus bicolor_ var. _platanoides_).
Large-sized tree. Heartwood pale brown, sapwood the same color. Wood
heavy, hard, strong, tough, coarse-grained, checks considerably in
seasoning. Used in construction, interior finish of houses,
carriage-and boatbuilding, agricultural implements, in cooperage,
railway ties, fencing, etc., etc. Ranges from Quebec to Georgia and
westward to Arkansas. Never abundant. Most abundant in the Lake
States.
=72. Over-Cup Oak= (_Quercus lyrata_) (Swamp White Oak, Swamp Post Oak).
Medium to large-sized tree, rather restricted, as it grows in the
swampy districts of Carolina and Georgia. Is a larger tree than most
of the other oaks, and produces an excellent timber, but grows in
districts difficult of access, and is not much used. Lower Mississippi
and eastward to Delaware.
=73. Pin Oak= (_Quercus palustris_) (Swamp Spanish Oak, Water Oak).
Medium- to large-sized tree. Heartwood pale brown with dark-colored
sap wood. Wood heavy, strong, and coarse-grained. Common along the
borders of streams and swamps, attains its greatest size in the valley
of the Ohio. Arkansas to Wisconsin, and eastward to the Alleghanies.
=74. Water Oak= (_Quercus aquatica_) (Duck Oak, Possum Oak). Medium- to
large-sized tree, of extremely rapid growth. Eastern Gulf States,
eastward to Delaware and northward to Missouri and Kentucky.
=75. Chestnut Oak= (_Quercus prinus_) (Yellow Oak, Rock Oak, Rock
Chestnut Oak). Heartwood dark brown, sapwood lighter color. Wood
heavy, hard, strong, tough, close-grained, durable in contact with the
soil. Used for railway ties, fencing, fuel, and locally for
construction. Ranges from Maine to Georgia and Alabama, westward
through Ohio, and southward to Kentucky and Tennessee.
=76. Yellow Oak= (_Quercus acuminata_) (Chestnut Oak, Chinquapin Oak).
Medium- to large-sized tree. Heartwood dark brown, sapwood pale brown.
Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, durable in contact with the
soil. Used in the manufacture of wheel stock, in cooperage, for
railway ties, fencing, etc., etc. Ranges from New York to Nebraska and
eastern Kansas, southward in the Atlantic region to the District of
Columbia, and west of the Alleghanies southward to the Gulf States.
=77. Chinquapin Oak= (_Quercus prinoides_) (Dwarf Chinquapin Oak, Scrub
Chestnut Oak). Small-sized tree. Heartwood light brown, sapwood darker
color. Does not enter the markets to any great extent. Ranges from
Massachusetts to North Carolina, westward to Missouri, Nebraska,
Kansas, and eastern Texas. Reaches its best form in Missouri and
Kansas.
=78. Basket Oak= (_Quercus michauxii_) (Cow Oak). Large-sized tree.
Locally abundant. Lower Mississippi and eastward to Delaware.
=79. Scrub Oak= (_Quercus ilicifolia_ var. _pumila_) (Bear Oak).
Small-sized tree. Heartwood light brown, sapwood darker color. Wood
heavy, hard, strong, and coarse-grained. Found in New England and
along the Alleghanies.
=80. Post Oak= (_Quercus obtusiloda_ var. _minor_) (Iron Oak). Medium-
to large-sized tree, gives timber of great strength. The color is of a
brownish yellow hue, close-grained, and often superior to the white
oak (_Quercus alba_) in strength and durability. It is used for posts
and fencing, and locally for construction. Arkansas to Texas, eastward
to New England and northward to Michigan.
=81. Red Oak= (_Quercus rubra_) (Black Oak). Medium- to large-sized
tree. Heartwood light brown to red, sapwood lighter color. Wood
coarse-grained, well-marked annual rings, medullary rays few but
broad. Wood heavy, hard, strong, liable to check in seasoning. It is
found over the same range as white oak, and is more plentiful. Wood is
spongy in grain, moderately durable, but unfit for work requiring
strength. Used for agricultural implements, furniture, bob sleds,
vehicle parts, boxes, cooperage, woodenware, fixtures, interior
finish, railway ties, etc., etc. Common in all parts of its range.
Maine to Minnesota, and southward to the Gulf.
=82. Black Oak= (_Quercus tinctoria_ var. _velutina_) (Yellow Oak).
Medium- to large-sized tree. Heartwood bright brown tinged with red,
sapwood lighter color. Wood heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained,
checks considerably in seasoning. Very common in the Southern States,
but occurring North as far as Minnesota, and eastward to Maine.
