294 SYLVA AMERICANA. 



toothed. It fructifies once in two years. The flowers make 

 their appearance in the month of May, which are succeeded by 

 acorns of a lengthened, oval form, nearly black, and contained 

 in shallow, grayish, pedunculated cups. 



The bark upon the trunk of this tree is blackish, hard and 

 thick. The wood is heavy, compact, fine-grained, and of a 

 yellowish color, which deepens as the tree advances in age. The 

 number and closeness of the concentric circles evince the 

 slowness of its growth. As it is very strong, and incomparably 

 more durable than the best white oak, it is highly esteemed in 

 ship building, and is consumed not only in the country which 

 produces it, but still more extensively in the Northern States. 

 From its great durability when perfectly seasoned it is almost 

 exclusively employed for the upper part of the frames of vessels. 

 To compensate its excessive weight it is joined with the red 

 cedar, which is extremely light and equally lasting. This tree 

 does not afford large timber ; but its wide and branching summit 

 makes amends for this disadvantage by furnishing a great number 

 of knees, of which there is never a sufficient quantity in the dock 

 yards. This wood is said to make the best of trunnels. It is 

 also employed for the naves and felloes of heavy wheels, for 

 which it is superior to the white oak : it is more proper, also, 

 for screws and for the cogs of mill wheels. The bark is 

 excellent for tanning, but is only accidentally employed, and its 

 wood is highly esteemed for fuel. 



RHODODENDRON. 



Decandria Monogynia. Linn. Rhododendrae. Juss. Tonic, narcotic. 



Dwarf Rose Bay. Rhododron maximum. 



The Dwarf Rose Bay is found on Long Island and the river 

 Hudson below the highlands, in the state of New York and in 

 Dedham, Massachusetts ; but these places may be considered 

 far beyond the limits where this shrub ceases to be found in the 

 forests. It is abundant, on the contrary, in the Middle States, 



