The broad-leaved trees are more numerous as to varieties than the evergreens, and from the standpoint of leaf forms may be divided into three groups:

1. Trees bearing simple leaves.

2. Trees bearing compound leaves.

3. Trees bearing doubly compound leaves.

The first group is the largest, including as it does such large families as the maples, oaks, willows, poplars.

The second group comes next with the well-known walnuts, hickories, ashes, and buckeyes.

The third group is very small, there being but three well-known trees bearing doubly compound leaves: the honey locust, Kentucky coffee tree, and Hercules Club.

The three forms are shown at Fig. 242.

The leaf ends at the bud growing at the end of the leaf stem. All above this bud constitutes the leaf, no matter what its shape or size, and falls in the autumn, with a few exceptions.

The small leaflets on the compound leaf are simply parts of a leaf, not separate leaves, as there are no buds at the point where they join the stem. The arrangement of these leaflets varies. In the buckeye and horse chestnut they radiate from a common point, while in the locust they are in parallel rows on opposite sides of the stem.

In doubly compound leaves the leaflets are themselves compound, making the whole leaf very large, those of the Kentucky coffee tree being three feet in length.

THE MAPLES

Probably the best known and most common trees, especially in towns and cities. Most of them grow quickly and therefore become valuable as shade trees. They do not make the most permanent trees, however, and should be planted in alternation with oaks, or other long-lived trees, for permanent shade.

The seeds of all maples are winged, which helps their distribution over large areas, in the same manner as the seeds of evergreens.

Sugar or Rock Maple.—The most valuable timber tree of the group, its wood being heavy, hard, strong, and close-grained. Very light in colour and valuable for flooring and interior finish, furniture, tool handles, and bench tops.

It grows throughout the Eastern states, but not in all soils. Very rapid in growth, so much so that in the dense forest stands, when a portion of the woods has been cut down, the young saplings cannot always withstand the wind pressure and are blown down. Reaches a height in the forest of a hundred and twenty feet, but in the open is broader and more symmetrical. Too much cannot be said in praise of this tree. Its shade is dense and its autumn colouring superb. The sap yields maple syrup and sugar, and, finally, after it has done its work and is cut down, its wood yields lumber of the highest value, while the limbs make excellent firewood.The process of making maple sugar was learned, historians tell us, from the Indians. This is probably why the process was for two or three centuries very crude. Holes are bored in the tree in the late winter, as soon as the sap is brought to life by the sun, usually in March, but the time depends upon the weather. Spigots are placed in the holes and pails hung under them to catch the sap. When full, they are emptied into large kettles or boilers over a fire, and the sap simply boiled down to the proper consistency.

As the lumberman is making heavy inroads into the maple groves or forests, the price of maple sugar is likely to continue going up, until real maple sugar will be only a memory, unless we wake up from our dream of unlimited resources to the real facts and do something.

Silver Maple, White Maple, Soft Maple.—A very common shade tree in our towns and cities. Its natural section is along the Mississippi, where it becomes a great tree, often a hundred feet high; but it is so easily adaptable to new conditions, grows so quickly from seed, and will stand so much hard usage that it has been very popular. There are many better trees, but this is cheap and quick growing, and in our hurried American life we build very often for the immediate future and forget the next generation.

Its foliage, when not blackened and spoiled by the smoke of the city, is a beautiful dark green above, and light silvery green below. The winged seeds ripen in June, may be planted before July 1st, and will produce young trees nearly a foot high before frost of the same season. Wood not as hard as rock maple, but strong, close-grained and brittle. Used to some extent in cabinet work. The winter buds are very precocious and start into life at the first sign of spring.

Red or Swamp Maple.—Found in wet places naturally, but it makes a large and satisfactory shade tree in heavy upland soil. The leaf form is somewhat like that of the silver maple, but smaller.

Seeds ripen before summer. The flowers are red, the leaf stems are red, and the foliage is not only the most brilliant red of all our autumn colours, but it is the first to give notice by its change of the approach of winter. It is easy to see where it got its name.

Wood is light in colour, similar to that of the silver maple, hard, strong, and brittle.

Sycamore Maple.—Although frequently planted in this country as a shade tree it is, like the Norway, imported from Europe.

Moosewood, Mountain Maple, and Box Elder are three small American maples which can hardly be placed among timber trees, except possibly the last. Box elder or ash-leaved maple has the distinction of having a compound leaf.

Its wood is soft and of more value to the pulp maker than the lumberman. It is very hardy and has been used on the Western prairies, where more particular trees do not thrive.

THE OAKS

Perhaps as a family this group of trees is more uniformly valuable than any other found in North America.

They represent all that is the best among trees, being strong, hardy, long-lived, and valuable as timber.

There are oaks in Europe a thousand years old, but of course we have no records that go back so far.

It is a difficult tree to kill, because, when cut down or burned, a large number of healthy shoots grow from the stump or roots, and make a rapid second growth. The bark of all oaks contains tannin, and in the past our principal supply came from these trees. The old-fashioned method was to fell the tree, strip off the bark and leave the wood on the ground to decay. Oak lumber is now so valuable that this waste has been largely stopped.

White Oak Group.—The oaks all bear simple leaves which vary greatly. They may be divided into two groups. The white oak group all bear leaves with rounded lobes, no bristles, and ripen their acorns the first fall after blossoming. They rarely bear acorns before the age of twenty years. The second group has pointed lobes, each lobe ending in a bristle and do not ripen their acorns until the end of the second season.

Among the first group are the white oak proper, post or iron oak, mossy cup, chestnut oak, and swamp white oak. In the second group are the red, pin, scarlet and black oak, black jack, shingle, willow, and Spanish oaks.