=83. Barren Oak= (_Quercus nigra_ var. _marilandica_) (Black Jack, Jack
Oak). Small-sized tree. Heartwood dark brown, sapwood lighter color.
Wood heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained, not valuable. Used in the
manufacture of charcoal and for fuel. New York to Kansas and Nebraska,
and southward to Florida. Rare in the North, but abundant in the
South.
=84. Shingle Oak= (_Quercus imbricaria_) (Laurel Oak). Small to
medium-sized tree. Heartwood pale reddish brown, sapwood lighter
color. Wood heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained, checks considerably
in drying. Used for shingles and locally for construction. Rare in the
east, most abundant in the lower Ohio Valley. From New York to
Illinois and southward. Reaches its greatest size in southern Illinois
and Indiana.
=85. Spanish Oak= (_Quercus digitata_ var. _falcata_) (Red Oak).
Medium-sized tree. Heartwood light reddish brown, sapwood much
lighter. Wood heavy, hard, strong, coarse-grained, and checks
considerably in seasoning. Used locally for construction, and has high
fuel value. Common in south Atlantic and Gulf region, but found from
Texas to New York, and northward to Missouri and Kentucky.
=86. Scarlet Oak= (_Quercus coccinea_). Medium- to large-sized tree.
Heartwood light reddish-brown, sapwood darker color. Wood heavy, hard,
strong, and coarse-grained. Best developed in the lower basin of the
Ohio, but found from Minnesota to Florida.
=87. Live Oak= (_Quercus virens_) (Maul Oak). Medium- to large-sized
tree. Grows from Maryland to the Gulf of Mexico, and often attains a
height of 60 feet and 4 feet in diameter. The wood is hard, strong,
and durable, but of rather rapid growth, therefore not as good quality
as _Quercus alba_. The live oak of Florida is now reserved by the
United States Government for Naval purposes. Used for mauls and
mallets, tool handles, etc., and locally for construction. Scattered
along the coast from Maryland to Texas.
=88. Live Oak= (_Quercus chrysolepis_) (Maul Oak, Valparaiso Oak).
Medium- to small-sized tree. California.
OSAGE ORANGE
=89. Osage Orange= (_Maclura aurantiaca_) (Bois d'Arc). A small-sized
tree of fairly rapid growth. Wood very heavy, exceedingly hard,
strong, not tough, of moderately coarse texture, and very durable and
elastic. Sapwood yellow, heartwood brown on the end face, yellow on
the longitudinal faces, soon turning grayish brown if exposed. It
shrinks considerably in drying, but once dry it stands unusually well.
Much used for wheel stock, and wagon framing; it is easily split, so
is unfit for wheel hubs, but is very suitable for wheel spokes. It is
considered one of the timbers likely to supply the place of black
locust for insulator pins on telegraph poles. Seems too little
appreciated; it is well suited for turned ware and especially for
woodcarving. Used for spokes, insulator pins, posts, railway ties,
wagon framing, turnery, and woodcarving. Scattered through the rich
bottoms of Arkansas and Texas.
PAPAW
=90. Papaw= (_Asimina triloba_) (Custard Apple). Small-sized tree, often
only a shrub, Heartwood pale, yellowish green, sapwood lighter color.
Wood light, soft, coarse-grained, and spongy. Not used to any extent
in manufacture. Occurs in eastern and central Pennsylvania, west as
far as Michigan and Kansas, and south to Florida and Texas. Often
forming dense thickets in the lowlands bordering the Mississippi
River.
PERSIMMON
=91. Persimmon= (_Diospyros Virginiana_). Small to medium-sized tree.
Wood very heavy, and hard, strong and tough; resembles hickory, but is
of finer texture and elastic, but liable to split in working. The
broad sapwood cream color, the heartwood brown, sometimes almost
black. The persimmon is the Virginia date plum, a tree of 30 to 50
feet high, and 18 to 20 inches in diameter; it is noted chiefly for
its fruit, but it produces a wood of considerable value. Used in
turnery, for wood engraving, shuttles, bobbins, plane stock, shoe lasts,
and largely as a substitute for box (_Buxus sempervirens_)--especially
the black or Mexican variety,--also used for pocket rules and drawing
scales, for flutes and other wind instruments. Common, and best
developed in the lower Ohio Valley, but occurs from New York to Texas
and Missouri.
POPLAR (See also Tulip Wood)
Wood light, very soft, not strong, of fine texture, and whitish,
grayish to yellowish color, usually with a satiny luster. The wood
shrinks moderately (some cross-grained forms warp excessively), but
checks very little in seasoning; is easily worked, but is not durable.
Used in cooperage, for building and furniture lumber, for crates and
boxes (especially cracker boxes), for woodenware, and paper pulp.
