AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



bigtree, the sugar pine, Douglas fir, western larch, noble fir, Sitka 

 spruce and western red cedar. This cottonwood is the largest of the 

 Pacific coast hardwoods. In trunk diameter it is excelled by the weep- 

 ing oak in the interior valleys of California, but when both height and 

 diameter are considered, the black cottonwood is in the West what 

 yellow poplar is in the East, the largest of the hardwoods. 



Sargent says this Lree reaches a height of two hundred feet and a 

 diameter of eight, but Sudworth is more conservative and places the 

 trunk limit at six feet. The average size is much below the figures 

 given, but abundance of logs exceeding three feet in diameter reach the 

 sawmills of Washington and Oregon. 



Old trees range from 150 to 200 years in age, but trees under 100 

 years old are large enough for saw timber. Records of the ages of the 

 largest trunks have not been reported. 



Black cottonwood is a prolific seeder, but the seeds do not long 

 retain their vitality. If they find lodgment in damp situations, where 

 other conditions are favorable, the rate of germination is high. Seed- 

 lings are often very numerous on wet bars. 



The excellent quality of the wood and its suitability for many pur- 

 poses bring it much demand on the Pacific coast. In the state of Wash- 

 ington more than 30,000,000 feet were used by wood-using industries 

 in 1910. Smaller quantities were reported in Oregon and California. 



In strength the wood is approximately the same as common cotton- 

 wood, but in stiffness it much exceeds the eastern species. Its elasticity 

 rates high, and compares favorably with some of the valuable eastern 

 hardwoods. In weight it is slightly under common cottonwood. 

 Trees are of fine form, nearly always straight, and are generally free 

 from limbs to a considerable height. 



The wood is grayish-white, soft, tough, odorless, tasteless, long- 

 fibered, nails well, is easily glued, and cuts into excellent rotary veneer 

 with comparatively small expenditure of power. It does not split 

 easily after it has undergone seasoning, and this property commends 

 it to box makers. It is little disposed to shrink and swell in atmospheric 

 changes. The absence of odor and taste gives it much of its value for 

 box making, because foods are not contaminated by contact with it. 



It is manufactured into veneer berry baskets and is one of the 

 most suitable woods on the Pacific coast for that purpose. Candy 

 barrel makers use it in preference to most others, and a long line of 

 wooden ware articles draw much of then* material from this source. 

 Many thousands of cords are cut yearly for the pulp mills, where material 

 for paper is produced. Black cottonwood and white fir are the principal 

 woods used for pulp on the Pacific coast. 



