284 THE FORESTS OF CANADA. 



carriage building and other purposes. The bark is used 

 in the tanneries. The swamp oak (Q. prinus), a variety 

 of the above, so called from its growing in swampy places, 

 is also an excellent and very tough wood. The red oak 

 (Q. rulra) is a somewhat inferior wood to both of these. 



The beech (Fag/us sylvestris) is common all over Canada, 

 and ig generally found in company with the maple and 

 the birch. It is a hard and excellent timber, but not 

 much lumbered. Together with maple and birch it is cut 

 up in 4-foot lengths, split, and piled in little heaps 8 feet 

 long by 4 every other way. In this shape it is called 

 cordwood, and is sold as fuel. The winter beech is a 

 variety so called from its retaining the dead leaves all 

 winter. It is a small tree, but the wood is much valued 

 for axe handles and agricultural implements. 



The chestnut (Castanea vesca). This tree grows only in 

 Canada West. The wood is light and durable. It is 

 very like our own chestnut, if not identical ; the nuts are 

 much alike. 



The hornbean (Ostrya Virginica) is one of the hardest 

 of Canadian woods. It is a small-sized tree ; the wood is 

 used by carriage builders. 



Oleaceas. 



White ash (Fraxinus Americana) grows in low land. 

 A very tough and flexible wood, of closer grain than the 

 English ash. It is found all over Canada ; used by carriage 

 makers, barrel makers, &c., &c. It is the most flexible of 

 Canadian woods, and is used for making hoops, also by 

 the Indians for making snow-shoe bows. 



Black ash (F. samhucifolia) grows in swamps. It is 



