454 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



the white shows the closest fibre lines, 

 swamp white more open and broader, 

 and post and burr oak smooth and light 

 with the fibre patterns far apart and 

 hardly distinguishable. In planing any 

 such wood along the grain one is bound 

 to cross the fibre ends on a long slant, 

 leaving rows of what looks like pin- 

 pricks but are the fibre ends crossing 

 the cut at a slant. The straighter the 

 fibres the fewer of these patterns of 

 fibre ends crossed by the plane from 

 which we note that the oak sap fibres 

 vary in straightness from post oak to 

 white oak in a decreasing scale, 

 through this series of five first-year 

 oaks. 



We now take up the second branch 

 of the oak clan, the second season 

 oaks ripening their oaks the second 

 year and have chosen five repre- 

 sentatives out of the many — the red, 

 black, pin, scarlet and black jack oaks. 

 Except for the last, all of them are 

 characterized by a pointed-lobed leaf, 

 often with the ribs extended like tiny 

 umbrella points to form a bristle at the 

 tip of each projection. Two of them, 

 the scarlet and the pin oaks are favorite 

 nurserymen's oaks, for they color bril- 

 liantly in the fall and their graceful 

 feathery foliage is a pleasure to the eye 

 all through the summer. Owing to the 

 pin oak's preference for low, swampy 

 soils, it does not get to bud until late in 

 the spring, usually about the fifth of 

 May. 



The red and black oaks, while hand- 

 some in summer because of their aljun- 

 dant, glossy dark-green leaves, are not 

 to be relied upon in the autumn, as 

 the red goes right to a dull brown and 

 the leaves fall by the end of October, 

 while the black turns to a deep, dull, 

 reddish-purple and then yellow-brown, 

 which persist all winter from some of 

 the twigs, helping out the white oaks and 

 the beeches to make the winter snow- 

 scapes cheerful. As none of these 

 oaks are particularly valuable for their 

 wood, their ornamental considerations 

 would weigh heavily when in doubt as 

 to which to take out and which to leave. 

 For instance, of a clump of scarlet, 

 black and red oaks that had to be 

 would remain with the scarlet. As 



thinned, I should certainly take out the 

 red and then the black because of the 

 splendid note of red and orange that 

 this would also be the case with the 

 black and pin oaks, to a lesser degree, 

 they would receive preference in the 

 order named. All three are ottered by 

 nurserymen at about a dollar each for 

 8-ft. trees, well root-pruned, and the 

 pin oak is the easiest of them to trans- 

 plant. Their soil preferences are, for 

 rich uplands and ridges, red and black 

 oaks ; rich, moist river bottoms, red and 

 pin oaks ; low swampy soils and rich 

 clay base flat lands, inundated or 

 swampy in the spring, pin oak ; dry 

 well-drained sand or limestone base 

 soils, scarlet oak ; also clay base if not 

 too wet. For barren, sandy or rocky 

 ridges and hills the black jack and 

 scrub oaks are the principal repre- 

 sentatives of the family, almost by pref- 

 erence it would seem, for, while the 

 black jack will do well in company 

 with chestnut oaks and red oaks in rich, 

 rather dry uplands and hills border- 

 insT river banks, the scrub or bear oak 

 must have a barren to grow in. Here 

 they put out their stubby club-shaped 

 leaves, scarlet and purple in the au- 

 tumn, and drop myriads of tiny acorns, 

 a small miniature or the white oak 

 acorn, much prized by bears and wild 

 hogs, red squirrels and wild turkeys. 

 The blackjack goes right to a dull 

 brow^i in the autumn and comes down 

 soon after the first frosts. It has little 

 value except for firewood, of which 

 it makes one of the best, as its logs 

 burn slowly with a small hot flame, — 

 the campers delight. 



Commercially, pin oaks and red and 

 black oaks arc salable as second-grade 

 oak, used for interior trim. The wood 

 works much easier under the saw and 

 plane and the chisel than the white oak 

 grades, and is reddish in color with 

 deep abundant fibre pits. The branch- 

 lets of the pin oak are exceedingly hard 

 and tough, and its wood was used by 

 the early settlers for treenails in house 

 building, whence its name pin oak, the 

 nail or pin of the frontier dwelling 

 when iron was scarce. Looking at 

 the ends of the logs, there is a whole 

 lot to be learnt in just studying the sec- 



