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mi ^orth American Walnut Woods ^ 



PART ONE 



Editor's Note 



iit it is I'Ssi'iUi 



ISTAXT DEN Dm 



follow in the 



Introduction 



ilistiiiguisliing eharaeters 

 woods for the purpose, particularly, of aiding; 

 i.ig the ___ 



Fvon 



;[iecies, as 

 iiif; them 

 ii'cies and 



f 



'P It 



p» 



the dozon or more substi- 

 tiitos and imitation ualniits 

 now marketed. 



'I'he walnuts belong to the 

 •;enus Juglaiif! and are elose- 

 ly related to the Hicorin. 

 these two groups of trees be- 

 ing the only representatives 

 of the family Juglandaceat; 

 in this country. Of the fifteen 

 wnliuits now known in the 

 world, four are natives of the 

 I'nited States ami tliese arc 

 the bhu'k walnut (JiuiUins 

 iii/im Liun.), onr |irincipal 

 commercial species, the but- 

 r e r n u t (Jttglans cinerea 

 Linn.), Mexican walnut 

 {Jiiglans rupestris Engehu.), 

 and the California walnut 

 (Jtiglaiis calif ornica Wats.). 

 The remaining species, which 

 are natives of Europe, Asia, 

 the West Indies, Mexico, 

 Central and South America, 

 include the Circassian* or so- 

 called ' ' English walnut ' ' 

 {Juglans regia Linn.), Jap- 

 anese walnut (Juglmis cor- 

 lUformift Maxim. = Juglans 

 „,l„,iiira ,'<i.'lM,l,l,). Manchu- 

 ii:in u;ilniil {,1 ii ,il,i n,s mait- 

 cltana Muxnn.^ Siebold 's 



walnut {Juglans sieboldiana Ki<;. i 



Maxim.), Chinese walnut 



{Juglans stennrnrpn :V[axim.). Nogal {Jughuts au.slrulis) 

 walnut {Jughin.s .ininut.nsix Lind.), Cuban walnut {Juglans insidark 

 Griseb. = J«(''(nix jn ii,i,nr,iisi.-i C. DC), and the two Mexican walnuts 

 (Jnglans mollis Enycl. and Juglans pyrifonnis Liebm). 



Our native black walnut has from the earliest days in this country 

 supplied the principal cabinet and furniture wood, the beautifully 

 gnarled and wavy forms of which surpassed all other native woods 

 for these purposes. Moreover, the great lasting qualities o'f black 

 walnut wood lead to its use, where most abundant, for construction, 

 particularly for barn and house sills, etc., while not a few farms 

 in the Ohio river valley country were actually fenced with rails of this 

 superb timber. Black walnut was used to the greatest extent in about 



* The wood of this walnut is described in Forest Service Circular 212, 

 which can be secured b.r writing to Bureau ol' Public Documents at Wash- 

 ington. 



h. 



- yv, 



ilombiau 



'aciicd approximately 125,000,000 feet, 

 mnual cut increased very rapidly, the 

 and the prime lumber so chea|) 

 that the high gi-ade lines 

 dropped it as it had gone 

 into .such a variety of cheap 

 uses. It is probable, how- 

 ever, that the use of black 

 walnut decreased in the 

 United States also because 

 of a popular desire for loss 

 sombre finishing woods and 

 with more striking figures of 

 grain, etc. Black walnut fur- 

 niture rapidly went out of 

 date in this country, wiiile 

 mahogany. Circassian wal- 

 nut, red gum {Liquidambar 

 xtyraciflua Linn.), and oak 

 became popular and are now 

 the leading furniture w'oods. 

 Although the use of black 

 walnut has since decreased 

 enormously, there are still 

 approximately .50,000,000 

 feet of this wood cut annu- 

 ally, but of this amount 

 about 20.000,000 or 25,000,- 

 000 feet are exported to the 

 United Kingdam and conti- 

 nental Europe, where black 

 walnut, used extensively for 

 furniture, is considered supe- 

 rior to many of the tropical 

 woods. The present use, 

 therefore, of black walnut 

 .„„,,_, for furniture is chiefly for- 



j II IWWJ '''^°' '*°'^' ^1'?^''''°"^' '-'^'^ "'^ 



/ II 11^^' i-oustantly growing. While 



/" V ^-^ prime black walnut is still 



kk;. :; vu;. 4 available in moderate quan- 



tities in Kentucky, Tennessee, 

 Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma, the total stand in the United States 

 is unknown at present. It is believed, however, that complete exhaus- 

 tion of this valuable timber is not close at hand. 



The market price of prime black walnut hunber has ranged from 

 aliout $85 per M in 1880 to $100 per M in 1900, while the present 

 price is about $115. Since oak is now becoming so high-priced, there 

 is no reason, except popular fancy against it, why black walnut should 

 not again be used extensively in this country for furniture, even at 

 the present high export prices, which are equaled by the market cost 

 of the best grades of oak, birch and maple, now so much nsed in this 

 country. 



Should another large demand for black walnut be created in this 

 country in excess of the supply, a nimiber of good substitutes are 

 likely to be offered; in fact, even now, there are more than a dozen 

 substitutes and imitation walnuts known, some of which are sold as 



