Having finally reached the commercial stage, the lumber is shipped away from the mill either by water or by rail to the lumber yards of the country.
Here it should be seasoned. In the past this process consisted of piling the planks in the open air in such a way that air could circulate freely through the pile, allowing the sap to evaporate and the wood to dry evenly. This was a sure but slow process, and in the hurry of modern life quicker methods have been tried.
One of these is known as kiln drying, by which the time is reduced to a few weeks. It consists of piling the wood in a room like a kiln and drying it by artificial heat. The result is not so satisfactory as the natural method, because the sap near the surface hardens and prevents the inner moisture from escaping, so that kiln-dried lumber while dry at the surface is "green" inside. When planed till part of the surface is removed the green wood isbrought near to the air again, and warping is liable to occur.
Other methods have been tried, such as steaming to vaporize the sap, and soaking in hot water for the same purpose. Of course these processes all add to the cost of lumber, yet so valuable is time that it is difficult to obtain good old-fashioned seasoned wood unless it has lain for some time in a local yard.
In order to understand the phenomena of warping, shrinkage, checking, shakes, etc., it is necessary to know something of how the tree grows. Like all living organisms, it is made up of minute cells. The new cells are formed on the outside of the tree under the bark, and here the sap is most active. The cause of the flow of sap is not very clearly understood, but it corresponds to blood in the human body, in that it carries the nourishment that forms the cells. As a new mass or layer of soft new cells forms each season, the layers may be distinctly seen and counted, but the line of separation is not a sharply drawn one, as we find by examining a cross section of wood with the microscope. However, the layers or annual rings are distinct enough to be counted, so that the age of the tree at the time it was cut down may be readily discovered.
The new or sap wood, then, is further from the centre each year, and while the old cells may not be dead, they contain less and less sap, are therefore drier, and after a few years change colour, becoming darker.
There is often a very great contrast between the colour of the heart wood and that of the sap wood, although the latter may be represented by several years of growth.
These annual rings are not actually circular, but very irregular, and often wider in some parts than in others. The study of these rings is very interesting, and it shows that the tree usually increases in diameter more rapidly during the first few years than later. Very often, after growing slowly for several years, the tree will apparently grow rapidly again. The cause of this cannot be determined without a knowledge of the tree's history.
It has been proved by experiment that thinning the forest increases the growth of the remaining trees 18 per cent., and these peculiarities in the rings may have been due to some like cause. The bearing of this fact on the peculiarities of warping and shrinkage is that when cut down the log is drier at the heart and more sappy at the outside, so that evaporation occurs near the surface.
Fig. 239. Warping, wind, and shrinkage.
Fig. 239. Warping, wind, and shrinkage.
The effect of it is shown inFig. 239. The outside drawing together has opened the wood, or "checked" it, most at the outside, diminishing toward the centre. The evaporation would have occurred just the same had the log been cut into planks, causing them to curl as shown ata. This is known as warping, and it is one of the troubles of the woodworker. In construction it must be constantly guarded against, and overcome as far as possible. It cannot be entirely prevented, but if the wood has been well seasoned before it is used a large part of the warp will be taken out in the planing mill, or in the squaring up.
Twisting, winding, and warping are also caused by the two sides of a board having been subjected to different degrees of heat, moisture, etc. If a plank is laid on the floor, the upper part is more exposed to the air and to changes of temperature and humidity; therefore it curls.
If a board is stood on end or placed in a rack where there is a free circulation of air, the curlingwill be much less. Even in a rack, if several boards are piled one on another, the top one will have different conditions from the others and be apt to curl or wind.
Shrinkage is a term applied to the decrease in diameter of the tree, due to sap evaporation.
Fig. 240. Effect of shrinkage on lumber
Fig. 240. Effect of shrinkage on lumber
In the case of the board it means a decrease in width, and it varies greatly in different trees and their woods. As shrinkage is always across the grain, its effect on a common joint may be illustrated inFig. 240. Atais shown a middle lap joint just put together. If the wood is not well seasoned, shrinkage will in time change it to the form shown atb, which is exaggerated to make the meaning clear.
A square piece of timber, one corner of which is the centre of the tree, will change fromctod. Shrinkage as well as warping must be taken into consideration in construction.
Fig. 241. The development of the panelled door
Fig. 241. The development of the panelled door
The development of the panelled door is a good illustration. Suppose we wish to close a space with a door, knowing little about shrinkage. Let us construct it by the simplest method, say fourvertical boards. If the width of these boards equals the opening when the door is built (Fig. 241) there will soon be an opening wide enough for the fingers to enter and lift up a latch on the inside. The door is very much of a failure. We notice, however, that there is no opening at top or bottom. An idea! We construct a door with planks placed horizontally. Now although we find after a while no opening at the sides we do find openings at top and bottom. The panelled door is not constructed solely for beauty but to overcome shrinkage as far as possible.Fig. 241shows the various parts. The rails maintain the width, the only shrinkage being in the cross grain of the stiles, and they preserve the heightexcept for the small amount in the rails. The remaining spaces are panelled, the construction being shown ata. Both stiles and rails have a groove plowed out to receive the edges of the panel. This should be free to shrink in the grooves, where it is invisible, but if the mistake is made of fastening the panel edges rigidly in these grooves the panel will shrink anyway and frequently split from top to bottom.
