HAKDWOOD KECOKU 



jl »■•/• 



blnrk wiUmit. Tlipy iiiilmlc the 



Via-onslttiid wnliiut" (Cryptocarya pat 



imratoKii V. M. IWloy), " Caiuiuwinii 



■.viilmit" (I'lcrociirya rauctinica C A. 



\l.i. ricrwdri/o fnirittifoUa S])iirli.). 



• l)0'i""" ">■ "Imliiui wnlniit" (Alcu- 



• triloba Korel.), ".Inmnii'n walnut" 

 ; .. I orfcMrfriiii >M(/{<iiM OriHol).), " Kimt 



liiiliiin wnlmit" or "koko" (Albissia 

 Ithhrl; Boiitli.), " TnNinnninii " or "Auk- 

 tntliiin walnut" {Aracia mclaiiorylon II. 

 Hr.). "Siitiii wuhnit" (Liquidambar 

 xturaciflmt Linn, and Tabchuia iloiincll- 

 .imilhii Ro.so.), "Africnn walnut" (a 

 s|i<'cio!i of 7riWii7i<i), wliilp Mandji or 

 Kloum {OldficUlia afrirana B. & II.), a 

 M|«Tip» of I'HcudocrilrcUi of Sierra Lconu 

 and tlio Gold (!oa»t, Africa, and "cliyc" 

 or " inoensp-trw " (liosurllia Mninci), n 

 sulistituto for the "African walnut," 

 :inaniomila (Lona Utiincami Pierre), 

 nuist be added to tlie list. Still other 

 snlistitutes arc likely to be found a.s Afri 

 laii and South Anii'riian forests are 



Butternut was introdueeil into th--' 

 lumber market after blaek walnut and 

 Circassian walnut became scarce and too 

 ex|HMisive for general use. It gained fa- 

 vor under this stimulus as a substitute 

 for Circa.'sian walnut, and it is now em- 

 ployed, jmrticularly in Europe, chiefly 

 for toys, church and lodge furniture, in- 

 terior trimmings of lioats, pipe organ 

 llooring and siding, cabinetwork, furniture, 

 Venetian blinds, and bar fixtures. The demand for butternut is in- 

 creasing more in Europe than elsewhere, because solid-wood furniture 

 is made there, while in America veneer is used with satisf.nctory results 

 largely upon a foundation of in- 

 ferior wood. 



The price of butternut lumber 

 has been comparatively stationary 

 for many years, the average price 

 in this country being about $3.5 

 f)er M, while butternut exported 

 to Europe, where wood users have 

 learned to utilize small pieces, es 

 pecially for making toys, souve- 

 nirs, and other small articles, va- 

 ries from $15 to $8.5 per M. Tlw' 

 annual cut of butternut is aj)- 

 proximately 2.5,000,000 feet, most 

 of which is exported to Europe. 



The only substitute for butter- 

 nut at present is red gum, known 

 in the trade a.s satin walnut or 

 tasselwood, large shipments of 

 which go to Europe for veneers 

 and also as a substitute for Circassian walnut. 



The wood of our two western walnuts is available in such 



riG. -> 

 parts, piano ca.ses, ce 



fp 



iiall 



sizes and quantities that it is important only for local uses, in which 



it serves practically all of the purposes of the eastern black wrdnnt. 



Gross Characters of Walnut Woods 



SAl'WOOD AND nF.AP.TWOOl) 



The heartwood of the native walnut woods, the only portion used, 

 ranges from light to dark brown or nearly black in color, contrasting 

 strongly with the pale white sapwood, which in the black walnut and 

 in the butternut is quite thin, varying from eight to fifteen annual 

 rings of growth in width. Sapwood of the Mexican and Californian 

 walnuts is often thicker, containing from ten to twenty rings of 



growth. Illnck walnut wood frequently 

 hni) a iiurptish tinge, which is bent iiern 

 in tnngentinlly cut boards, whilo the 

 henrtwooil of butternut is much tighter 

 brown with faint shnilcs of yellow unit 

 red, in general apju-arnnce reKemblin^' 

 t'ircassian wnlnut H.-iirtwood of the 

 California walnut, nImoRt black, has .-i 

 very fine flgure<l texture and is in some 

 respects the moot attractive of the native 

 walnut woods. In a less degree this ia true 

 also of the Mexican walnut wood. While 

 the wood of our western walnuts can lx> 

 useil for the same jmrposi-s as black wal- 

 nut, it is seliliuu utilized in the arts, and 

 chiefly because the western trees are of 

 small size and scarce. 



AN.Nl'AL UlNGS OF (iltOWTll 



The annual rings of growth can not 



be clearly distinguished in all spiK-ie.< 



with the unaided eye, but they are dis 



tinctly visible under a. hand lens or com 



])OUnd microscope (Plato 1, a.r.). They 



arc usually narrow, especially in the wood 



of the Mexican and California species, 



while they are widest and most clearly 



defined in butternut, the fastest growing 



native species, ]>articularly during the 



first twenty-five years. Distinctness of 



the annual rings is due in part to a zone 



of largo vessels in the early wood and in 



l)art to the gradual reduction in radial 



diameter of a few rows of wood fibers 



formed iu the late wood, the latter con- 

 trasting strongly with the more ])orous wood formed at the beginning 



of the next season. Because of its larger vessels, the wood of butter 



nut is lighter in weight and more brittle than that of any other 



native walnut. 



'Die walnuts are cla.ssed as dif- 

 fuse-i)orous woods beuiuso the 

 vessels are evenly distributed. To 

 this group belongs such other 

 woods jis birch, beech, alder, ma- 

 ]de, gums, etc., the indistinct an- 

 nual rings of which contrast 

 strongly with the distinct annual 

 lings of the oaks, elms, ashes, sas- 

 safras, etc., known a-s ring-porous 

 woods. 



I-ITII KAYS 



Pith rays (Plato 1, p.r.) are 

 tlio numerous spokelike lines ex- 

 tending in a railial directionifroni 

 the center of the stem, and, there- 

 fore, at right angles to the an- 

 nual rings of growth. Some of 

 7 the rays have their origin at the 



pith and extend from the latter 

 to the bark; while others, developed later in the life of the tree, ex- 

 tend only from the point of origin (in the annual ring) to the bark. 

 Pith rays of walnuts are scarcely visible to the naked eye and, there- 

 fore, do not add figure to <|uarter-sawed boards as do the rays of oak 

 wood.s. The elements composing the pith rays are called pith-ray 

 cells (Fig. -, r.c). 



Minute Structural Characters of Walnut Woods 



\-ESSELS 



A'essels (Plate I, v.) are round or oval, and plainly visible under a 

 hand magnifier. They vary from .04 to .172 millimeter in diameter, 

 those formed in the beginning of the annual ring usually being slightly 

 larger than those formed later. Their arrangement is more or less 



.-r.c 



Sl-.-Sp 



