76 IMPORTANT TIMBER TREES 



several feet in height and recover, if the cambium is care- 

 fully protected as indicated. In shading the wound care 

 must be taken to keep the enveloping material from com- 

 ing in contact with the cambium, for wherever it touches 

 the bark will not form. 



A great mistake is made by applying to the wound paint, 

 oil, dirt, or other substance, when some of the bark of a 

 tree, at the time of the most rapid growth in early sum- 

 mer, has been removed by accident. If the lacerated spot 

 is shaded by wrapping colored paper or cloth around it, 

 shutting out the sunlight and wind, the wound will almost 

 invariably be coated with new bark, and little practical in- 

 jury be done to the tree. If the wound is made late in the 

 summer there will be no bark formed and then the wound 

 would best be painted to exclude every species of fungi. 



The peculiar characteristics of the exterior bark of trees 

 give a fairly good guide in determining the species. Thus 

 no Oak need be mistaken for a Pine, nor a White Pine for 

 a Yellow Pine ; but in some cases there is so close a re- 

 semblance that the cursory observer may be mistaken. At 

 an advanced age the bark of a Hemlock somewhat resem- 

 bles that of a White Pine of the same size, and the bark of 

 a Red Oak and a Black Oak are very similar. An expert 

 may not be mistaken in, any case, but all cannot be ex- 

 perts, and such as are not should learn to know the trees 

 the same as they do a person, not by any minor detail or 

 particular feature alone, but by their general make-up, 

 their forms, general features, etc. 



While we have a comprehension of nearly all of the fea- 

 tures of tree-life and can understand how certain things 

 are brought about, there is one which has much to do with 

 the value of the lumber that a tree may produce that is 

 wholly inexplicable. This particular characteristic is the 

 irregularity of the direction of the grain or fibre compos- 

 ing the substance of the wood, as noted on page 80, but 

 there considered only as it relates to commercial or indus- 

 trial features. There are two kinds of irregular jrruiu' or 



