American Forest Trees Part 21

(_Quercus Texana_)

The line between red oak (_Quercus rubra_) and Texan red oak is closely drawn by botanists, but lumbermen do not recognize much difference except toward the extreme ranges of each. Some call one simply red oak and the other southern red oak, but that leaves doubtful the timber on a large area occupied by both species. Their ranges overlap two or three hundred miles in the Ohio valley and on the southern tributaries of the Ohio river in Kentucky and Tennessee. A large amount of red oak from that region goes to market, and no one knows, and few care, whether it is of the northern or southern species. It is usually a mixture of both.

But outside of the common zone where both trees grow, the woods of the two are kept fairly well separate. Thirty years ago Texan red oak received slight recognition from botanists. When Charles S. Sargent compiled in 1880 a volume of over 600 pages, "Forest Trees of North America," for the United States government, and which was published as volume 9 of the Tenth Census, he did not so much as accord this tree the dignity of a species, but called it a variety of the common red oak. Its range and its great importance were little understood at that time.

Sargent thus described its range: "Western Texas, valley of the Colorado river with the species and replacing it south and west, extending to the valley of the Neuces river and the Limpia mountains."

Compare that restricted range with that given by the same author twenty-five years later in his "Manual of the Trees of North America."

He gives it thus: "Northeastern Iowa and central Illinois, through southern Illinois and Indiana and western Kentucky and Tennessee, to the valley of the Apalachicola river, Florida, northern Georgia, central South Carolina, and the coast plains of North Carolina, and through southern Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana to the mountains of western Texas; most abundant and of its largest size on the low bottom lands of the Mississippi basin, often forming a considerable part of lowland forests; less abundant in the eastern Gulf states; in western Texas on low limestone hills and on bottom lands in the neighborhood of streams."

This quotation is given in full because it shows how scientific men change their opinions to conform to new evidence. The range of that particular species was as wide in 1880 as in 1905, but botanists had not yet worked it out. Thus knowledge increases constantly, and year by year the resources of American forests are better understood. In this instance, what in 1880 was supposed to be a rather insignificant variety, occupying a restricted area in Texas, was found by 1905 to be a separate species, covering sixteen states in whole or in part. Similar progress concerning the forests has been made all over the country, not only by botanists but by lumbermen. Trees which were formerly considered so nearly alike that no distinctions were made, are now recognized to be quite different.

The Texan red oak is frequently called spotted oak. The appearance of the bark suggests the name. Large, irregular, whitish patches cover the trunks. That peculiarity is not noticeable everywhere and on all trees, but is common west of the Mississippi river. The tree is sometimes known as Spanish oak in the southwestern part of its range, but the name is ill-advised, for the true Spanish oak (_Quercus digitata_) occurs in the same region. The most usual name for this species, in nearly all parts of its range, is simply red oak.

The Texan red oak varies greatly in size of trees, as is natural in so wide a geographical range. Trees have been reported 200 feet high and eight feet in diameter; but sizes like that are extraordinary and attempts to locate anything approaching them at this day have not been successful. The average in the lower Mississippi valley is eighty or ninety feet in height, and two or three in diameter. In Texas this size is seldom reached, the average not much exceeding half of it.

The leaves of Texan red oak are about half the size of those of the northern species. That alone will not serve to separate them, because of such great variation. It applies only to averages. The southern trees'

leaves are from three to six inches long, two to five wide; the northern species bears leaves from five to nine inches long and four to six wide.

The acorns of the two species do not show so much difference in size.

The states which use Texan red oak in largest amounts are Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, though some of this wood finds its way to northern markets where it pa.s.ses as red oak without any questions. That condition renders very difficult the task of separating the woods. It is not so difficult further south where the true red oak is seldom seen. Shipments go north, not south. The two red oaks mingle in the lumber yards north of the Ohio river, but seldom south of the Tennessee river.

Investigations made by the Forest Service of the utilization of woods in various states show that factories report the annual use of Texan red oak as follows: Louisiana 1,777,000 feet, Mississippi 2,400,000, Texas 2,814,000, Alabama 5,500,000, and Arkansas 39,301,000. This does not include lumber or other forest products used in the rough, or lumber shipped out of the respective states.

