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THE FORESTERS' MANUAL

THE FORESTER'S MANUAL

The Forest Trees

Eastern North America

No. 2 of Scout Manual Series

ERNEST THOMPSON SETON

CHIEF SpOUT

BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA

Garden City New York

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY

1912

THE NF;v- ^ uRK

PUBLIC LIBRARY

7518

ASTOR, LEtJOX AND
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

C I-

INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN

THE c6viy'TRt .LilJ-, ^R'^S

PREFACE

This book is meant to be a Foresters' Manual, not a Botany. In it
I aim to give the things that appealed to me as a boy: First the identi-
fication of the tree, second where it is found, third its properties and
uses, and last, various interesting facts about it.

I have included much information about native dyes, because it is
all in the line of creating interest in the trees; and because it would
greatly improve our color sense if we could return to vegetable dyes,
and abandon the anilines that have in many cases displaced them. So
also because of the interest evoked as well as for practical reasons I
have given sundry medical items; some of these are from H. Howard's
" Botanic Medicine," 1850. Several of the general notes are from George
B. Emerson's "Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts," 1846.

As starting point I have used Britton and Brown's "Illustrated Flora"
(Scribner, 1896) and have got much help from Harriet L. Keeler's "Our
Native Trees" (Scribner, 1900).

The illustrations were made by myself from fresh specimens in the
woods, or in some cases from preserved specimens in the Museum of
the New York Botanical Garden at Bronx Park.

The maps were made for this work by Mr. Norman Taylor, Curator
of Plants in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, N. Y., with corrections in
Canada by Prof. John Macoun of the Geological Survey at Ottawa,
Canada. , ,

To Dr. N. L. Britton,,', Mr., Norhjiart Tayloi, and Prof. John Macoun,
I extend my hearty than'-is iox their! kind and able assistance.

The names of trees ar&^hpjc sise4 in Britton's "North American
Trees," 1908. ^^ , .';1/^, i

CONTENTS

Preface .
Introduction

PINACE^ — CONIFERS OR PINE FAMILY

White Pine, Weymouth Pine (Pinus Strobus) 3

Red Pine, Canadian Pine, Norway Pine {Pinus resinosa) .... 4
Long-leaved Pine, Georgia Pine, Southern Pine, Yellow Pine, Hard Pine

{Pinus palustris) 5

Jack-Pine, Eanksian Pine, Gray Pine, Labrador Pine, Hudson Bay Pine,

Northern Scrub Pine {Pinus Banksiana) 6

Jersey Pine, Scrub Pine {Pinus Virginiana) 7

Yellow Pine, Spruce Pine, Short-leaved Pine, Bull Pine {Pinus echinata) . 8

Table Mountain Pine, Hickory Pine {Pinus pungcns) 9

Loblolly, Old Field Pine, Frankincense Pine {Pinus Taeda) ... 10

Pitch Pine, Torch Pine, Sap Pine, Candlewood Pine {Pinus rigida) . . . 11

Tamarack, Larch or Hackmatack {Larix laricina) 12

White Spruce {Picea Canadensis) 13

Black Spruce, Swamp Spruce {Picea Mariana) 15

Red Spruce {Picea ruhens) 16

Hemlock {Tsuga Canadensis) 17

Balsam Tree or Canada Balsam {Abies balsamea) 19

Bald Cypress {Taxodium distichum) 21

Arbor- vitae or White Cedar {Thuja occidentalis) 22

Southern Arbor-vitae {Chamcecyparis thyoides) 23

Red Cedar or Juniper {Juniperus Virginiana) 24

SALICACE^ — THE WILLOW FAMILY

Black Willow {Salix nigra) 26

Crack Willow, Brittle Willow {Salix fragilis) 27

Golden Willow, Golden Osier, Yellow Willow or White Willov {Salix alba) 28

Pussy Willow or Glaucous Willow {Salix discolor) 29

Bebb's Willow, Fish-net Willow or Withy Willow {Salix Bebbiana) . 30

Quaking Asp, Quiver Leaf, Aspen Poplar or Popple {Populus tremuloides). 31

Large-toothed Aspen {Populus grandidentata) 2>3

Swamp, Downy or Black Poplar {Populus heterophylla) . . . -34

Balsam Poplar, Balm of Gilead, or Tacamahac {Populus balsamifera) . 35

Cottonwood {Populus deltoides) 36

White Poplar, Silver Poplar or Abele {Populus alba) 37

Lombardy Poplar {Populus dilatata . . . 38

JUGLANDACE^ OR WALNUT FAMILY

Black Walnut {Juglans nigra) 39

White Walnut, Oil Nut or Butternut {Juglans cinerea) . . . . 41

Pecan {Hicoria Pecan) 43

Bitter Nut or Swamp-Hickory {Hicoria cordiformis) 44

Water Hickory {Hicoria aquatica) 45

Shagbark, Shellbark or White Hickory {Hicoria ovata) .... 46

vii

viii CONTENTS

The Big Shell-Bark or King-Nut {Hicoria laciniosa) .... 47

Mockernut, White Heart or Big-Bud Hickory {Hicoria alba) ... 48

Pignut Hickory {Hicoria glabra) 49

Small Fruited Hickory {Hicoria microcarpa) ...... 50

BETULACE.^ — BIRCH FAMILY

Gray Birch or Aspen-leaved Birch {Betula populifolia)
White, Canoe or Paper Birch {Betula papyrifera)

Red Birch or River Birch {Betula nigra)

Yellow Birch, Gray Birch {Betula lutea)

Black, Cherry, Sweet or Mahogany Birch {Betula lenta)

Alder or Smooth Alder, Tag Alder {Alnus serrulata)

Ironwood, Hard-Hack, Leverwood, Beetle-Wood or Hop Hornbeam

{Ostrya Virginiana)

Blue Beech, Water Beech or American Hornbeam {Carpinus Caroliniana)

52
54
55
56
57

58
59

FA GACE^ — BEECH FAMILY

White Oak {Quercus alba) 60

Post-Oak, or Iron Oak {Quercus stellata) 62

Overcup, Swamp or Post Oak {Quercus lyrata) 63

Bur Oak, Cork-Bark or Mossy Cup {Quercus macrocarpa) ... 64

Rock Chestnut Oak {Quercus Prinus) 66

Scrub Chestnut Oak {Quercus prinoides) 67

Yellow Oak, Chestnut Oak or Chinquapin Scrub Oak {Quercus Muhlen-

bergii) ■ ... 68

Swamp White Oak {Quercus bicolor) 69

Red Oak {Quercus rubra) 70

Scarlet Oak {Quercus coccinea) 71

Black Oak, Golden Oak, or Quercitron {Quercus velutina) . . . 72

Pin Oak or Swamp Oak {Quercus palustris) TS

Black Jack or Barren Oak {Quercus Marilandica) 74

Spanish Oak {Quercus triloba) 75

Bear or Scrub Oak {Quercus ilicijolia) 76

Water Oak {Quercus nigra) 77

Beech {Fagus grandifolia) 78

Chestnut {Castanea dentata) 79

Chinquapin {Castanea pumila) 80

ULMACE^ — ELM FAMILY

White Elm, Water or Swamp Elm {Ulmus Americana) .... 81

Slippery Elm, Moose or Red Elm {Ulmus fulva) 82

Rock, Cliff, Hickory or Cork Elm {Uhnus Thomasi). .... 84

Winged Elm or Wahoo {Ulmus alata) . 85

Hackberry, Sugarberry, Nettle-tree or False Elm {Celtis occidentalis) . 86

MORACE^ — MULBERRY FAMILY

Red Mulberry {Morus rubra) 87

Osage Orange or Bow-wood {Toxylon pomiferum) 88

MAGNOLIACE.E — MAGNOLIA FAMILY

Tulip Tree, White- Wood, Canoe Wood or Yellow Poplar {Liriodendron

Tulipifera) 89

Sweet Bay, Laurel Magnolia, White Bay, Swamp Laurel, Swamp Sassafras

or Beaver Tree {Magnolia Virginiana) 91

Cucumber Tree or Mountain Magnolia {Magnolia acuminata) ... 92

CONTENTS ix

LAURACE^ — LAUREL FAMILY

Spice-Bush, Fever-Bush, Wild Allspice, Benjamin Bush (Benzoin odor-

iferum) 93

Sassafras, Ague-tree (Sassafras Sassafras) 94

HAMAMELIDACE^ — WITCH HAZEL FAMILY

Witch Hazel, Winter Bloom or Snapping Hazel Nut (Hamamelis Vir-
giniana) 96

ALTINGIACE^ — SWEET GUM FAMILY

Sweet-Gum, Star-Leaved or Red-Gum, Bilsted, Alligator Tree or Liquid-
amber (Liquidambar Styraciflua) 98

PLATANACE^ — PLANE TREE FAMILY

Sycamore, Plane Tree, Buttonball or Buttonwood (Platanus occidentalis) 99

AMYGDALACE^ — PLUM FAMILY

Choke-Cherry (Padus Virginiana) loi

Black Cherry, Cabinet or Rum Cherry (Padus serotina) . . . 102

MALACE^ — APPLE FAMILY

Scarlet Haw, Hawthorn, Thorn- Apple or Apple-Haw (CratcBgus mollis) 104

CESALPINIACE^ — SENNA FAMILY

Red-Bud or Judas-Tree (Cercis Canadensis) . . . . ._ . . 105

Honey of Sweet Locust, Three-thorned Acacia (Gleditsia triacanthos) 106

Kentucky Coffee-Tree (Gymnocladus dioica) 107

FABACE^ — PEA FAMILY

Black or Yellow Locust, Silver-Chain (Rohinia Pseudacacia) . . . 108

ANACARDIACE^ — SUMAC FAMILY

Staghorn or Velvet Sumac, Vinegar Tree (Rhus hirta) . . . .109
Dwarf Black or Upland or Mountain Sumac (Rhus copallina) . . in
Poison Sumac, Poison Elder (Toxicodendron Vernix) . . . .112
Poison Climbing or Three-leaved Ivy. Poison Oak, Climath (Toxicoden-
dron vulgar e) 113

ACERACE^ — MAPLE FAMILY

Striped Maple, Goosefoot Maple or Moosewood (Acer Pennsylvanicum) 114

Mountain Maple (Acer spicatum) 115

Sugar Maple, Rock Maple or Hard Maple (Acer saccharum) . .116
Silver Maple, White or Soft Maple (Acer saccharinum) . . . .117
Red, Scarlet, Water or Swamp Maple (Acer rubrum) . . . .118
Box Elder or Ash-leaved Maple (Acer Negundo) 120

^SCULACE^E — BUCKEYE FAMILY

Buckeye, Fetid Buckeye, Ohio Buckeye (jEscuIus glabra) . . . 121

Yellow Sweet or Big Buckeye (jEscuIus octattdra) 122

Horse-Chestnut or Bongay (Msculus Hippocastanum) . . . .123

TILIACE^ — LINDEN FAMILY

Basswood, White-wood, Whistle-wood, Lime or Linden (Tilia Americana) 124

X CONTENTS

CORNACE^ — DOGWOOD FAMILY

Flowering Dogwood, Arrow-wood, Boxwood, Cornelian Tree (Cynoxylon

floridum) 126

Sour Gum, Black Gum, Pepperidge or Tupelo {Nyssa sylvatica) . . 127

EBENACEiE — EBONY FAMILY

Persimmon or Date-Plum (Diospyros virginiana) 128

OLEACE^, OLIVE FAMILY (INCLUDING THE ASHES)

White Ash {Fraximis americana) 129

Red Ash or Green Ash (Fraximis pennsylvanica) 130

Water Ash (Fraxinus caroliniana) 132

Blue Ash {Fraxinus quadrangidata) 133

Black Ash, Hoop Ash or Water Ash {Fraxinus nigra) . . . .134

CAPRIFOLIACI^ — HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY

Elder, Elder-Blow, Elderberry, Sweet Elder or Bore-Plant {Sambucus

canadensis) 13S

High Bush Cranberry, Cranberry Tree, Wild Guelder Rose {Viburnum

opulus) 137

Maple-Leaved Arrow- wood, Dock-Makie {Viburnum acerifolium) . .138

Arrow- wood {Viburnum dentatum) 139

Nanny-Berry, Nanny-Bush, Sheep-Berry, Blackthorn, Sweet Viburnum

{Viburnum Lentago) 140

Black Haw, Stag-Bush, Sloe {Viburnum prunifolium) .... 141

INTRODUCTION

All the common forest trees of the region defined are given herein.
I have, however, omitted a few rare stragglers on the South and West
and certain trees that are big in the Gulf States but mere shrubs with us.

