American Forest Trees Part 22

Its range comprises the northeastern quarter of the United States.

Beginning in southern Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, it grows through middle New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa to eastern Nebraska.

Southward it extends along the coast through Virginia and inland along the mountains to South Carolina and Georgia. The growth is abundant over most of the range, the favorite habitat being dry, gravelly uplands. It seems to be most abundant along the northern part of the Atlantic coast from Ma.s.sachusetts to New Jersey, and is less common in the interior, and on the prairies skirting the western margins of the eastern forests.

The average size of the tree is from seventy to eighty feet high and two or three in diameter. In many regions it is much smaller, while no very large trees have been reported.

The wood is heavy, strong, hard; the layers of annual growth are strongly marked by several rows of large, open ducts; the summerwood is dense and occupies half the yearly ring; the medullary rays are much like those of red oak, though scarcely as broad. They run in straight lines radially, and show well in quarter-sawing. The color of the wood is light brown or red, the thin sapwood rather darker.

This wood is practically of the same weight as white oak; but it is rated considerably stronger and stiffer. A number of writers have listed scarlet oak low in fuel value. Theoretically, the fuel values of woods are proportionate to their weights, except that resinous woods must be compared with resinous, and non-resinous with non-resinous. In practice, however, every fireman who feeds a furnace with wood knows that different woods develop different degrees of heat, though they may weigh the same. Results are modified by various circ.u.mstances and conditions, and for that reason theory and practice are often far apart in determining how much heat a given quant.i.ty of wood is good for.

It is difficult to procure exact information regarding the uses of scarlet oak. It never goes to market under its own name. An examination of wood-using reports from a dozen states within scarlet oak's range does not reveal a single mention of this wood for any purpose. It is certain, nevertheless, that much goes to market and that it has many important uses. It loses its ident.i.ty and is bought and sold as red oak.

Under the name of that wood it is manufactured into furniture, finish, agricultural implements, cars, boats, wagons and other vehicles, and many other articles. One of the most important markets for scarlet oak is in chair factories. Its grain is attractive enough to give it place as outside material, and its strength fits it for frames and other parts which must bear strain. Chair stock mills which clean up woodlots and patches of forest where scarlet oak grows in mixture with other species of oak, take all that comes, without being particular as to the exact kind of oak. Slack coopers follow much the same course. A wood strong enough to meet requirements, is generally acceptable. Scarlet oak is usually considered unsuitable for tight cooperage, on account of the large open pores of the wood, which permit leakage of liquids. It meets considerable demand in the manufacture of boxes and crates, particularly the latter.

The size and quality of logs which a tree may furnish to a sawmill is no measure of its full value. Scarlet oak is far better known as an ornamental tree than for its wood. It has been planted in this country and in Europe. Its brilliant foliage is greatly admired. No other oak equals it, and it compares favorably with sugar maple, black gum, and dogwood. It is an ornament to parks and private grounds, though the brilliancy of its foliage is seldom exhibited to as good advantage in cultivation as in the native forest where contrasts are more numerous, and nature does its work unhindered by man. The scarlet oak is not a rapid grower, and the form of the tree is not perfectly symmetrical. The spring leaves are red, the summer foliage bright, rich green, the autumn scarlet--a variety not equalled by many forest trees.

WILLOW OAK (_Quercus ph.e.l.los_) is named for its leaves which look like those of willow. There is a group of such oaks with leaves similar, and they are known collectively as willow oaks. The one here described may be considered typical of the group.

This oak is apt to present rather a surprising appearance to those who have seen nothing but those oaks whose leaves are lobed or cleft. It belongs to the red oaks. Like others of this division it has a tendency to hybridize, several varieties being known. Willow oak is a denizen of the southern Atlantic and southeastern states and favors rich, moist soil, either on uplands or on bottoms, along the margins of streams or swamps. It does not go inland as far as the foothills of the ranges and is found most abundantly in the basin of the lower Mississippi.

Beginning in New York, the range extends southward into Florida, along the Gulf states, touching Texas, up through Arkansas, touching Missouri and Kentucky, down through western Tennessee and southern Georgia rounding the southern end of the Appalachians.

Young trees have a slender delicate pendant appearance of twigs and foliage more typical of the willow than of oak; but in time they become more rugged, although the branching and foliage are always more delicate than is usual with oaks. The tree attains a height of eighty feet and a diameter up to four feet, but usually is about half of this. It is clothed in a smooth, brown bark, ridged only in older trees. The leaves are about five inches long and narrow in proportion, are of shiny, leathery texture, dark above and pale below. The acorns are on short stalks, solitary or in pairs, and ripen in two years, are short and rounded and in shallow cups.

The weight of willow oak is approximately the same as white oak. It is slightly stronger but less elastic. Its annual rings contain broad bands of small open ducts parallel to the thin, dark, medullary rays. The wood is reddish-brown in color, the thick sapwood darker brown. The fuel value is rated the same as white oak, but the wood contains more ash.

