IMPORTANT FOREST TREES AND THEIR USES 43 



checking the chestnut blight disease over large 

 areas has yet been discovered. 



The yellow poplar or tulip poplar furnishes 

 timber for the manufacture of furniture, paper, 

 the interior of railroad cars and automobiles. 

 The dugouts of the early settlers and Indians 

 were hewed out of poplar logs. These boats were 

 stronger than those made of canoe birch. Poplar 

 wood is yellow in color and soft in texture. The 

 poplar is the largest broad-leaf tree in this coun- 

 try and the trees are of great size and height. 

 Some specimens found in the mountains of the 

 South have been over 200 feet high and 8 to 10 

 feet in diameter, while poplars 125 to 150 feet 

 high are quite common. 



Among our most useful and valuable trees are 

 the white oak, and its close kin, the red oak, which 

 produce a brown-colored, hard wood of remark- 

 able durability. The white oak is the monarch of 

 the forest, as it lives very long and is larger and 

 stronger than the majority of its associates. 

 The timber is used for railroad ties, furniture, 

 and in general construction work where tough, 

 durable lumber is needed. Many of our wooden 

 ships have been built of oak. The white oaks 

 often grow as high as 100 feet and attain massive 



