OF VIRGINIA 



tains, seeking "higher altitudes than any of the other 'hickories. Hickory, 

 independent of species, combines more than any other wood, the qualities 

 of strength, elasticity, and toughness. It is, therefore, demanded 

 where these properties are essential, as in vehicle stock, axe, hammer, 

 and pick handles, and sucker rod's. Though siome species of hickory 

 are more easily identified than those of other trees, the manufacturer 

 and the lumberman rarely makes any distinction. 



The young sapling hickories are in almost as great demand as the 

 grown trees. They are cut and sold for hoop poles. It is this cutting 

 of the young growth which if not checked will bring about the early 

 exhaustion of the hickory tree. 



CHESTNUT 



Virginia is one of the five principal States in the production of 

 chestnut lumber. In 1909 the total cut was 68 million feet though the 

 amount the manufacturers used was only 7 million. Ten per cent 

 of this was shipped in from other States. Only in comparatively 

 recent years has chestunt had 'high value as lumber ; before that it had 

 been used as a substitute for higher priced woods. In the interior 

 trim of houses the conspicuous handsome figure of the chestnut has 

 grown in favor, and to a large degree, supplanted the oak finish. 

 Chestnut lumber is very durable especially in contact with the soil. 

 It is this property which favors its use above other woods for making 

 burial caskets. 



Tthe tannin in chestnut wood is extracted and used in tanning. 

 The demand of tanneries operating in Virginia make the production 

 of tannin an important industry. 



The chestnut tree grows throughout all the hill and high valley 

 regions of Virginia, but more abundantly in the mountain sections. 



ASH 



White ash, red ash, Biltmore ash, green ash, black ash and water 

 ash, are the six species composing the ash family in Virginia. White 

 and red, in the order named, constitute a very large proportion of the 

 stand. Biltmore ash is a species recently discovered by botanists con- 

 nected with the Biltmore forest estate in North Carolina. It is a com- 

 mon tree growing along streams in the mountains and is indigenous 

 only to the southern Appalachian states. Green ash grows in western 

 Virginia, but not in commercial quantities ; its most abundant stand is 

 in the lower Mississippi Valley. As with hickory, the manufacturers 

 do not distinguish species of ash lumber for particular uses, nor do 

 lumbermen generally speak of these except by one name, because of 