Willow oak is much used in the South, but usually under the name red oak. Lumbermen seldom speak of it as willow oak. The species is as highly developed in Louisiana as anywhere else, and the uses found for the wood in that state will probably be found for it wherever the tree grows in commercial quant.i.ties. A report on the manufacture of wooden commodities in Louisiana, published in 1912, listed the following uses for willow oak: Agricultural implements, bal.u.s.trades, bar tops, bedsteads, bottoms for wagon beds, bridge approaches and floors, chairs, church pews, cot frames, doors, floors, frames, interior finish, molding, newel posts, pulpits, railing, screens, slack cooperage, stairwork, store fixtures, wagon axles, and other vehicle parts.

These uses coincide nearly with those of red oak, and indicate the important position occupied by willow oak in the country's industries.

Those who handle the wood complain that its seasoning qualities are poor, and that care is necessary to bring satisfactory results. It works nicely and stands well after the seasoning is accomplished.

Willow oak grows rapidly. It is doubtful if any oak in this country surpa.s.ses it. It wants damp, rich soil and a warm climate, to do its best. Some of the bottom lands in the lower Mississippi valley have produced splendid stands of willow oak, the trunks being tall and clear of limbs, and the wood sound.

The willow oak is much planted for ornamental purposes in the southern states. It manages to keep alive when planted as far north as Ma.s.sachusetts, but the grace of its form is not fully developed much north of the Potomac river. It is a common street tree in the South, and its airy foliage forms a pleasing contrast with the heavy, dark-green of the magnolia.

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TURKEY OAK

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TURKEY OAK

(_Quercus Catesbaei_)

The claim that this tree is called turkey oak because turkeys feed on the acorns, is not well founded. In common with nearly all members of the black oak group, to which this species belongs, the acorns of turkey oak are bitter, and unless animals are pressed by hunger they do not eat them. It is evident that the shape of the leaves gives this tree its name. They bear considerable resemblance to the foot of a turkey. There is at least enough similitude to suggest the name, and it is not inappropriate. Many people now use the term without thinking of its origin, and if asked their opinion say that fondness of turkeys for the acorns led to the name.

The tree has other names in different regions. In North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Florida it is known as scrub oak. The name fits it well in certain places, for when it grows on poor soil and in adversity, it degenerates into a low, straggling thicket, frequently not trees at all, but shrubs. It is called black jack in South Carolina but the name belongs to another species (_Quercus marilandica_). In the same state it is known as barren scrub oak, because it is very small and is found on poor lands popularly known as barrens. Some call it forked-leaf black jack, but the name is usually shorter, and forked-leaf, or forked-leaf oak, is a name well understood among lumbermen, and the people generally over much of the tree's range. Some of the leaves show clearly-defined three forks, the middle one longer than the others; but in other leaves, often from the same tree, the forks are not so regularly outlined. This tree, like many other oaks, exhibits considerable variation in the forms of leaves.

There is nothing peculiar in the form and appearance of the acorns. They average about one inch long and three-quarters of an inch wide, and sit in shallow cups. They mature the second year. The bark of old trees is black near the ground, rather rough, and an inch or more thick.

It is difficult to name an average size for turkey oak. The largest trunks are three or four feet in diameter and eighty feet high, but the trees cut for sawlogs are only fifty or sixty feet high and two in diameter, in most of the regions. As previously stated, much of the stand is stunted and some of it is only brush. All sizes are found, from large, first rate trunks down to shrubs. Large trees which grow in forests, prune themselves well and their trunks compare favorably with red oaks.

The tree's range has its northeastern limit in North Carolina, and extends to Peace Creek, Florida. It is found westward to Louisiana where fair-sized timber grows, but in small quant.i.ties. It is usually considered that its best development is in South Carolina and Georgia, but good trees are likely to be found in any part of its range. It is distinctly a tree of the South. It was named by Michaux, the well-known French botanist who visited the southern states early in the nineteenth century, and he named it in honor of Mark Catesby who explored the region much earlier and wrote concerning its trees and other natural history.

Turkey oak is one of the little-known trees of the South, as far as lumbermen are concerned. They know it well enough in the woods, but not at sawmills. When cut into logs it ceases to be turkey oak and becomes red oak, and under that name it goes to the lumber yard, and later to market. Users of red oak lumber do not object to the occasional piece of turkey oak mixed with it--if they ever find it out, which few of them do. Nevertheless, the consensus of opinion among sawmill men is that turkey oak ought to rate below red oak.

Tests of the wood to determine its character and qualities do not justify so low an estimate of turkey oak. Sargent found it stronger and more elastic than white oak, while a little lighter in weight. It is nearly equal to white oak in fuel value. It is hard, compact, and the rings of annual growth are marked by several rows of large, open ducts.

The medullary rays are broad and conspicuous. The color is light brown, tinged with red, the sapwood somewhat lighter.