Remember when using this list as a key, that you will not often find
a leaf exactly Hke the one in the book; look rather for an illustration
of the same general character as the one in your hand; place your leaf
with the one most nearly like it. Avoid the leaves of stump-sprouts
and saplings; they are rarely typical; and especially get the fruit when
possible; ^^the tree is known by its fruit." In some cases nothing but
the fruit can settle what your species is.

In each (with five exceptions) the fruit is given of exact natural
size. The exceptions are the Osage Orange or Bodarc, the Mountain
Magnolia, Red-bud, Honey Locust, and Kentucky Coffee-tree, all of
which are given in half size.

In giving the weight of each kind of timber it is assumed to be dry
and seasoned. All of our woods are hghter than water when seasoned;
but many of them sink when green. The heaviest of our list is Yellow
Oak, 54 lbs. per cubic foot; the lightest is Northern Cedar, 20 lbs.
A cubic foot of water weighs 63 lbs., and for further interesting com-
parison, a cubic foot of iron weighs 470 lbs., lead 718 lbs., gold 1228
lbs., and platinum, 1323 lbs.

ONE HUNDRED OF THE BEST KNOW^ NATIVE
TIMBER TREES OF NORTHEASTERN AMERICA

(That is, North America east of Long. ioo° west, and north of North Lat. 36°)

PINACE^ — CONIFERS OR PINE FAMILY

^swr

white: pin^

PINUS STRoaus

CJy^s^

Xla^

White Pine, Weymouth Pine. (Pinus Strobus)

A noble evergreen tree, up to 175 feet high. The lumberman's prize.
Its leaves are in bunches of 5, and are 3 to 5 inches long; cones 4 to 8
inches long. Wood pale, soft, straight-grained, easily split. Warps
and checks less than any other of our timbers. A cubic foot weighs
24 lbs.

Pine knots are hard masses of rosin, they practically never rot; long
after the parent log is reduced to dust by the weather, the knots continue

FORESTEKS' MANUAL

hard and sound. They burn freely with hot flame and much smoke
and are the certain fuel for a fire in all weathers. In a less degree the
same remarks apply to the larger roots.

Manitoba;

/t>£0 P/A/£
NORV\/AY PINE
f>tNUS REiSINOSA

Red Pine, Canadian Pine, Norway Pine. {Finns resinosa)

Evergreen; somewhat less than the White Pine, with leaves 4 to 6
inches long, in bunches of 2, cones i^ to 2§ inches long. Wood
darker, harder and heavier. A cubic foot weighs 30 lbs.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Long-Leaved Pine, Georgia Pine, Southern Pine, Yellow Pine,
Hard Pine. (Pinus palustris)

A fine tree, up to loo feet high; evergreen; found in great forests in
the Southern States; it supplies much of our lumber now; and most of
our turpentine, tar and rosin. Wood strong and hard, a cubic foot
weighs 44 lbs. Its leaves are lo to i6 inches long, and are in bunches
of 3's; cones, 6 to lo inches long.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Jack-Pine, Banksian Pine, Gray Pine, Labrador Pine, Hudson
Bay Pine, Northern Scrub Pine. {Pinus Banksiana)

Evergreen; 40 to 60 feet high; rarely 100. Leaves in bunches of
2, and I to 2| inches long; cone, i to 2 inches long. Dr. Robt. Bell
of Ottawa says its seeds germinate better when the cone has been
scorched. Wood, soft, weak. A cubic foot weighs 27 lbs.

In 1907 on Great Slave River, N. latitude 60, we cut down a Jack-pine

FORESTERS' MANUAL 7

12 feet high, it was one inch thick and had 23 rings at the bottom.
Six feet up it had 12 rings and 20 whorls — in all it appeared to have
43 whorls, of these 20 were on the lower part. This tree grew up in a
dense thicket under great difficulties and was of very slow growth, the
disagreement between rings and whorls was puzzling.

Jersey Pine, Scrub Pine. (Pinus virginianaj

Usually a small tree. Leaves i3^ to 2 inches long and in bunches
of 2's; cones i| to 2| inches long. Wood soft, weak, light orange;
a cubic foot weighs 33 lbs. In sandy soil.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

\l ] s (IIak V I YELLOW SPRUCE. I V-.T-|\

Yellow Pine, Spruce Pine, Short-Leaved Pine, Bull Pine. {Pinus

echinata)

A forest tree, up to loo feet high. Leaves 3 to 5 inches long, and in
bunches of 2's or 3's; cones about 2 inches long. Wood heavy, strong,
orange; a cubic foot weighs 38 lbs. Valuable timber.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

i ^^-^ \ ^ ••■ \ li" %./•>'

table: mountain pine
HICKORY pine:

PIHUS PUNCeiNS

Table Mountain Pine, Hickory Pine, (Pinus pungens)

A small tree, rarely 60 feet; leaves 2§ inches long; mostly in bunches
of 2's or sometimes 3's; cones 3^ to 5 inches long. In the mountains
New Jersey to North Carolina. Wood, weak, soft, brittle, a cubic foot
weighs 31 lbs.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

r0m- \y

Loblolly, Old Field Pine, Frankincense Pine. {Pinus Tceda)

A fine forest tree, up to 150 feet. Leaves 6 to 10 inches long, and in
bunches of 3's, rarely 2's; cones 3 to 5 inches long. Wood, weak,
brittle, coarse, light brown, a cubic foot weighs 34 lbs.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Z^'^ — 4^ ^MA^s^To'BA; V

PITCH PINE, TORCH PINE,

SAP pine:,candlewoodpine

P//^US PIGIDA

Pitch Pine, Torch Pine, Sap Pine, Candlewood Pine. {Finns rigida)

A small tree, rarely 75 feet high; evergreen; leaves 3 to 5 inches long
and in clusters of 3, rarely 4; cones i| to 3 inches long. So charged
with resin as to make a good torch. Remarkable for producing shoots
from stumps. Wood, soft, brittle, coarse-grained, and light. A cubic
foot weighs 32 lbs. 'Tt is the only pine that can send forth shoots after
injury by fire." {Keeler). The pine of the ''pine-barrens" of Long
Island and New Jersey.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Tamarack, Larch or Hackmatack. {Larix laricina)

A tall, straight, tree of the northern swamps yet often found flourish-
ing on dry hillsides. One of the few conifers that shed all their leaves each
fall. Leaves ^ to i inch long; cones i to f inch. Wood very resinous
heavy and hard," a hard, soft wood" very durable as posts, in Manitoba
I have seen tamarack fence posts unchanged after twenty years' wear.
It is excellent for firewood, and makes good sticks for a rubbing stick
fire. A cubic foot weighs 39 lbs. Found north nearly to the limit of
trees; south to northern New Jersey and Minnesota.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

White Spruce. {Picea canadensis)

Evergreen; 60 to 70 or even 150 feet high. Leaves | to f inch
long; cones i| to 2 inches long, are at the tips of the branches
and deciduous; the twigs smooth. Wood white, light, soft, weak,
straight-grained, not durable; a cubic foot weighs 25 lbs. Its roots
afford the wattap or cordage for canoe-building and camp use
generally.

Spruce roots to be used as '' wattap'' for lacing a canoe, making birch-
bark vessels or woven baskets, may be dug up at any time and kept till
needed.

An hour before using, soak in hot water till quite soft. They should
be cleared of the bark and scrubbed smooth. Beautiful and strong
baskets may be made of this material. It may be colored by soaking
in dyes made as follows:

Red by squeezing the juice out of berries, especially blitum or
squaw-berries.

Dull red by soaking in strong tea made from the pink middle bark
of hemlock.

Black can be boiled out of smooth red sumac or out of butternut
bark.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Yellow by boiling the inner bark of black oak or the root of gold
seal or hydrastis.

Orange by boiling the inner bark of alder, of sassafras or of the
yellow oak.

Scarlet by first dyeing yellow, then dipping in red.

Nearly every tree bark, root bark and fruit has a peculiar dye of its
own which may be brought out by boiling, and intensified with vinegar,
salt, alum, iron or uric salts. Experiments usually produce surprises.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Black Spruce. {Picea Mariana)

Evergreen. Somewhat smaller than the preceding, rarely go feet
high, with small rounded cones i to i| inches long; they are found
near the trunk and do not fall off; edges of scales more or less indent-
ed. In their September freshness the cones of Black Spruce are like
small purple plums and those of White Spruce like small red bananas;
twigs, stout and downy; wood and roots similar to those of White
Spruce. Leaves about ^ inch long with rounded tops.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

; MANITOBA! \y

Red Spruce. {Picea ruhens)

Evergreen. Much like the Black Spruce but with larger, longer
cones about i| inch long and red when young, they are half way between
tip and trunk on the twigs; edges of scales smooth and unbroken; twigs
slender, leaves sharp pointed. Roots as in White Spruce, but wood
redder and weigh 28 lbs. An eastern tree. In many ways half way
between the White and Black Spruces.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Hemlock. (Tsuga canadensis)

Evergreen; 60 to 70 feet high; occasionally 100; wood pale, soft,
coarse, splintery, not durable. A cubic foot weighs 26 lbs. Bark full
of tannin. Leaves | to f inch long; cones about the same. Its
knots are so hard that they quickly turn the edge of an axe'or gap it as
a stone might; these are probably the hardest vegetable growth in our
woods. It is a tree of very slow gro-vvth — growing inches while the
White Pine is putting forth feet. Its topmost twig usually points
easterly. Its inner bark is a powerful astringent. A tea of the twigs
and leaves is a famous woodman's sweater.

"As it bears pruning to almost any degree without suffering injury,
it is well suited to form screeens for the protection of more tender trees
and plants, or for concealing disagreeable objects.

" But the most important use to which this bark is applied, and for
which it is imported from Maine, is as a substitute for oak bark in the
preparation of leather. It contains a great quantity of tannin,
combined with a coloring matter which gives a red color to the
leather apt to be communicated to articles kept long in contact with
it." (Emerson.)

