The woods of the United States are classified roughly as hard and soft; and trees as broad-leaved or deciduous, and evergreen or coniferous.

In a general way, the trees which drop their leaves in the fall—the broad-leaved—produce hard woods and the evergreens soft woods. There are so many exceptions, however, that the rule is a very rough guide.

Several of the coniferous trees drop their leaves or needles in the fall, like the larch or tamarack, and some woods from evergreens are harder than some woods from broad-leaved trees. Yellow pine is harder than basswood, which, according to the rule, should be a hard wood. As a matter of fact, it is softer than the majority of woods cut from evergreens. The only way to gain a comprehensive knowledge of this interesting subject is by experience and study. Making a collection of woods, leaves, and seeds is one of the most fascinating studies a boy can take up. He will soon discover that not only is every wood different from every other wood in grain, colour, odour, and hardness, but some woods are strong and elastic, others strong and brittle, weak, etc., and that every tree has a different leaf, bark, flower, and seed from its neighbour. He will find groups or families, such as the oaks, the maples, the pines, spruces, cedars, etc., with several members of each group, all different, yet having family characteristics. He will be surprised at the endless extent of the subject; the willow for instance has a hundred and fifty known varieties. He will find himself, like our boys, dipping into botany and geology to discover perhaps, as Harry did, that the oak was once an evergreen, and that it still holds a good proportion of its leaves all winter.

He will learn that there are broad-leaved evergreens like the laurel and rhododendron; that some trees are evergreen in the South, and lose their leaves in the North; that some shrubs of the Northern states become trees farther south. He may even wrestle with the problem "What is a tree?" or, "Where does the shrub leave off and the tree begin?"

The study of the many methods nature has devised for distributing seeds has evolved whole volumes; so has the question of how the buds on the trees are protected in winter. There are definite ways in which the tiny leaves are folded up in these winter buds, all ready to unfold in a certain way in the spring. Perhaps the reader wonders what all this has to do with woodwork, but to a boy who once begins to collect specimens, it will follow as a matter of course. Knowing something about woods he naturally begins to study trees, and gradually observes the wonderful phenomena of growth, flower, and seed. Planting seeds to see how they grow is the next step, and before long he has a young nursery in the yard; while the reading of the work of such men as Luther Burbank will induce him to try his hand at grafting and budding.

The man who makes two apples grow where one grew before is as valuable a citizen as the man who makes two blades of grass grow in the place of one. When Mr. Burbank converts the prickly cactus into a thornless cactus, valuable as a forage plant, he is conferring a great benefit on the whole race by making millions of acres of desert land available for stock raising.

Incidentally, these wonders performed by the Wizard of California will not die with Mr. Burbank, but will constitute the beginning of a new profession which, combined with forestry, will offer a tempting field for the rising generation.

COMMON TIMBER TREES AND THEIR WOOD
EVERGREENS OR CONIFEROUS TREES

White Pine.—One of our most beautiful evergreens. Growing throughout the North-eastern and Lake states, and formerly forming dense forests from the Bay of Fundy to Minnesota. Needles grow in groups of five of a light bluish green from three to four inches long. Seeds are "winged" and grow in cones five or six inches long protected by the scales. Cones mature at end of second season. Wood soft, light coloured, free from sap, easily worked and used in many trades, for pattern making, various parts of houses, toys, crates, boxes, etc. Becoming very scarce, owing to the destruction of the great forests. On the Pacific coast its place in construction is taken by the sugar pine and other woods.

Yellow and Georgia Pine.—Two trees whose wood is frequently confounded by the woodworker. Georgia pine is a tree with very long needles, from twelve to fifteen inches, and in groups of three. Cones from six to ten inches. A southern tree found from Texas to Virginia. The tops of the young trees, like green fountains, are used in many places as Christmas decorations. Wood hard and resinous, used for flooring, interior finish, and decks.

Yellow Pine.—A southern tree with needles in groups of two, sometimes three, about three inches long. Cones small, about two inches. Wood hard and used for the same purposes as Georgia pine.

Red Pine, Norway Pine, Canadian Pine.—Three names for the same tree. Grows throughout the North, from Nova Scotia to western Minnesota. Cut principally in Canada. Needles, two in a group, about five inches long. Cones about two inches long, mature the second season. Wood reddish in colour, hard, and used for piles, spars, bridges, etc.

Pitch Pine.—A name locally given to several different trees. The wood is soft, brittle, resinous, and is used for fuel and for making charcoal, rarely for rough building. Needles in groups of three and three to five inches long. Sometimes called scrub pine, although it often reaches a height of fifty to sixty feet. The cones, two or three inches long, often remain on the tree for years. It is the tree found along the Atlantic coast from Maine to Georgia, growing in sand, in swamps, and among rocks. To be recommended for its persistence in living under the most trying conditions, even if its wood is not very valuable.

In the construction of a frame house several kinds of wood are needed. First, the framework of rough-sawed spruce. Second, a better wood, like white pine, for door and window frames. Third, the outside covering. This may be clapboards, for which nothing has ever approached white pine, although it is necessary now to find substitutes. The roof, if shingled, may be of cedar, or cypress—some spruce is used to-day. For interior work, floors may be spruce, white pine, cypress, yellow pine, or hard woods. For finish or trim, many woods are used such as white wood, oak, yellow pine, cypress, cherry, and bay wood.

