110 



INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY 





and other workers in wood. Some woods not among the most 

 important kinds for general purposes are particularly well 

 suited to special uses. Hickory is valuable for ax handles 

 and for wagon and carriage spokes ; beech, for shoemakers' 

 lasts, saw handles, and carpenters' planes; black locust and 

 chestnut, for posts and railroad ties, because they decay 



very slowly even when 

 underground. 



Our best native woods 

 for cabinetwork are black 

 walnut, maple, cherry, birch, 

 and some kinds of oak and 

 ash. Red oak is not so 

 strong as white oak, but it 

 has a much coarser grain, 

 so that quartered red oak 

 (cut radially from the log) 

 is among the most orna- 

 mental of moderate-priced 

 woods for cabinetmaking 

 and for paneling in the 

 interior finish of houses. 

 Sycamore and sweet gum 

 are also very effective for 

 interior finish, the former 

 being especially important ; 

 the supply is very large, 

 and extremely wide boards 

 can be cut from its immense trunks. Large portions of the 

 trunks of old black-walnut trees are often very beautiful in 

 their structure and are extremely valuable, as are also the 

 trunks of bird's-eye maple. 



What hard woods used as fuel do you know by sight ? 

 What kinds used for construction or other mechanical pur- 

 poses do you know ? What kinds are most readily distin- 

 guished from all others ? Why ? 



!!!i?t 



FIG. 92. 



Cross section of ring-porous 

 .wood of sassafras 



a.r, boundaries of the annual rings; the 

 wood is ring-porous because the ducts (here 

 shown as oval or roundish spots) are most 

 abundant in the spring wood but almost 

 lacking. in autumn wood. Magnified 15 di- 

 ameters. Photomicrograph by R. B. Hough 



