INTRODUCTION. 



The American Museum of Natural History is indebted to its 

 enlightened and public-spirited President, Mr. Morris K. Jesup 

 for a magnificent collection of woods, which display, for the fir 

 time in a satisfactory manner, the forest wealth of the United Sta* i 

 The conception of this collection belongs to Mr. Jesup. The for ul 

 of the United States are not surpassed by those of any othei 

 try in the variety and value of the timbers which they pi 

 Many of these are little known or appreciated commercially ; 

 was the belief of the founder of this collection that the oppor 

 it would afford to engineers, architects, and mechanics to ex, 

 specimens of the material produced by the forests of the wn. 

 country would be of great and immediate practical utility to tlr 

 community, and that the presence of such a collection in 

 Museum of Natural History would facilitate the scientific and 

 dustrial study of the Sylva of this country, and develop a popu 

 interest in fore> d forest science. ' 



Mr. Jesup's co^ection is the outgrowth of an Lr r 3stigation c 

 the forest wealth of this country commenced by me more thar " vt- 

 years ago. The results of that investigation have been published 

 in Vol. IX. of the final Reports of the Tenth Census, which this 

 collection will serve to illustrate. 



The trees of the United States are represented in the Museum by 

 large and characteristic trunk specimens, arranged in the sequence 

 of their botanical relationship. These specimens are cut in such a 

 manner as to display the bark, and cross and longitudinal sections 

 of the wood, both polished and in its natural condition. They 

 are supplemented, in the case of trees of commercial importance, 



