AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



is likely to be frosted and it seldom exceeds a height of thirty feet and a 

 diameter of eighteen inches. The fruit ripens in autumn and is dark 

 blue with flesh thin and dry. The wood is hard, heavy, strong, checks 

 badly in drying, and has a rich brown color, the sapwood being yellow. 

 Rings of annual growth are marked with many small, regularly-dis- 

 tributed open ducts; medullary rays are thin and numerous; wood weighs 

 47.94 pounds per cubic foot; durable in contact with the soil, beautifully 

 colored, and is highly prized for small cabinet work and novelties. At 

 Miami, Florida, small trunks cut on neighboring hummocks, or brought 

 from the keys, are worked into souvenirs to be sold to visitors. Lance- 

 wood fishing rods are among the strongest and most expensive on the 

 market; but little of the material of which they are made grows in 

 Florida. It is also manufactured into billiard cues and small handles. 



