044 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



IS inches in diameter in 50 yean, and height growth is 



rapid in the early war- of it- life. The tree is intcr- 

 e-ting throughout the year. In the summer the large, 

 glossy, -tar-shaped leaves are unusually attractive. The 

 fall coloring of the foliage is unsurpassed 1>> any other 

 species in the brilliancy of it- crimson. Its gorgeous scar- 

 let, red, orange and yellow tints vie with those of the 

 maples. Later the leaves may assume the purple, lilac, 

 brown and bronze tones of the ashes. The red gum gives 

 an excellent winter effect because of its symmetrical form, 

 its sturdy branches with their conspicuous gray, corky 

 ridges and the jieculiar spiny fruit balls that hang in 

 abundance from the twigs. This tree should be planted 

 in rich moist soil and should be closely pruned when it 

 is transplanted. Ft has ability to withstand salt air and 



is valuable for seaside planting if soil conditions are good. 

 The wood is heavy and hard, close-grained and with- 

 out great strength. The heartwood is a beautiful, bright 

 reddish brown with a satiny luster and frequently with 

 a pleasing, varying figure. The sapwood is nearly white 

 and is usually wide, the smaller sized trees consisting 

 entirely of sapwood. Twenty years ago red gum wood 

 was considered to be of little value because of its tendency 

 to war]), but with improved methods of drying it is now 

 one of our finest furniture and finishing woods. Few 

 woods in America equal it in the beauty of its natural 

 grain and it can be finished to imitate oak, mahogany, 

 cherry, or Circassian walnut. For this reason it has 

 been predicted that red gum will in time equal white 

 oak in value. 



Commercial Uses of Red Gum 



T11K beauty, adaptability and fine working qualities 

 of red gum lumber have promoted it with phe- 

 nomenal rapidity from a despised species to one of 

 the most respected and prominent cabinet woods. For 

 many years this wood was cut to a limited extent ; prefer- 

 ence was given to woods easier to handle, because red 

 gum lumber warped and twisted in the process of sea- 

 soning. Xo trouble was experienced with red gum after 

 it was seasoned, and decreasing timber supply finally led 

 to practical experiments in the better utilization of this 

 wood. Technical investigations of the structure of the 

 wood and of the principles of kiln-drying finally overcame 

 the difficulties and a wide market for red gum lumber 

 quickly developed, in 

 spite of the prejudice 

 against it. Occasion 

 ally it has masqueraded 

 under assumed names, 

 for it is a common fail- 

 ing of human judg- 

 ment to believe that 

 ordinary " gum " nui-t 

 Ik- lacking in the su- 

 perior qualities which 

 the wood |K)ssesses 

 when made into furni- 

 ture of " satin walnut " 

 or interior finish of 

 " ha/el wood." 



The use of the word 

 " gum " to designate 

 several entirely dif- 

 ferent species of tree- 

 may be responsible for 

 some of the prejudice 

 against red num. The 

 Eucalypts a re f re- 

 quently called gums, 

 although in no wi-e 

 related to the true 



PEELED RKI) GUM LOOS SEASONING IN THE WOODS. SOUTH CAROLINA 

 A Urge amount of red gum growing in the South can ho economically transported from th 

 forests t<> the mills onlyjby meant of the- streams, owing to the expense of putting in rail 



' owever. is so heavy that it sc 



largest amount of sapwood. sink. The 



na the logs ready for the river, now principally followed in the South, is to 



trees, without jRirdlmg.jn the fall of the year, or from as early as the first of Sep- 



i in, which is usually from the first of January to 



", putting in rail- 

 ''.'". .", v ' j H ml > cr : (, reen red num. however, is so heavy that it scarcely floats. 



I'rotiahly one-third of the logs, those with the ' - 

 method of getting 

 cut the trees, will 



temher until the time when high watt ' 



the first of February. At that season th, sap is down and the wood isa. light asireverwifi 

 ?L ' l h JS'f e " '< n,lln K-, Wh <" felleOi the tree is rut into standard lengths; the legs 

 are then skidded to the bank of the river, ;.nd tied in rafts with cypress, ash. or Cottonwood, 

 to keep them from sinking, and floated down to the mill as soon as high water comes 



gums. Black gum, water gum, cotton gum and tupelo 

 are also wholly unrelated botanically to red gum, al- 

 though they grow in many of the localities where red 

 gum is native. These gums have a twisted grain with 

 the fibers so tightly interlocked that the wood is split 

 with exceeding difficulty. The wood is useful for heavy 

 wheel hubs, rollers, mauls, construction and box material, 

 flooring, and paper pulp. The characteristics of red gum 

 are concisely expressed in Bulletin 58 of the U. S. Forest 

 Service, as follows : 



" The wood is about as strong and as stiff as chestnut, 

 or a little weaker than shortleaf pine; it splits easily 

 and is quite brash; it is less tough than cottonwood and 



splinters less; it is 



about as hard as yellow 

 poplar and can be 

 worked with tools al- 

 most as easily; it has 

 a moderately fine grain, 

 is denser than cotton- 

 wood, and has a large 

 proportion of sapwood ; 

 the sapwood decays 

 rapidly when exposed 

 to the weather, but the 

 heartwood is quite du- 

 ra ble even in the 

 ground. The green 

 wood contains much 

 water and consequently 

 is heavy and difficult 

 to float, but when dry 

 it is as light as bass- 

 wood, or about 15 per 

 cent heavier than yel- 

 low poplar or cotton- 

 wood. The great 

 amount of water in 

 the green wood, par- 

 ticularly in the sap, 