Many other forms of construction which we have seen daily as long as we can remember have equally sound reasons for their form. No piece of woodwork should be designed without considering how it will be affected by shrinkage and warping.
In selecting lumber always look out for "shakes." This is a defect caused by the separation of the annual rings. A tree may be considered as a series of irregular cylinders of diminishing diameters. The forest-grown tree is much more spindling, tall, and straight than the low-crowned, heavy-branched specimen grown in the open, where there is no crowding.
The swaying of the forest tree in the wind, especially when its neighbours have been cut down, is sometimes sufficient to make the rings separate and slide one within the other. This is morenoticeable in some species than others and it gives the wood a serious fault. (Fig. 239).
"Winding" is the result when the ends and sides are no longer parallel. Like all peculiar characteristics of wood, this varies greatly in lumber of various kinds, and may be largely avoided by exposing both sides to the same conditions, or keeping equally distributed weight on it until used. When winding becomes excessive, the board is useless for any kind of work.
The woods of the United States are classified roughly as hard and soft; and trees as broad-leaved or deciduous, and evergreen or coniferous.
In a general way, the trees which drop their leaves in the fall—the broad-leaved—produce hard woods and the evergreens soft woods. There are so many exceptions, however, that the rule is a very rough guide.
Several of the coniferous trees drop their leaves or needles in the fall, like the larch or tamarack, and some woods from evergreens are harder than some woods from broad-leaved trees. Yellow pine is harder than basswood, which, according to the rule, should be a hard wood. As a matter of fact, it is softer than the majority of woods cut from evergreens. The only way to gain a comprehensive knowledge of this interesting subject is by experience and study. Making a collection of woods, leaves, and seeds is one of the most fascinating studies aboy can take up. He will soon discover that not only is every wood different from every other wood in grain, colour, odour, and hardness, but some woods are strong and elastic, others strong and brittle, weak, etc., and that every tree has a different leaf, bark, flower, and seed from its neighbour. He will find groups or families, such as the oaks, the maples, the pines, spruces, cedars, etc., with several members of each group, all different, yet having family characteristics. He will be surprised at the endless extent of the subject; the willow for instance has a hundred and fifty known varieties. He will find himself, like our boys, dipping into botany and geology to discover perhaps, as Harry did, that the oak was once an evergreen, and that it still holds a good proportion of its leaves all winter.
He will learn that there are broad-leaved evergreens like the laurel and rhododendron; that some trees are evergreen in the South, and lose their leaves in the North; that some shrubs of the Northern states become trees farther south. He may even wrestle with the problem "What is a tree?" or, "Where does the shrub leave off and the tree begin?"
The study of the many methods nature has devised for distributing seeds has evolved whole volumes; so has the question of how the buds on the trees areprotected in winter. There are definite ways in which the tiny leaves are folded up in these winter buds, all ready to unfold in a certain way in the spring. Perhaps the reader wonders what all this has to do with woodwork, but to a boy who once begins to collect specimens, it will follow as a matter of course. Knowing something about woods he naturally begins to study trees, and gradually observes the wonderful phenomena of growth, flower, and seed. Planting seeds to see how they grow is the next step, and before long he has a young nursery in the yard; while the reading of the work of such men as Luther Burbank will induce him to try his hand at grafting and budding.
The man who makes two apples grow where one grew before is as valuable a citizen as the man who makes two blades of grass grow in the place of one. When Mr. Burbank converts the prickly cactus into a thornless cactus, valuable as a forage plant, he is conferring a great benefit on the whole race by making millions of acres of desert land available for stock raising.
Incidentally, these wonders performed by the Wizard of California will not die with Mr. Burbank, but will constitute the beginning of a new profession which, combined with forestry, will offer a tempting field for the rising generation.
White Pine.—One of our most beautiful evergreens. Growing throughout the North-eastern and Lake states, and formerly forming dense forests from the Bay of Fundy to Minnesota. Needles grow in groups of five of a light bluish green from three to four inches long. Seeds are "winged" and grow in cones five or six inches long protected by the scales. Cones mature at end of second season. Wood soft, light coloured, free from sap, easily worked and used in many trades, for pattern making, various parts of houses, toys, crates, boxes, etc. Becoming very scarce, owing to the destruction of the great forests. On the Pacific coast its place in construction is taken by the sugar pine and other woods.