There is another species in the South (T. Caroliniana) distinguishable
by its much larger cones.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Twig and cones of Hemlock (life size)

FORESTERS' MANUAL

''%-.,<jJ^^Z: -jiL BALSAM TREE Of> ■W%-- ^^K-

r /; ^ rrl I CANADA BALSAM ,^_^.^,,£§00^y-:^

\-t\ ',nd r 1 ' 7\ _ f

r A

Balsam Tree or Canada Balsam. {Abies balsamea)

Evergreen; famous for the blisters on its trunk, yielding Canada Bal-
sam which makes a woodman's plaster for cuts or a waterproof cement;
and for the exquisite odor of its boughs, which also supply the woodmen's
ideal bed. Its flat leafage is distinctive. Wood pale, .weak, soft,
perishable. A cubic foot weighs 24 lbs. The name "balsam " was given

20 FORESTERS' MANUAL

because its gum was long considered a sovereign remedy for wounds,
inside and out. It is still used as a healing salve. In the southern
Aileghanies is a kindred species {A. fraseri) distinguished by silvery
underside of leaves, and smaller rounder cones.

The Conifers illustrate better than others of our trees tne process and
plan of growth. Thus a seedling pine has a tassel or two at the top of
a slender shoot, next year it has a second shoot from the whorl that
finished last year. So each year there is a shoot and a whorl correspond-
ing exactly with its vigor that season, until the tree is so tall that the
lower whorls die, and their knots are overlaid by fresh layers of timber.
The timber grows smoothly over them, but they are there just the same,
and any one carefully splitting open one of these old forest patriarchs,
can count on the spinal column the years of its growth, and learn in a
measure how it fared each season.

In working this out I once cut down and examined a tall Balsam in
the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho. It was 84 feet high, had 52 annual
rings; and at 32 inches from the ground, that is, clear of the root bulge,
it was 15 inches in diameter.

The most growth was on the N.E. side of the stump — g in.

" next

— S^in.

(( u

— 8 in.

u a

— 6iin.

u u

— 6|in.

" least

N.W.

— 6 in.

There were 50 well-marked whorls and 20 not well marked; there
were altogether 70 whorls, but 20 were secondary. The most vigorous
growth on the tree trunk corresponded exactly with the thickest ring
of wood on the stump. Thus annual ring No. t,2) ^^ the stump counting
from the centre coincided with an annual shoot of more than 2 feet
length, which would be that of the wet season of 1883. Some of
the annual shoots were but 6 inches long and had correspondingly
thin rings. There was, of course, one less ring above each whorl or
joint.

Similar studies made on Jack Pine and Yellow Pine gave similar
results.

On hardwood trees especially those of alternate foliage one cannot
so study them except when very young.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Bald Cypress. {Taxodium distichum)

A fine forest tree, up to 150 feet, with thin leaves somewhat like those
of Hemlock, half an inch to an inch long; cones rounded about an inch
through. Sheds its leaves each fall so is ''bald" in winter, noted for
the knees or upbent roots that it develops when growing in water.
Timber soft, weak, but durable and valuable; a cubic foot weighs
27 lbs. In low wet country.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Arbor- ViT^ or White Cedar. {Thuja occidentalis)

Evergreen, 50 or 60 feet high. Wood soft, brittle, coarse grained,
extremely durable as posts; fragrant and very light (the lightest on our
list). Makes good sticks for rubbing stick fire. A cubic foot weighs
only 20 lbs. The scale-like leaves are about 6 or 8 to the inch; the cone
half an inch long or less. There is a kindred species {Chamaecy parts
thyoides) of more southern distribution. It has much smaller cones
and leaves.

The Northern or White Cedar is noted for the dense thickets it forms
in the hollows and hillsides of the eastern Canadian region. These
banks, like evergreen hedges, are so close that they greatly modify the
winter climate within their bounds — outside there may be a raging
blizzard that no creature can face, while within all is dead calm and the
frost less intense. The Cedar feeds its proteges too, for its evergreen
boughs and abundant nuts are nutrient food despite their rosin smell
and taste. Never do the deer and hares winter better than in cedar
cover, and if there is great thicket in their region, they surely gather
there as sparrows at a barn, or as rats around a brewery.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Enlarged leaves
Twigs and cones of Northern Arbor-vitae

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Red Cedar or Juniper, (Juniperus Virginiana)

Evergreen. Any height up to loo feet. Wood, heart a beautiful
bright red; sap wood nearly white; soft, weak, but extremely durable as
posts, etc. Makes good sticks for rubbing stick fire. The tiny scale-
like leaves are 3 to 6 to the inch; the berry-hke cones are light blue and
a quarter of an inch in diameter.

The berries of the European species are used for flavoring gin, which
word is an abbreviation of Juniper.

''The medicinal properties of both are the same (Savin, of Europe)
a decoction of the leaves having a stimulating effect, when used internally
in cases of rheumatism and serving to continue the discharge from
blisters, when used in the composition of cerate for that purpose."
{Emerson.)

A cubic foot weighs 31 lbs.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Red Cedar showing fruit and two styles of twigs Qlie size)
on the same tree

2. SALICACEiE— THE WILLOW FAMILY

The Willows are a large and difficult group. Britton and Brown
enumerate 34 species in the limits of northeastern America, and 160
on the globe, of which 80 are found in this continent. Of the 34, 9
only attain the dignity of trees. These are Ward's Willow, Peach-
leaved Willow, Shining Willow, Weeping Willow, Purple Willow, Mis-
souri Willow and the three herein described.

Of the shrubs, two only have a special interest in woodcraft, the Pussy-
Willow, because of its spring bloom, and the Fish-Net or Withy Willow.

Since the fruits of the Willows are born of catkins and are exceed-
ingly small and difficult of study, they are not figured.

FORESTERS' IMANUAL

Black Willow. {Salix nigra)

The common Willow of stream-banks, usually 20 to 40 feet high,
sometimes 100. Bark nearly black. Its long, narrow, yellow-green
shining leaves are sufficiently distinctive. A decoction of Willow bark
and root is said to be the best known substitute for quinine. Noted
for early leafing and late shedding; leaves 3 to 6 inches long. Wood
pale, weak, soft, close-grained; a cubic foot weighs 28 lbs.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Crack Willow, Brittle Willow. {Salix Jragilis)

A tall slender tree, up to 80 feet high. Called "Crack" etc., because
its branches are so much broken by the storms; too brittle for basket
work, but a favorite for charcoal used in manufacture of gunpowder, etc.
Its leaves, 4 to 7 inches long, are very distinctive. This is a European
species but now thoroughly naturalized in the Northeastern States.

As a rough general rule the shape of the perfect tree is closely fashioned
on that of the perfect leaf, for obviously they are the same material
impelled by similar laws of growth, but we have two notable exceptions
in the Lombardy Poplar and the common Willow. To conform to the
rule these two leaves should change places.

FORESTERS' MANUA.L

Golden Willow, Golden Osier, Yellow Willow or White Willow

{Salix alba)

This is a tall tree, up to 90 feet high. Leaves 2 to 4I inches long.
It is the well known willow of dams; conspicuous in spring for the mass
of golden rods it presents. It comes near being evergreen as it leafs so
early and sheds so late, that it is bare of leaves for less than four
months. Noted for its wonderful vitality and quickness of growth.
Any living branch of it stuck in the ground soon becomes a tree. On
the dam at Wyndygoul are large Willows, one of them 61 inches in cir-
cumference a foot from the ground though they were mere switches when
planted eight years ago. A native of Europe, now widely naturalized
in the Northeastern States and southern Canada.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Pussy Willow or Glaucous Willow. {Salix discolor)

Usually a shrub, occasionally a tree, up to 25 feet high. Noted for
its soft round catkins an inch long and two thirds of an inch thick, that
appear in early spring before the leaves. The name Pussy is given
either on account of these Catkins (little cats) or from the French
"Pousse" budded.

FORESTEES' MANUAL

Fish-Net Willow or Withy Willow, B ebb's Willow. (Salix

Bebbiana)

This is a low thick bush or rarely a tree 20 feet high. It abounds near
water, which seems a natural fitness, for its inner bark supplies the best
native material for fish lines and fish nets in the North. It is called
Withy Willow because its tough, pliant stems are used by farmers for
withies or coarse cordage, especially for binding fence rails and stakes ;
though soft and pliant when put on they soon turn to horny hardness
and last for years. Arctic to British Columbia north to Mackenzie
River south to Pennsylvania and Utah.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Quaking Asp, Quiver Leaf, Aspen Poplar or Popple. (Populus

tremuloides)

A small forest tree, but occasionally loo feet high. Readily known by
its smooth bark, of a light green or whitish color. The wood is pale,
soft, close-grained, weak, perishable, and light. A cubic foot weighs
25 lbs. Good only for paper pulp, but burns well, when seasoned.
When green it is so heavy and soggy that it lasts for days as a fire check
or back-log. Leaves i^ to 2 inches long. A tea of the bark is a good
substitute for quinine, as tonic, cold cure, bowel cure and fever driver.

"Pieces of wood 2f inches square, were buried to the depth of one
inch in the ground, and decayed in the following order: Lime, Ameri-
can Birch, Alder and Aspen, in three years; Willow, Horse-Chestnut
and Plane, in four years; Maple, Red Beech and Birch, in five years;
Elm, Ash, Hornbeam and Lombardy Poplar in seven years; Robinia,
Oak, Scotch Fir, Weymouth Pine, Silver Fir, were decayed to the depth
of half an inch in seven years; while Larch, common Juniper, Virginia
Juniper and Arbor-vitae, were uninjured at the end of that time."
Balfour's Manual of Botany, 18 jj. P. 45.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

r^ ,^,^__.mani,to,ba!

Hemlock. (Ts-uga canadensis)

Evergreen; 6o to 70 feet high; occasionally 100; wood pale, soft,
coarse, splintery, not durable. A cubic foot weighs 26 lbs. Bark full
of tannin. Leaves ^ to | inch long; cones about the same. Its
knots are so hard that they quickly turn the edge of an axe'or gap it as
a stone might; these are probably the hardest vegetable growth in our
woods. It is a tree of very slow growth — growing inches while the
White Pine is putting forth feet. Its topmost twig usually points
easterly. Its inner bark is a powerful astringent. A tea of the twigs
and leaves is a famous woodman's sweater.

"As it bears pruning to almost any degree without suffering injury,
it is well suited to form screeens for the protection of more tender trees
and plants, or for concealing disagreeable objects.

There is another species in the South (T. Caroliniana) distinguishable
by its much larger cones.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Twig and cones of Hemlock (life size)

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Balsam Tree or Canada Balsam. {Abies balsamea)

Evergreen; famous for the blisters on its trunk, yielding Canada Bal-
sam which makes a woodman's plaster for cuts or a waterproof cement;
and for the exquisite odor of its boughs, which also supply the woodmen's
ideal bed. Its flat leafage is distinctive. Wood pale, weak, soft,
perishable. A cubic foot weighs 24 lbs. The name "balsam " was given

20 FORESTERS' MANUAL

because its gum was long considered a sovereign remedy for wounds,
inside and out. It is still used as a healing salve. In the southern
AUeghanies is a kindred species (A. fraseri) distinguished by silvery
underside of leaves, and smaller rounder cones.

The most growth was on the N.E. side of the stump — g in.
next *'

— S^in.

— 8 in.

— 6iin.

N.W.

— 6 in.

least "

There were 50 well-marked whorls and 20 not well marked; there
were altogether 70 whorls, but 20 were secondary. The most vigorous
growth on the tree trunk corresponded exactly with the thickest ring
of wood on the stump. Thus annual ring No. ^2) on the stump counting
from the centre coincided with an annual shoot of more than 2 feet
length, which would be that of the wet season of 1883. Some of
the annual shoots were but 6 inches long and had correspondingly
thin rings. There was, of course, one less ring above each whorl or
joint.

Similar studies made on Jack Pine and Yellow Pine gave similar
results.