Spruce.—This wood has been used almost exclusively in the past for framing, but great inroads have been made in the supply, especially by the manufacturers of paper pulp. Consequently the cost is increasing rapidly.

Three varieties are recognized, white, black, and red. White spruce is a distinctly northern tree, delighting in the cold climate of Canada, but dipping down along the Maine coast. It is a beautiful, straight, and tall specimen, frequently found as high as a hundred and fifty feet. The needles are only three quarters of an inch, or less, in length and clothe the twigs in an entire circle. Cones two inches long, bearing under their scales tiny winged seeds. It is used often as an ornamental evergreen for lawns, and for this purpose probably has no equal, as, unlike the Norway spruce, it holds its foliage, dense and green, close to the ground.

The wood is weak, knotty, and soft, but suitable for rough framing.

Black Spruce.—Another northern tree, rarely found in forests below the Canadian border, except around the Great Lakes.

Leaves about same size as in white spruce, but cones smaller, more oval in form, and one inch and a half long.

Spruce gum is obtained from this tree, which has a more pleasant odour than white spruce.

Wood used for pulp making, framing, and, quartered, for sounding-boards of musical instruments.

Red Spruce.—A close relative of the black and sometimes confused with it, but it is a distinct tree, reaching its best development several hundred miles south of the black spruce, in the Appalachian Mountains, and extending as far south as North Carolina; while the black variety barely crosses the borders of Canada into Maine.

Needles about half an inch long. Cones small, sometimes barely an inch and a half. They fall the first winter, while those of the black remain on the tree often for years.

Wood is similar to black spruce but lighter in weight. Used for pulp, framing, and sounding-boards.

Hemlock.—The most dainty of the eastern evergreens, with little cones about three quarters of an inch long, and needles half an inch. Found throughout the country east of the Mississippi and in some sections used for Christmas decorations.

A slow growing tree with wood of little value, being brittle, light, and difficult to work, as it has a crooked grain and is liable to splinter. The tree makes up in beauty what it lacks as a timber producer and its bark is rich in tannin.

Larch, Tamarack or Hackmatack.—Local names for the same tree. Drops all its needles in the fall, like a broad-leaved tree, but the beauty of the brilliant new green needles in the spring is a sight worth going miles to see.

Found from the Lake states north to the Arctic Circle. Needles an inch long. Cones from one half to three quarters.

Wood is heavy, hard and strong. Used in ship building, for telegraph poles, posts, and ties.

Fir, Balsam Fir, Balsam.—On all firs the cones stand upright on the branches, while on spruces they hang down. As these two trees are often intermingled, this is an easy way to distinguish them. The needles of the firs are also blunt, while those of the spruces are sharply pointed.

This is the so-called Christmas tree and balsam pillows are made from its needles.

Needles about three quarters of an inch long, cones almost black in colour, from two to four inches long.

Wood of little value, being soft and weak.

The sap in the form of gum called Canada balsam is used in medicine, and is obtained from blisters on the bark or by cutting the bark.

Southern Cypress, Bald Cypress, Deciduous Cypress.—Found growing naturally in the swamps of the South, but will grow in drier soil, if planted in the North. Several fine specimens in the parks of Philadelphia, New York, and Brooklyn. The lower part broadens out near the ground into a conical base and in its native swamps the roots send up peculiar formations known as cypress knees.

Leaves very delicate and feathery, not often over half an inch long, cones round and an inch in diameter. Drops its needles like the larch each fall.Wood very durable in damp situations, valuable for flooring and interior finish.

Red Cedar.—The common cedar of the United States, found in all sections where trees can grow at all, in sand, swamp, rocky hillside, and abandoned farm. Reaches its greatest height in the South.

Wood of beautiful colour and grain, soft and not strong, easily worked, but inclined to brittleness. Used in many trades; it furnished in the past the only wood for lead pencils. Owing to its scarcity, substitutes are now being tried. Very durable in contact with water and soil. Used extensively for posts, small boats, cooperage, ties, chests, and interior finish.

Foliage difficult to describe, being sharp and awl-shaped in the young trees, changing in later years to a flat scale shape. Very often both forms are found on the same tree. Seeds are the common cedar berry, pale green in colour, about a quarter of an inch long, each berry containing two or three seeds. These are liked by the birds and they are dropped along fences frequently, so that in a few years the fences become lined with young cedar trees.

White Cedar.—Found in swamps along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Has a more delicate foliage than red cedar, and, growing in dense thickets, is apt to be taller and straighter.

The wood is light brown in colour, soft, weak, and, like red cedar, durable in moist situations. Used for making shingles, for boat-building, and for the same general work as the red variety.

Arbor VitÆ—called in many sections white cedar. It is an entirely different tree from the real white cedar, having decidedly flattened and very aromatic foliage. Used a great deal for hedges before the days of the California privet. Seed borne in a tiny cone half an inch long.

Large quantities are cut in the Maritime Provinces of Canada to be made into shingles. Grows sixty feet high and two feet or more in diameter. Arbor vitÆ means tree of life, and as the bark and young twigs were at one time used medicinally, that may have been the origin of the name.

Wood is light, soft, coarse-grained, but, like the cedars, durable. Used for ties, posts, and shingles.