TIMBER OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 117 



30 ft. and about 12 inches diameter. The heartwood is a 

 red or pinkish colour, the sapwood, which is considerable, 

 is a creamy white ; the wood has a dull surface and very 

 fine grain. It is valuable for turnery, tool handles, and 

 mallets, and being so free from silex, watchmakers use 

 small splinters of it for cleaning out the pivot holes of 

 watches, and opticians for removing dust from deepseated 

 lenses. It is also used for butchers' skewers, and shuttle 

 blocks, and is suitable for turnery and inlaying. The West 

 Indian dogwood is quite a different tree. 



The Hardy Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa) is a tree which the 

 Americans commenced planting about 25 years ago as a 

 commercial speculation in Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. 

 Its native habitat was along the rivers Ohio and Lower 

 Wabash, and a century ago it gained a reputation for rapid 

 growth and durability, but did not grow in large quantities. 

 As a railway tie experiments have left no doubt as to its 

 resistance to decay ; it stands abrasion as well as the white 

 oak and is superior to it in longevity. Catalpa is a tree 

 singularly free from destructive diseases. " Wood after 

 being cut from the living tree is one of the most durable 

 timbers known. In spite of its light porous structure it 

 resists the weathering influences and the attacks of wood 

 destroying fungi to a remarkable degree ... no fungus has 

 yet been found which will grow in the dead timber . . . for 

 fence posts this wood has no equal . . . will serve as tele- 

 graph poles, lasting longer than almost any class of timber " 

 (United States Bureau of Forestry Bulletin, No. 37). The 

 wood is rather soft and coarse in texture, the tree is of slow 

 growth, and the brown coloured heartwood even of very 

 young trees forms nearly three-quarters of their volume. 

 There is only about \ inch of sap in a 9-inch tree. 



Annual rings are distinctly marked. 



