I 2 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES. 



Red Oak. 

 Qiu'rcus rubra — Linn. 

 .worth, in his cheek list of forest 

 Dames p-three varieties of oak a9 



growing in the United States. It is more 

 than likely that Mr. Sudworth 's analysis 

 of ti : this country falls consider- 



ably below the actual number, and when 

 all varieties are fully botanized, 

 it will be found that the number 

 approximates one hundred. 



Of the great varietj of oaks na- 

 tive to the TTnited States the 

 larger number is of some species 

 of red oak as distinguished in a 

 general term from white oak. The 

 best known of the red oaks is the 

 is rubra. Its range of 

 growth is from Nova Scotia and 

 southern New Brunswick through 

 Quebec and along the north shores 

 of Lake Huron to near Lake V. 

 mekagon; south to middle Ten- 

 and Virginia, and along 

 the Appalachian mountains to 

 south- jia; west to eastern 



Nebraska and central Kansas. 



It is called red oak in M 

 Vermont. New Hampshire, M 

 chusetts, Rhode Island, New York, 

 New Jersey, Pennsylvania, D 



Virginia. West Virginia, 

 North Carolina, South Carolina, 

 Georgia. Arkansas. Missouri, Ken 

 tucky, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa. Ne- 

 braska, Kansas. Michigan, Wis 

 eonsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, 

 Ontario; black oak in Vermont, 

 Connecticut. New York. Wiscon- 

 sin, Iowa. Nebraska, South Dakota 

 and Ontario; Spanish oak in Penn- 

 sylvania and North Carolina. 



Red oak is oi h family. 



In shape it is round-topped with 

 stout branches. It grows to a 

 height of from fifty to one hun- 

 dred and fifty feet. Its time of 

 bloom is in May and June. The 

 fruit matures in October and No 

 vernier. The bark is reddish- 

 brown, rough and broken into 

 scale-like plates, but smooth on the 

 branches. The leaves are simple, 

 alternate, having smooth, yellow- 

 ish-green petioles from one to one 

 and a half inches long. In shape 

 they are oblong or obovate, rather 

 rounded or wedge-shaped at the base, and 

 have from nine to tairteen lobes which are 

 have from nine to thirteen lobes which are 

 ends, the sinuses between them narrowed, 

 rounded and extending about half-way tn 

 the midrib. They are dark-green and gla- 

 brous on the upper surface, pale yellow- 

 green below, with rust-colored hairs in the 

 angle of the ribs. The staminate flowers 



FOURTEENTH PAPER. 



grow in long, hairy catkins; the pistillate 

 ones on glabrous peduncles. The acorns 

 grow on a short, thick stem. The cup is flat 

 ir shaped, being finely scaled. The 

 fruit is illy an inch in length; 



ovoid ; having :i bitt er taste. 



The wool is coarse grained with well 

 marked annual ring8, while the medullary 



TTPICA] 



UED OAK TIMRKR GROWTH, 

 APPALACHIAN RANGE 



SOUTHl'KN 



rays are few bul broad. The heartwood is 

 of a dull reddish-brown color and the sap- 

 wood even darker. The pores of the wood 

 are filled with a reddish contents (thyloses) 

 which render them much deeper in color 

 than the rest . • t" the wood. In structure the 

 wood is not nearly as compact as white 

 oak and is often so open that through a 

 specimen two feet long, tobacco smoke 



can be blown simply by the pressure exer- 

 cise! by the lungs. Red oak is heavy, hard. 

 trong mi iomewhat inclined to check tin 

 less seasoned carefully, and for purposes 

 great strength is required it is in- 

 ferior to white oak. The recorded seasoned 

 weight of the wood is from thirty -five to 

 Eve pounds per cubic foot. 



Wei oak attains a size, in diam- 

 eter of bole, of from three to six 

 feet and over. It is a very hand- 

 tree and is highly esteemed 

 for ornamental purposes. It grows 

 more rapidly than any of the other 

 oaks. Depending on soil, climate, 

 altitude or latitude of growth, red 

 oak varies in quality perhaps more 

 than an)- other well-known type of 

 American forest tree. In many 

 - its drying and milling quali- 

 are of the highest order, and 

 i in instances the wood pre- 

 sents many refractory and annoy- 

 ing features, and does not lend 

 itseli readibj cither to seasoning 

 or to remauufacturing into a fin 

 ished product. Red oak is used 

 very extensively in the manufac- 

 ture of furniture, house finish, 

 doors, car building, cooperage and 

 for many minor purposes. 



In the commerce of the world 

 oak has come to be esteemed 

 - second only in importance to 

 DIM alba, the famous Ameri- 

 can white oak, and for some pur- 

 poses, notably in furniture mauu- 

 ne, it is given first place for 

 ial utility and beauty. The 

 highest type of red oak growth 

 lias its range in the southern 

 peninsula of Michigan and in Wis- 

 consin, but in both these sections 

 it is now largely disseminated. In 

 general wood physics the red oak 

 of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and 

 the country immediately south and 

 west thereof, ranks very high. An 

 especially rich type of red oak" is 

 found throughout West Virginir. 

 and the entire lower portion of 

 the Appalachian mountains. The 

 specimen herewith pictured grew at 

 an altitude of about 3,500 feet, in 

 Blount county, Tennessee, and had 

 a diameter of sixty inches at flic 

 stump line and a height of sev- 

 enty-five feet to the first limb. A still 

 larger specimen of red oak is also rep'ro- 

 i in a half-tone in connection with 

 this article. This tree shows a diameter 

 of seventy-inches twelve feet from the 

 ground and is standing in southern Georgia, 

 on a timber property belonging to John H. 

 Hoyt, of Delaware, N. J. 



Alice Lounsberrv. in her "Guide to the 