White Oak.—One of the most common and best known members of the family, slow growing, sturdy, hardy, and beautiful. Acorns sweet compared with others. Leaves six to eight inches long, turning to beautiful shades of red in the fall, finally to a brown, and a large proportion remaining on all winter.

This tree is little affected by temporary weather changes. In the latitude of New York spring may have come and the maples be in full leaf, but the white oak shows no sign. Lawns are mowed, and finally, about June 1st, out come the oak leaves, steadily growing without regard to late cold snaps or hot days. During the summer a prolonged drought occurs. The leaves of the maple turn yellow and fall. Not so the oak; it goes right on about its business of growing green leaves and acorns, until the appointed time in the fall.

The maple leaves have all fallen and the trees are ready for winter.

The oak goes right on, as steadily as a clock, doing its work, apparently oblivious to such insignificant things as weather changes.

This is the character of the tree throughout—steady, reliable, and strong.

The wood is hard, durable, and valued in many trades. The best barrels for tight cooperage are made of it. Floors and interior trim, furniture, cabinet work, ship building, and the making of farming implements and wagons are all more or less dependent on it. The mission style of furniture is made almost exclusively from it; so is office furniture. Quartered oak is a form of lumber obtained by a special method of cutting.

In most trees when cut into lumber may be seen a series of lines radiating from the centre, and running in almost straight lines to the outside. They are called medullary rays, and are much more in evidence in some woods than others. They are particularly noticeable in oak. These rays are plates of flattened cells, and are usually much harder than the rest of the wood.

The object of quartering oak is to bring these rays to the surface of the board at as small an angle as possible, so that they will spread over the surface and give an added beauty to the grain. This is accomplished in one way by cutting the boards radially as shown in Fig. 243 (a). There is much waste in this method, and other methods less wasteful, but not as satisfactory, from the beauty standpoint, are shown at b, c and d.

Mossy Cup or Bur Oak.—So called from the form of the cup of the acorns. It ends in a heavy fringe which nearly covers the acorn proper—hence the name mossy cup.

The leaf somewhat resembles the white oak, having rounded lobes but a different outline.

Wood is hard, heavy, and strong, and is used for the same purposes as white oak. Found throughout the country east of the Rocky Mountains, but reaches its greatest development in the Ohio Valley.

Chestnut Oak.—Found from Maine to Alabama and west to Kentucky and Tennessee.

Wood heavy, hard, strong, tough, close-grained and durable in contact with the soil. Bark is strong with tannic acid. Acorn, long and oval, sweet and a favourite with the squirrels.

Two or three varieties of this tree are recognized.

Post or Iron Oak.—Along with the black and black jack oaks found on bleak and sandy plains, especially in Texas, but extends as far north as Massachusetts.

Leaves thick, leathery, and much darker in colour than the white oak. Wood used for ties, fencing and fuel.

Swamp White Oak.—Eastern United States. Favours wet localities and swamps, and reaches a height of a hundred feet.

Wood about as heavy as white oak, but inclined to check in seasoning. Used for same general purposes as white oak. Acorns sweet and white, about an inch long.

The Red Oak Group: Red Oak.—Tree reaches a height of a hundred and forty feet. Found from Maine to Georgia and as far west as Kansas. Grows more rapidly than white oak and has smoother bark. Acorns large with a shallow cup and very bitter. Wood darker than white oak, of a reddish brown colour, heavy, hard, and strong.

Used for furniture and interior finish. Has a tendency to check in drying.

Scarlet Oak.—Leaf more deeply indented than red oak. A very tall and beautiful tree with wood slightly heavier than red oak, strong and hard.

Acorns, like all of this group, remain on the tree the first winter, ripening the second fall. They are smaller than those of the red oak and the cup is not as shallow. It encloses a third or more of the nut, whose kernel is white. The name is taken from the brilliant colouring of the fall foliage.

Pin Oak.—Leaf form similar to scarlet oak and often mistaken for it by the beginner, but is smaller, and other features of the tree distinguish it. The acorns are small, about half an inch long, with a broad flat base, light brown and striped. The branching habit of the tree gives it the name. The great number of small slender branches, especially in winter, is very noticeable. Sometimes called swamp Spanish oak because of its fondness for wet places. Wood brown, hard, strong, and heavier than red and scarlet oaks.It is being planted largely now as a permanent shade tree and grows rapidly during its earlier years.

Black Oak, Yellow Oak.—Name derived from the bark, which is very dark. Yellow is the colour of the inner bark, hence the second name. Foliage varies, is thick, leathery and shiny, of a dark green colour.

Acorn is smaller than the red oak and often striped. Has yellow and bitter kernel.

Wood as heavy as pin oak, forty-four pounds to the cubic foot, strong and hard.

Used for fuel and for a yellow dye made from the inner bark.

Black Jack or Barren Oak.—Often found in company with the black oak on wind-swept, barren plains. Leaf very coarse and crude in both form and texture, having three lobes and a tapering base. These two trees frequently mix or hybridize, and, while not always things of beauty, they grow where other trees cannot live and should be recommended for their hardiness.

Wood even heavier than black oak, but, as the tree is small, it is used chiefly for firewood and the making of charcoal.

Willow Oak.—Foliage resembles the weeping willow. A southern tree, but will grow as far north as New York. Acorns ripen at end of second season, are small, with flat, wide base and shallow cup.

Kernel yellow and bitter.

Wood reddish brown, heavy, and strong.

Tree is popular in the South as an interesting shade tree.

Laurel Oak.—Name derived from the leaves, which are in shape similar to the mountain laurel, but lack its shiny lustre. A tree of the Middle West or Ohio Valley. Acorns, small and half enclosed by the cup; ripen second season.

Wood heavy and hard, checks in drying.

Used for shingles and rough construction.

Sometimes called shingle oak.