N.-xt wfok. :it til.- «\ili«.uii., < 1,1. :.»;.•. H"' lorrM I'r.Mlii.ts l:\yi> 



lion will open il» doom. Wood nnd nmiiufnrturoH of wood will 

 . '.iistitvito thi> princiiml exhibits, but tliore will be tools, iiiachin- 

 •TV, and other apidiuuces connected with the working of wood. 

 It is probable that visitors who attend will 800 a larger number 

 of different kinds of American woods than were ever seen in one 

 I iare before, excepting, of course, some of the collections which 



hools nnd museums have brought together, and which are 



tende.l to show kinds rather than uses. The exposition at the 



liseuni will show kinds as well as uses. 



There is abundance of material to choose from. There are 514 



iTereut species of forest trees in the United States, without 

 iMi-ntioning a number which have been introduced from foreign 

 countrie.H and have run wild, and many more varieties which have 

 U'cn developed bv cultivation. 



Some people think of oak simply as oak. It is capable of divi- 

 sion. There arc fifty-two oaks in this country, each distinct from 

 all the others. Twenty seven are white oaks and twenty-five red 

 oaks. A piece of oak furniture may be and often is made up of 

 wood from several kinds of oak. as cow oak, post oak, bur oak, 

 and so on. It is probable that more than half of all the kinds of 

 oak in this country will be on exhibition, though it would be 

 difficult to pick them out and tell which is which. It is usually 

 not difficult to tell the wood of white oak from the red oak, but 

 to distinguish that of one white oak from another, or one red 

 from another, is not always easy. 



A We.\lth of Fines 



There are thirty-four pines in the United States. Like the oaks, 

 they are divided into two general classes, white and yellow, or 

 sometimes distinguished as hard and soft pines. There are twelve 

 white pines and twenty-two yellow, but a person would need to 

 travel over most of this country to find them all. Some of the 

 pines go to a sawmill and are little known, while others, like 

 northern white pine and southern yellow pine, are household 

 words and are known to every one who has any knowledge of 

 wood. It is difficult, even for a practical woodworker, to separate 

 at all times the lumber of the various white and yellow pines, if 

 they are mixed in the yard or shop. 



Three larches or tamaracks grow in this country, one in the 



Northeast and two in the Northwest. The appearance of the 



woods of all of them is generally sufficient to distinguish them 



from other softwoods, but not always from one another. 



Spruces and Hemlocks 



Seven spruces arc native in the forests of the United States, 

 three in the Northeast, three west of the Eocky Mountains, and 

 one, white spruce, from ocean to ocean through northern United 

 States and Canada. The woods of all the spruces are remarkably 

 similar in texture and appearance. It takes an expert to tell one 

 from the other when the lumber reaches the factory; but the 

 standing trees vary greatly in appearance and also in size. 



Four hemlocks are native, two eastern and two western; though 

 practically all of the hemlock lumber reaching the market is cut 

 from one eastern and one western species, but ten times as much 

 in the East as in the West. The western hemlock is larger than 

 the eastern. 



The firs are a numerous family — thirteen children in all, count- 

 ing the ambiguous, gigantic Douglas fir as one of them. Two 

 only inhabit the eastern forests, and they are mere dwarfs com- 

 pared with some of the western species which are 200 or 300 

 feet tall. The wood of the eastern firs — the balsam and the 

 Fraser — is as good as that of any of their western relatives, 

 but the trunks are pretty small for lumber, though just right for 

 pulp. 



There are seven cypresses, but some are cousins to the others, 

 rather than brothers, as is the case with oaks and pines. Two 

 of them grow in southern swamps, but one is so much like the 

 —18— 



Iwtnnist tolls them. Kive are in the West, and are of no great 

 importance as producers of lumber. It may 1m< taken for granted 

 that the exposition will show the wood of only one of the sovon 

 cypresses that occur in the United States. 

 Otiikk Soktwooiik 



The only two redwoods in this country grow in California. The 

 wood is coming into considerable use eaxt of the Rocky Mountains 

 nnd it will doubtless bo seen at the exposition. 



Seventeen cedars contribute to this country's lumber supply, 

 but some of them make rather small contributions. They consti- 

 tute a miscellaneous group, and are not closely related as the 

 various oaks or the ])iues arc. Some are arborvitacs, some arc 

 junipers, and others belong to the other groups, but when the 

 wood leaves the sawmill it is all cedar. The arborvitae of the 

 Lake States and the southern juniper, or lend pencil cedar, are 

 the best known in the East, while the giant red cedar and Port 

 Oxford cedar are the most famous in the West. 



No one takes much interest in the yews, because they do not 



amount to much as sources of lumber, but there are four of 



them, two on the I'aoific coast and two in Florida. Possibly some 



archery bows of western yew may be on exhibition. 



Walnuts and Hickories 



We have four species of walnut in this country, three black and 

 one white. The latter is usually called butternut and is well 

 known. The common black walnut supplies most of the American 

 walnut lumber of commerce, and it is one of the easiest woods 

 to identify. However, if the wood were placed beside that of the 

 Mexican walnut, which grows in Texas, and the California walnut, 

 it would require a pretty good judge to tell one from the other. 

 That test is seldom made, because the Texas and California woods 

 are little used. 



There are from ten to fourteen kinds of hickory^the exact 

 number depending upon who is doing the counting. Some good 

 counters can see only ten, while others list fourteen. The exact 

 number does not matter, as all come out of the sawmill as one 

 wood, except that pecan is set aside by unanimous consent as 

 inferior to the others as far as wood is concerned, but it beats them 

 all for nuts. Some persons call the smooth-barked hickories 

 "black hickory," and the others "white hickory." It is difficult 

 to tell the wood of one from the other. 



Some Soft Hardwoous 



Seventeen willows fringe the streams and occupy mud flats in 

 this country, besides several others introduced from across the 

 seas; but the black willow is the only one in which lumbermen 

 are interested. Millions of feet of it go to sawmills yearly, prin- 

 cipally in the lower Mississippi valley. It is sometimes sold as 

 Cottonwood, but a good lumberman cannot be fooled on it. 



Nine kinds of cottonwoods are cut in this country. Every state 

 has one or more, including the aspens and balm of Gilcad. Some 

 of them are more valuable for pulp than for lumber, and doubtless 

 some fine samples of Cottonwood pulp will be seen at the expo- 

 sition. The common cottonwood is the principal source of cotton- 

 wood lumber. Some of the species in the dry regions from western 

 Texas to southern California are seldom heard of, yet, as far as 

 their wood is concerned, they are as good as aiiv nf the other 

 cottonwoods. 



Bikches and Their Kin 



At least seven birches grow in the United States, but most of 

 the lumber is cut from two, the sweet and the yellow, both grow- 

 ing in the Lake States and eastward. The woods of the two are 

 so much alike that markets take one as readily as the other, and ' 

 usually do not keep them separate. These supply the birch of the 

 lumber trade, though a little of the others is used. Paper birch is 

 the best spool wood in this country. 



