MASSACHUSETTS ^0-KBST TftEES 



PURPOSE OF THIS HANDBOOK 



THIS handbook has been planned and pub- 

 * lished by the State Forester in order to 

 have a practical working description of the 

 commercial trees at the command of Massa- 

 chusetts citizens. 



Technical terms necessarily used in botanical 

 and forestry books are bewildering to the prac- 

 tical, everyday lumberman, farmer or average 

 person. The attempt, therefore, of this treatise 

 is to point out clearly how one can tell the 

 commercially valuable trees of Massachusetts 

 in a plain and untechnical manner. 



The really most important points or charac- 

 ters the tree has, which distinguish it from all 

 others, are first pointed out. This will be all 

 many persons may care to know. If five needles 

 growing in a cluster always denote a white 

 pine, for example, and people have their atten- 

 tion called to it, few will ever mistake that 

 tree for others. They can settle the matter 

 easily by examining the tree for themselves. 

 Likewise, other trees can be told by following 

 the same plan of identification. 



Acknowledgments 



Mr. Daniel A. Clarke, a Harvard instructor 

 and man of recognized experience and ability 

 in forest botany, was selected to prepare this 

 manuscript. The individual characteristics for 

 identifying each species are Mr. Clarke's 

 arrangement. 



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