1883.] 359 [Sharpies. 



THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY, ASH AND APPEARANCE OF THE 

 WOOD OF CERTAIN SHRUBS AND EXOTIC TREES FOUND 

 GROWING IN THE UNITED STATES. 



BY S. P. SHARPLES. 



In making the collection of woods for the United States Cen- 

 sus, upon which Professor C. S. Sargent has been engaged for the 

 three years, a number of specimens were collected that the 

 Professor has decided do not properly belong among the trees of 

 this country, either from the fact that they are rarely more than 

 shrubs, or else they are exotics and are only found where they 

 have been introduced. These specimens have been placed at my 

 disposal by Professor Sargent. 



The specific gravity and ash were determined as follows: — 



Specific gravity. Specimens were dressed out of a convenient 

 size generally about two inches square and five inches long, when 

 the stick was large enough ; these were then thoroughly dried. 

 From these specimens other smaller specimens were prepared; 

 these specimens were exactly a decimeter in length, and were 

 generally about thirty-five millimeters square, the latter dimen- 

 sion depending to a great extent upon the dimensions of the 

 original stick. These specimens were placed in an oven and 

 maintained at a temperature of 100°C. for a week, at the end of 

 this time they were carefully weighed and measured; from the 

 data thus obtained the specific gravity was calculated. 



Ash. This was determined by igniting fragments of the wood 

 weighing from ten to twenty grams, in a muffle furnace, until the 

 carbon was completely burned. Care was taken to keep the 

 temperature as low as possible. So far as could be done, the 

 determinations were made in duplicate. The species in this list 

 are largely southern. 



iEsculus parviflora. Received from E. A. Smith, Alabama. 

 Shrub one to three meters high, wood white, compact, soft, specific 

 gravity 0.5265, 05311, 0.4911 ; av. 0.5162. Ash, 0.80, 0.71 ; av. 

 0.750770. 



Staphylea trifolia. Sent by G. W. Letterman from Allenton, 

 Mo. Shrub three meters high, wood light brown, sap wood yel- 

 low, compact, hard. Sp. Gr. 0.7330. Ash, 0.51, 0.58 ; av. 0.55 per 

 cent. 