On hardwood trees especially those of alternate foliage one cannot
so study them except when very young,

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Bald Cypress. {Taxodium distichum)

A fine forest tree, up to 1 50 feet, with thin leaves somewhat like those
of Hemlock, half an inch to an inch long; cones rounded about an inch
through. Sheds its leaves each fall so is "bald" in winter, noted for
the knees or upbent roots that it develops when growing in water.
Timber soft, weak, but durable and valuable; a cubic foot weighs
27 lbs. In low wet country.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

I M A ^ V

ARBOR-VITAL or
WHITE CEDAR

THUJA OCCIDEhTTAUS

^vlf

Arbor- ViT^ or White Cedar. {Thuja occidentalis)

Evergreen, 50 or 60 feet high. Wood soft, brittle, coarse grained,
extremely durable as posts; fragrant and very light (the lightest on our
list). Makes good sticks for rubbing stick fire. A cubic foot weighs
only 20 lbs. The scale-like leaves are about 6 or 8 to the inch; the cone
half an inch long or less. There is a kindred species (Chamaecy parts
thyoides) of more southern distribution. It has much smaller cones
and leaves.

The Northern or White Cedar is noted for the dense thickets it forms
in the hollows and hillsides of the eastern Canadian region. These
banks, hke evergreen hedges, are so close that they greatly modify the
winter climate within their bounds — outside there may be a raging
blizzard that no creature can face, while within all is dead calm and the
frost less intense. The Cedar feeds its proteges too, for its evergreen
boughs and abundant nuts are nutrient food despite their rosin smell
and taste. Never do the deer and hares winter better than in cedar
cover, and if there is great thicket in their region, they surely gather
there as sparrows at a barn, or as rats around a brewery.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Enlarged leaves
Twigs and cones of Northern Arbor-vitae

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Red Cedar or Juniper. {Juniperus Virginiana)

Evergreen. Any height up to loo feet. Wood, heart a beautiful
bright red; sap wood nearly white; soft, weak, but extremely durable as
posts, etc. Makes good sticks for rubbing stick fire. The tiny scale-
like leaves are 3 to 6 to the inch; the berry-like cones are light blue and
a quarter of an inch in diameter.

The berries of the European species are used for flavoring gin, which
word is an abbreviation of Juniper.

"The medicinal properties of both are the same (Savin, of Europe)
a decoction of the leaves having a stimulating effect, when used internally
in cases of rheumatism and serving to continue the discharge from
bhsters, when used in the composition of cerate for that purpose."
{Emerson.)

A cubic foot weighs 31 lbs.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Red Cedar showing fruit and two styles of twigs (life size)
on the same tree

2. SALICACE^— THE WILLOW FAMILY

Of the shrubs, two only have a special interest in woodcraft, the Pussy-
Willow, because of its spring bloom, and the Fish-Net or Withy Willow.

Since the fruits of the Willows are born of catkins and are exceed-
ingly small and difficult of study, they are not figured.

FORESTERS' INIANUAL

'C i^.-.^-^^

IP"^

Black Willow. (Salix 7iigra)

FORESTERS' MANUAL

p^_ Manitoba!

r-\

CRACK V/ILLOW

BR/TTLE. WILLOW
SALIX- FRAGILIS

^^/f/W^

K A N S

Crack Willow, Brittle Willow. {Salix fragilis)

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Golden Willow, Golden Osier, Yellow Willow or White Willow

{Salix alba)

This is a tall tree, up to 90 feet high. Leaves 2 to 4^ inches long.
It is the well known willow of dams; conspicuous in spring for the mass
of golden rods it presents. It comes near being evergreen as it leafs so
early and sheds so late, that it is bare of leaves for less than four
months. Noted for its wonderful vitality and quickness of growth.
Any living branch of it stuck in the ground soon becomes a tree. On
the dam at Wyndygoul are large Willows, one of them 61 inches in cir-
cumference a foot from the ground though they were mere switches when
planted eight years ago. A native of Europe, now widely naturalized
in the Northeastern States and southern Canada.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Pussy Willow or Glaucous Willow. (Salix discolor)

FORESTERS' MANUAL

BBBB'S WILLOW, FISH-NET WILLOW
OR \<VITHy WILLOW
SAL/X BS:BBIANA

Fish-Net Willow or Withy Willow, Bebb's Willow. {Salix

Bebbiana)

This is a low thick bush or rarely a tree 20 feet high. It abounds near
water, which seems a natural fitness, for its inner bark supplies the best
native material for fish lines and fish nets in the North. It is called
Withy Willow because its tough, pliant stems are used by farmers for
withies or coarse cordage, especially for binding fence rails and stakes;
though soft and pliant when put on they soon turn to horny hardness
and last for years. Arctic to British Columbia north to Mackenzie
River south to Pennsylvania and Utah.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Quaking Asp, Quiver Leaf, Aspen Poplar or Popple. {Populus

tremuloides)

A small forest tree, but occasionally loo feet high. Readily known by
its smooth bark, of a light green or whitish color. The w^ood is pale,
soft, close-grained, weak, perishable, and light. A cubic foot weighs
25 lbs. Good only for paper pulp, but burns well, when seasoned.
When green it is so heavy and soggy that it lasts for days as a fire check
or back-log. Leaves i§ to 2 inches long. A tea of the bark is a good
substitute for quinine, as tonic, cold cure, bowel cure and fever driver.

'"Pieces of wood 2f inches square, w^ere buried to the depth of one
inch in the ground, and decayed in the following order: Lime, Ameri-
can Birch, Alder and Aspen, in three years; Willow, Horse-Chestnut
and Plane, in four years; Maple, Red Beech and Birch, in five years;
Elm, Ash, Hornbeam and Lombardy Poplar in seven years; Robinia,
Oak, Scotch Fir, Weymouth Pine, Silver Fir, were decayed to the depth
of half an inch in seven years; w^hile Larch, common Juniper, Virginia
Juniper and Arbor-vitae, were uninjured at the end of that time."
Balfour's Manual of Botany, 18 jj. P. 45.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

FOEESTERS' MANUAL

^trrz

/=>/<3/Vcr HICKORY ^ '

Pignut Hickory. {Eicoria glabra)

A tall forest tree; loo and up to 120 feet high. Wood much as in the
Mockernut; bark smooth and furrowed; not loose plates. Leaves 8 to 12
inches long. Nut slightly or not at all angular, very thick shelled; the
pear shape of fruit is a strong feature, i| to 2 inches long.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Small-Fruited Hickory. (Hicoria microcarpa)

A small forest tree up to 90 feet high; considered by some variety of
the Pignut; leaves 4 to 7 inches long; it has a small nut free from
angles; otherwise much like Pignut.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

rMTTri3^

v^^

£^^ ;MAN|,TdBA;

GRAY- BIRCH OR
y^SPCfsf LEAVED BIPCH

BBTULA POPUL/FOLfA

. _ J\

4. BETULACE^ — BIRCH FAMILY

Gray Birch or Aspen-Leaved Birch. {Betula populifolia)

A small tree found on dry and poor soil; rarely 50 feet high. Wood
soft, close-grained, not strong, splits in drying, useless for weather or
ground work. A cubic foot weighs 36 lbs. Leaves 2 to 3 inches long.
It has a black triangular scar at each armpit.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

White, Canoe or Paper Birch. {Betula papyri/era)

A tall forest tree up to 80 feet high; the source of bark for canoes, etc.
One of the most important trees in the northern forest. Besides canoes,
wigwams, vessels and paper from its bark, it furnishes syrup from its
sap and the inner bark is used as an emergency food. Every novice
rediscovers for himself that the outer bark is highly inflammable as
well as waterproof, and ideal for fire-lighting. Though so much like
the Gray birch, it is larger, whiter, and without the ugly black scars at
each limb. The timber is much the same, but this weighs 37 lbs. Its
leaf and catkin distinguish it; the former are 2 to 3 inches long.

FORESTERS' MANUAL 53

The woodman's fire in Two Little Savages was made thus:

"First a curl of birch bark as dry as it can be,
Next some sticks of soft wood dead but on the tree;
Last of all, some pine knots to make the kittle foam,
An' thar's a fire to make ye think yer sittin' right at home."

This is the noblest of the Birches, the white queen of the woods —
the source of food, drink, transport and lodging to those who dwell in the
forest; the most bountiful provider of all the trees.

Its sap yields a delicious syrup which has in it a healing balm for
the lungs.

Its innermost bark is dried in famine time and powdered to a flour
that has some nourishing power.

Its wood furnishes the rims for snowshoes, the frills and fuzzes of
its outer bark are the best of fire kindlers, and the timber of the trunk
has the rare property of burning whether green or dry.

Its catkins and buds form a favorite food of the partridge which is
the choicest of game.

But the outer bark-skin, the famous birch bark, is its finest con-
tribution to man's needs.

The broad sheets of this vegetable rawhide ripped off when the weather
is warm and especially when the sap is moving — are tough, Hght, strong,
pliant, absolutely v/aterp roof, almost imperishable in the weather; free
from insects, assailable only by fire. It roofs the settler's shack and the
forest Indian wigwam, it is the ''tin" of the woods and supplies pails,
pots, pans, cups, spoons, boxes — -under its protecting power the matches
are safe and dry, and split very thin, as is easily done, it is the writing
paper of the woods, flat, light, smooth, waterproof, tinted and scented;
no daughter of the King has ever a more exquisite sheet to sanctify
the thoughts committed to its care.

But the crowning glory of the Birch is this — it furnishes the in-
dispensable substance for the bark canoe, whose making is the highest
industrial exploit of the Indian life. It would be hard to imagine
anything more beautifully made, of and for the life of the Northern
woods, buildable, reparable, and usable from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, in all the vast region of temperate America — the canoe whose
father was the Red mind and whose mother was the birch, is one of the
priceless gifts of America to the world. We may use man-made fabrics
for the skin, we may substitute unlovely foreign substance for the ribs,
or dangerous copper nails for the binding of spruce roots — but
the original shape, the lines, the structural ribs, the lipper-turning
prow, the roller-riding stern and the forward propulsion of the ever
personal paddle, the buoyancy, the wonderful lightness for overland
transport, the reparableness by woodland stuffs — these are the things

FORESTERS' MANUAL

first born of the birch canoe and for these it will be remembered and
treasured until man's need of travel on the little waters has reached
its final end.

■ to

Red Birch or River Birch. {Betula nigra)

A tall forest tree of wet banks; up to 90 feet high. Known by its
red-brown scaly bark, of birch-bark style, and its red twigs. Its wood
is light-colored, strong, close-grained, light. A cubic foot weighs 36
lbs. Leaves i^ to 3 inches long.

FOKESTEES' MANUAL

;MAN|TdeA:

Yellow Birch, Gray Birch. {Betula lutea)

A forest tree, of 30 to 50 feet height. Bark obviously birch, but
shaggy and gray or dull yellow. Wood as in the others, but reddish.
A cubic foot weighs 41 lbs. Leaves 3 to 4 inches long.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Black, Cherry, Sweet or Mahogany Birch. {Betula lento)

The largest of the birches; a great tree, in Northern forests, up to 80
feet high. The bark is Uttle birchy, rather Hke that of cherry, very dark,
and aromatic. Wood dark, hard, clear-grained, very strong; used much
for imitating mahogany. A cubic foot weighs 47 lbs. Noted for its
sweet, aromatic twigs which made into tea are a fine tonic.

*'A decoction of the bark with copperas, is used for coloring woolen
a beautiful and permanent drab, bordering on wine color." {Emerson.)