Texan red oak is heavier than its northern relative, hard, light, reddish-brown, much of it of rapid growth, with wide, clearly defined annual rings. The medullary rays are prominent, and show well in quarter-sawing. The best of the wood is as strong as red oak, and compares favorably with it in physical properties.

One of the most exacting uses of wood is for fixtures, such as counters in stores, bars in saloons, part.i.tions in banks and counting rooms, and standing desks in offices. Extra wide and long pieces are required, and they must show satisfactory figure, and be finished to harmonize with the interior of the room where they are placed. Texan red oak is selected by builders in many southern cities for that cla.s.s of fixtures, and it meets the requirements. It is used also for interior finish and furniture, and stair work.

Like most members of the black oak group, the wood is inclined to rot quickly in damp situations, but it measures well up to the average of the group to which it belongs. It is often employed in the South as bridge material, particularly as flooring for wagon bridges, where the wood's hardness is its chief recommendation. Much is converted into flooring for halls, houses, and factories.

The available supply of this valuable wood in the forests of the South is not known, but there is little doubt that it exists in larger quant.i.ties than any other species of oak within its range. Perhaps in total quant.i.ty it exceeds red oak (_Quercus rubra_) in the whole United States. It is quite generally distributed over an area exceeding 300,000 square miles, and toward the western part, it is the prevailing oak. The future of this oak is a.s.sured. It is now cut at a rapid rate, and doubtless the annual growth falls short of the yearly demand; but it occurs in a range so extensive that scarcity will not come for a long period. If the time ever comes in the South when planted timber must be depended upon to meet the needs of the people, this oak will fill an important place in woodlots. It does not grow as rapidly as willow oak, but its range is more extensive, and it possesses certain desirable properties not found in willow oak. The acorns are rather poor mast, and this is in the tree's favor, for the seed will be left to grow instead of being devoured by hogs and small animals of the woods. In that respect it has an advantage over cow oak and the other white oaks which occupy parts of its range. Their acorns are sought as food by domestic and wild animals. Texan red oak prunes itself well when it grows in close stands, but is low and limby when it occupies open ground. The trunks vary in form, but are inclined to enlarge at the base, particularly when they grow in low, damp situations, as many of the best do in the South.

GEORGIA OAK (_Quercus georgiana_) is one of the minor oaks of the South and has not been found outside of Georgia. It grows in the central part of the state on Stone mountain and on a few other granite hills. Whether the species originated there and was never able to work its way down to the more congenial valleys below, or whether it once grew lower down and was crowded to its last retreat by other species, is not known. But an interest attaches to it from the very fact that its range is so restricted and that its habitat is on the sterile summits. Lumbermen care nothing about this tree.

Few of them ever saw it or heard of it. The trunk is small, the acorns only from one-third to half an inch long, and the leaves are of a form midway between those of pin oak and turkey oak. The characters of the wood have not been reported, but since there is not enough of it to have any commercial value, the matter is not very important.

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YELLOW OAK

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YELLOW OAK

(_Quercus Velutina_)

This tree is known as black oak in Vermont, Ma.s.sachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ontario; quercitron oak in Delaware, South Carolina, Louisiana, Kansas and Minnesota; yellow oak in Rhode Island, New York, Illinois, Texas, Kansas and Minnesota; tanbark oak in Illinois; yellow-bark oak in Minnesota and Rhode Island; spotted oak in Missouri; dyer's oak in Texas; and yellow b.u.t.t oak in Mississippi.

Those who call this tree black oak have in mind the bark which is usually quite dark, though all members of this species do not present the same appearance in that respect. Some trunks are gray, and in color do not greatly differ from white oaks, but would hardly be mistaken for them. Tanbark oak, a name occasionally given to this tree, is not applied in the region where chestnut oak grows, because it is much inferior to chestnut oak as tanning material. It is not only poorer in tannin, but the coloring matter a.s.sociated with the inner bark is troublesome to the tanner who is compelled to remove it or neutralize it unless he wants his leather given a yellow tone. Dyer's oak is a name which refers to the value of the bark for coloring purposes. The botanical name _velutina_ refers to the velvety texture of the inner bark.

