440 AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



dense with leaves and so abundantly supplied with branches that moss 

 and ferns formed a canopy with foliage and limbs high over head, like an 

 aerial garden; while George B. Sud worth described it in certain situa- 

 tions as a short-stemmed, crooked tree from twenty-five to thirty feet 

 high and under a foot in diameter. 



This maple has been called the most valuable hardwood of the 

 Pacific coast, but that claim is made also for other trees. Some persons 

 rate it with the hard maple of the East, in properties which commend it 

 for use. It is doubtful if the claim can be substantiated. According to 

 Sargent's figures for strength, stiffness, weight, and fuel value, it lacks 

 much of equalling the eastern tree. It is twelve pounds per cubic foot 

 lighter; has not three-fourths the fuel value; and is little more than half 

 as strong or as stiff. The comparison is more in favor of the western 

 tree when color of wood and appearance of grain are considered. The 

 wood is light brown with pale tint of red. The rings of annual growth 

 are tolerably distinct, with a thin, dark line separating the summerwood 

 of one year from the springwood of the next. The pores are scattered 

 with fair evenness in all parts of the ring. They are small and numerous. 

 The medullary rays are thin and abundant. In quarter-sawed wood 

 they show much the same as in hard maple, but are rather darker in 

 color. The mirrors are decidedly tinged with brown. The wood is 

 reported poor in resisting decay when in contact with the soil. 



The largest use of Oregon maple appears to be for furniture, second, 

 for interior finish, and following these are numerous miscellaneous 

 uses. Statistics of the cut of this wood, as shown by sawmill reports, 

 are unsatisfactory. Census returns include it with all other maples of 

 the country, without figures for species. The cut of maple for all the 

 western states seems too small to give this wood justice. The amount 

 reported used in Washington, Oregon, and California exceeds the total 

 reported sawmill cut in the West. 



Oregon maple is an important handlewood. The smooth grain 

 appeals to broom makers. The wood is made into ax handles, but for 

 that use it is much below hickory, or even hard maple or white oak. It 

 is converted into pulleys in Washington, also into saddle trees, and tent 

 toggles. Boat makers employ it for finish material, in which capacity it 

 fills the same place x and must meet the same requirements as in interior 

 finish for houses. Curly or wavy wood is occasionally found and this is 

 worked into finish and also into furniture. The figure is as handsome 

 as in eastern maple, but birdseye is less frequent. Counter tops for 

 stores and bar tops for saloons are sometimes made of figured maple. It 

 is seen also in grill work and show cases, but in order to show the figured 

 wood to the best advantage it should be worked in flat surfaces. 



