10 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES. 



Cottonwood. 

 Populns deltoidcs. — Marsh. 

 Popul-us monilifera. — Ait. 



Cottonwood, indiscriminately known by this 

 term, river poplar, Carolina poplar and neck- 

 lace poplar, has a range of growth from the 

 lower Maurice river in Quebec and from the 

 Lake Champlain district of Vermont through 

 western New England and New York. 

 Pennsylvania (west of the Alii 

 nies), Maryland and the Atlantic 

 states, to western Florida and west 

 to the Rocky mountains, from south- 

 ern Alberta to northern New Mex 

 ico. The growth has its highest de 

 velopment in the Mississippi valley, 

 southward from Cairo. 



This wood is kno 



in New Hampshire, Vermont, 

 Massachusetts, Rhode Csland, New 

 York. \™ Jersey, West Virginia, 

 North Carolina, Alabama. Florida, 

 Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Cali- 

 fornia, Kentucky, .Missouri. Illinois, 

 Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, 

 Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Ontario, 

 I olorado, Montana, North and South 

 Dakota ; big ci in Missis- 



sippi and Nebraska; yellow cotton- 

 wood in Arkansas, Cowa and Ne- 

 braska; cotton-tree in New York; 

 Carolina poplar in Pennsylvania, 

 Mississippi, Louisiana. N-» Mexico, 

 Indiana and Ohio; necklace poplar 

 in Texas and Colorado; Vermont 

 poplar in Vermont; whitewood in 

 Iowa; broad-leafed Cottonwood in 

 i lolorado. 



The sp< i i iv one of 



thirteen members oi the 

 Pdpulus growing in this country. 

 whicl the aspen, the balm 



ni Gilead and thi several vat 

 hi Cottonwood and white and black 

 poplin. Again, distinguished iu eul- 

 tivat i ii other varieties, 



but this one is the common com m< i 

 cial wood. 



Cottonwood is of the willow fam 

 ily. in shape it. is symmetrical, with 

 open head; in height it ranges from 

 eighty to one hundred and rift 

 Its time of bloom is April, and it 

 fruits in June. 



bark is granite-grey; smooth 

 rovmg bul becoming rough and 

 furrowed with age, breaking off in 

 short flaky piei blets are green- 



ish; the leaf buds are fragrant an. I glutinous 

 with a substance like balsam. The Laves are 



i ioles whii 

 flatti i ovate n ith taper- 



poinl lightlj ordate 



base. The lea 



■•■. with ingrooved teeth; the margins 

 fringed; ty they are bright green, 



NINETEENTH PAPER. 



saiooth and glossy above and paler below : the 



an li.n l. and whitish on both sides. 

 The flowers are dioecious, growing in catkins 

 .mil appearing before tor leaves. The fertile 

 ones arc sometimes twelve inches long; 

 sterile catkins grow on stout stems. The sei I- 

 are covered with a whitish or rusty colored 

 substa 



TYPICAL COTTONWOOD F0RES1 GROWTH, ARKANSAS. 



Sargent says .it cottonwood that ''the wood 

 ry light, on. I .11. not strong, elose- 

 grained, compaet, liable t.. w:irp in di 



ilt to seasi ullary rays numerous 



and obscure ; eoloi dark brown, the tin. I. 

 wood nearly whiti ; specific gravity 0.3889 as 

 compared with ash, 0.96; largely used in the 

 manufacture ..t papei pulp, for light packing 

 fence boards and fuel." 



The sole source of supply of COtti 

 North America within Canada and tin United 

 States, and as a commercial quantity it grows 

 only within this country. The recoil... dry 

 weight of the wood is from twenty-four to 

 thirty-four and a half pounds per cubic foot. 

 It has neither smell nor taste. It^ . hi< t uses 

 are in house finish, wagon ami carriage box 

 boards, panels for a variety • 

 box making and paper pulp, it is 

 durable in dry places, but will uot 

 withstand alternate dry and tret. If 

 does not readily take fire. It is -..ft. 

 light and easy to work. The rings 

 are verj clear, a boundary of dense 

 autumn wood adjoining the coarse 

 i spring woo.i; rout. -in gener 

 illy undulating, of light and darker 

 bands. 



The name of tins spei ;ies ol eol ton 

 wood, monilifSra, is from tin Latin 

 monolinum (necklace) and <• to 

 bear) and refers to the Ion.: catkins. 

 grows to large size and has 

 been known to attain a diameter of 

 Eeet and a height of one hundred 

 and seventy feet. I n the \i ississippi 

 vallej and immediately west, it bor- 

 ders every stream. The rapidly 

 -i..»ing young twigs often bear 



eight inches long. He i 

 it must not be forgotten that the 



saplings and young si ts of all 



trees frequently produce leaves of 

 abnormal size, if the lea f oi thi old 

 tree is taken as a standard. 

 Of cottonwood Alice ].. 

 in In i ■ " i .ui.le to the Trees. ' ' says; 

 "There is todaj standing in 

 Washington Hollow, Dutchess 

 county, New York, a cottonwood 

 In. the trunk of which 

 fifteen feet, two and a half inches in 

 circumference. The soft grey of its 

 i. ark and its lustrous restless foliage 

 f. ■mi an imposing spectacle against 

 !hc sky. By I hose that live near its 

 Shade its slightest movements are 

 watched with interest. Owing to the 

 softness of its wood large branches 

 ire apt to break away from the tree 

 when there is a high wind. To look 

 out in the night when s storm is 

 raging and see that all is safi . that 

 no danger is impending from the 

 wood, has I .... .in. a ■ n-toni. 



[hiring the first part of June it is 

 a care to those that liio near it. It is 

 then that its tiny seeds, which are not more 

 than one-twelfth of an inch long, begin to 

 fly. They are hidden within a mass ol soft, 

 delicate cotton which is surrounded by tufts 

 of long, white or rust \ colored hairs, is if 

 with fleecy, ethereal sails, they are thi a borne 

 aloft by the slightest breeze. So abundantly 

 are they dispel sed t bat t bi bavi to bi taken 