This oak is one of the easiest to identify. The inner layer of the bark is yellow. The point of a knife easily reaches it; cutting through a deep crack in the bark, and no mistake is possible, for no other oak has the yellow layer of bark. The tree may be identified by leaves, flowers, and fruit, but the process is not always easy, for other members of the black oak group bear more or less resemblance to this one.

The yellow oak's range extends over nearly or quite a million square miles. It exceeds the limits of most oaks in its geographical extension.

It endures severe winters and hot summers. The northern limit of its range lies in Maine; it grows westward across southern Canada to Minnesota; it extends two hundred miles west of the Mississippi into eastern Nebraska and Kansas, and follows that meridian south into Texas.

It reaches the Gulf of Mexico east of the Mississippi, and is found in many localities in all the southern states, and along the foothills of the Appalachian ranges. It attains its largest size in the lower Ohio valley. The average height is seventy or eighty feet, and its diameter two or three feet. In some localities the trees are scrubby and produce little merchantable timber.

The growth rings are only moderately wide in the typical yellow oak; the ring is divided nearly evenly between springwood and summerwood. The former contains two or three rows of large, open pores. The medullary rays are fewer and smaller than those commonly found in oaks. A general average of the properties of the wood is somewhat difficult to give, because of remarkable variation in trees which grow under different conditions. In some instances, where the soil is fertile and climate favorable, the yellow oak produces a large, clear trunk, with sound wood, of good color, and equal to that of red oak; but the reverse is often the case--trunks are small and rough, wood hard and brittle, color not satisfactory, and strength not up to standard. Sometimes first cla.s.s yellow oak pa.s.ses without question as good red oak in the finish and furniture business, but that is not its usual course. Well developed wood is heavy, hard, strong, bright brown, tinged with red, with thin, lighter colored sapwood. Its weight is 43.9 pounds per cubic foot.

The uses of yellow oak follow red oak pretty closely, but are not so extensive. Figures cannot be given to show the total annual cut of yellow oak, but the output is likely much below red oak, though it is found over a wider area, and some of it gets into the lumber yards in all regions where it grows. It is made into furniture from Maine to Louisiana. In cheaper grades of furniture, it may be the outside material, but its place is usually as frame stock, to give strength, but is not visible in the finished article. An exception to this is found in chairs where yellow oak is one of several species which go regularly to the sawmills which cut chair stock. Ma.s.sachusetts snow plow makers use it, but of course it fills no such place in the South. In Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas it is bought by manufacturers of agricultural machinery. It is worked into cotton gins in Mississippi. Some extra fine stands of this oak occur in the Delta region of Mississippi. Frames of freight cars are made of it in Louisiana and Texas, and warehouse and depot floors are occasionally laid of this lumber. It is floor material in Michigan also, but that is of a better cla.s.s than is required for warehouses. It is not infrequently sold as red oak for flooring and interior finish. Throughout the whole extent of yellow oak's range it finds its way to wagon shops. It is less tough than white oak, but in many places, such as bolsters, sandboards, and hounds, it serves as well. Warehouse trucks and push cars are of this wood in many instances.

Slack coopers convert this wood into their wares in many regions. The pores are too open to permit its use as tight cooperage, where liquids are to be contained, but for barrels and kegs of many kinds, as well as for boxes, baskets, and crates, it meets all requirements. It is good fuel. Many burners of brick and pottery show it preference, and charcoal burners make a clean sweep of it when it occurs in the course of their operations; though when it is desirable to save the by-products of charcoal kilns or retorts, yellow oak is considered less valuable than birch, beech, and maple.

The bark of this tree is employed less now than formerly for dyeing purposes. Aniline dyes have taken its place. In pioneer times the bark was one of the best coloring materials the people had, and every family looked after its own supply as carefully as it provided sa.s.safras bark for tea, slippery elm bark for poultices, and witch hazel for gargles.

