AMERICAN WOODS. 



95 



Soar gum. (See Gum.) 

 Bed gum. (See Gum.) 

 Sassafras. 



111. Sassafras (Sassafras sassafras) : Wood light, soft, not strong brittle, of coarse texture, durable ; sap wood 

 yellow, heart orange "brown. Used in coopeiacfe, tor skiffs, fencing, etc. Medium-sized tree, largest in the 

 Lower Mississippi Valley. From New England to Texas and from Michigan to Florida. 



Sweet gum. (See Gum.) 

 Sycamore. 



112. Sycamore (Plata nus occidentals) (bnttonwood, buttonball tree, water beech) : Wood moderately heavy, quite 

 hard, stitf, strong, tough, usually crossgrained, of coarse texture, and wiiite to light brown color; the wood 

 is hard to split and work, shrinks moderately, warps, and checks eonsideiably, but brands well. It is used 

 extensively for drawers, backs, bottoms, etc., in cabinetwoik, for tobacco boxes, in cooperage, and also for 

 finishing lumber A\here it has too long been underrated. A large tree of rapid growth, common and largest 

 in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, at home in nearly all parts of the Eastern United States. The California 

 species — 



113. Platantts raecmoba resembles in its wood the Eastern form. 

 Tulip wood. 



111. Tulip tree (Liriodcndron tulipifera) (yellow poplar, whitewood) : Wood quite variable in weight, usually 

 light, soft, stiff but not strong, of line texture, and yellowish color; the v>ood shrinks considerably, but 

 seasons without much injury; works and stands remaikably veil. Used for siding, for paneling, and fin- 

 ishing lumber in house, car, and ship building, for sideboards and panels of wagons and carriages; also in 

 the manufacture of furniture, implements, and machinery, for pump logs, and almost every kind of common 

 wooden ware, boves, shelving, drawers, etc. An ideal wood for the carver and toy man. A large tree, does 

 not form forests, but is quite common, especially in the Ohio basin; occurs from New England to Missouri 

 and southward to Florida. 



115. Cucumber tree (Magnolia acuminata): A medium-sized tree, most common in the southern Allegheny's, but 

 distributed from New York to Arkansas, southward to Alabama and northward to Illinois. Kesembling 

 and probably confounded with tulip wood in the markets. 



Tupelo. (See Gum.) 

 Walnut. 



116. Black walnut (Juglans nigra) : Wood heavy, hard, strong, of coarse texture; the narrow sapwood whitish, 

 the heartwood chocolate brown. The wood shrinks moderately in diying, works and stands well, takes a 

 good polish, is <piite handsome, and has been for a longtime the l.norite cabinet wood in this country. 

 Walnut, formerly used even for fencing, has become loo costly for ordinary uses, and is to day employed 

 largely as a veneer for inside tinibh and cabinetwork, also in turnery, for guustocks, etc. Black walnut is a 

 large tree with stout trunk, of rapid growth, and was forme ily quite abundant throughout the Allegheny 

 region, occuriing from New England to Texas, and from ^Michigan to Florida. 



While walnut, (riee Butternut.) 



White wood. (See Tulip and also Bass wood.) 



Yellow poplar. (See Tulip.) 



COMPARATIVE STATEMENTS OF PROPERTIES OF AMERICAN WOODS. 



Weight oflihi-dried wood of diffirenl sjm'ieH. 



(a) Very heavy woods : 



Hickory, oak, persimmon, osage orange, blatk locust, hatkberry, blue beech, best of elm, and ash 



(b) lleuAy woods: 



Ash, elm, <heny, birch, maple, beech, walnut, sour sjiim, <ollee tree, honey locust, heal of Southern 

 pine, andtaniaiaik 



(c) "Woods oi medium w eight- 



Southern pine, pitch pine, tamarack, Douglas spiuee, western hemlock, sweet gum, soft maple, syca- 

 more, sassafras, mulberry, light grades of birch and cherry * . 



(tl) Light \\ ooda • 



Norway and bull pine, rtd cedai, c\ press, hemlock, the heavier sprat c and fir, redwood basswood, 



chestnut, butternut, tulip, catalpa,* buckeye, heavier grades of poplar * 



(e) Very light woods : 



White pmo, spruce, Or, white cedar, poplar - - 



Approximate. 



Specific 

 weight. 



0.7U-0.&0 



.CD- .70 



. 50- . GO 



.40- .50 

 .30- ,40 



Weight of- 



* 00t - be*. 



Pounds. Pounds. 

 it?- £8 3, 700 



36-12 



30-Jti 



24-;i0 

 18-24 



3, 200 



2, 700 



2, 200 

 1,800 



Por scientific names see list above. 



