WOODS AND FORESTRY 
COLLECTION OF NORTH AMERICAN WOODS 
ONE of the first steps taken by Mr. Jesup, after his election as 
President of the Museum, was toward the estabhshment — 
at his own expense and as a gift to the Museum — of a col- 
lection showing the natural history and economic features of all 
the trees of the United States that could be used for commercial 
purposes. 
An especially opportune time for making this collection arose when 
the Tenth Census of the United States embodied in its work the plan 
of a report upon the wood resources of our country. Professor Charles 
S. Sargent was engaged as special agent, and Mr. Jesup fortunately 
secured his cooperation in the preparation of the collection for the 
Museum. 
The collection of 420 species was formally presented to the Museum 
in 1891, about twelve years having been required to bring it together. 
A number of species were at that time lacldng, but an expedition sent 
out in the fall of 1891 secured all but a very few unimportant ones, 
so that the present collection of 3,092 specimens, of which 505 are 
on exhibition, is practically complete in its representation of the native 
woods of North America, north of Mexico. The trunks of the trees 
in the exhibition series are of an average height of five feet, and cut 
so as to show vertical, horizontal, and oblique sections, half of each 
section being polished. 
The foliage, flower, and fruit of each species are illustrated by a 
water-color sketch, the work of Mrs. Mary Robeson Sargent, and some 
also by artificial sprays in natural size and color. 
The sections of the California redwood tree and the giant sequoia 
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