STEMS, ROOTS, AND LEAVES 



89 



bandlike appearance when viewed in radial sections. Fig. 48, <?, 

 illustrates the method of preparing and sawing logs for boards 

 having the quarter-sawed effect. The logs are first stripped of 

 their bark and squared as in the figure. The first boards are 

 then cut in the plane aa, which gives a radial cut. Shorter 

 radial cuts are afterward secured by sawing in the planes bb 

 and cc. It is evident that the first cuts through the plane 

 aa give the widest and most valuable quarter-sawed boards. 





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FIG. 50. Section of red oak (Quercus rubra) 



Transverse section of oak wood at the right, showing wood rays and annual rings 

 composed of porous spring and dense summer w r ood. Radial section in the center, 

 with dark wood rays running across the section. Tangential section at the left, 

 showing porous spring and dense summer wood. Photograph furnished by the 

 United States Forest Service 



The above structures, seen in gross sections of woody stems, 

 are more evident in finished woods and produce the chief orna- 

 mental effects of wood furnishings. This is especially true of the 

 contrasts between the heartwood and sapwood, fall and spring 

 wood, and between the wood proper and the wood rays. Heart- 

 wood and sapwood are easily distinguishable from annual rings in 

 furniture or room finishings for the reason that each of the former 

 includes several annual rings of growth, each of which has its 



