2X2 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



forty or fifty fet, or a diameter more than twenty or thirty inches. The largest 

 trees are of small value for lumber and in rare instances only, if at all, do they go to 

 sawmills. The trunks fork and each branch forks, until a fairly large bole near the 

 ground is divided among numerous limbs. The tree's chief value is as fuel. It rates 

 high as such. The leaves are bluish-green and are thick with sharp points on their 

 margins. The leaves vary greatly in size, and are largest on young shoots. They 

 remain a year on the tree, and are classed as evergreen. The acorns ripen in one 

 year. This interesting species was named for Dr. George Engehnann, whose name 

 is borne also by Engelmann spruce. The wood is among the heaviest of the oaks, 

 exceeding white oak by more than twelve pounds per cubic foot. It is brittle and 

 weak, and very dark brown. The green wood checks and warps badly in seasoning. 

 The medullary rays are numerous and large, but are so irregularly dispersed that 

 quarter-sawing promises no satisfactory results, even if logs of suitable size could be 

 found. The annual rings are indistinct, owing to no clear line of separation between 

 springwood and summerwood. Pores are numerous, diffuse, and some of them large. 

 The species is entitled to recognition only because it is found in a region where forests 

 are scarce and scrubby, and every trunk has value as fuel, if for nothing else. It 

 affords a cover for hills which otherwise would be barren, and it frequently occurs in 

 fairly dense thickets. 



