Appendix. 



HOW TO DISTINGUISH THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF WOOD.* 

 By B. E. Fernow and Filikekt Roth. 



The carpenter or other artisan who handles different woods, becomes 

 familiar with those he employs frequently, and learns to distinguish them 

 thru this familiarity, without usually heing able to state the points of dis- 

 tinction. If a wood comes before him with which he is not familiar, he 

 has, of course, no means of determining what it is, and it is possible to 

 select pieces even of those witli which he is well acquainted, different in 

 appearance frOm the general run, that will make him doubtful as to their 

 identification. Furthermore, he may distinguish between hard and soft 

 pines, between oak and ash, or between maple and birch, which are charac- 

 teristically different: but wlicn it comes to distinguishing between the several 

 species of pine or oak or ash or birch, the absence of readily recognizable 

 characters is such that but few practitioners can be relied upon to do it. 

 Hence, in the market we find many species mixed and sold indiscriminate!}'. 



To identify the different woods it is necessary to have a knowledge of 

 the definite, invariable differences in their structure, besides that of the 

 often variable differences in their appearance. These structural differences 

 may either be readily visible to the naked eye or with a magnifier, or 

 they may require a microscopical examination. In some cases such an ex- 

 amination can not he dispensed with, if we would make absolutely sure. 

 There are instances, as in the pines, where even our knowledge of the minute 

 anatomical structure is not j'Ct sufficient to make a sure identification. 



In the following key an attempt has been made — the first, so far as we 

 know, in English literature — to give a synoptical view of the distinctive 

 features of the commoner woods of the United States, which are found in 

 the markets or are used in the arts. It will be observed that the distinction 

 has been carried in most instances no further than to genera or classes of 

 woods, since the distinction of species can hardly be accomplished without 

 elaborate microscopic study, and also that, as far as possible, reliance has 

 been placed only on such characteristics as can be distinguished with the 

 naked eye or a simijle magnifying glass, in order to make the key useful 

 to the largest number. Piccourse has also been taken for the same reason 

 to the less reliable and more variable general external appearance, color, 

 taste, smell, weight, etc. 



The user of the kej' must, however, realize that external appearance, 

 such, for example, as color, is not only very variable but also very dilficuU 



■^^From Forestry Bulletin No. 10, C. S De^uirtiiicnt of Agriculture 



289 



