360 
FOXWORTHY. 
CotuixinUin- nrltjhls of PhUlppUu and Anoncmi /coo'/x— ContiiuuMl 
AMERICAN WOODS.' 
Very heavy. 
Heavy. 
Hickory. 
White oak. 
Red ORk. 
Persimmon. 
Osage orange, 
Black locust. 
Hackborry. 
Blv;c beech. 
Moderately heavy. 
Ash. 
White elm. 
Sweet gnm. 
Hard pine. 
Cherry. 
Birch. 
Maple. 
Walnut. 
Sour gum. 
Coffee tree. 
Honey locust. 
Tamarack. 
Douglas Spruce. 
Western hemlock 
Soft maple. 
Sycamore. 
Sassafras. 
Mulberry. 
Light. 
White cedar. 
White pine. 
White Spruce 
Bald cypress. 
Red cedar. 
Hemlock. 
Redwood. 
Oregon pine. 
BasswTKKi. 
Chestnut. 
Butternut. 
Tulip. 
ratal pa. 
Buckeye. 
Poplar. 
Willow. 
Resonance. — "We have no commercial wood in tlie T^land^; which is 
suitable for making good sonnding l)oards. Impori-ed coniferous wood 
is usually used for this purpose in guitars and other stringed instruments 
of local manufacture, the backs and sides of the instruments being made 
of lanotan {Bomhycidendron campijJosiphon (Tcz.) F. A'ill-):' l^nca 
{Artocarpus integrifoUa L. f.) or other even-grained ornamental woods. 
Moisture content, shrinkage, seasoning. — AVood is much heavier when 
green than when dr}', because of the large amount of water which it 
contains; air-dry it still holds 8 to 10 per cent of moisture and even when 
it is kiln-dried there is usually some water left in it. It is exceedingly 
hygroscopic; a piece which lias been very thoroughly dried will, if placed 
in a moist place, take up enough water to equalize its moisture content 
'with that of the surrounding air. This capacity for taking up w^ater is 
responsi})le for the swelling and M-arping of timber. The loss of water 
from the wood causes shrinkage and where this is uneven, checking. 
Seasoning, — The process by which water is gradually removed from 
wood is known as seasoning. In seasoning, certain chemical and phys- 
ical changes take place which render the w^ood stronger, more durable, 
and usually harder and heavier. The nature of these changes is rather 
imperfectly understood, but it seems probable that certain materials 
contained in the pith-ray and wood parenchyma cells become changed 
into tannins, resins, and other substances w^iich have a preservative and 
strengthening effect. When properly seasoned a wood is always stronger 
=^The classification of American woods was taken from Roth's Bull. Timber., 
U. S. Bur. of Forestry (18!)5), 10. 