Yellow and Georgia Pine.—Two trees whose wood is frequently confounded by the woodworker. Georgia pine is a tree with very long needles, from twelve to fifteen inches, and in groups of three. Cones from six to ten inches. A southern tree found from Texas to Virginia. The tops of the young trees, like green fountains, are used in many places as Christmas decorations. Wood hard and resinous, used for flooring, interior finish, and decks.
Yellow Pine.—A southern tree with needles in groups of two, sometimes three, about three inches long. Cones small, about two inches. Wood hard and used for the same purposes as Georgia pine.
Red Pine, Norway Pine, Canadian Pine.—Three names for the same tree. Grows throughout the North, from Nova Scotia to western Minnesota. Cut principally in Canada. Needles, two in a group, about five inches long. Cones about two inches long, mature the second season. Wood reddish in colour, hard, and used for piles, spars, bridges, etc.
Pitch Pine.—A name locally given to several different trees. The wood is soft, brittle, resinous, and is used for fuel and for making charcoal, rarely for rough building. Needles in groups of three and three to five inches long. Sometimes called scrub pine, although it often reaches a height of fifty to sixty feet. The cones, two or three inches long, often remain on the tree for years. It is the tree found along the Atlantic coast from Maine to Georgia, growing in sand, in swamps, and among rocks. To be recommended for its persistence in living under the most trying conditions, even if its wood is not very valuable.
In the construction of a frame house severalkinds of wood are needed. First, the framework of rough-sawed spruce. Second, a better wood, like white pine, for door and window frames. Third, the outside covering. This may be clapboards, for which nothing has ever approached white pine, although it is necessary now to find substitutes. The roof, if shingled, may be of cedar, or cypress—some spruce is used to-day. For interior work, floors may be spruce, white pine, cypress, yellow pine, or hard woods. For finish or trim, many woods are used such as white wood, oak, yellow pine, cypress, cherry, and bay wood.
Spruce.—This wood has been used almost exclusively in the past for framing, but great inroads have been made in the supply, especially by the manufacturers of paper pulp. Consequently the cost is increasing rapidly.
Three varieties are recognized, white, black, and red. White spruce is a distinctly northern tree, delighting in the cold climate of Canada, but dipping down along the Maine coast. It is a beautiful, straight, and tall specimen, frequently found as high as a hundred and fifty feet. The needles are only three quarters of an inch, or less, in length and clothe the twigs in an entire circle. Cones two inches long, bearing under their scales tiny winged seeds.It is used often as an ornamental evergreen for lawns, and for this purpose probably has no equal, as, unlike the Norway spruce, it holds its foliage, dense and green, close to the ground.
The wood is weak, knotty, and soft, but suitable for rough framing.
Black Spruce.—Another northern tree, rarely found in forests below the Canadian border, except around the Great Lakes.
Leaves about same size as in white spruce, but cones smaller, more oval in form, and one inch and a half long.
Spruce gum is obtained from this tree, which has a more pleasant odour than white spruce.
Wood used for pulp making, framing, and, quartered, for sounding-boards of musical instruments.
Red Spruce.—A close relative of the black and sometimes confused with it, but it is a distinct tree, reaching its best development several hundred miles south of the black spruce, in the Appalachian Mountains, and extending as far south as North Carolina; while the black variety barely crosses the borders of Canada into Maine.
Needles about half an inch long. Cones small, sometimes barely an inch and a half. They fallthe first winter, while those of the black remain on the tree often for years.
Wood is similar to black spruce but lighter in weight. Used for pulp, framing, and sounding-boards.
Hemlock.—The most dainty of the eastern evergreens, with little cones about three quarters of an inch long, and needles half an inch. Found throughout the country east of the Mississippi and in some sections used for Christmas decorations.
A slow growing tree with wood of little value, being brittle, light, and difficult to work, as it has a crooked grain and is liable to splinter. The tree makes up in beauty what it lacks as a timber producer and its bark is rich in tannin.
Larch, Tamarack or Hackmatack.—Local names for the same tree. Drops all its needles in the fall, like a broad-leaved tree, but the beauty of the brilliant new green needles in the spring is a sight worth going miles to see.
Found from the Lake states north to the Arctic Circle. Needles an inch long. Cones from one half to three quarters.
Wood is heavy, hard and strong. Used in ship building, for telegraph poles, posts, and ties.
Fir, Balsam Fir, Balsam.—On all firs the conesstand upright on the branches, while on spruces they hang down. As these two trees are often intermingled, this is an easy way to distinguish them. The needles of the firs are also blunt, while those of the spruces are sharply pointed.
This is the so-called Christmas tree and balsam pillows are made from its needles.
Needles about three quarters of an inch long, cones almost black in colour, from two to four inches long.
Wood of little value, being soft and weak.
The sap in the form of gum called Canada balsam is used in medicine, and is obtained from blisters on the bark or by cutting the bark.
Southern Cypress, Bald Cypress, Deciduous Cypress.—Found growing naturally in the swamps of the South, but will grow in drier soil, if planted in the North. Several fine specimens in the parks of Philadelphia, New York, and Brooklyn. The lower part broadens out near the ground into a conical base and in its native swamps the roots send up peculiar formations known as cypress knees.
