AMERICAN FOREST TREES 225 



crates, and shipping boxes; vehicles, particularly tongues, axles, and 

 hounds of heavy wagons; flooring, stair work, balusters. 



Post oak will do well on land too gravelly and thin to sustain good 

 white oak growth. To that extent the two species are not competitors 

 for ground, and post oak is assured a place in future woodlots, but it 

 cannot be expected ever to equal white oak in commercial importance, 

 while as an ornamental tree it is not usually favored because the shape 

 of its crown is not altogether pleasing. Its very dark foliage, however, 

 is admired by many and gives the tree an individuality. 



SWAMP WHITE OAK (Quercus platanoides). This tree's botanical 

 name means "broadleaf oak," and that is a good description as far as it 

 goes, but it does not apply solely to this species. The characteristic 

 which fixes it best in the minds of most people is its preference for low, 

 wet soil. Its two common names are swamp oak and swamp white oak, 

 yet it is not really a swamp tree, such as the northern white cedar, 

 southern white cedar, cypress, and tupelo are. It does not associate 

 with any of those trees. It prefers river banks, and does not object to a 

 good deal of water about its roots, though it grows nicely in situations 

 out of reach of all overflow, and often side by side with silver maple, 

 hickory, ash, and several other oaks. The leaf resembles that of chest- 

 nut oak, and the bark is somewhat like chestnut oak, but the wood 

 passes in market for white oak, and is a good substitute for it, though 

 the resemblance is not so close that one need be mistaken for the other. 

 The tree averages about seventy feet high with a diameter of two feet, 

 but much larger trunks are common. The famous "Wadsworth oak," 

 which stood on the bank of the Genesee river in western New York, 

 about a mile from the village of Geneseo, was a swamp white oak. It 

 had a tnmk diameter of nine feet, but it was not tall in proportion. It 

 met its overthrow by the undermining of the river bank in time of flood. 

 That is a common fate for this tree, because of its preference for river 

 banks. Its range is from Maine to Wisconsin and Iowa. It follows the 

 mountains to northern Georgia; and west of the Mississippi it grows as 

 far south as Arkansas. The species is best developed in western New 

 York, northwestern Pennsylvania, and along the southern shores of 

 Lakes Erie and Michigan. 



Trees do not clear themselves of branches on their lower trunks 

 very early in life, and lumber more or less knotty results. It is possible, 

 however, to cut a fairly large proportion of clear boards. The wood is 

 of about the same weight as white oak, and is hard, strong, and tough. 

 Its color is light brown, and the thin sapwood is hardly distinguishable 

 from the heart. The medullary rays are as large as those of white oak, 

 but are few. For that reason, swamp white oak does not give very 



