FOREST commissioner's REPORT. 8/ 



equipped with thin, membranous wings, which arc much broader 

 than the seed itself, so that the seed is easily carried long dis- 

 tances by the w ind. 



WOOD. 



The wood is of medium weight, fairly hard, strong, and toughi 

 of close grain and uniform texture. Green wood contains con- 

 siderable sap and is rather heavy and hard to handle. When 

 seasoned, however, it becomes fairly light and has a specific 

 gravity of 0.59 and a weight of 37 pounds per cubic foofc The 

 wood is usually straight-grained, although cross-grained indi- 

 viduals occasionally occur, particularly on exposed north slopes. 

 It varies more or less in toughness and its character in this re- 

 spect can frequently be judged from the appearance of the 

 bark. Dark-colored, close-barked trees are apt to have a tough, 

 stringy wood, while those with a very white, papery bark scaling 

 off in large plates are apt to have a smooth, easily worked wood. 

 The wood is not durable and decays quickly in contact with the 

 soil. The bark lasts much longer, and logs are not infrequently 

 found which appear at first sight to be perfectly sound, but 

 which are really a mass of decayed punk inside of the sound 

 bark. 



The character of the wood unfits it for certain uses. It is 

 too hard and heavy for ordinary construction timber, is too 

 soft for hardwood lumber, and is not striking enough in appear- 

 ance to be popular for furniture or interior finish. It is too 

 perishable to be fit for ties, posts, fence rails, or other uses in 

 the open. In the Lake States it has nevertheless been used to 

 some extent as ties for logging railroads, where these were not 

 expected to la.st more than two or three years, and then left in 

 the ground to rot. It is possible that preservative treatment 

 may open a new field for its use, but without such treatment 

 its utilization in the open must be very limited. It is a little 

 used for the manufacture of paper pulp and is fairly satisfac- 

 tory, but will hardly be much used for this purpose because of 

 its comparative scarcity and of tlie difficulties of transportation. 



On the other hand, the even grain and uniform texture of 

 the wood, its ability to hold its shape after sea.soning, the ease 

 with which it turns on the lathe, and the smooth, clean surface 

 which it presents particularly adapt it to a number of wood- 

 working industries where accuracy and nicety of fim'sh arc 