Leaves very delicate and feathery, not often over half an inch long, cones round and an inch in diameter. Drops its needles like the larch each fall.
Wood very durable in damp situations, valuable for flooring and interior finish.
Red Cedar.—The common cedar of the United States, found in all sections where trees can grow at all, in sand, swamp, rocky hillside, and abandoned farm. Reaches its greatest height in the South.
Wood of beautiful colour and grain, soft and not strong, easily worked, but inclined to brittleness. Used in many trades; it furnished in the past the only wood for lead pencils. Owing to its scarcity, substitutes are now being tried. Very durable in contact with water and soil. Used extensively for posts, small boats, cooperage, ties, chests, and interior finish.
Foliage difficult to describe, being sharp and awl-shaped in the young trees, changing in later years to a flat scale shape. Very often both forms are found on the same tree. Seeds are the common cedar berry, pale green in colour, about a quarter of an inch long, each berry containing two or three seeds. These are liked by the birds and they are dropped along fences frequently, so that in a few years the fences become lined with young cedar trees.
White Cedar.—Found in swamps along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Has a more delicate foliagethan red cedar, and, growing in dense thickets, is apt to be taller and straighter.
The wood is light brown in colour, soft, weak, and, like red cedar, durable in moist situations. Used for making shingles, for boat-building, and for the same general work as the red variety.
Arbor Vitæ—called in many sections white cedar. It is an entirely different tree from the real white cedar, having decidedly flattened and very aromatic foliage. Used a great deal for hedges before the days of the California privet. Seed borne in a tiny cone half an inch long.
Large quantities are cut in the Maritime Provinces of Canada to be made into shingles. Grows sixty feet high and two feet or more in diameter.Arbor vitæmeans tree of life, and as the bark and young twigs were at one time used medicinally, that may have been the origin of the name.
Wood is light, soft, coarse-grained, but, like the cedars, durable. Used for ties, posts, and shingles.
The broad-leaved trees are more numerous as to varieties than the evergreens, and from the standpoint of leaf forms may be divided into three groups:
1. Trees bearing simple leaves.
2. Trees bearing compound leaves.
3. Trees bearing doubly compound leaves.
The first group is the largest, including as it does such large families as the maples, oaks, willows, poplars.
The second group comes next with the well-known walnuts, hickories, ashes, and buckeyes.
The third group is very small, there being but three well-known trees bearing doubly compound leaves: the honey locust, Kentucky coffee tree, and Hercules Club.
The three forms are shown atFig. 242.
The leaf ends at the bud growing at the end of the leaf stem. All above this bud constitutes theleaf, no matter what its shape or size, and falls in the autumn, with a few exceptions.
The small leaflets on the compound leaf are simply parts of a leaf, not separate leaves, as there are no buds at the point where they join the stem. The arrangement of these leaflets varies. In the buckeye and horse chestnut they radiate from a common point, while in the locust they are in parallel rows on opposite sides of the stem.
Fig. 242. Three types of leaves
Fig. 242. Three types of leaves
In doubly compound leaves the leaflets are themselves compound, making the whole leaf very large, those of the Kentucky coffee tree being three feet in length.
Probably the best known and most common trees, especially in towns and cities. Most of them grow quickly and therefore become valuable as shadetrees. They do not make the most permanent trees, however, and should be planted in alternation with oaks, or other long-lived trees, for permanent shade.
The seeds of all maples are winged, which helps their distribution over large areas, in the same manner as the seeds of evergreens.
Sugar or Rock Maple.—The most valuable timber tree of the group, its wood being heavy, hard, strong, and close-grained. Very light in colour and valuable for flooring and interior finish, furniture, tool handles, and bench tops.
It grows throughout the Eastern states, but not in all soils. Very rapid in growth, so much so that in the dense forest stands, when a portion of the woods has been cut down, the young saplings cannot always withstand the wind pressure and are blown down. Reaches a height in the forest of a hundred and twenty feet, but in the open is broader and more symmetrical. Too much cannot be said in praise of this tree. Its shade is dense and its autumn colouring superb. The sap yields maple syrup and sugar, and, finally, after it has done its work and is cut down, its wood yields lumber of the highest value, while the limbs make excellent firewood.
The process of making maple sugar was learned, historians tell us, from the Indians. This is probably why the process was for two or three centuries very crude. Holes are bored in the tree in the late winter, as soon as the sap is brought to life by the sun, usually in March, but the time depends upon the weather. Spigots are placed in the holes and pails hung under them to catch the sap. When full, they are emptied into large kettles or boilers over a fire, and the sap simply boiled down to the proper consistency.
As the lumberman is making heavy inroads into the maple groves or forests, the price of maple sugar is likely to continue going up, until real maple sugar will be only a memory, unless we wake up from our dream of unlimited resources to the real facts and do something.
