Beech is a beautiful tree with light gray bark, handsome foliage and valuable hard wood.

The seed is buckwheat-shaped, small and sweet. One of our most handsome shade trees, and although only one species is native to the United States, nurserymen have developed special varieties known as weeping beech and purple or copper beech. The European beech is also frequently planted on lawns and in parks. Its foliage is darker and has indentations so shallow that the leaf apparently has only a wavy outline.

Wood is hard, tough, fine-grained and takes a high polish. Used for the stocks of planes, handles, farming implements, and for some kinds of furniture.

The beech tree is supposed to be impervious to lightning, and recent experiments show that it offers considerable resistance to an electric current.

Birch.—The indentations of the beech are shallow and concave, while the birch leaf is known as double serrate, or double toothed, the teeth being themselves toothed. Five varieties are known in the Eastern states, black, red, yellow, white, and gray.

Black Birch, Sweet Birch.—The tree familiar to boys because of its aromatic bark, which contains salicylic acid used in treating cases of rheumatism. A large forest tree with handsome foliage, a very fine-winged seed and valuable wood. Heavy, hard, fine-grained, and takes a high polish. Used for wheel hubs, and the manufacture of furniture.

Red Birch.—Found in swamps and along rivers, especially in the South. Leaves smaller than black birch and wood much lighter in weight, but close-grained and strong. Used for furniture and wooden ware.

Yellow Birch.—A northern tree, growing a hundred feet high in northern New York and Canada. Leaves similar to black birch, but its bark is very different. The bark of the black birch is very dark, while that of yellow birch is of a silvery, yellowish gray, characteristic birch bark.

Wood heavy, hard, and similar to black birch. Used for the same general purposes.

White Birch, Canoe Birch, or Paper Birch.—Noted for its remarkable bark. White on the young trees, darker on old ones. Comes off in several distinct paper-like layers. Well known to ancient writers and used by them for paper. It contains a resinous oil which accounts for its water-resisting qualities so well known in the Indian birch-bark canoe. The inner bark contains starch and in the extreme north it is sometimes mixed with other foods. The sap may be used for making sugar. Wood is light brown and light weight but hard, strong, and close-grained. Used for shoe-lasts, fuel, and spools.

Gray Birch, Aspen-Leaved Birch.—Sometimes called white birch. The bark is white but patched with black and does not come off in layers as readily nor separate so easily from the wood as white birch.

A smaller tree with foliage that moves as freely in the wind as the aspen.

Leaf form very peculiar; a long thin stem, broad flat base, and long tapering outline, double serrate. A persistent little tree, very hardy and difficult to kill.

Wood is light and soft, close-grained but weak. Used for pulp, fuel, spools, and hoops.

Hop Hornbeam, Ironwood.—A little tree with delicate birch-like foliage and wood of great hardness. The name hop is derived from the fruit cluster bearing the seeds, which resembles the hop. The bark is in remarkable contrast to the foliage, being deeply furrowed and smooth, as if a smooth skin were drawn over powerful muscles.

The wood weighs over fifty pounds to the cubic foot, is tough, close-grained, hard and will take a high polish. Used for mallets, tool handles, and levers.

Hornbeam or Blue Birch.—A small tree with dark gray or bluish bark. Leaves similar to ironwood, but narrower. Wood weighs forty-five pounds to the cubic foot, hard and strong, similar to ironwood and used for the same purposes.

Elm, White or American.—The well-known shade tree of the North. Leaf is lop-sided, one side being considerably larger than the other, double serrate. Aside from being a beautiful shade tree, the wood is very valuable in several trades, being heavy, hard, strong, and tough. It does not split easily and is valued for such critical places as wheel hubs and saddles. Used in cooperage, and supply nearly exhausted.

Red Elm, Slippery Elm.—Red from the dark brown colour of its wood and slippery from the character of the inner bark. The slippery elm of commerce is made from this, which sufficiently explains its character.Leaves are larger, coarser, and rougher than white elm and wood is heavy, hard, close-grained and tough. Used for ties, fence posts, and agricultural implements.

Rock Elm, Cork Elm.—Rock from the nature of the soil it is particularly fond of—rocky cliffs or hills—cork from the corky ridges which appear on the branches. A valuable timber tree but found in limited quantities. The wood is unlike the red and white elms in that it will take a high polish. Hard and tough, close-grained but easily worked. Used for cabinet work, farming implements, ties, and to some extent for bridge timbers.

Basswood, Linden.—A large timber tree of the Northern states and Canada. Its flowers are very sweet and attract the bees to such an extent that it is sometimes called the "bee tree." It has several varieties, as the small-leaved linden of the South, the silver linden, weeping silver linden, etc.

Leaves are heart-shaped, serrate, and lop-sided. A valuable shade tree. Wood is soft, weak, even-grained, does not split easily. The favourite wood for pyrography because of its white colour, freedom from pitch, etc. Used for boxes of wagons, wooden ware, and to some extent for furniture making.

Holly.—A broad-leaved evergreen. Leaves and berries used as Christmas decorations. A southern tree found as far north as Long Island. Wood very light in colour, but hard and close-grained. Takes a high polish. Used in cabinet work and engraving.

Cherry, Wild or Black.—The cabinet wood in common use is from this tree, although several varieties are known to botanists. The wild cherry of the roadside in the East, but a large forest tree west of the Mississippi, especially from Kansas to Texas. Wood a beautiful reddish brown, close-grained, strong, and will take a high polish. Used in cabinet work, interior of houses, and for car finish.

