FOREST TREES. 209 



maples. As materials for house-building, the pines, the spruce 

 and the hemlock, are generally employed.* Floors are some- 

 times made of beech, of birch, and of ash. The best materials, 

 probably, are oak, yellow pine, and spruce. 



For ship-building, oak is considered preferable to any other 

 wood. The best kinds are white oak, iron oak, and black or 

 yellow-bark oak. In the construction of most of the ships of 

 Europe, great quantities of larch are used. This tree might be 

 profitably planted on thousands of acres which are now unpro- 

 ductive. Small vessels, remarkably light and durable, have 

 been wholly made of pitch-pine. This tree grows well on sands 

 so barren as to furnish nourishment for no other tree. Pitch 

 pine is also used, in preference to other timber, for the upper 

 works of large vessels, and for top-masts. White pine is also 

 used, especially for decks, as it retains the oakum in its seams ; 

 and for the knees, hackmatack and spruce ; and rock maple for 

 keels. Spruce and pine are also used for the upper spars. For 

 boats, cedar and oak are necessary. 



For fencing materials, chestnut and cedar are found most 

 durable. The former is remarkable for its rapid growth. White 

 cedars grow most luxuriantly in wet swamps, where nothing 

 else will flourish. The various native and foreign thorns, the 

 hemlock and cedar, and numerous small trees, furnish fit mate- 

 rials for hedges, which, in many parts of the State, must ulti- 

 mately take the place of fences. 



Furniture, of the most ornamental kinds, is now made of our 

 beautiful maples, birches, cherries and beech. Tables of extreme 

 beauty are sometimes made of the root of oak, or maple, or birch. 

 These four trees, with the oaks and pines, must continue to be 

 indispensably necessary for the manufacture of chairs, tables, 

 bedsteads, and other kinds of furniture. 



For implements of husbandry, the ashes and hickories, the 

 lever wood, the hornbeam and the oaks, must always be want- 

 ing. The carriage-maker and wagon-builder will want ash for 

 springs and frames, white oak for spokes and shafts, white oak 

 and elm for hubs, and white wood or bass for panncls. The 



* Chestnut Is extensively used now, instead of pine, in house-finishing, in the 

 manufacturing of cabinet ware, piano-fortes, &c. The lumber of old trees 

 makes a good finish, and a beautiful appearance when oiled or varnished. — 

 Ed. 



27 