Silver Maple, White Maple, Soft Maple.—A very common shade tree in our towns and cities. Its natural section is along the Mississippi, where it becomes a great tree, often a hundred feet high; but it is so easily adaptable to new conditions, grows so quickly from seed, and will stand so much hard usage that it has been very popular. There are many better trees, but this is cheap and quick growing, and in our hurried American life we build veryoften for the immediate future and forget the next generation.
Its foliage, when not blackened and spoiled by the smoke of the city, is a beautiful dark green above, and light silvery green below. The winged seeds ripen in June, may be planted before July 1st, and will produce young trees nearly a foot high before frost of the same season. Wood not as hard as rock maple, but strong, close-grained and brittle. Used to some extent in cabinet work. The winter buds are very precocious and start into life at the first sign of spring.
Red or Swamp Maple.—Found in wet places naturally, but it makes a large and satisfactory shade tree in heavy upland soil. The leaf form is somewhat like that of the silver maple, but smaller.
Seeds ripen before summer. The flowers are red, the leaf stems are red, and the foliage is not only the most brilliant red of all our autumn colours, but it is the first to give notice by its change of the approach of winter. It is easy to see where it got its name.
Wood is light in colour, similar to that of the silver maple, hard, strong, and brittle.
Sycamore Maple.—Although frequently planted in this country as a shade tree it is, like the Norway, imported from Europe.
Moosewood, Mountain Maple, and Box Elderare three small American maples which can hardly be placed among timber trees, except possibly the last. Box elder or ash-leaved maple has the distinction of having a compound leaf.
Its wood is soft and of more value to the pulp maker than the lumberman. It is very hardy and has been used on the Western prairies, where more particular trees do not thrive.
Perhaps as a family this group of trees is more uniformly valuable than any other found in North America.
They represent all that is the best among trees, being strong, hardy, long-lived, and valuable as timber.
There are oaks in Europe a thousand years old, but of course we have no records that go back so far.
It is a difficult tree to kill, because, when cut down or burned, a large number of healthy shoots grow from the stump or roots, and make a rapid second growth. The bark of all oaks contains tannin, and in the past our principal supply came from these trees. The old-fashioned method wasto fell the tree, strip off the bark and leave the wood on the ground to decay. Oak lumber is now so valuable that this waste has been largely stopped.
White Oak Group.—The oaks all bear simple leaves which vary greatly. They may be divided into two groups. The white oak group all bear leaves with rounded lobes, no bristles, and ripen their acorns the first fall after blossoming. They rarely bear acorns before the age of twenty years. The second group has pointed lobes, each lobe ending in a bristle and do not ripen their acorns until the end of the second season.
Among the first group are the white oak proper, post or iron oak, mossy cup, chestnut oak, and swamp white oak. In the second group are the red, pin, scarlet and black oak, black jack, shingle, willow, and Spanish oaks.
White Oak.—One of the most common and best known members of the family, slow growing, sturdy, hardy, and beautiful. Acorns sweet compared with others. Leaves six to eight inches long, turning to beautiful shades of red in the fall, finally to a brown, and a large proportion remaining on all winter.
This tree is little affected by temporary weather changes. In the latitude of New York spring may have come and the maples be in full leaf, but thewhite oak shows no sign. Lawns are mowed, and finally, about June 1st, out come the oak leaves, steadily growing without regard to late cold snaps or hot days. During the summer a prolonged drought occurs. The leaves of the maple turn yellow and fall. Not so the oak; it goes right on about its business of growing green leaves and acorns, until the appointed time in the fall.
The maple leaves have all fallen and the trees are ready for winter.
The oak goes right on, as steadily as a clock, doing its work, apparently oblivious to such insignificant things as weather changes.
This is the character of the tree throughout—steady, reliable, and strong.
The wood is hard, durable, and valued in many trades. The best barrels for tight cooperage are made of it. Floors and interior trim, furniture, cabinet work, ship building, and the making of farming implements and wagons are all more or less dependent on it. The mission style of furniture is made almost exclusively from it; so is office furniture. Quartered oak is a form of lumber obtained by a special method of cutting.
In most trees when cut into lumber may be seen a series of lines radiating from the centre, and running in almost straight lines to the outside. They are called medullary rays, and are much more in evidence in some woods than others. They are particularly noticeable in oak. These rays are plates of flattened cells, and are usually much harder than the rest of the wood.
Fig. 243. Four methods of quartering
Fig. 243. Four methods of quartering
The object of quartering oak is to bring these rays to the surface of the board at as small an angle as possible, so that they will spread over the surface and give an added beauty to the grain. This is accomplished in one way by cutting the boards radially as shown inFig. 243(a). There is much waste in this method, and other methods less wasteful, but not as satisfactory, from the beauty standpoint, are shown atb,candd.