A special investigation of the uses of turkey oak in one of the southern states brought out the fact that it meets requirements well and fills a place in several wood-using industries in that region. Vehicle makers find it satisfactory in a number of places. It is made into bottoms of wagon beds, felloes, bolsters, axles, hubs, hounds, tongues, spokes, standards, sandboards, and reaches. These const.i.tute nearly all parts of heavy vehicles. The wood is made into telegraph brackets, but apparently not in large quant.i.ties. Car builders employ it for frames and floors.

It is made into ordinary matched flooring and goes in with other oaks.

It is used as a general furniture wood, both as outside material, and inside frames. It may be quarter-sawed to advantage. It is employed also as interior finish, which demands lumber of practically the same grades as go into furniture. Mantels of this wood compare favorably with those of red oak. Chair makers cut stock from turkey oak. It is not abundant anywhere, otherwise it would be of much importance.

The forests of the United States contain so many valuable oaks that a scarce and geographically restricted species like turkey oak cannot be expected to attract much attention in the future. Nevertheless, it is a strong, interesting tree. It takes advantage of every opportunity to develop. When an acorn germinates in good soil, and receives sufficient light and moisture, it produces a merchantable tree; but in poor soil and under unfavorable circ.u.mstances it becomes a stunted bush only.

Woodlots of turkey oak planted in fertile land would probably do as well as most of the southern red oaks under like conditions. The tree is not apt to get justice, because of the prejudice against it.

CALIFORNIA BLACK OAK (_Quercus californica_) ranges from central Oregon southward through the coast region of California nearly to the Mexican boundary. It occurs also on the western slope of the Sierra Nevadas in California. It is not found on the plains or near the sea, but occurs on mountain slopes, low summits, elevated valleys, and in canyons. In the North, it ranges from 1,500 to 3,000 feet and in the South it ascends to 9,000 feet. This far western oak bears more resemblance to the yellow oak (_Quercus velutina_) of the East than to any other. Trees have been reported 100 feet high and four in diameter, but they are scarce.

Seventy-five feet high and two or three feet in diameter are usual dimensions of mature timber. The trees are inclined to be angular in the outlines of their crowns. The leaves fall in autumn, but the acorns persist two years. They sit deep in their rough cups. The trunk is habitually crooked. It leans out of plumb, and lacks the nicely balanced poise which adds to the attractiveness of some oaks. The large boles are usually hollow, dead at the tops, or otherwise defective. That condition is apparently due to old age. Trees stand long after they pa.s.s maturity and start on their decline. They die by inches, and not infrequently they decay and crumble by piecemeal both at the bottom and at the top.

At best the trunk of this oak is of poor form for saw timber. It divides into large limbs ten or twenty feet from the ground. It is of slow growth, and it reaches old age--possibly as much as 350 years in extreme cases. The wood is very porous, but the pores are not in rows. The medullary rays are thin and distinct. It is not known that any quarter-sawing has been attempted, and it would hardly be profitable.

The wood is pale red, exceedingly brittle, firm, light for oak, and it has a distinct odor of tannin with which both the wood and the bark are heavily charged. The princ.i.p.al uses to which this oak is put in California and Oregon are as fuel and ranch timbers, the latter being of the simplest and roughest sort. Its fuel value is high, compared with other woods of the region. Some use was made of the bark for tanning purposes years ago on the Pacific slope, but it does not appear to go to market now.

BLUE JACK OAK (_Quercus brevifolia_) bears several names, upland willow oak, to distinguish it from other willow oaks which grow in swamps, sand jack, referring to the land on which it grows, high-ground willow oak, turkey oak, shin oak and cinnamon oak. No reason is known for the last name which is not used outside of Florida. The tree grows in a narrow strip along the coast from North Carolina to Texas, crossing northern Florida. The blue jack oak sometimes attains a height of fifty feet and a diameter of twenty inches; but that is its best. It is usually fifteen or twenty feet high and a few inches in diameter. The leaves are from two to five inches long and quite narrow, closely resembling those of willow.

The acorns are abundant, but small. The tree is of so little value that it does not interest the lumberman. It occupies waste land, and may produce a little fuel without crowding more valuable trees, but is in every way inferior to the black jack oak (_Quercus marilandica_), which overlaps its range a little, but is a northern species. The wood of blue jack oak is hard, strong, light brown in color, with darker-colored sapwood.

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SPANISH OAK

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SPANISH OAK

(_Quercus Digitata_)

One of the first difficulties in an attempt to clear up the misunderstandings regarding Spanish oak is to confine the name to the species to which it belongs. That is no easy task, because the name has been applied to numerous oaks in various parts of the country, and without any apparent reason. Some of these bear little resemblance to Spanish oak and grow almost wholly outside its range. It is not a case of mistaking one for the other, for there is no mistake. Some speak of the common red oak as Spanish oak, others bestow that name on yellow oak, others on black jack oak, or scarlet oak, or any one of several others. It appears, however, that the name is not applied to any member of the white oak group.

It is said that Spanish oak and Norway pine were named by the same process. Each got its name because it was supposed to be similar to a species in the old country--the pine like an evergreen of north Europe, and the oak like a broadleaf tree of Spain. It was learned later that both the American species were different from those of Europe which they resembled.