Leaves 2| to 6 inches long. An oil in the bark is very good for
sprains and rheumatism.

FORESTERS' IVIANUAL

Alder or Smooth Alder, Tag Alder. {Alnus serrulata)

This is the bush so well known in thickets along the Northern streams.
It is usually under 20 feet in height, but sometimes reaches 40. Its
wood is soft, light brown and useless, a cubic foot weighs 29 lbs. Leaves
3 to 5 inches long. Its inner bark yields a rich orange dye. A tea made
of the leaves is a valuable, tonic and skin wash for pimples. In wet
places or on hillsides.

Besides serrulata there are four alders in our limits, the Mountain
Alder {A . alnohetula) with downy twigs, smooth leaves broad but pointed,

FORESTERS' MANUAL

nut with wings; the Speckled Alder (A. incana) leaves downy beneath;
the European Alder {A. glutinosa) with broad, rounded double-toothed
leaves; (this often becomes a tall tree) and the Seaside Alder {A, mari-
tima) known by its long narrow leaves.

Ironwood, Hard-Hack, Leverwood, Beetle-wood or Hop Horn-
beam. {Ostyra Virginiana)

A small tree; 20 to 30, rarely 50 feet high; named for its hardness and
its hop-like fruit. Bark, furrowed. Wood, tough close-grained, un-
splittable. One of the strongest, heaviest and hardest of timbers.
A cubic foot weighs over 51 lbs. That is, it comes near to Shagbark
Hickory in weight and perhaps goes beyond it in strength and hardness.
Leaves 3 to 5 inches long. Fruit i| to 2| inches long.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Blue Beech, Water Beech or American Hornbeam. {Carpinus

caroliniana)

A small tree, lo to 25 feet, rarely 40 feet high; bark, smooth. Wood
hard close-grained, very strong; much like Iron wood, but lighter. A
cubic foot weighs 45 lbs. Leaves 3 to 4 inches long.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

ZFT?^

S. FAGACE^ — BEECH FAMILY
White Oak. {Quercus alba)

A grand forest tree; over loo feet up to 150 feet high. The finest and
most valuable of our oaks. The one perfect timber for shipbuilders,
farmers and house furnishers. Its wood is pale, strong, tough, fine-
grained, durable and heavy. A cubic foot weighs 46 lbs. I found that
when green it weighed 68 lbs. to the cubic foot and of course sank in
water like a stone. Called white from pale color of bark and wood.
Leaves 5 to 9 inches long. Many of them hang all winter though dead
so the White Oak contributes a little to the golden glow of the snowy
woods, though not to the extent of the Black Oak. Its acorns ripen in
one season. They are sweet and nutritious and eagerly sought after by
every creature in the woods from bluejays, wild ducks, mice and deer
to squirrels and schoolboys.

There can be little doubt that at least three out of five nut trees were
planted by squirrels, chiefly the gray squirrel. All through autumn before
snow falls the industrial Bannertail Gray works to bury for future use
the choicest nuts he finds on the ground; ignoring the coarse and bitter,
he makes sure of the sweet and delicate. Those that are not so disposed
of, are usually eaten by deer, bears and other wild things. The various
oaks have long competed for the squirrels' attention to their product.
The Bur Oak acorn attracted by its size. Chestnut Oak by its split-
ability and the White Oak by the sweetness. For a time the White

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Oak fared well, for it furnished indeed the most delectable of our nuts,
but now it is in an evil case. Largely through the growing scarceness
of the gray squirrel the White Oak, the most valuable of its group, is
no longer planted throughout its range. Its edibility is now a menace
to its hfe, for it lies exposed and all things eagerly devour it while the
other acorns He untouched and we are now threatened with the
extermination of this our noblest oak, the one that chiefly gave value
to our hardwood forests, partly at least I believe through the near-
extinction of the gray squirrel, its unwdtting protector. The connection
between these two creatures is so intimate that their ranges coincide
exactly throughout the length and breadth of the land.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Post Oak, or Iron Oak. (Quercus stellata)

A smaller tree, rarely loo feet high; of very hard wood, durable; used
for posts, etc. A cubic foot weighs 52 lbs,; that is, the same as Shagbark
Hickory. Leaves 5 to 8 inches long. Acorns ripen in one season.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

t^'VJr^.nH^,.M\

OvERCUP, Swamp or Post Oak. (Quercus lyrata)

A large tree up to loo feet high. Wood very strong and durable;
a cubic foot weighs 52 lbs. Noted for the cup covering the acorn.
Leaves 6 to 8 inches long.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Bur Oak, Cork Bark or Mossy Cup. {Quercus macrocarpa)

A large forest tree, up to i6o feet high; known by its enormous acorns
and the corky ridges on the twigs. The cork of commerce is the bark of
an oak found in Spain and it's not surprising to find a cork bark in our
own land. The leaves though greatly varied are alike in having two deep
bays one on each side near the middle dividing the leaf nearly to the
midrib so that the type is as given below; they are 4 to 8 inches long.
The acorns ripen in one season. The wood is like that of most oaks,
and lasts well next the ground. A cubic foot weighs 46 lbs.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Leaf and acorn of Bur Oak
(acorn life size)

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Rock Chestnut Oak. {Quercus prinus)

A good sized tree; up to loo feet high. Wood as usual. A cubic
foot weighs 47 lbs. Its acorns are immense, i j to i| inches long, and
ripen in one season. Leaves 5 to 10 inches long.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Scrub Chestnut Oak. (Quercus prinoides)

A mere shrub, 2 to 15 feet high. Close akin to the preceding.
Leaves 2I to 5 inches long. Found in dry sandy and poor soil.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Yellow Oak, Chestnut Oak or Chinquapin Scrub Oak.
{Quercus Muhlenbergii)

A great forest tree; up to i6o feet high; wood as usual, but the heaviest
of all, when dry; a cubic foot weighs 54 lbs; when green, it is heavier
than water, and sinks at once. It is much like the Chestnut Oak but its
leaves are narrower, more sharply saw-edged and its acorns much
smaller, about half the size. Its acorns ripen in one season. Leaves
4 to 6 inches long.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Swamp White Oak. {Quercus hicolor)

A fine forest tree in swampy land; up to no feet high. Wood as in
preceding species, but a cubic foot weighs only 48 lbs. It has the leaf
of a White Oak, the bark of a Black. Its smaller branches have the
bark rough and loose giving a shaggy appearance to the tree. Its
acorns ripen in one season and as in all the annual fruiting oaks its wood
is durable next the ground.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Red Oak. {Quercus rubra)

A fine forest tree, 70 to 80, or even 140, feet high. Wood reddish-
brown. Sapwood darker. Hard, strong, coarse-grained, heavy. A
cubic foot weighs 41 lbs. It checks warps and does not stand for weather
or ground work. The acorn takes two seasons to ripen. Apparently
all those oaks whose nuts take two seasons to ripen have wood that
soon rots. The low flat shape of the cup is distinctive; in fact it has
no cup, it has a saucer; leaves 4 to 8 inches long.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Scarlet Oak. {Quercus coccinea)

Seventy to 80 or even 160 feet high. Scarlet from its spring and
autumn foliage color. The leaves are a little like those of the Black Oak,
but are f rond-hke with three or four deep, nearly even, cuts on each side:
The acorns of this can be easily matched among those of the Black Oak,
but the kernel of the Scarlet is white, that of the Black is yellow;
they take two seasons to ripen. Wood much as in Red Oak but weighs
46 lbs. per cubic foot. Leaves 4 to 8 inches long.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Black Oak, Golden Oak or Quercitron. {Quercus velutina)

Seventy to 80 or even 150 feet high. The outer bark is very rough,
bumpy and blackish; inner bark yellow. This yields a yellow dye
called quercitron. The leaf is of the Scarlet Oak style, but has uneven
cuts and usually a large solid area in the outer half. The wood is hard,
coarse-grained, checks, and does not stand for weather or ground work.
A cubic foot weighs 44 lbs. The acorns take two seasons to ripen.
Taking the White Oak acorn as a standard of white, that is a
yellowish-white, the acorn of the present when cut open is a distinct
golden yellow. As in all oaks the leaves vary greatly, look for the

FORESTERS' MANUAL

type not the exact portrait among the illustrations; they are 4 to 6
inches long.

One of the wonderful things about this oak is the persistence of its
leaves. Though dead and faded they cling in numbers to the tree all
winter; their exquisite old gold is one of the artist's joys and the glory
of the winter landscape. This with its bright yellow inner bark, its
bright yellow nut and its yellow brown winter foliage amply entitle it
to be called "golden oak."

Pin Oak or Swamp Oak. {Quercus palustris)

Fifty to 70 or even 120 feet high, in swampy land. Wood hard,
coarse-grained, very strong and tough; the Pin Oak is more happily
named than most of its kin, first the numerous short straight branches
in the lower trunk, make it seem stuck full of large pins, next, each point
of its leaves has a pin on it, in each armpit of the midrib below is a tiny
velvet pin cushion and finally and chiefly this exceptionally tough wood

FORESTERS' J^L4NUAL

was the best available for making the pins in frame barns. In Wyndy-
goul Park I cut a Pin Oak that was no feet high and 2)^ inches across
the stump and yet had but 76 rings of annual growth. Will not stand
exposure next to ground. A cubic foot weighs 34 lbs. Its acorns take
two seasons to ripen. Leaves 4 to 6 inches long. In moist woods and
along swamp edges.

Black Jack or Barren Oak. {Quercus marilandica)

A small tree seldom up to 60 feet high. An unimportant tree of barren
wastes. Leaves 3 to 5 lobed downy below, bristle-tipped and 3 to 7
inches long; acorns take two seasons to ripen. Wood hard and dark,
not durable. A cubic foot weighs 46 lbs.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Spanish Oak. (Quercus triloba)

A large tree up to loo feet occasionally. Found on dry soil. Leaves
bristle-tipped, 5 to 7 inches long, with 3 to 7 lobes. The acorns do not
ripen till the second year so we may expect the wood to be undurable.
A cubic foot of it weighs 43 lbs.

FORESTERS' MANUilL

Bear or Scrub Oak. (Quercus ilicijolia)

An insignificant tree rarely 25 feet high. Often forming dense
thickets, on poor sandy or rocky soil. The leaves are bristle-tipped,
2 to 5 inches long. The acorns ripen in the second season and are so
bitter that nobody cares who gets them. The bears were least squeam-
ish so were welcome to the crop hence one of the names.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Water Oak. {Quercus nigra)

A middle-sized tree, rarely 80 feet high, found chiefly along streams
and swamps. Leaves i^ to 3 inches long; i to 3 lobed at the end.
Wood hard and strong, a cubic foot weighs 45 lbs. The acorns ripen
in the second season so look out for its timber. This leaf has tufts of
hair in the armpits of the veins beneath.

FORESTEES' MANUAL

•^CT^-^}SP

Beech. {Fagus grandifolia)

In all North America there is but one species of beech. It is a noble
forest tree, 70 to 80, and occasionally 120 feet high; readily distinguished
by its unfurrowed ashy gray bark. Wood hard, strong, tough, close-
grained, pale, heavy. Leaves 3 to 4 inches long. A cubic foot weighs
43 lbs. It shares with Hickory and Sugar Maple the honor of being a
perfect firewood.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Chestnut. {Castanea dentata)

A noble tree, 60 to 80 or even 100 feet high. Whenever you see
something kept under lock and key, bars and bolts, guarded and double
guarded, you may be sure it is very precious, greatly coveted — the nut
of this tree is hung high aloft, wrapped in a silk wrapper which is en-
closed in a case of sole leather, which again is packed in a mass of shock-
absorbing vermin-proof pulp, sealed up in a waterproof iron-wood safe
and finally cased in a vegetable porcupine of spines, almost impregnable.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

There is no other nut so protected; there is no nut in our woods to
compare with it as food. Wood, brown, soft, easily worked, coarse, too
easily split, very durable as posts or other exposed work, altogether a most
valuable timber, the present plague that threatens to wipe it out is a
fungus probably from abroad. There is no known remedy. A cubic
foot of the wood weighs 28 lbs. Leaves 6 to 8 inches long.