Mossy Cup or Bur Oak.—So called from the form of the cup of the acorns. It ends in a heavy fringe which nearly covers the acorn proper—hence the name mossy cup.
The leaf somewhat resembles the white oak, having rounded lobes but a different outline.
Wood is hard, heavy, and strong, and is used for the same purposes as white oak. Found throughoutthe country east of the Rocky Mountains, but reaches its greatest development in the Ohio Valley.
Chestnut Oak.—Found from Maine to Alabama and west to Kentucky and Tennessee.
Wood heavy, hard, strong, tough, close-grained and durable in contact with the soil. Bark is strong with tannic acid. Acorn, long and oval, sweet and a favourite with the squirrels.
Two or three varieties of this tree are recognized.
Post or Iron Oak.—Along with the black and black jack oaks found on bleak and sandy plains, especially in Texas, but extends as far north as Massachusetts.
Leaves thick, leathery, and much darker in colour than the white oak. Wood used for ties, fencing and fuel.
Swamp White Oak.—Eastern United States. Favours wet localities and swamps, and reaches a height of a hundred feet.
Wood about as heavy as white oak, but inclined to check in seasoning. Used for same general purposes as white oak. Acorns sweet and white, about an inch long.
The Red Oak Group: Red Oak.—Tree reaches a height of a hundred and forty feet. Found from Maine to Georgia and as far west as Kansas. Growsmore rapidly than white oak and has smoother bark. Acorns large with a shallow cup and very bitter. Wood darker than white oak, of a reddish brown colour, heavy, hard, and strong.
Used for furniture and interior finish. Has a tendency to check in drying.
Scarlet Oak.—Leaf more deeply indented than red oak. A very tall and beautiful tree with wood slightly heavier than red oak, strong and hard.
Acorns, like all of this group, remain on the tree the first winter, ripening the second fall. They are smaller than those of the red oak and the cup is not as shallow. It encloses a third or more of the nut, whose kernel is white. The name is taken from the brilliant colouring of the fall foliage.
Pin Oak.—Leaf form similar to scarlet oak and often mistaken for it by the beginner, but is smaller, and other features of the tree distinguish it. The acorns are small, about half an inch long, with a broad flat base, light brown and striped. The branching habit of the tree gives it the name. The great number of small slender branches, especially in winter, is very noticeable. Sometimes called swamp Spanish oak because of its fondness for wet places. Wood brown, hard, strong, and heavier than red and scarlet oaks.
It is being planted largely now as a permanent shade tree and grows rapidly during its earlier years.
Black Oak, Yellow Oak.—Name derived from the bark, which is very dark. Yellow is the colour of the inner bark, hence the second name. Foliage varies, is thick, leathery and shiny, of a dark green colour.
Acorn is smaller than the red oak and often striped. Has yellow and bitter kernel.
Wood as heavy as pin oak, forty-four pounds to the cubic foot, strong and hard.
Used for fuel and for a yellow dye made from the inner bark.
Black Jack or Barren Oak.—Often found in company with the black oak on wind-swept, barren plains. Leaf very coarse and crude in both form and texture, having three lobes and a tapering base. These two trees frequently mix or hybridize, and, while not always things of beauty, they grow where other trees cannot live and should be recommended for their hardiness.
Wood even heavier than black oak, but, as the tree is small, it is used chiefly for firewood and the making of charcoal.
Willow Oak.—Foliage resembles the weeping willow. A southern tree, but will grow as far north as New York. Acorns ripen at end of second season, are small, with flat, wide base and shallow cup.
Kernel yellow and bitter.
Wood reddish brown, heavy, and strong.
Tree is popular in the South as an interesting shade tree.
Laurel Oak.—Name derived from the leaves, which are in shape similar to the mountain laurel, but lack its shiny lustre. A tree of the Middle West or Ohio Valley. Acorns, small and half enclosed by the cup; ripen second season.
Wood heavy and hard, checks in drying.
Used for shingles and rough construction.
Sometimes called shingle oak.
Beech is a beautiful tree with light gray bark, handsome foliage and valuable hard wood.
The seed is buckwheat-shaped, small and sweet. One of our most handsome shade trees, and although only one species is native to the United States, nurserymen have developed special varieties known as weeping beech and purple or copper beech. The European beech is also frequently planted on lawns and in parks. Its foliage is darker and has indentations so shallow that the leaf apparently has only a wavy outline.
Wood is hard, tough, fine-grained and takes a high polish. Used for the stocks of planes, handles, farming implements, and for some kinds of furniture.
The beech tree is supposed to be impervious to lightning, and recent experiments show that it offers considerable resistance to an electric current.
Birch.—The indentations of the beech are shallow and concave, while the birch leaf is known asdouble serrate, or double toothed, the teeth being themselves toothed. Five varieties are known in the Eastern states, black, red, yellow, white, and gray.
