(502 AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



is only distantly related to the true box elder. In the Great Smoky 

 mountains in Tennessee, where the species reaches its greatest develop- 

 ment, it bears a variety of names, among them being tisswood, peawood, 

 bellwood, and chittamvvood. 



The tree varies in size from a shrubby form so small that it is 

 scarcely entitled to the name of tree, up to a height of eighty, ninety, 

 and even more than 100 feet with diameters up to nearly four feet. The 

 largest sizes occur only among the ranges of the Great Smoky mountains 

 in Blount, Sevier, and Monroe counties, Tennessee. No reason is known 

 why this tree in that region should so greatly exceed its largest dimen- 

 sions in other areas; but most species have a locality where the greatest 

 development is reached, and this has found the favorable conditions in 

 the mountains of eastern Tennessee. Some of the trees measure sixty 

 feet or more to the first limbs. 



Lumbermen of the country are not generally acquainted with 

 silverbell, as is natural since its commercial range is so limited. It is not 

 listed in statistics of sawmill cut or of veneer mills. The wood-using 

 industries of the country do not report it, except in the one state, North 

 Carolina, and there in very small amounts. Doubtless, it is occasionally 

 used elsewhere, but it escapes mention in most instances. It has been 

 made into mantels at Knoxville, Tennessee, and passes as birch. 



The wood is light, soft, usually narrow-ringed, color light brown, 

 the thick sap wood lighter. It weighs thirty-five pounds per cubic foot, 

 and when burned it yields a low percentage of ash. The wood's chief 

 value is due to its color and figure. Best results are not obtained by 

 sawing the logs into lumber, because the handsomest part of the figure is 

 apt to be lost. It is preeminently suited to the cutting of rotary veneer. 

 By that method of conversion the birdseye and the pitted and mottled 

 effects are brought out in the best possible manner. Veneers so cut 

 from logs selected for the figure, possess a rare beauty which no other 

 American wood equals. There is a pleasing blend of tones, which are 

 due to the direction in which the distorted grain is cut. This dis- 

 tinguishes the wood from all others and gives it an individuality. 

 Much of the figure appears to be due to the presence of adventitious 

 buds, similar to those supposed to be responsible for the birdseye effect 

 in maple. 



The leaves of silverbell are bright green at maturity and are from 

 four^to six inches long and two or three wide. They turn yellow before 

 falling in autumn. The flowers give the tree its name, for they resemble 

 delicate bells, about one inch in length. They appear in early spring 

 when the leaves are one-third grown, on slender, drooping stems from 

 one to two inches long. The trees are loaded throughout the whole 