Chinquapin. (Castanea pumila)

A small tree, rarely 45 feet high, with the general character of the
common Chestnut. It is much smaller in all ways. Its leaves are 3

FORESTERS' MANUAL

to 6 inches long; its burs less than half the size of dentata. Its wood
is similar but darker and heavier, a cubic foot weighing 37 lbs. These
two complete the list of chestnuts native to the Northeastern States.

6. ULMACE^ — ELM FAMILY

White Elm, Water or Swamp Elm. (Ulmus Americana)

A tall splendid forest tree; commonly 100, occasionally 120 feet high.
Wood reddish-brown; hard, strong, tough, very hard to split. This
furnished the material of the hubs in O. W. Holmes's "One Hoss Shay."

FORESTERS* MANUAL

It is coarse, heavy; fairly good firewood, but sparks badly. A cubic
foot weighs 41 lbs. Soon rots near the ground. Leaves 2 to 5 inches
long. Flowers in early spring before leafing. Seeds ripe in May.
Common in most parks.

Slippery Elm, Moose or Red Elm. {JJlmus fuha)

Smaller than White Elm, maximum height about 70 feet. Wood
dark, reddish; hard, close, tough, strong; durable next the ground;
heavy; a cubic foot weighs 43 lbs. Its leaves are larger and rougher
than those of the former. Four to 8 inches long, and its buds are hairy,
not smooth. The seeds ripen in early spring when the leaves are half
grown ; they were a favorite spring food of the Passenger Pigeon. Chiefly
noted for its mucilaginous buds, inner bark and seeds, which are eaten
or in decoction used as a cough-remedy. This is a valuable specific
in all sorts of membranous irritation: for the hard cough or bowel
trouble, drink it; for sores apply it in poultice form. It can never do
harm and always does some good.

The inner bark of this Elm contains a great quantity of mucilage,
and is a favorite popular prescription, in many parts of the country,
for dysentery and affections of the chest.

"It is much to be regretted that the Slippery Elm has become so rare.
The inner bark is one of the best applications known for affections of
the throat and lungs. Flour prepared from the bark by drying perfectly
and grinding, and mixed with milk, like arrow-root, is a wholesome and
nutritious food for infants and invalids." {Emerson.)

FORESTEKS' MANUAL

1. American Elm

2. Slippery Elm

3. Cork Elm
4- Wahoo

FORESTERS' MANUAL

ROCKy CUFF

HlCKORYoR CORK ELM
ULMUS THOMAS I

] s.csIak. \;

! NANS. V-^A. ) .y-^ t/?>.V ^

hv.^:.:;/:»; x:^

-^--^^"-^

Rock, Cliff, Hickory or Cork Elm. {Ulnms Thoniasi)

A tall forest tree on dry or rocky uplands; occasionally loo feet high.
Wood pale, reddish-brown; hard, close, strong, tough and heavy. A
cubic foot \Yeighs 45 lbs. It lasts a long time next the ground. It is
regularly marked with corky ridges on the two-year-old branches, which
give it a shaggy appearance. Its leaves are 2 to 5 inches long. ''It
possesses all the good qualities of the family, and none of the bad ones."
(Keeler.)

FORESTERS' MANUAL

WINGED ELM
OR WAHOO

ULMUS fi^ATA

?^^--:5^^'

Winged Elm or \V.\iioo. (Uhniis data)

A small tree, up to 50 feet high. Remarkable for the flat corky ^ings
on most of the Vjranches. The wood is hard, weak and brown. A
cubic foot weighs 47 lbs. Its leaves are i to 3 inches long.

MMf^^"^^-

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Hackberry, Sugarberry, Nettle Tree or False Elm. {Celtis

occidentalis)

A tall slender tree, 50 feet, rarely 100 feet high. Wood soft, pale,
coarse, a cubic foot weighs 45 lbs. Leaves 2 to 6 inches long. Its
style is somewhat elm-like, but it has small dark purple berries, each
with a large stone like a cherry pit. The wood is "used for the shafts
and axletrees of carriages, the naves of wheels, and for musical instru-
ments. The root is used for dyeing yellow; the bark for tanning; and
an oil is expressed from the stones of the fruit." {Emerson.) In dry soil.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

7. MORACE^ — MULBERRY FAMILY

Red Mulberry. {Morus rubra)

A fine forest tree up to 65 feet high; wood, pale yellow, soft, weak
but durable; a cubic foot weighs 37 lbs.; berries i| inches long, dark
purple red, delicious. Leaves 3 to 5 inches long. In rich soil.

FOEESTERS* MANUAL

.n. \r V-t^.^/i^ ^^ \^r-i'.

Osage Orange, Bois d'arc, Bodarc or Bow- Wood. {Toxylon

pomijerum)

A small tree, rarely 60 feet high. Originally from the middle Missis-
sippi Valley, now widely introduced as a hedge tree. Famous for sup-
plying the best bows in America east of the Rockies. Wood is bright
orange; very hard, elastic, enduring and heavy. Leaves 3 to 6 inches
long. A cubic foot weighs 48 lbs.

Orange, | of life size

FORESTERS' MANUAL

8. MAGNOLIACEiE — MAGNOLIA FAMILY

Tulip Tree, White-Wood, Canoe Wood or Yellow Poplar. {Lirio-
dendron Tulipifera)

One of the noblest forest trees, ordinarily loo feet, and sometimes 150
feet high. Noted for its splendid clean straight column; readily known
by leaf, 3 to 6 inches long, and its tulip-like flower. Wood soft, straight-
grained, brittle, yellow, and very light; much used where a broad sheet
easily worked is needed but will not stand exposure to the weather; is
poor fuel; a dry cubic foot weighs 26 lbs.

Makes a good dugout canoe, hence Indian name, "canoe wood"
(Keeler). The inner bark and root bark either as dry powder or as
"tea" are powerful tonics and especially good for worms.

Every tree like every man must decide for itself — will it live in the
alluring forest and struggle to the top where alone is sunlight or give up
the fight and content itself with the shade — or leave this delectable
land of loam and water and be satisfied with the waste and barren plains
that are not desirable.

The Tulip is one of those that believe there is plenty of room at the
top and its towering trunk is one of the noblest in the woods that shed
their leaves. The Laurel and Swamp Magnolia are among the shadow
dwellers; and the Scrub Oaks and the Red Sumacs are among those
that have lost in the big fight and are content with that which others
do not covet.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Sweet Bay, Laurel Magnolia, White Bay, Swamp Laurel, Swamp
Sassafras or Beaver Tree. {Magnolia virginiana)

A small tree 15 to 70 feet high, nearly evergreen, noted for being a
favorite with the Beaver. "Its fleshy roots were eagerly eaten by the
Beavers, who considered them such a dainty that they could be caught
in traps baited with them. Michaux recites that the wood was used by
the beavers in constructing their dams and houses in preference to any
other." (Keeler.)

The wood weighs 31 lbs. to the cubic foot. The heart wood is reddish-
brown, the sap wood nearly white. The leaves are 3 to 6 inches long,
dark shiny green above, faintly downy below. Fruit cone i^ to 2
inches high.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Cucumber Tree or Mountain Magnolia. {Magnolia acuminata)

A fair-sized forest tree 60 to 90 feet high. The wood weighs 29 lbs.
to the cubic foot. The leaves are light green, faintly downy below,
2 to 12 inches long. Fruit cone 3 to 4 inches high.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

,£..,^_; Manitoba;

z=^

^P/C£ BUSH^FEVER BUSH
WILD ALL SPICE^BENJAMINBUSH

&E.NZOlhf OQORlFEfiUM

^ru^'

^X" M ^ n •.^' • >u-Or^

3 L.

A N Sr

; iVH O . "v

rr-n

9. LAURACE^ — LAUREL FAMILY

Spice Bush, Fever Bush, Wild Allspice, Banjamin Bush. (Benzoin

odoriferum)

A small bush rarely 20 feet high. In moist woods; berries red;
leaves 2 to 5 inches long. A tea made of its twigs was a good old remedy
for chills and fever.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Sassafras, Ague Tree. {Sassafras Sassafras)

Usually a small tree of dry sandy soil, but reaching 125 feet high in
favorable regions. Its wood is dull orange, soft, weak, coarse, brittle,
and light. A cubic foot weighs 3 1 lbs. Very durable next the ground.
Leaves 4 to 7 inches long. Noted for its aromatic odor.

*'In the Southwestern States the dried leaves are much used as an
ingredient in soups, for which they are well adapted by the abundance

FORESTERS' MANUAL 95

of mucilage they contain. For this purpose the mature green leaves
are dried and powdered, the stringy portions being separated, and are
sifted and preserved for use. This preparation mixed with soups,
give them a ropy consistence, and a peculiar flavor, much relished by
those accustomed to it. To such soups are given the names gombo file
and gombo zab. (P. 321.)

*'A decoction of the bark is said to communicate to w^ool a durable
orange color." (P. 322) {Emerson).

Tea made of the bark is also a fine warming stimulant and sweater.

Its roots are used in the manufacture of root-beer.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

\dU^^

T~TT

WITCH HA2EL,WINT£R BLOOM
OR SNAPPING HAZEL NUT

HAMAf^CLIS VIRSINIANA

5CT>-v.:' ,\):

'"i^Vo

Col,

Hi."^

:i-^

lo. HAMAMELIDACEiE — WITCH-HAZEL FAMILY

Witch- Hazel Winter Bloom or Snapping Hazel Nut. {Hamamelis

virginiana)

A small tree lo to 15 teet high, usually with many leaning stems from
one root. Noted for its blooming in the fall, flowers of golden threads, the
nuts explode when ripe throwing the seeds a dozen feet. A snuff made
of the dry leaves stops nosebleed at once, or indeed any bleeding when

FORESTERS' MANUAL 97

locally applied. A decoction or tea of the bark gives relief to inflamma-
tion of the eye or skin.

Witch hazel blossoms in the fall
To cure the chills and fever all.

{Two Little Savages.)

A forked twig of this furnished the favorite divining rod whence the
name. Leaves 4 to 6 inches long.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

II. ALTINGIACE.E — SWEET GUM FAMILY

Sweet Gum, Star-Leaved or Red Gum, Bilsted, Alligator Tree
OR Liquidambar. {Liquidamhar Styraciflua)

A tall tree up to 150 feet high of low, moist woods, remarkable for
the corky ridges on its bark, and the unsplittable nature of its weak,
warping, perishable timber. Heart-wood reddish-brown, sap white;
heavy, weighing 37 lbs. to cubic foot. Leaves 3 to 5 inches long.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

12. PLATANACEiE — PLANE TREE FAMILY

Sycamore, Plane Tree, Buttonball or Buttonwood. {Platanus

occidentalis)

One of the largest of our trees; up to 140 feet high; commonly hollow.
Wood, light brownish, weak; hard to split; heavy for its strength. A
cubic foot weighs 35 lbs. Little use for weather work. Famous for

7518

100 FORESTERS' MANUAL

shedding its bark as well as its leaves. Leaves 4 to 9 inches long. Canada
to the Gulf.