Black Birch, Sweet Birch.—The tree familiar to boys because of its aromatic bark, which contains salicylic acid used in treating cases of rheumatism. A large forest tree with handsome foliage, a very fine-winged seed and valuable wood. Heavy, hard, fine-grained, and takes a high polish. Used for wheel hubs, and the manufacture of furniture.
Red Birch.—Found in swamps and along rivers, especially in the South. Leaves smaller than black birch and wood much lighter in weight, but close-grained and strong. Used for furniture and wooden ware.
Yellow Birch.—A northern tree, growing a hundred feet high in northern New York and Canada. Leaves similar to black birch, but its bark is very different. The bark of the black birch is very dark, while that of yellow birch is of a silvery, yellowish gray, characteristic birch bark.
Wood heavy, hard, and similar to black birch. Used for the same general purposes.
White Birch, Canoe Birch, or Paper Birch.—Noted for its remarkable bark. White on the youngtrees, darker on old ones. Comes off in several distinct paper-like layers. Well known to ancient writers and used by them for paper. It contains a resinous oil which accounts for its water-resisting qualities so well known in the Indian birch-bark canoe. The inner bark contains starch and in the extreme north it is sometimes mixed with other foods. The sap may be used for making sugar. Wood is light brown and light weight but hard, strong, and close-grained. Used for shoe-lasts, fuel, and spools.
Gray Birch, Aspen-Leaved Birch.—Sometimes called white birch. The bark is white but patched with black and does not come off in layers as readily nor separate so easily from the wood as white birch.
A smaller tree with foliage that moves as freely in the wind as the aspen.
Leaf form very peculiar; a long thin stem, broad flat base, and long tapering outline, double serrate. A persistent little tree, very hardy and difficult to kill.
Wood is light and soft, close-grained but weak. Used for pulp, fuel, spools, and hoops.
Hop Hornbeam, Ironwood.—A little tree with delicate birch-like foliage and wood of great hardness. The name hop is derived from the fruit cluster bearing the seeds, which resembles the hop. Thebark is in remarkable contrast to the foliage, being deeply furrowed and smooth, as if a smooth skin were drawn over powerful muscles.
The wood weighs over fifty pounds to the cubic foot, is tough, close-grained, hard and will take a high polish. Used for mallets, tool handles, and levers.
Hornbeam or Blue Birch.—A small tree with dark gray or bluish bark. Leaves similar to ironwood, but narrower. Wood weighs forty-five pounds to the cubic foot, hard and strong, similar to ironwood and used for the same purposes.
Elm, White or American.—The well-known shade tree of the North. Leaf is lop-sided, one side being considerably larger than the other, double serrate. Aside from being a beautiful shade tree, the wood is very valuable in several trades, being heavy, hard, strong, and tough. It does not split easily and is valued for such critical places as wheel hubs and saddles. Used in cooperage, and supply nearly exhausted.
Red Elm, Slippery Elm.—Red from the dark brown colour of its wood and slippery from the character of the inner bark. The slippery elm of commerce is made from this, which sufficiently explains its character.
Leaves are larger, coarser, and rougher than white elm and wood is heavy, hard, close-grained and tough. Used for ties, fence posts, and agricultural implements.
Rock Elm, Cork Elm.—Rock from the nature of the soil it is particularly fond of—rocky cliffs or hills—cork from the corky ridges which appear on the branches. A valuable timber tree but found in limited quantities. The wood is unlike the red and white elms in that it will take a high polish. Hard and tough, close-grained but easily worked. Used for cabinet work, farming implements, ties, and to some extent for bridge timbers.
Basswood, Linden.—A large timber tree of the Northern states and Canada. Its flowers are very sweet and attract the bees to such an extent that it is sometimes called the "bee tree." It has several varieties, as the small-leaved linden of the South, the silver linden, weeping silver linden, etc.
Leaves are heart-shaped, serrate, and lop-sided. A valuable shade tree. Wood is soft, weak, even-grained, does not split easily. The favourite wood for pyrography because of its white colour, freedom from pitch, etc. Used for boxes of wagons, wooden ware, and to some extent for furniture making.
Holly.—A broad-leaved evergreen. Leaves andberries used as Christmas decorations. A southern tree found as far north as Long Island. Wood very light in colour, but hard and close-grained. Takes a high polish. Used in cabinet work and engraving.
Cherry, Wild or Black.—The cabinet wood in common use is from this tree, although several varieties are known to botanists. The wild cherry of the roadside in the East, but a large forest tree west of the Mississippi, especially from Kansas to Texas. Wood a beautiful reddish brown, close-grained, strong, and will take a high polish. Used in cabinet work, interior of houses, and for car finish.
Tulip, White Wood, Yellow Poplar.—The last name is incorrect, as the tree is not a poplar. White wood is also inaccurate, as the only part of the wood that is white is the sap wood. A member of the magnolia family found throughout the East but rare in New England. Has a peculiar leaf with four points, smooth, shiny, and distinctive. Flowers the size and colour of a yellow or orange-coloured tulip. Wood greenish yellow, light, soft, brittle, free from knots, and inclined to warp more than white pine, for which it is now being substituted. Used for many purposes, including cabinet work, interior finish, panels, etc.
