AMERICAN FORESTRY 



THE AREA OF WHITE OAK 

 The white oak is tolerant of many soils, growing on sandy plains, grav- 

 elly ridges, rich uplands and moist bottom lands. It reaches its best 

 development in rich, moist soil. 



suited to large estates or the open country. It is a noble 

 tree and might frequently be planted to advantage where 

 faster growing species are chosen. Although it grows 

 siowly, it is very interesting to watch the development of 

 n white oak growing in the open. In comparatively few 

 years it begins to show its characteristic form, that in 

 time becomes magnificent and impressive. It is a tree 

 that will be enjoyed not only by the planter but by his 

 children and his children's children. 



The wood of white oak is the most valuable of all oaks. 

 Ii is ash grey in color, close-grained, hard and tough. It 

 weighs about 46 pounds per cubic foot and has exceptional 

 strength. It is durable in the soil. The average life of 

 a white oak railroad tie is 8 to 9 years, and as a fence post 

 the wood lasts 10 to 15 years. Unlike the wood of red 

 oak. it will absorb very little creosote. In the open air the 



wood shrinks considerably and is liable to check badly 

 unless carefully dried. Its most important uses are for 

 sawed lumber, railroad ties and staves. 



Settlements commenced in the United States in the 

 parts where the oak was most abundant. The colonists 

 encountered the wood as soon as they landed in this 

 country. It was less abundant in New England and in 

 the extreme south than in the middle colonies ; yet there 

 was oak in New England and it extended to Florida. It 

 is said that the "Charter Oak" in Connecticut was a white 

 oak ; and the fact that it was hollow to a sufficient extent 

 to afford concealment for the precious document, and 

 that it stood 200 years after that time, is proof of the 

 strength of oak and of the tenacity with which it holds 

 out against enemies within and without. 



The settlement and development of the country were 

 made possible at any rate were made easier by liberal 

 use of the splendid forests of oak. This wood more than 

 any other fenced the farms of the pioneers, built their 

 houses, barns, dams, mills, and bridges ; supplied charcoal 

 for forge and furnace, and fuel for the winter fires 

 throughout the hardwood regions of the United States. 

 The chroniclers of early explorers and colonizers abound 

 in praises of valuable oak. The Anglo-Saxon entered 

 the American wilderness looking for land and he learned 

 that the oak guided to the best. The pine was on the 

 sand, but the oak's preemption of the humus soils was 

 fairly complete. The dairies, journals, and biographies 

 of such experienced and observing woodsmen as Chris- 

 topher Gist, Daniel Boone, Isaac Van Meter, and Gen- 

 eral Washington show how much confidence they placed 

 in oak timber as a guide to rich land, while searching 

 for locations for settlements and colonies, or while ex- 

 ploring routes for trade. 



Commercial Uses of White Oak 



WHITE OAK in the United States, it is believed, 

 exceeds in quality any other hardwood, but 

 no figures are available showing the total 

 amount of the wood remaining. Estimates based on 

 partial measurements have placed it at 50 billion feet. 

 Assuming that to be within reason, it is possible to cal- 

 culate within rather wide limits the length of time it will 

 last at the present rate of cutting. In 1910 the total 

 sawmill output of all oaks in this country was 3,522,- 

 098,000 feet, board measure. Staves and hewn rail- 

 road ties would probably bring the total up to four 

 billion feet. Statistics are not compiled in form to show 

 species of oak separately, but perhaps one-half, or two 

 billion feet is white oak, and that represents the annual 

 drain upon the country's supply of that species. 



On that basis the white oak will not hold out much 

 longer than twenty-five years. 



High prices and the increasing difficulty of filling 

 orders for first -class stock indicate that scarcity is already 

 felt. No extensive virgin white oak forests remain to 

 be exploited ; but small virgin bodies of this timber exist 



in some of the Appalachian Mountain States, and west 

 of the Mississippi, but they become smaller and fewer 

 year by year, while the demand for white oak increases. 

 When the early pioneer located a site for a cabin he 

 called upon the oak for service, and it answered his call. 

 Its logs, hewn or round, built his house. The building 

 was roofed with clapboards rived from a tree felled in 

 his dooryard. Oak puncheons, often untouched by 

 broadax or adz, formed the door, floor, latch, beds, 

 benches, and the chimney. The loft floor, when there 

 was one, was laid of thinner puncheons or thicker 

 clapboards ; for the line between the two kinds of com- 

 modities was not definitely fixed. Choice trunks, mauled 

 into rails, fenced the land on which they had grown. 

 White oak, more than any other wood, was shaped for 

 rough vehicles, such as ladder sleds, log sleds, block- 

 sleds, carts, and thimbleskein wagons. The frames of 

 harrows and sometimes the teeth were of oak. It was 

 the wood of which the moldboards of plows were fash- 

 ioned, also the beam, handles, the whiffietrees, singletrees, 

 and all else pertaining to the plow except the point and 