When a tree is a mere sapling, the bark is thin and soft; it stretches
each year with the annual growth of the trunk. But it becomes thicker
and harder with age and then it cracks with the expansion of the trunk.
This process continues each year till the segments of the first coat are
widely separated by gaping fissures. This is well seen in the Elm, and
each of the bark ridges shows the annual layers, from the widely sep-
arated outer one to the united inmost one.

But some trees, notably the Sycamore, burst their bark, yet do
not retain the fragments. These are dropped each year, hence the
smooth green surface of the trunk, hence also its success as a tree of
grimy cities, for it has an annual cleaning of the skin and thus throws
off mischievous accumulations that would kill a tree that retained its
bark indefinitely.

The Shagbark Hickory will be remembered as a halfway shedaer.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

101

13. AMYGDALACE.E — PLUM FAMILY

Choke Cherry. (Padus virginiana)

A bush 2 to 19 feet high in the North. A tall tree in the Mississippi
Valley. Wood, pale, hard, close-grained, and heavy. A cubic foot
weighs 43 lbs. Leaves 2 to 4 inches long, the marginal teeth divaricate
or outcurved. Noted for its astringent fruit. Leaf broader, fruit
smaller than in Black Cherry.

102

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Black Cherry, Cabinet of Rum Cherry. {Padus serotina)

A fine tree, even in Canada; 60 to 70 or even 90 feet high. The
source of many excellent remedies, chiefly pectoral. Tea of the bark
(roots preferred) is a powerful tonic for lungs and bowels; also good as

FORESTERS' MANUAL

103

a skin wash for sores. The leaves when half wilted are poisonous to
cattle. The wood is light-brown or red, strong, close-grained; much in
demand for cabinet work; light. A cubic foot weighs 36 lbs. Leaves
5 inches long, the marginal teeth incurved.

104

FORESTERS' MANUAL

14. MALACEiE — APPLE FAMILY

Scarlet Haw, Hawthorn, Thorn Apple or Apple Haw. (Cratcegus

mollis)

A small tree, 10 to 20, rarely 30 feet high. Wood hard and heavy.
A cubic foot weighs 50 lbs. Leaves 2 to 4 inches long. Noted for its
beautiful deep red fruit, f to i| inches long, round, with pink-yellow
flesh, 5 or 6 stones, quite eatable.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

105

1 5 . C^ESALPINACEiE — SENNA FAMILY
Red-Bud or Judas Tree. (Cercis canadensis)

Small tree of bottom lands, rarely 50 feet high; so called from, its
abundant spring crop of tiny rosy blossoms, coming before the leaves,
the latter 2 to 6 inches broad. "Judas tree" because it blushed when
Judas hanged himself on it. (Keeler.) Its wood is dark, coarse and
heavy.

A cubic foot weighs 40 lbs.

Pod i lite size

106

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Honey or Sweet Locust, Three-thorned Acacia.
{Gleditsia triacanthos)
A tall tree up to 140 feet high; very thorny. Wood dark, hard, strong,
coarse, heavy. A cubic foot weighs 42 lbs. Leaves single or double
pinnate; leaflets f to i| inches long. It is very durable as posts, etc.
Pods 6 to 12 inches long. So called because of the sweet stuff in which
its seeds are packed. Chiefly Mississippi Valley, but common in the East
along roadsides.

Pod is i life size

FORESTERS' MANUAL

107

i^ .£ 'f^j^^ToWi — Vf"^

k-k<Sr\iwr-r\

Kentucky Coffee Tree. {Gymnocladus dioica)
A tall tree (up to loo feet), so called because its beans were once
used as coffee. Wood is light-colored, coarse-grained strong, and
heavy. A cubic foot weighs 43 lbs. Leaves large and bipinnate; leaf-
lets, 7 to 15, and I to 3 inches long. It is remarkably durable next the
ground, as posts, etc.

Pods I life size

108

FORESTERS' MANUAL

BLACKcR. YELLOW LOCUST
SfLVER' CHAIN

ROBlNfA PSEUDACACIA

^^^^rgi:

i6. FABACE.E — PEA FAMILY
Black or Yellow Locust, Silver Chain. {Robinia Pseudacacia)

A tall forest tree, up to 80 feet high: leaves 8 to 14 inches long; leaf-
lets 9 to 19, I to 2 inches long; pods 2 to 4 inches long, 4 to 7 seeded.
Wood greenish-brown, very strong and durable; much used for posts;
weight 46 lbs. per cubic foot.

*'The leaves are used in some parts of Europe, either fresh or cured, as
nourishment for horses; the seeds are found very nutritious to fowls.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

109

The leaves may be made a substitute for indigo in dyeing blue, and the
flowers are used by the Chinese for dyeing yellow." {Emerson.)

Pennsylvania to Iowa and South to Georgia and common in the east
along roadsides.

17. ANACARDIACE^ — SUMAC FAMILY

Staghorn or Velvet Sumac, Vinegar Tree. {Rhus hirta)

A small tree 10 to 40 feet high. Noted for its red velvety berries
in solid bunches and its velvet clad stem whence its name. Leaflets
II to 31 and 2 to 5 inches long; the whole leaf 16 to 24 inches long.

"The berries are also used in dyeing their own color. Kalm says,
that the branches boiled with the berries, afford a black, ink-like tinc-
ture." {Emerson.)

Nova Scotia to British Columbia, south to Florida and west to
Arizona.

Somewhat like it but quite smooth is the Smooth or Scarlet Sumac.
{R. glabra.)

Its berries make a safe and pleasant drink for children and tea of
almost any part of the tree is a powerful tonic.

110

FORESTERS' MANUAL

FORESTERS' MANUA

111

Dwarf, Black, Upland or Mountain Sumac. {Rhus copallina)

A small tree like the Staghorn; of
similar range. Known by the pecu-
liar winged stems of the leaves.
Leaves 6 to 12 inches long and leaf-
lets 2 to 4 inches long ; number 9 to
21. Dry soil. Maine to Minnesota
and south to Florida and Texas.

112

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Poison Sumac, Poison Elder. {Rhus Vernix)

A small tree, 15 to 20 up to 25 feet high. Noted for being the most
poisonous tree in the country. Its active principle is a fixed oil. This
may be removed by washing with an alcoholic solution of sugar of lead;
it is a sure cure. When this remedy is not at hand, wash the parts with
water as hot as one can stand, this is also a reliable remedy. The same
remarks apply to Poison Ivy and Poison Oak. Leaves 6 to 15 inches
long; leaflets 7 to 13 in numbers and 2 to 4 inches long. Timber is
light and worthless. A cubic foot weighs 27 lbs. Damp w^oods.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

113

Poison Climbing or Three-leaved Ivy. Poison Oak, Climath.

{Rhus radicans)

Though a trailing vine on the ground, on fences or on trees and never
itself a tree, the Poison or Three-fingered Ivy should appear here that
all may know it. Its poisonous powers are much exaggerated, about
three persons out of four are immune and the poison is easily cured as

114

FORESTERS' MANUAL

described under Poison Sumac. Its leaflets always three, are i to 4
inches long. Its berries are eagerly eaten by birds.

*'The juice of this plant is yellowish and milky, becoming black after
a short exposure to the air. It has been used as marking ink and on
linen is indelible." {Emerson.) It grows everywhere in the open being
found from Manitoba eastward and Texas northward.

18. ACERACEvE — MAPLE FAMILY

Striped Maple, Goosefoot Maple or Moosewood. {Acer penn-

sylvanicum)

A small tree up to 35 feet high, in tall woods, called "striped" because
its small branches have white lines. It is much eaten by the moose.
Wood, brown, soft, close-grained, light. Leaves, 5 to 6 inches long.
A cubic foot weighs 33 lbs.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

115

Mountain Maple. (Acer spicatum)

A shrub or small tree, rarely 30 feet high. Wood soft, pale and light,
a cubic foot weighs ^t, lbs. Leaves 4 to 5 inches along.

116

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Sugar Maple, Rock Maple or Hard Maple. (Acer saccharum)

A large, splendid forest tree, 80 to 120 feet high; red in autumn.
Wood hard, strong, tough and heavy but not durable. A cubic foot
weighs 43 lbs. It enjoys with Beech, Hickory, etc., the sad distinction
of being a perfect firewood. Thanks to this it has been exterminated
in some regions.

Bird's-eye and curled Maple are freaks of the grain. Leaves 3 to 5
inches long. Its sap produces the famous maple sugar. This is the
emblem of Canada.

There is a black barked variety called Black Sugar Maple (A . nigrum) .
It is of doubtful status.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

117

f -^ .-^^ ;MANlTdBA!

S/LVER MAPLE.
WHITLOR SOFT MAPLE.

ACEH SACCHAHISUM

MINN f^-?^ V; ^"-'IS^'i:^

Silver Maple, White or Soft Maple. {Acer saccharinum)

Usually a little smaller than the Sugar Maple and much inferior as
timber. Wood hard, close-grained. A cubic foot weighs 33 lbs.
Leaves 5 to 7 inches long. This tree produces a little sugar. It is noted
for its yellow foliage in autumn.

118

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Red, Scarlet, Water or Swamp Maple. {Acer rubrum)

A fine tree the same size as the preceding. Noted for its flaming
crimson foliage in fall, as well as its red leafstalks, flowers and fruit
earlier. Its wood is light-colored, tinged reddish, close-grained, smooth
with varieties of grain, as in Sugar Maple; heavy. A cubic foot weighs
39 lbs. Leaves 2 to 6 inches long. Produces a little sugar. In the
woods there is a common bush 3 to 6 feet high, with leaves much like
those of this maple, but the bush has berries on it, it is called the
Maple-leaved Viburnum (see later).

FORESTERS' MANUAL 119

"A small Red Maple has grown, perchance, far away at the head of
some retired valley, a mile from any road, unobserved. It has faithfully
discharged all the duties of a maple there, all winter and summer neg-
lected none of its economies, but added to its stature in the virtue
which belongs to a maple, by a steady growth for so many months, and
is much nearer heaven than it was in the spring. It has faithfully
husbanded its sap, and afforded a shelter to the wandering bird, has
long since ripened its seeds and committed them to the winds. It de-
serves well of mapledom. Its leaves have been asking it from time to
time in a whisper, 'When shall we redden?' and now in this month of
September, this month of traveUng, when men are hastening to the sea-
side, or the mountains, or the lakes, this modest maple, still without
budging an inch, travels in its reputation — runs up its scarlet flag on
that hillside, which shows that it finished its summer's work before all
other trees, and withdrawn from the contest. At the eleventh hour of
the year, the tree which no scrutiny could have detected here when it
was most industrious is thus, by the tint of its maturity, by its very
blushes, revealed at last to the careless and distant traveler, and
leads his thoughts away from the dusty road into those brave solitudes
which it inhabits; it flashes out conspicuous with all the virtue and
beauty of a maple — Acer rubrum. We may read its title, or rubric,
clear. Its virtues not its sins are as scarlet." (Thoreau.)

"Never was a tree more appropriately named than the Red Maple.
Its first blossom flushes red in the April sunlight, its keys ripen scarlet
in early May, all summer long its leaves swing on crimson or scarlet
stems, its young twigs flame in the same colors and later, amid all the
brilliancy of the autumnal forest, it stands preeminent and unap-
proachable." {Keeler.)