Sweet Gum, Red Gum, Liquid Amber.—Like the tulip, a large, handsome tree found throughout the East. Leaves have five fingers resembling a starfish, seeds produced in seed balls about an inch in diameter. The seed itself is very small.
Wood a beautiful reddish brown with handsome grain, heavy but soft, brittle, weak, warps and winds badly.
Used to some extent in interior finish and in wood turning.
Chestnut.—The well-known tree of the East. Wood light and open-grained, soft, but very durable in contact with the soil, hence its use for ties and fence posts. Has beautiful grain and takes a good polish. Used for furniture.
A fungous disease is rapidly destroying this tree in the East.
Sycamore, Buttonball, Buttonwood.—Sycamore is incorrect. This is the American plane, a near relative of the European plane tree. Buttonball is derived from the shape of the seed pods, which are round, an inch or more in diameter, and stay on the tree during the winter.
This is the tree which sheds part of its bark each year, giving the trunk a mottled appearance.
Wood is hard and heavy, has an interesting grainand takes a good polish. Used for interior finish of houses.
Poplar.—A large family of trees of which nine members are recognized in North America. All have light and soft woods of little value except for making boxes, packing cases and wood pulp.
Their value lies in hardiness, quick growth and ability to cover burned areas so as to give a forest cover in localities where other trees will not grow. The balsam poplar, or balm of Gilead, formerly planted extensively as a shade tree, reaches well up into Alaska, and in the Yukon territory reaches a height of a hundred feet. Immense forests cover hundreds of square miles. As a shade tree it possesses one or two good qualities, quick growth and an indifference to the smoke and grime of cities. It is otherwise not very desirable.
Dogwood.—A small tree with brilliant flowers in the spring and bright red berries in the fall. Wood heavy, hard, tough, and close-grained. Used for hubs of wheels, tool handles, and mallets.
Black Walnut.—Found throughout the East, most abundantly in the Mississippi Valley. Leaves bear from fifteen to twenty-three leaflets. Nut isenclosed in a green husk rich in tannic acid. Wood a beautiful dark brown, sapwood light. Heavy, hard, strong. Takes a high polish. Used in cabinet work, for furniture, inside finish, and for gunstocks.
Getting very scarce.
White Walnut or Butternut.—A smaller tree than the black walnut, the nuts being more elongated and pointed. Both nuts and leaves have an odour distinctive and different from the black walnut. Wood also lighter in colour, softer but takes a good polish. Used for interior finish and furniture.
Hickory.—Nine species found in the United States. The pecan is a hickory, also the pignut, shellbark, etc. All have wood noted for its elasticity, toughness and strength. It is heavy, hard and close-grained. Used for agricultural implements, wagons, carriages, axe handles, cooperage, and automobile spokes.
The nuts of the various species vary greatly, from the bitter pignut to the popular pecan.
Ash.—Several American species, all bearing wood which is hard, strong, and elastic. Coarser in grain and lighter in weight than hickory, hence more valuable for oars and baskets.
The ash is a tall, clean-cut tree with beautiful foliage and bears a winged seed. The wood isvaluable for carriage work, farming implements, furniture and is used for interior finish.
Buckeye.—The American relative of the horse chestnut, which is a European tree. Native to the Mississippi Valley. Leaf has five or seven leaflets radiating from the end of the stem. Nuts are similar to the horse chestnut in colour, but not so regular in form. Wood is light in colour and weight, used in making wooden ware, pulp, wooden limbs, and occasionally for buildings.
Locust.—A tree belonging to the same botanical family as the bean and pea. This is seen in its flowers, which resemble the sweet pea and are fragrant. Seeds are beans borne in pods, varying in size and shape from the delicate light brown little seed of the honey locust, to the coal-black, stonelike seed of the Kentucky coffee tree.
Black Locust, Yellow Locust.—Found from New York south to northern Georgia and west to Arkansas. Seed pods three or four inches long. Wood yellow, heavy, hard and close-grained. The most durable wood we have in contact with the soil, used extensively for posts.
Honey Locust.—Native to the Mississippi Valley, but hardy when transplanted. Doubly compound leaves of great delicacy. Tree has many thornsgrowing often in great clusters and sometimes six inches long. Seeds borne in long, dark brown pods often twisted.
Wood reddish brown, hard, strong, coarse-grained and durable. Used for wheel hubs.
Kentucky Coffee Tree.—Named from the fact that the pioneers made a coffee substitute from its black beans. A southern tree, occasionally found as far north as New York. Leaves doubly compound. Seeds borne in large pods shaped like a lima bean about ten inches long.
Wood light brown, heavy, strong and coarse-grained. Checks considerably in drying, but durable and takes a good polish.
the country life press, garden city, n. y.