HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



This representative of the red oak group 

 is found only in the territory along the 

 southeastern borders of the United States. 

 Growing as it does in moist, watery places 

 it is usually accompanied by gums, bays, 

 other red oaks, white cedar, ash and sour 

 wood. In some of the states of its range 

 laurel oak has attained popularity as a shade 

 tree and is known locally as water oak. 



Beginning at the border of the Dismal 

 Swamp in Virginia as the northern limit of 

 growth, this interesting tree ranges south- 

 ward along the coast to Gape Eomona, in 

 Florida, and westward in the lower Gulf 

 states in southeastern Louisiana. Eastern 

 Florida is the region of its most abundant 

 growth and greatest size. 



Although the common name laurel oak is 

 prompted by its foliage, the tree bears vari- 

 ous other sectional names. It is known as 

 laurel oak in North Carolina, South Carolina, 

 Alabama and Florida; swamp laurel oak in 

 Tennessee; Darlington oak in South Caro- 

 lina; willow oak in Florida and South Caro- 

 lina; water oak in Georgia. 



The ornamental value of this tree is due 

 to the tall, stately bole, its shapely and 

 symmetrical round-topped head, and slender 

 branches and twigs. It sometimes attains 

 the dignity of one hundred feet in height 

 with a proportionate diameter of three or 

 four feet. The bark is tight fitting and 

 firm, of dark, reddish-brown color and usually 

 is not fissured, but finely broken into small, 

 close, scale-like plates. On old trees, es- 

 pecially at the butt, deep fissures divide it 

 into broad ridges. The buds are shiny brown 

 and narrow abruptly to an acute point. The 

 acorns are either sessile or have but a short 

 stalk, and usually grow alone. They are 

 short and broad and are incased in shallow, 

 thin cups. In the flowering season hairy 

 aments of male flowers add to the attractive- 

 ness of the tree. Its female flowers are on 

 stubby smooth peduncles. Of interest are 

 the paddle-shaped leaves with their smooth, 

 entire, thickened margins and their lus- 

 trous leathery texture. They are dark green 

 above and lighter on the lower surface, and 

 are grouped rather closely on the twigs. 

 They attain as great a length as four inches 

 and fall gradually after turning. 



While laurel oak grows to rather large 

 size and is found over a fairly extensive 

 range of territory, it is not an important 

 timber tree, its wood being of inferior phy- 

 sical qualities compared with the other red 

 oaks. It is dark reddish-brown in color and 

 is a thick sapped wood; is coarse in grain, 

 strong and hard and weighs about forty- 

 eight pounds per dry cubic foot. When used 

 as lumber unusual care must be exercised to 

 prevent bad checking. While of late it has 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



EIGHTY-FIFTH PAPER 

 Laurel Oak 



Qucrcns lauiifnliu — Michx. 



been used some for interior work, its chief 

 value is as fuel and for making charcoal. 



The accompanying illustration shows typ- 

 ical laurel oak growth in the lowlands of 

 North Carolina. 



FOREST GROWTH I.A.UREL OAK. NORTH 

 CAROLINA 



Growing as it does in a watery region, the 

 use of laurel oak for boat construction seems 

 very natural. And yet this tree has never 

 been put to such a purpose, oaks of superior 

 quality, more easy of access, shouldering it 

 out of use. Of a closely allied species, how- 

 ever, were those trees growing on the Federal 

 reserve set aside in Florida a century 

 ago by the United States government to in- 



sure a perpetual supply of timber for the con- 

 struction of the picturesque old ships of war, 

 that the government officials at that time were 

 short-sighted enough to think would always 

 be our only means of naval defense. 



While the oak is still of preeminent impor- 

 tance to sliipbuilding, a.--: in all other lines of 

 manufacture, it does not now occupy the in- 

 timate relation which it once enjoyed, to the 

 construction of the framework and essential 

 parts, except in small craft. The old belief 

 in the indispensable qualities of this wood 

 for knees, ribs, keels and similar parts, has 

 long since received a severe jolt in the sub- 

 stitution of modern steel construction. 



That the oak has always held an almost 

 sacred place in this connection is evidenced by 

 the old records of the Greeks, Romans, Teu- 

 tons and Celts. Not only did the tree yield 

 tliem food and material for shelter, but the 

 hearts of fine old specimens were hewn into 

 great timbers that formed such ships of war 

 for the hardy Norsemen as no storms or 

 battles could wrench apart. As in the con- 

 struction of ships, so in bridge building, in 

 houses and aqueducts in later times, oak has 

 always reigned supreme. These beauty-loving, 

 people not only used this tough, lasting wood 

 for construction purposes, but got their arch- 

 itectural inspirations from the foliage and 

 graceful limbs. 



In short, so great was their reverence for 

 this king of trees that it was ultimately 

 looked upon as being sac-red, a feeling that 

 is still evident in the more modern writings 

 of the latter-day poets, who, while expressing 

 their feelings in a more modified way, still 

 make it evident that the oak retains its pow- 

 ers of inspiration even in this prosaic age. 



An Opening for Philippine Mahogany 



That the mahogany trade is to follow the same 

 course as that of the various other valuable and 

 semi-precious woods of commerce is an evident 

 fact, judging from the reports emanating from 

 authoritative sources in the world's markets. 

 There has been an almost uninterrupted increase 

 in demand, and with it a commensurate advance 

 in prices and in willingness to accept logs which 

 formerl.v would not have been even considered, 

 and to pay a good price for them. At recent 

 English mahogany values small crooked stock 

 was eagerly snapped up, as were also curly ended 

 logs hitherto of small value. 



The American interests who have recently 

 acquired vast areas of virgin mahogany In the 

 Philippines must view the new condition of 

 things with considerable complacency. The Phil- 

 ippine wood has a unique figure of its own, being 

 marked with even, longitudinal streaks of alter- 

 nating shades, a figure which would seem to 

 suit it rather for trim than for general cabinet 

 work. The texture is good and the weight almost 

 equal to that of oak. 



It will be interesting to see just how far this 

 wood, when marketed In this country, will fill the 

 popular demand for a high-grade finishing wood 

 at a reasonable price. 



