644 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



15 inches in diameter in 50 years, and height growth is 

 rapid in the early years of its life. The tree is inter- 

 esting throughout the year. In the summer the large, 

 glossy, star-shaped leaves are unusually attractive. The 

 fall coloring of the foliage is unsurpassed by any other 

 species in the brilliancy of its crimson. Its gorgeous scar- 

 let, red, orange and yellow tints vie with those of the 

 maples. Later the leaves may assume the purple, lilac, 

 brown and bronze tones of the ashes. The red gum gives 

 an excellent winter efifect because of its symmetrical form, 

 its sturdy branches with their conspicuous gray, corky 

 ridges and the peculiar spiny fruit balls that hang in 

 abundance from the twigs. This tree should be planted 

 m rich moist soil and should be closely pruned when it 

 is transplanted. It has ability to withstand salt air and 



is valuable for seaside planting if soil conditions are good. 

 The wood is heavy and hard, close-grained and with- 

 out great strength. The heartwood is a beautiful, bright 

 reddish brown with a satiny luster and frequently with 

 a pleasing, varying figure. The sapwood is nearly white 

 and is usually wide, the smaller sized trees consisting 

 entirely of sapwood. Twenty years ago red gum wood 

 was considered to be of little value because of its tendency 

 to warp, but with improved methods of drying it is now 

 one of our finest furniture and finishing woods. Few 

 woods in America equal it in the beauty of its natural 

 grain and it can be finished to imitate oak, mahogany, 

 cherry, or Circassian walnut. For this reason it has 

 been predicted that red gum will in time equal wdiite 

 oak in value. 



T 



Commercial Uses of Red Gum 



HE beauty, adaptability and fine working qualities gums. Blat 



uni, water gum, cotton gum and tupelo 



of red gum lumber have promoted it with phe- are also wholly unrelated botanically to red gum, al- 



nomenal rapidity from a despised species to one of though they grow in many of the localities where red 



the most respected and prominent cabinet woods. For gum is native. These gums have a twisted grain with 



many j-ears this wood was cut to a limited extent ; prefer- the fibers so tightly interlocked that the wood is split 



ence was given to woods easier to handle, because red with exceeding ditticult}'. The wood is useful for heavy 



gum lumber warped and twisted in the process of sea- wheel hubs, rollers, mauls, construction and box material, 



soning. No trouble was experienced with red gum after flooring, and paper pulp. The characteristics of red gum 



it was seasoned, and decreasing timber supply finally led are concisely expressed in Bulletin 58 of the U. S. Forest 



to practical experiments in the better utilization of this Service, as follows : 



wood. Technical investigations of the structure of the " The wood is about as strong and as stiff as chestnut, 



wood and of the principles of kiln-drying finally overcame or a little weaker than shortleaf pine; it splits easily 



the difficulties and a wide market for red gum lumber and is c|uite brash; it is less tough than Cottonwood and 



quickly developed, in 

 spite of the prejudice 

 against it. Occasion- 

 ally it has masqueraded 

 under assumed names, 

 for it is a common fail- 

 ing of human judg- 

 ment to believe that 

 ordinary " gum " must 

 be lacking in the su- 

 perior qualities which 

 the wood possesses 

 when made into furni- 

 ture of " satin walnut " 

 or interior finish of 

 " hazel wood." 



The use of the word 

 " gum " to designate 

 several entirely dif- 

 ferent species of trees 

 may be responsible for 

 some of the prejudice 

 against red gum. The 

 E u c a 1 y p t s are f r e- 

 quently called gums, 

 although in no wise 

 related to the true 



PEELED RED GUM LOGS SEASO.MNG IN THE WOODS. SOUTH CAROLINA 



A large amount of red gum growing in the South can be economically transported from the 

 forests to the mills only by means of the streams, owing to the expense of putting in rail- 

 roads solely for the timber. Green red gum, however, is so heavy that it scarcely floats. 

 Probably one-third of the logs, those with the largest amount of sapwood, sink. The 

 method of getting the logs ready for the river, now principally followed in the South, is to 

 cut the trees, without girdling, in the fall of the year, or from as early as the first of Sep- 

 tember until the time when high water sets in, which is usually from the first of January to 

 the first of February. At that season the sap is down and the wood is as ligllt as it ever will 

 be while the tree is standing. When felled, the tree is cut into standard lengths; the logs 

 are then skidded to the bank of the river, and tied in rafts with cypress, ash. or Cottonwood, 

 to keep them from sinking, and floated down to the mill as soon as high water comes. 



splinters less; it is 

 about as hard as yellow 

 poplar and can be 

 worked with tools al- 

 most as easily; it has 

 a moderately fine grain, 

 is denser than cotton- 

 wood, and has a large 

 proportion of sapwood; 

 the sapwood decays 

 rapidly when exposed 

 to the weather, but the 

 heartwood is quite du- 

 r a bl e even in the 

 ground. The green 

 wood contains much 

 water and consequently 

 is heavy and difficult 

 to float, but when dry 

 it is as light as bass- 

 wood, or about 15 per 

 cent heavier than yel- 

 low poplar or cotton- 

 wood. The great 

 amount of water in 

 the green wood, par- 

 ticularl}' in the sap, 