=92. Cottonwood= (_Populus monilifera_, var. _angulata_) (Carolina
Poplar). Large-sized tree, forms considerable forests along many of
the Western streams, and furnishes most of the cottonwood of the
market. Heartwood dark brown, sapwood nearly white. Wood light, soft,
not strong, and close-grained (see Fig. 14). Mississippi Valley and
West. New England to the Rocky Mountains.
=93. Cottonwood= (_Populus fremontii_ var. _wislizeni_). Medium-to
large-sized tree. Common. Wood in its quality and uses similiar to the
preceding, but not so valuable. Texas to California.
[Illustration: Fig. 14. A Large Cottonwood. One of the
Associates of Red Gum.]
=94. Black Cottonwood= (_Populus trichocarpa_ var. _heterophylla_)
(Swamp Cottonwood, Downy Poplar). The largest deciduous tree of
Washington. Very common. Heartwood dull brown, sapwood lighter brown.
Wood soft, close-grained. Is now manufactured into lumber in the West
and South, and used in interior finish of buildings. Northern Rocky
Mountains and Pacific region.
=95. Poplar= (_Populus grandidentata_) (Large-Toothed Aspen).
Medium-sized tree. Heartwood light brown, sapwood nearly white. Wood
soft and close-grained, neither strong nor durable. Chiefly used for
wood pulp. Maine to Minnesota and southward along the Alleghanies.
=96. White Poplar= (_Populus alba_) (Abele-Tree). Small to medium-sized
tree. Wood in its quality and uses similar to the preceding. Found
principally along banks of streams, never forming forests. Widely
distributed in the United States.
=97. Lombardy Poplar= (_Populus nigra italica_). Medium-to large-sized
tree. This species is the first ornamental tree introduced into the
United States, and originated in Afghanistan. Does not enter into the
markets. Widely planted in the United States.
=98. Balsam= (_Populus balsamifera_) (Balm of Gilead, Tacmahac). Medium-
to large-sized tree. Heartwood light brown, sapwood nearly white. Wood
light, soft, not strong, close-grained. Used extensively in the
manufacture of paper pulp. Common all along the northern boundary of
the United States.
=99. Aspen= (_Populus tremuloides_) (Quaking Aspen). Small to
medium-sized tree, often forming extensive forests, and covering
burned areas. Heartwood light brown, sapwood nearly white. Wood light,
soft, close-grained, neither strong nor durable. Chiefly used for
woodenware, cooperage, and paper pulp. Maine to Washington and
northward, and south in the western mountains to California and New
Mexico.
RED GUM (See Gum)
SASSAFRAS
=100. Sassafras= (_Sassafras sassafras_). Medium-sized tree, largest in
the lower Mississippi Valley. Wood light, soft, not strong, brittle,
of coarse texture, durable in contact with the soil. The sapwood
yellow, the heartwood orange brown. Used to some extent in slack
cooperage, for skiff- and boatbuilding, fencing, posts, sills, etc.
Occurs from New England to Texas and from Michigan to Florida.
SOUR GUM (See Gum)
SOURWOOD
=101. Sourwood= (_Oxydendrum arboreum_) (Sorrel-Tree). A slender tree,
reaching the maximum height of 60 feet. Heartwood reddish brown,
sapwood lighter color. Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, and
takes a fine polish. Ranges from Pennsylvania, along the Alleghanies,
to Florida and Alabama, westward through Ohio to southern Indiana and
southward through Arkansas and Louisiana to the Coast.
SWEET GUM (See Gum)
SYCAMORE
=102. Sycamore= (_Platanus occidentalis_) (Buttonwood, Button-Ball Tree,
Plane Tree, Water Beech). A large-sized tree, of rapid growth. One of
the largest deciduous trees of the United States, sometimes attaining
a height of 100 feet. It produces a timber that is moderately heavy,
quite hard, stiff, strong, and tough, usually cross-grained; of coarse
texture, difficult to split and work, shrinks moderately, but warps
and checks considerably in seasoning, but stands well, and is not
considered durable for outside work, or in contact with the soil. It
has broad medullary rays, and much of the timber has a beautiful
figure. It is used in slack cooperage, and quite extensively for
drawers, backs, and bottoms, etc., in furniture work. It is also used
for cabinet work, for tobacco boxes, crates, desks, flooring,
furniture, ox-yokes, butcher blocks, and also for finishing lumber,
where it has too long been underrated. Common and largest in the Ohio
and Mississippi Valleys, at home in nearly all parts of the eastern
United States.
=103. Sycamore= (_Platanus racemosa_). The California species,
resembling in its wood the Eastern form. Not used to any great extent.
TULIP TREE