220 



AMERICAN lURhSl R\ 



they taper to a point, though the general form is roundish, 

 hence the name of the species. Blossoming in May and 

 June, or in July farther north, they are easily recognized 

 by their small, fiat flowers, which arc white, and may meas- 

 ure as much as two inches in diameter; they are arranged 

 in clusters, and no involucre is present. Petals are gen- 



FRUIT AND LEAVES OF FLOWERING DOGWOOD IX THE AUTUMN 



Fig. S. — E.\tremities of dogwood twigs in the autumn. Note the curled form 

 of the large orange and scarlet leaves. At the end of the twigs the berries or 

 fruit are of a splendid vermilion color, and look as though they were made of 

 red sealing wax. Each is of an clipsoidal form, and the eight to ten in each 

 cluster are bunched together at their bases. In the upper bunch note the single 

 little round white buds, which represent the early stage of the flowers of the 

 succeeding spring. 



erally four in number, and branches are sometimes streaked 

 with white. From the l,ark of this round-lcavrd dogwood 

 is extracted "comine," which has many of the medicinal 

 properties of quinine, and is sometimes prescribed by 

 physicians in the country where a strong tonic is indicated. 

 Its hght blue berries are not edible, and this shrub will 

 grow in any kind of soil imaginable, whether it be of the 

 richest, or of a quality so poor that it would not support 

 any other kind of plant life, as Dr. Asa Gray goes so far 

 as to say actually "on rock." 



Another dogwood which has light blue fruit in the 

 autumn is the Silky Cornel or Kinnikinic — a shrub that 

 may sometimes grow to be nearly nine feet in height, 

 while the branches, instead of being whitish as in the last 

 species, are purphsh. It gets its name of "Silky" from 

 its silky, downy leaves, which are so upon their under 

 sides, and which are of a rusty color. Formerly it bore the 

 scientific name of C. sericea. but it is now the C. ainomum. 

 In form, the leaves arc ]iointcd, and are subject to \s.vy 

 somewhat. This has led one botanist to describe the sup- 

 posed variety as a new species (C pitrpusi, Koehne). As 

 a rule, the Silky Cornel grows in wet localities from New- 

 foundland westward to North Dakota, and southward to 

 all the Gulf States as far as Louisiana. Some people call 

 it the Swamp Dogwood; and in the old days some of the 

 American Indians smoked its powdered bark, believing 

 that it acted as a tonic. 



Some of the Cornels have white or pale, lead-colored 

 fruit, generally jnire white, as is the case with C. asperi- 

 folia and C. bailcyi, the form being rather a tall shrub, and 

 mav occur from Lake Erie to Minnesota and far south- 

 ward; it flowers in May and June. In another group is 

 found still other species, as C. alternijoUa, C. panicidata, 

 and also the Stif? Cornel or Dogwood (C. stricta) 



For the present purpose it will be necessary to describe 

 but one more, and it, too, belongs in the same assemblage 

 as the last three species. It is the Red-Osier Dog^vood 

 {C. stolon if era). It may easily be recognized by its lead- 

 colored but oftener pure white fruit. Its branches re- 

 semble osier shoots; those of the year are of a brilliant 

 reddish purple and quite smooth, and to this Gray adds 

 that its ovate leaves are roimdish at their bases, abruptly 

 short-pointed, roughish, with a minute close pubescence 

 on both sides, whitish underneath. It is partial to wet 

 soils or soft, moist soils. By the aid of its running shoots, 

 it is now found from Newfoundland to Mackenzie, south 

 to the District of Columbia, then across the United States 

 to the Pacific Coast region. It bears small, flat-topped 

 .flower clusters as late as Juh-, and still later, August, 

 to the northward. 



Thus it is seen that the Dogwood family is far more 

 extensive than is generally supposed. Economically, their 

 wood is of considerable use, even 'n the arts, while their 

 wide distribution, their decorative and attractive appear- 

 ance, and early blossoming, all invite one to be extremely 

 considerate of their conservation, and to encourage their 

 more extensive cultivation in large gardens, on the border 

 lines of estates and similar properties. 



THE United States Forest Products Laboratory [at 

 Madison, is trying by many experiments to find ways 

 to cut the price of paper, and thus give material aid to 

 publishers. The increasing cost of pulpwood has focal- 

 ized attention upon the possibility of utilizing sawmill 

 waste for the manufacture of chips suitable for pulp. An 

 exhaustive study has been completed showing the extent 

 to which mill waste is now used in making pulp as well as 

 methods of barking, chipping, screening, drying, and bal- 

 ing chips. 



