CHxVPTER XXXI 

 TIMBER; FORESTRY 



417. Coniferous Woods. — Our native woods ^ are best 

 classified into the two principal groups of soft (or conifer- 

 ous) and hard Avoods.^ The* needle-leaved or coniferous 

 trees of the country furnish more than three-quarters of 

 our timber supply. Of these trees the pines are the most 

 important, and there are at least eight species of them 

 which may be ranked as sources of timber. White pine 

 {Pinus Strohus) is the softest and most workable of all, 

 while long-leaf pine (P. palustris, Fig. 232) is the hardest, 

 strongest, and most durable when exposed to the weather 

 or in the soil. 



Of coniferous woods other than pines some of those 

 most in use are : in the East, two species of spruce {Picea) 

 and hemlock (Tsuga); in the South, the American or bald 

 cypress (Taxodium); in the West, species of spruce (Picea), 

 the smaller redwood (Sequoia), and the " Douglas fir " 

 (Pseudotsuga). 



The structure of coniferous wood, as seen for example 

 on the end of a beam cut off squarely, or on a new lead 

 pencil, is in one respect less complex than that of most 



1 See United States Department of Agriculture, DiTision of Forestry, Bulle- 

 tin No. 10, " Timber." 



2 Some of tlie needle-leaved or coniferous trees, such as the larch and the 

 yew, have rather hard wood, and some broad-leaved trees, such as willows, 

 poplars, tulip-trees, and buckeyes, have soft wood, but people who deal in tim- 

 ber usually speak of the two general classes as explained above. 



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