The oak bark was peeled, dried, and pounded to a powder. The ma.s.s was sifted, and the yellow particles, being finer than the black bark, pa.s.sed through the screen, and were set apart for the dye kettle, while the screenings were rejected. Various arts and sciences were called into requisition to add to or take from the natural color which the bark gave the cloth. Salts of iron were commonly employed to modify the deepness of the yellow.

The acorns of this oak are bitter, and escape the mast hunters. Old stumps have little need to send up sprouts, for acorns keep the species alive. Yellow oaks are in no immediate danger of extermination. Nature plants generously, and the tree can get along on poor soil where the farm hunter is not apt to molest it. It has a fairly thick bark, and is able to take care of itself in a moderate fire, except when the seedlings are quite small. The young tree's tap root is much developed, and goes deep for moisture, and the growing sapling flourishes on ground where some other species would suffer for water.

WHITELEAF OAK (_Quercus hypoleuca_). The beauty of this small evergreen oak of the mountains of western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, is in its foliage rather than its wood. Large trunks--that is, those twenty inches or more in diameter--are apt to be hollow, but the sound wood is employed in repairing wagons in local shops, and in rough ranch timbers. Its importance will never extend beyond the region where it grows, but in that region it will continue to be used where nothing better can be obtained. The largest trees are sixty feet high, and two in diameter, but few reach those dimensions. It is an arid land oak. It grows at from 4,000 to 6,000 feet elevations on mountains and plateaus. The leaves remain thirteen months on the twigs. They are of the willow form, ranging from two to four inches in length and one-half to one in width. The acorns are small and bitter. The strength of this oak is remarkable, if it may be judged by the figures given by Sargent. Two samples of wood procured by himself and Dr. Engelmann on a dry, gravelly ground among the Santa Rita mountains in Arizona, showed breaking strength sixty-one per cent greater than the average given by the same author for white oak. The stiffness of the specimens was a little above white oak, and the weight three pounds more per cubic foot. It should be borne in mind, however, that results derived from a test of only two samples are not a safe basis for concluding that the wood generally will average of so great strength. The annual rings of growth are not clearly marked. The wood is porous, but the pores are not generally arranged in bands, although they occasionally follow that arrangement. The medullary rays are broad and abundant, but are rather short, measured along the radial lines. They are of pink color, a characteristic not unusual with oaks in semi-arid regions. The foliage is doubtless the most valuable characteristic of whiteleaf oak. The leaves are silver white below, and dark green above. When they are agitated by wind the flashing of the different tones and tints in the sunshine presents an attractive picture. It belongs to the willow oak branch of the red oak group, and bears two-year acorns.

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SCARLET OAK

[Ill.u.s.tration: SCARLET OAK]

SCARLET OAK

(_Quercus Coccinea_)

The name of scarlet oak is in use in Vermont, Ma.s.sachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, and Ontario; red oak is the name in North Carolina, Alabama, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Minnesota; black oak in Nebraska, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, and Spanish oak in North Carolina.

The name is descriptive of the autumn leaves. Artists dispute among themselves whether the leaves are scarlet, red, or crimson. In their opinion a good deal of difference exists between these colors, rendering it quite incorrect to give one color the name of another. As for the artists, they are probably correct in their a.n.a.lysis of colors, but the general public knows the tree as scarlet oak, and it will doubtless be called by that name by most people who speak of the tree in the woods, while those who refer to the wood after it is sawed will speak of it as red oak.

The leaves of scarlet oak are rather persistent, and remain on the twigs late in the season. The brilliancy of this tree is rendered doubly conspicuous, when it is contrasted with the surrounding sombre, winter colors.

In appearance the tree is striking for its delicacy of foliage and twigs. The crown is always narrow and open, and in forest growth is compressed. The height, in good specimens, is about one hundred feet, but it often exceeds that size. In diameter it grows as large as four feet. The mature bark is dark in color and broken into broad, smooth ridges and plates, edged with red. It shows a reddish inner bark when cut and this may be relied upon to identify the tree. The leaves are four or five inches long; deeply sinused, three or four on a side; long, bristle-toothed lobes, broad at the base; acorns bitter, mature in two years; sessile, brown; cup closely drawn in at the edge.