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AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



the open, the crown is broad and low, but in forests the trunk prunes 

 it-df fairly well, and makes good saw timber, as far as form and size are 

 concerned. The acorns ripen in two years, and are bitter. The bark is 

 rich in tannin, but tanneries do not use much of it. 



The tree is not generally abundant. Some large areas within its 

 range have little, and thick stands are unusual anywhere. It is one of the 

 oaks which lumbermen neither reject nor seek. They cut it in course of 

 operations, and saw it and sell it under the common name, red oak. 



The wood is heavy, very hard, and strong. It is reputed to decay 

 more rapidly than most oaks, and it checks badly in seasoning. The 

 annual rings of growth are broad, and the springwood is marked by 

 several rows of large open pores. The medullary rays are few but 

 conspicuous; color light red, the sap wood lighter. The wood weighs 

 about three pounds less than white oak per cubic foot, and its fuel value 

 is less. 



It is not easy to compile an account of the uses of Spanish oak by 

 the various industries of this country, for the reason that other oaks pass 

 by its name and it is known by names which should not be applied to it. 

 It is shown, however, where special studies of its utilization have been 

 made that it is a useful wood for many purposes. It is a useful furniture 

 material, and though statistics do not give separate figures for it, evi- 

 dently the total quantity consumed yearly runs into many millions of 

 feet. It is much employed in the manufacture of tables, chiefly for 

 frames, but occasionally as the outside material. It may be quarter- 

 sawed, if good logs are selected. The chair factories in North Carolina 

 use about 44,000,000 feet of oak yearly, and Spanish oak supplies a 

 rather large share of the material. It is employed as interior finish in 

 that state, and also for mission furniture, brackets for telegraph and 

 telephone poles, refrigerators, and kitchen safes. Slack coopers and 

 manufacturers of boxes and crates find the wood suitable for their wares; 

 but its open pores stand in the way of its use for tight cooperage. 



Similar uses of the wood occur in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, 

 and it may be assumed that they occur also in all other portions of Span- 

 ish oak's range. It goes to wagon shops in Texas where it is substituted 

 for red oak. It is employed also in the manufacture of rice hullers and 

 cotton gins. Lumbermen in northern Louisiana use log trucks with 

 axles, felloes, and other heavy parts of Spanish oak, and it is frequently 

 preferred for stone wagons. 



In practically all large shipments of southern red oak to the North, 

 some Spanish oak is mixed. It could not be otherwise, since this wood 

 is cut in the forest with other red oaks, is sawed and stocked with them, 

 and goes with them to market. 



