THE TIMBERS OF COMMERCE 



Sources of Supply: North America. United States, Canada, 

 New Brunswick. 



Physical Characters, etc. Recorded dry-weight 26-45! lbs. 

 per cu. ft. Hardness Grade 7, compare English Birch. Smell 

 or taste none. Burns well with a quiet, steady flame : embers 

 glow brightly in still air : ash white. Solution colourless. 



Grain, Very fine and even though open. Surface brilliantly 

 lustrous in radial section; 



Bark.? 



Uses, etc. " Not strong, easily worked, woodware, cheap 

 furniture, panels and bodies for carriages, inner soles of shoes, 

 turnery, paper-pulp" (53). "Cutting-boards — does not bias the 

 knife in any direction " (100). "It is imported in logs from 

 10-20 feet long by 20-40 in diameter in the round or in 

 boards, f-2 inches thick " (109). " Attains a height of 80 ft. 

 by 4 ft. diameter " (49). 



Authorities. Hough (49), pt. I. p. 42. Sinclair (109). Sargent 

 (100), No. 17. Robb (95). Stevenson (113). 



Colour. White, ecru ; uniform. " Sometimes tinged with red " 



(49)- 

 Anatomical Characters. Transverse section : — 



Pores. Need lens, size 4, uniform except within the groups : 

 evenly distributed, rather smaller and less noticeable in the 

 outer edge of the ring : numerous, 150-200 per mm. : often 

 subdivided or nested not always with tangential septa : usually 

 pairs but often 3-6 in a group : round when single : empty. 



Rays. Just visible, size 3-4, uniform : irregularly spaced : 

 much more than a pore-width apart except between the atten- 

 uated ends of the rays: numerous, "middles" 4-5 per mm: 

 " ends " about 20 : white. 



Rings. Very inconspicuous, clear with lens : the boundary 

 appears whiter. Contour undulating. 



Soft-tissue. Narrowly encircling the pores. 



Pith. ? 



Radial Section. Pores very inconspicuous, dull, fine lines. 

 Rays visible only by contrast of lustre : broadish flakes. Rings. 

 inconspicuous but clear : the boundary is narrow but distinctly 

 brighter. 



Tangential Section as the Radial, but the rays appear as fine 

 linear (not spindle-shaped), brown lines about" 2-2| mm. high. 



Tvpe specimens from commercial sources ; also authenticated 

 by Hough; 



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