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Box Elder or Ash-Leaved ]\Iaple. (Acer Negundo)

A small tree, 40 or 50 up to 70 feet high, found chiefly along streams.
Wood pale, soft, close-grained, light. A cubic foot weighs 27 lbs.
Poor fuel. Makes paper-pulp. Leaflets 2 to 4 inches long. Sap
yields a delicate white sugar. Chiefly in Mississippi Valley and north
to Manitoba, but in the eastern states as an escape from cultivation.

"It was usual to make sugar from maples, but several other trees
were also tapped by the Indians. From the birch and ash was made a
dark-colored sugar, with a somewhat bitter taste, which w^as used for
medicinal purposes. The box-elder yielded a beautiful white sugar,
whose only fault was that there was never enough of it." ("Indian
Boyhood," p. 32, by Charles A. Eastman.)

FORESTERS' MANUAL

121

FETID buckeye: ^K. ° y^^fffjT -^

OHIO BUCKEYE X\/^t^.^-]:[<S\ ^

19. ^SCULACE^ — BUCKEYE FAMILY

Buckeye, Fetid Buckeye, Ohio Buckeye. {Msculus glabra)
Not a large tree, up to 50 feet high. So called because the dark
brown nut peeping from the prickly husk is like the half-opened eye of
a buck. Leaflets 5, rarely 7, 3 to 6 inches long. Wood, soft, close-
grained, light. A cubic foot weighs 28 lbs. Sapwood darkest,

used for wooden legs and dishes

122

FORESTERS' MANUAL

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CULUS OCT AND RA / \ (^ _^

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Yellow Sweet or Big Buckeye. {Msculus odandra)

A good-sized tree; up to go feet high. "Sweet" because its bark is
less ill smelling than that of its kin. (Keeler.) Wood, soft and white,
27 lbs., per cubic foot, husk of nut, smooth — leaflets 5, rarely 7, 4
inches long; 2 to 3 inches wide.

FORESTERS' MANUAL 123

[Horse Chestnut or Bongay. {jEscuIus Eippocastanum)

A large tree sometimes loo feet high. Wood, soft, white, close-
grained; poor timber. Leaflets 5 to 7 inches long. A foreigner; now
widely introduced in parks and roadsides; named either as "horse-radish,"
"horse-fiddle" and "horse bean" were through using the word "horse" to
mean large and coarse, or possibly because the scars on the twigs look
like the Drint of a horse's hoof.

124

FORESTERS' MANUAL

BASS WOOD, WHITE WOOD,
WHISTLE-WOOD, LIMEcrLINDEN

V w ^ . u' - ^ \. J "-' c \J A^:>>-^

20. TILIACE^ — LINDEN FAMILY

Basswood, White-wood, Whistle-wood, Lime or Linden.

americana)

{Tilia

A tall forest tree 60 to 125 feet high; usually hollow when old. Wood
soft, straight-grained, weak, white, very light. A cubic foot weighs
28 lbs. It makes a good dugout canoe or sap trough. The hollow
trunk, split in halves, was often used for roofing (see log-cabin). Poor
firewood, and soon rots; makes good rubbing sticks for friction fire.
Its inner bark supplies coarse cordage and matting. Its buds are often
eaten as emergency food. Leaves 2 to 5 inches wide. Its nuts are
delicious food, but small.

There are two other species of the family, Southern Basswood {T.
puhescens) known by its small leaves and the Bee tree {T. heterophylla)
known by its very large leaves.

Basswood Whistle. Take a piece of a young shoot of basswood, smooth
and straight, about 6 inches long, without knots, out it as shown in
Fig. I. Hammer this all around with a flat stick or roll it between two
fiat boards. Very soon the bark can be slipped off in one whole piece.
Now cut the stick to the shape of a whistle plug, slip the bark on again
and you have a whistle.

Make it longer and cut off the plug, add holes and you have a
pipe.

The exquisite spotless purity of the wood laid bare when the bark is
slipped off is so delicate and complete that a mere finger touch is a de-
filement. It is from this we get the phrase "clean as a whistle."

FORESTERS' MANUAL

125

nuts 01 Jiasswood

Nut, life size

126

FORESTERS' MANUAL

rj — '" , *i.,^ — rr-i

21. CORNACE^ — DOGWOOD FAMILY

Flowering Dogwood, Arrow-wood, Boxwood, Cornelian Tree.

{Cynoxylon floridum)

A small tree 15 to 20 feet, rarely 40, with bark beautifully pebbled or
of alligator pattern. Wood hard, close, tough, strong, and heavy,
a cubic foot weighing 51 lbs. Noted for its masses of beautiful white
bloom in spring. A tea of its roots is a good substitute for quinine.
Leaves 3 to 5 inches long.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

127

Sour Gum, Black Gum, Pepperidge or Tupelo. (Nyssa syhatica)

A forest tree up to no feet high; in wet lands. Wood pale, very
strong, tough, unsplittable and heavy. A cubic foot weighs 40 lbs.
Used for turner work, but soon rots next the ground. Leaves 2 to 5
inches long. Noted for its brilliant fiery autumn foliage.

128

FORESTERS' MANUAL

i^ ^XF y^^^

22. EBENACE.E — EBONY FAMILY

Persimmon or Date Plum. {Dlospyros virginiand)

A small tree 30 to 50 feet high, famous for the fruit so astringent and
puckery when unripe, so luscious when frosted and properly mature.
Leaves 4 to 6 inches long.

"In respect to the power of making heartwood, the Locust and the
Persimmon stand at the extreme opposite ends of the list. The Locust
changes its sapwood into heartwood almost at once, while the Persim-
mon rarely develops any heartwood until it is nearly one hundred years
old. This heartwood is extremely close-grained and almost black.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

129

Really, it is ebony, but our climate is not favorable to its production,"
(Keeler.) Wood very heavy, dark and strong, a cubic foot weighs
49 lbs. Rhode Island to Florida and west to Ohio and Oklahoma where
it becomes a tall tree.

23. OLEACE^, OLIVE FAMILY (INCLUDING THE ASHES)

White Ash. (Fraxinus americana)

A fine forest tree on moist soil: 70 to 90 or even 130 feet high.
Wood pale brown, tough, and elastic. Used for handles, springs, bows,
also arrows and spears; heavy. A cubic foot weighs 41 lbs. Soon rots
next the ground. Yellow in autumn; its leaflets have stalks, noted for
being last to leaf and first to shed in the forest. Called white for the
silvery undersides of the leaves; these are 8 to 12 inches long; each leaflet
3 to 5 inches long.

130

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Red Ash or Green Ash. {Fraxinus pcnnsyhauica)

K small tree rarely So feet high. Wood light brown, coarse, hard,
strong, brittle hea\-y. A cubic foot weighs 44 lbs. The Red Ash is
downy on branchlet, leaf and leaf-stalk while the White Ash is in the
main smooth, other-^^ise their leaves are much alike. The Green is a
variety of the Red.

FOREi^TER^' MANXAL

131

■■-^

Lea.f and s^eds of Red Ash

132

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Water Ash. (Fraxinus caroliniana)

A small tree rarely over 40 feet High. Wood whitish soft, weak.
A cubic foot weighs 22 lbs; leaflets 5 to 7, or rarely 9; 2 to 5 inches long.
In swamps and along streams.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

133

■MA'NlTOaA'

LARGE-TOOTHED ASPEN
POPULUS QFANOJDENTATA

Col

Large-Toothed Aspen. {Populus grandidentata)

A forest tree, occasionally 75 feet high. Bark darker and rougher
than preceding; readily distinguished by saw- toothed leaves. Wood
much the same, but weighs 29 lbs. Leaves 3 to 4 inches long.

134

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Black Ash, Hoop Ash or Water Ash. {Fraxinus nigra)

A tall forest tree of swampy places; 70, 80 or rarely 100 feet high.
Wood dark brown, tough, soft, course, heavy. A cubic foot weighs 39
lbs. Soon rots next to the ground. Late in the spring to leaf, and
early to shed in the fall. The leaves are 12 to 16 inches long; its leaflets
except the last have no stalk, the^ number 7 to 11, are 2 to 6 inches long.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

135

Sometimes called Elder-leaved Ash because its leaves somewhat re-
semble the leaves of the Elder, but they are much larger and the leaflets
of the latter have slight stalks, especially those near the base and are
on a succulent green stem which is deeply grooved on top. The thick
bumpy twigs of the Black Ash with the black triangular winter buds
are strong characters at all seasons.

24. CAPRIFOLIACI^— HONEYSUCKLE FAMILY

Elder, Elder-blow, Elderberry, Sweet Elder or Bore Plant.
{Sanihucus canadensis) \

A bush 4 to 10 feet high, well known for its large pith which can be
pushed out so as to make a natural pipe, commonly used for whistles,

136

FOEESTERS' MANUAL

squirts, etc. Its black sweet berries are used for making wine. Its leaves
are somewhat like those of Black Ash, but have a green succulent
stalk. A tea of the inner bark is a powerful diuretic. The young leaf-
buds are a drastic purgative; they may be ground up and taken as
decoction in very small doses. The leaves are 8 to 1 2 inches long ; leaflets,
5 to II, usually 7, and 2 to 5 inches long. There is another species with
red berries. It is called the Mountain Elder (S. puhens) and is found
from New Brunswick to British Columbia, and southeast to California
and Georgia. It has orange pith and purple leafstalks whereas Cana-
densis has yellow pith and green leafstalks.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

137

\^ ^U

- HISH&USH CPIANEiBRRr
CfiAN&EfiflY TREC, WILD GUEiLDEiK ROSE

X21

S\y v^

High Bush Cranberry, Cranberry Tree, Wild Guelder Rose.
{Viburnum Opulus)

A bush 10 to 12 feet high. Noted for its delicious acid fruit, bright
red transculent and in large bunches, each with a large flat seed. Leaves
2 to 3 inches long. Found in low grounds from New Brunswick to
British Columbia. South to New Jersey, also in the Old World.

138

FORESTERS' MANUAL

Maple-leaved Arrow- wood, Dock-makie. {Viburnum acerijolium)

A forest bush, 3 to 6 feet high. Chiefly noted because of its abundance
in the hard woods where it is commonly taken for a young maple. The
style of its leaves however distinguish it, also its berries, these are black
with a large lentil-shaped seed. Leaves 3 to 5 inches long.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

139

s ir'y

Arrow- WOOD. {Viburnum dentatum)

A forest bush, up to 15 feet high; its remarkably straight shoots sup-
plied shafts for the Indian's arrows. Leaves 2 to 3 inches long. Its
berries blue-black, with a large stone grooved on one side and rounded
on the other. In moist soil.

140

FORESTERS' MANUAL

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NANNY- BE.RRY, NAN NV- BUSH

SHEEP-BERRY, BLACKTHORN

SWEET VIBURNUM

VIBURNUM LENTACO

Nanny-berry, Nanny-bush, Sheep-berry, Blackthorn, Sweet
Viburnum. {Viburnum Lenta go)

A small tree, up to 30 feet high. Noted for its clusters of sweet rich
purplish-black berries, each half an inch long, but containing a large
oval, flattened seed. Leaves 2 to 4 inches long. Wood hard, a cubic
foot weighs 45 lbs. It is the largest of the group.

FORESTERS' MANUAL

141

Black Haw, Stag Bush, Sloe. {Viburnum prunijolium)

A small tree up to 20 or 30 feet high, much like the Nanny-berry;
fruit black, sweet and edible. Leaves i to 3 inches long. Wood hard,
a cubic foot weighs 52 lbs. In dry soil.

THE END

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