524 AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



The dogwood varies in size from a shrub with many branches to a 

 tree forty feet high, eighteen inches in diameter, and with a flat but 

 shapely crown. The trunk rises as a shaft with little taper, until the 

 first branches are reached. All the branches start at the same place, 

 and the trunk ends abruptly divides into branches. Flowers are an 

 important part of the tree, as might be inferred from the prominence 

 given them in the tree's names. In the South the flowers appear in 

 March, in the North in May, and in both regions before the opening of 

 the leaves. The flowers on vigorous trees are three or four inches across, 

 white, and very showy. A dogwood tree in full bloom against a hillside 

 in spring is a most conspicuous object, and is justly admired by all who 

 have appreciation of beauty. The flowers fall as leaves appear, and for 

 some months the tree occupies its little space in the forest unobserved ; 

 but in the autumn it bursts again into glory, and while not quite as con- 

 spicuous an object as when in bloom, it is no less worthy of admiration. 

 The fall of the leaves reveals the brilliant scarlet fruit which ladens the 

 branches. The berries are just large enough for a good mouthful for a 

 bird, but birds spare them until fully ripe to the harvest, and they then 

 harvest them very rapidly. The tree is thus permitted to display its 

 fruit a considerable time before yielding it to the feathered inhabitants 

 of the air whose mission in forest economy is to scatter the seeds of trees, 

 when nature provides the seeds themselves with no wings for flying. 



The two periods in the year when dogwood is highly ornamental, 

 the flowers in spring before leaves appear, and fruit in autumn after 

 leaves fall, are responsible for this tree's importance in ornamental 

 planting. It is a common park tree, but it is small, generally not more 

 than fifteen feet high, and it occupies subordinate places in the plans of 

 the landscape garden. It is a filler between oaks, pines, and spruces, 

 and it passes unnoticed, except when in bloom and in fruit. 



Dogwood is about four pounds per cubic foot heavier than white 

 oak, has the same breaking strength, and is lower in elasticity. It is 

 quite commonly believed that this tree has no heartwood, but the belief 

 is erroneous. It seldom has much, and small trunks often none; but 

 when dogwood reaches maturity it develops heart. Sometimes the 

 heartwood is no larger than a lead pencil in trunks forty or fifty years 

 old. The heart is brown, sapwood is white, and is the part wanted by 

 the users of dogwood. Annual rings are obscure and it is a tree of slow 

 growth. The wood is as nearly without figure as any in this country. 

 It seldom or never goes to sawmills. The logs are too small. Most of 

 the supply is bought by manufacturers of shuttles and golf stick heads, 

 in this country and Europe. They purchase it by the cord or piece. It 

 does not figure much in any part of the lumber business, but is cut and 



