532 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



with thin flesh. The wood is heavy, hard, very strong, rather brittle, bright red, 

 with thin, lighter-colored sapwood. It was once very popular in the South for furni- 

 ture. Rare pieces, some 150 years old, are still found in southern homes. The wood 

 was exported prior to 1741 from the Carolinas, and the quantity seems to have been 

 considerable. It was then regarded as a finer wood than mahogany. It was ex- 

 ported to the West Indies, where mahogany was abundant, and was made into 

 furniture and finish for the homes of wealthy planters and merchants. An old report 

 describes the wood as resembling "watered satin." It was in early demand by ship- 

 builders, but it has now ceased to go to boat yards. Except in rare instances, it 

 is not reported by any wood-using industries. In Texas a little is made into pin 

 trays, small picture frames, canes, and shelves. It deserves a more important 

 place, for when polished and finished, it is one of the handsomest woods of this 

 country. Trees attain a height of sixty or seventy feet, and a diameter of two or 

 three. 



SWAMP BAY (Persea pubescens) attains a height of thirty or forty feet, but is 

 seldom more than a foot in diameter, and is too small for saw timber. The wood is 

 strong, heavy, rather soft, orange colored, streaked with brown, and not as handsome 

 as its larger relative, red bay, which is associated with it from North Carolina to 

 Mississippi. It is an evergreen in some cases, but in others the leaves turn yellow 

 the second spring. The black fruit is a drupe nearly an inch long. The wood is 

 without attractive figure, since its medullary rays are obscure, and the annual rings 

 are indistinct and produce little contrast when the trunks are sawed tangentially. 

 Color is the chief attraction that can be claimed for the wood. A little is occasionally 

 worked into interior finish. 



