SELECTION OF FURNITURE   251
WOOD
Wood is used for the construction of most of our furniture. Its
popularity is natural because it is generally available, has beauty
in itself, is flexible, is not hot or cold to touch, and is not noisy
under impact. Wood has been much abused by craftsmen who
have had less regard for their materials than for their tools. They
have often failed to see that the beauty in the grain and the color
of the wood itself were usually superior to anything they could
add to it. Modern designers, however, appreciate this organic
material and feature the natural beauty of the wood without stain
or adornment of any kind.
Nearly all woods can be roughly grouped in two main divisions,
hardwoods and softwoods. Hardwood trees are those that shed
their leaves in the fall, like the oak, maple, gum, and walnut; soft-
*wood trees are those with needlelike leaves which they retain dur-
ing the winter, like the pine and spruce.
American Hardwoods. Close to 90 per cent of the wood made
into furniture is native hardwood. The following figures give the
United States Department of Commerce report of hardwood
used for furniture in units of 100,000 board feet in one year.
Gum	500	Chestnut	78
Oak	170	Tupelo	60
Poplar	150	Walnut	50
Birch	115	Beech	40
Maple	100	Others	83
Walnut. Walnut, called Juglans by botanists, is almost perfect
for furniture making, as it is workable, durable, and beautiful.
Walnut furniture passed through an ugly period when it was
highly ornamented and stained dark; but now it is handled more
simply and with lighter finishes.
Much of the present-day furniture is made of walnut or walnut
veneers. In this country the term walnut ordinarily refers to
American black walnut, but the butternut is a member of the
same family and is called white walnut; there are also European
and Oriental walnuts, some of which are not genuine walnuts.
Circassian walnut comes from the Caucasus and is prized for the
pattern produced by its gnarled fibers.