100 TIMBER 



wood is hard, strong, and durable, but of rather quick 

 growth and makes good mallets. The live oak of Florida 

 is now reserved by the United States Government for navy 

 purposes. 



Iron or Post Oak (Q. obtusiloba), of the eastern and 

 southern United States, gives timber of great strength but 

 small in size, the tree being seldom more than 14 inches in 

 diameter. The colour is of a brownish yellow hue, close in 

 grain, and often superior to the white oak in strength and 

 durability. It is much used for posts and fencing. 



Swamp Post Oak grows in the swampy districts of 

 Carolina and Georgia, and is a larger tree than most of the 

 other oaks, and produces excellent timber, but it grows 

 in districts difficult of access, and is not much used. 



Burr Oak (Q. macrocarpa), one of the most valuable and 

 most widely distributed of American oaks, 60 to 80 ft. in 

 height, and, unlike most of the others, adapts itself to very 

 varying climatic conditions ; the wood is very like that of 

 the white oak, and is classed with it ; one of the most 

 durable of oaks when in contact with soil. 



Rock Oak or Rock Chestnut Oak (Q. Prinus) and White 

 Chestnut Oak are other species producing good timber, but 

 scarcely up to that of white oak. 



American oak comes into Great Britain in logs 25 to 

 40 ft. long and 12 to 24 inches square or over, also in 

 planks 1J to 4 inches thick, and in boards, moulding strips 

 $2 by f , and in other forms, and a good deal is imported 

 " quartered." In the American timber trade oaks are 

 divided into two main classes, White and Black, although 

 Bed oak, being the most plentiful, is often referred to. 



Weight of American oak generally from 44 to 49 Ibs. per 

 cubic foot. 



