974 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



deck wood, mahogany, Circassian walnut, Spanish cedar, 

 and padouk, go into linish, eucalyptus is made into tree- 

 nails, balsa into life preservers, and lignum vitae is choice 

 material for bearings or gudgeons. 



Domestic hardwoods contribute more than 46.000.000 

 feet a year to the boat-building industry, the separate 

 contributions being shown in the list below : 



Oak, 32,382,311; ash, 7^985.554; I'irch, 1,055.167; 

 maple, 1,014,167; basswood, 959,000; chestnut, 751,295; 

 elm, 706,600; yellow poplar, 448,077; beech, 219,366; 

 locust, 215,028; cherry, 184.976; red gum, 164,000; 



sycamore, black walnut, and apple ; the tough are elm. 

 hickory, cottonwood, and willow. 



It would be interesting to know what changes the war 

 has brought in kinds and quantity of woods demanded by 

 ship yards; but that information is not yet obtainable 

 and probably will not be for two or three years after the 

 close of the war. 



It was customary in England after the Revolutionary 

 war had separated this country from that, to speak of 

 American vessels as "fir ships." That was the custom 

 especially when war ships were under discussion. It 



UlGilKST CR.\DE SIUl' TIMBERS 



Douglas fir met tile emergency when the call came for ships in a hurry to send our army across tlic sea. This is a fir ship under coiistructirni, 

 and the builders were never held up an hour on account of shortage of timber. It came faster than the carpenters could use it. The photograph 

 was furnished for this cut liy the West Coast Lumbermen's Association. 



tu])elu, I3(S,490; hickory, 110,195; butternut, /S,2^/ ; Cali- 

 fornia laurel, 47,500; sycamore, 38,000; cottonwood. 

 14,026; black walnut, 3,750; apple, 1,500; willow, 1,000; 

 wild china, 1,000; total, 46,519,239. 



Some of these woods have special uses, but it may be 

 said of them generally that they fill places where strength, 

 hardness, or beauty is required. The strong and hard 

 woods in the list are oak, ash, birch, beech, locust, and 

 hickory; the beautiful in grain or color are oak, ash, 

 birch, chestnut, cherry, gum, butternut, California laurel. 



was not done in a spirit of ])raisc, and yet it was not 

 ridicule. They used the word fir as a general name for 

 all American softwoods — pine in particular. American 

 ships then were largely pine, either southern yellow pine 

 from Georgia or the Carolinas, or white pine from New 

 York or New England. Pine prevailed in shipbuilding 

 then and it ])revails yet ; but changes have occurred in 

 sources of sujiply during a century or more. Formerly 

 nearly all the timber was cut near the Atlantic coast ; but 

 now thirty-one states build boats, as may be seen by the 



