HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



Shingle oak, so called because of the fact 

 that it is largely manufactured into shingles. 

 is an entire-leaved member of the red oak 

 group. While inferior physically to true red 

 oak, it has quality sufficient to give it a fair 

 commercial value. It is a quick growing tree, 

 with foliage of singular attractiveness, and 

 consequently is sometimes planted for orna- 

 mental purposes. It seems especially 

 suited to hybridize with other species, 

 and Quercus leana, believed to be a 

 cross between Quercus imbricaria and 

 Quercus velutina, now has an exten- 

 sive range, though scattered in ' 

 growth. 



Quercus imhricaria requires good 

 soil for growth, but is not partial 

 either to uplands or bottoms. It is 

 found at its best in the lower Ohio 

 river basin and in Missouri, but is 

 comparatively rare in the East. From 

 middle Pennsylvania its range ex- 

 tends southward along the Alle- 

 ghauies to northern Georgia, Ala- 

 bama, Tennessee and Arkansas. 



While generally knowTi as shingle 

 oak in Delaware, North Carolina, 

 South Carolina, Kentucky, Indiana, 

 Illinois, Kansas, Iowa and Ne- 

 braska, it also bears the name of 

 laurel oak in Pennsylvania, Dela- 

 ware, South Carolina, Kentucky, Illi- 

 nois and Nebraska; jack oak in Illi- 

 nois and water oak in North Caro- 

 lina. 



A mature tree might be as much 

 as one hundred feet high and three 

 or four feet in diameter, and has a 

 round or pyramidal, attractive crown 

 composed of many slender branches 

 and twigs. The foliage is distinct- 

 ively grouped at the ends of the 

 twigs in star-like clusters. The 

 leaves are four to sis inches 

 long, are oblong in shape witli 

 wedge-shaped or rounded bases and 

 are deep green and shiny on the 

 upper side but lighter below. Win- 

 ter buds are small, light brown and 

 slightly angled; the male flowers 

 grow in white fuzzy aments, the fe- 

 male on slender peduncles. The 

 acorns are short, stubby and round- 

 ed, covered one-third of the way 

 with thin shallow cups. The bark 

 on the older trees is brown, tinged 

 with red, close fitting and firm and divided 

 into even scales. 



There is rather a marked similarity in 

 the general appearance of shingle and pin 

 oak, especially in the slender twigs, and 

 the branch arrangement. Yet there is no 

 possibility of confusing the trees, as the 

 short, rigid pins of the latter are lacking 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



EIGHTY-FOURTH PAPER 

 Shingle Oak 



tjiiti ciis liithiicaria — Michx. 



oil the. shingle oak. The leaves are also 

 totally different, as described, those of the 

 pin oak being deeply cleft and having sharp 

 pointed lobes. Characteristic of the shingle 

 oak is the grouping of the leaves on the 

 ends of the twigs. Not only is the foliage 

 of this tree beautiful in the summer; in 

 spring the delicate pink tints of the new- 



pores and ratlier wide annular rings, the 

 grain is somewhat coarse. The wood finds 

 general use, where the growth exists in any 

 quantity and size, as siding, clapboards 

 and shingles, and also in construction. It 

 is a good fuel wood and is used for making 

 charcoal. 



TVriCAL FOREST GROWTH SUIXGLE OAK 



born leaves and later the richer autumn 

 colors are especially pleasing to the eye. 



Shingle oak has a wood of typical red 

 oak appearance and color, the sapwood 

 being thin and lighter in tone than the 

 heart. The wood is tough, hard, strong and 

 heavy, weighing about forty-seven pounds 

 per dry cubic foot. On account of the large 



Last Year's Forest Fires 



l*'irc i)l:iy»-d less havoc in Ihe wood- 

 lands of the nation.il forest states last 

 year than it did in 190S, although the 

 number of fires was 410 greater. The 

 Department of Agriculture has just 

 completed the statistics. The protective 

 value of the work of the department is 

 shown in that (1) almost eighty per 

 cent of the fires were extinguished be- 

 fore as much as five acres had been 

 damaged ; (2) less than one and one- 

 half acres to the square mile of national 

 forest land was burned over; (3) and 

 the amount of damage done to the 

 burned over area averaged but $1.26 per 

 acre. 



For the twelvemonth ended December 

 31 last, there were 3,138 fires on the 

 forests, 1,186 caused by locomotives, 

 431 by campers, 294 by lightning, 181 

 by brush burning, 97 by incendiaries, 38 

 by sawmills and donkey engines, 153 

 by miscellaneous and 758 by unknown 

 agencies. The area burned over was, in 

 round figures, 360,000 acres, of which 

 about 62,000 were private lands in na- 

 tional forests, as against 400,000 acres 

 in 1908. Some 170,000,000 board feet 

 of timber was consumed, of which 33,- 

 000,000 feet was privately owned, as 

 against 230.000,000 in the previous year. 

 The loss in value of timber destroyed 

 was less than $300,000, of which close 

 to $50,000 was privately owned. The 

 loss of the year before was about $450,- 

 000. Damage done to reproduction and 

 forage shows a remarkable decrease, less 

 than $160,000 being the record for 1909 

 and over $700,000 that for 1908. 



The report of the forester for 1909 

 said of the fire record of 1908 : "That 

 year was one of prolonged drought dur- 

 ing the summer and fall, and of dis- 

 astrous forest fires throughout the coun- 

 try. The national forests suffered rela- 

 tively little. • * • About 232,191,- 

 000 board feet of timber, or 0.06 per 

 cent of the stand, was destroyed. 

 • * * A total of 2,728 fires was re- 

 ported, of which 2,089 were small fires 

 confined as a rule to an area of five 

 acres or less. The cost of fire fighting, 

 exclusive of the salaries of forest officers, 

 was $73,283.33. This sum, added to 

 the proportion of the total salaries of 

 rangers and guards properly chargeable 

 to patrol and fire fighting, was less than 

 one-twentieth of one per cent of the 

 value of the timber protected, esti- 

 mated at an average stumpage value of $2 per 

 thousand." 



The Oodge Handle Company of Eldon, Mo., 

 has resumed the operation of Its factory, with 

 K. D. Uartwell as manager. Mr. Uartwell has 

 a wide experience in the handle business, having 

 been in that line for thirty years. The company 

 is engaged in the manufacture of a high grade 

 of shaved hickory handles. 



