HOW TO DISTINGUISH WOODS. 63 



fuse-porous woods." We now uote the size and manner in which the 

 pores are distributed through the ring. Finding them very small and 

 neither conspicuously grouped, nor larger nor more abundant in the 

 spring wood, we turn to the third group of this class. We now note 

 the pith rays, and finding them neither broad nor conspicuous, but dif- 

 ficult to distinguish, even with the magnifier, we at once exclude the 

 wood from the first two sections of this group and place it in the third, 

 which is represented by only one kind, cottonwood. Finding the wood 

 very soft, white, and on the longitudinal section with a silky luster, we 

 are further assured that our determination is correct. We may now 

 turn to the list of woods and obtain further information regarding the 

 occurrence, qualities, and uses of the wood. 



Sometimes our progress is not so easy ; We may waver in what group 

 or section to place the wood before us. In such cases we may try each 

 of the doubtful roads until we reach a point where we find ourselves 

 entirely wrong and then return and take up another line; or we may 

 anticipate some of the later-mentioned features and finding them apply 

 to our specimen, gain additional assurance of the direction we ought 

 to travel. Color will often help us to arrive at a speedy decision. In 

 many cases, especially with conifers, which are rather difficult to dis- 

 tinguish, a knowledge of the locality from which the specimen comes is 

 at once decisive. Thus, northern white cedar, and bald cypress, and 

 the cedar of the Pacific will be identified, even without the somewhat 

 indefinite criteria given in the key. 



