TIMBER OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 99 



alba) which is generally known as American oak, but 

 timber from many of the other species is doubtless exported 

 under the same name. The white oak, which is found 

 from Canada to California and Florida, is a tree of 60 to 

 80 ft. high and 4 ft. diameter ; a good deal comes from 

 Quebec, which grows in the Lake States, and this northern 

 oak is of a better quality than that which comes from 

 further south. The wood is much the same colour as 

 European oak, being pale reddish brown, with coarse grain ; 

 it is sound, hard, and tough, very elastic, does not shrink 

 much, and can be bent to any form when steamed ; annual 

 rings are distinct, medullary rays very broad and con- 

 spicuous, and the pores are very fine and numerous, 

 especially in the summer wood. It is the strongest of 

 American oaks, not so strong, compact, or durable as 

 English or Dantzic oak, but it has the advantage of greater 

 length and square. It is used in shipbuilding, and in parts 

 of buildings where formerly English oak was used, also in 

 wagon building, and largely in the furniture and cabinet 

 trades. In the past it has been much used for sleepers on 

 the United States railways. Several oaks go by the name 

 of white oak with different botanical names in different 

 districts. Western white oak (Q. garryand) grows in 

 Vancouver district, and the wood is very like that of 

 English oak. 



Red Oak (Q. rubra) is found over the same regions as 

 the white oak, and is more plentiful ; it produces a browny 

 coloured wood, spongy in grain, moderately durable, but 

 unfit for work requiring strength. It is used for furniture 

 and cask staves, is inferior in quality to the white oak, 

 but almost as hard and heavy. 



Live Oak (Q. virens) grows from Maryland to the Gulf of 

 Mexico and attains a height of 60 ft. and 4 -ft. diameter ; the 



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