286 ROOF-TREE. 



Butternut is the softest and most tractable of what 

 are called hard woods, and its hue is eminently warm 

 and mellow. Its figure is pointed and shooting 

 a sort of Gothic style in the grain. It makes admi- 

 rable doors. Western butternut, which can usually 

 be had in the Albany market, makes doors as light 

 as pine, and as little liable to spring. The Western 

 woods are all better than the Eastern for building 

 purposes. They are lighter, coarser, easier worked. 

 They grow easier and thriftier. The traveler through 

 Northern Ohio and Indiana sees a wonderful crop of 

 forest trees, tall, uniform, straight as candles, no 

 knots, no gnarls, all clear, clean timber. The soil 

 is deep and moist, and the trees grow rank and rapid. 

 The chestnut, ash, and butternut grown here work 

 like pine, besides being darker and richer in color 

 than the same woods grown in leaner and more rocky 

 soils. Western black ash is especially beautiful. In 

 connection with our almost bone-white sugar maple 

 for panels, it makes charming doors just the thing 

 for chambers, and scarcely more expensive than pine. 

 Of our Eastern woods, red cedar is also good, with its 

 pungent, moth-expelling odor, and should not be neg- 

 lected. It soon fades, but it is very pleasing, with its 

 hard, solid knots, even then. No doubt some wash 

 might be applied that would preserve its color. 



There is a species of birch growing upon our moun- 

 tains that makes an admirable finish. It is usually 

 called red or cherry birch, and it has a long wave or 

 curl that is found in no other wood. It is very tough 