Tulip, White Wood, Yellow Poplar.—The last name is incorrect, as the tree is not a poplar. White wood is also inaccurate, as the only part of the wood that is white is the sap wood. A member of the magnolia family found throughout the East but rare in New England. Has a peculiar leaf with four points, smooth, shiny, and distinctive. Flowers the size and colour of a yellow or orange-coloured tulip. Wood greenish yellow, light, soft, brittle, free from knots, and inclined to warp more than white pine, for which it is now being substituted. Used for many purposes, including cabinet work, interior finish, panels, etc.

Sweet Gum, Red Gum, Liquid Amber.—Like the tulip, a large, handsome tree found throughout the East. Leaves have five fingers resembling a starfish, seeds produced in seed balls about an inch in diameter. The seed itself is very small.

Wood a beautiful reddish brown with handsome grain, heavy but soft, brittle, weak, warps and winds badly.

Used to some extent in interior finish and in wood turning.

Chestnut.—The well-known tree of the East. Wood light and open-grained, soft, but very durable in contact with the soil, hence its use for ties and fence posts. Has beautiful grain and takes a good polish. Used for furniture.

A fungous disease is rapidly destroying this tree in the East.

Sycamore, Buttonball, Buttonwood.—Sycamore is incorrect. This is the American plane, a near relative of the European plane tree. Buttonball is derived from the shape of the seed pods, which are round, an inch or more in diameter, and stay on the tree during the winter.

This is the tree which sheds part of its bark each year, giving the trunk a mottled appearance.

Wood is hard and heavy, has an interesting grain and takes a good polish. Used for interior finish of houses.

Poplar.—A large family of trees of which nine members are recognized in North America. All have light and soft woods of little value except for making boxes, packing cases and wood pulp.

Their value lies in hardiness, quick growth and ability to cover burned areas so as to give a forest cover in localities where other trees will not grow. The balsam poplar, or balm of Gilead, formerly planted extensively as a shade tree, reaches well up into Alaska, and in the Yukon territory reaches a height of a hundred feet. Immense forests cover hundreds of square miles. As a shade tree it possesses one or two good qualities, quick growth and an indifference to the smoke and grime of cities. It is otherwise not very desirable.

Dogwood.—A small tree with brilliant flowers in the spring and bright red berries in the fall. Wood heavy, hard, tough, and close-grained. Used for hubs of wheels, tool handles, and mallets.

BROAD-LEAVED TREES WITH COMPOUND LEAVES

Black Walnut.—Found throughout the East, most abundantly in the Mississippi Valley. Leaves bear from fifteen to twenty-three leaflets. Nut is enclosed in a green husk rich in tannic acid. Wood a beautiful dark brown, sapwood light. Heavy, hard, strong. Takes a high polish. Used in cabinet work, for furniture, inside finish, and for gunstocks.

Getting very scarce.

White Walnut or Butternut.—A smaller tree than the black walnut, the nuts being more elongated and pointed. Both nuts and leaves have an odour distinctive and different from the black walnut. Wood also lighter in colour, softer but takes a good polish. Used for interior finish and furniture.

Hickory.—Nine species found in the United States. The pecan is a hickory, also the pignut, shellbark, etc. All have wood noted for its elasticity, toughness and strength. It is heavy, hard and close-grained. Used for agricultural implements, wagons, carriages, axe handles, cooperage, and automobile spokes.

The nuts of the various species vary greatly, from the bitter pignut to the popular pecan.

Ash.—Several American species, all bearing wood which is hard, strong, and elastic. Coarser in grain and lighter in weight than hickory, hence more valuable for oars and baskets.

The ash is a tall, clean-cut tree with beautiful foliage and bears a winged seed. The wood is valuable for carriage work, farming implements, furniture and is used for interior finish.

Buckeye.—The American relative of the horse chestnut, which is a European tree. Native to the Mississippi Valley. Leaf has five or seven leaflets radiating from the end of the stem. Nuts are similar to the horse chestnut in colour, but not so regular in form. Wood is light in colour and weight, used in making wooden ware, pulp, wooden limbs, and occasionally for buildings.

Locust.—A tree belonging to the same botanical family as the bean and pea. This is seen in its flowers, which resemble the sweet pea and are fragrant. Seeds are beans borne in pods, varying in size and shape from the delicate light brown little seed of the honey locust, to the coal-black, stonelike seed of the Kentucky coffee tree.

Black Locust, Yellow Locust.—Found from New York south to northern Georgia and west to Arkansas. Seed pods three or four inches long. Wood yellow, heavy, hard and close-grained. The most durable wood we have in contact with the soil, used extensively for posts.

Honey Locust.—Native to the Mississippi Valley, but hardy when transplanted. Doubly compound leaves of great delicacy. Tree has many thorns growing often in great clusters and sometimes six inches long. Seeds borne in long, dark brown pods often twisted.

Wood reddish brown, hard, strong, coarse-grained and durable. Used for wheel hubs.

Kentucky Coffee Tree.—Named from the fact that the pioneers made a coffee substitute from its black beans. A southern tree, occasionally found as far north as New York. Leaves doubly compound. Seeds borne in large pods shaped like a lima bean about ten inches long.

Wood light brown, heavy, strong and coarse-grained. Checks considerably in drying, but durable and takes a good polish.

the country life press, garden city, n. y.