Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-05-23
NAIVE WOODS.
-Four Hundred Large specimens Col
leetud.

AT the expense of tie well known banker,
Morris X. Jcsup, collection Of the native
woods of the entire United Sa,es, is being
prepared and will he complete this year, to be
presented to the Museum OF Natural History
in NewYork The logs ate, for the most part,
| five feet long. At one end II section of half
| the thickness Of the log is removed In this
| way the longitudinal and transverse grain
| ings are both shuwG. Tnpre is also n
diagonal cut on the section, which displays
that graining also The remainder of the
log remains in its natural condition with the
bark attached. The work is heinG done hy
s. d. Dill, under the general charge Of
Professor Sargent, OF Harvard.
In the United States, says writer III the
New York Tribune, there are thirty-sx
varieties of OAK and thirty-four of pine. We
have nine kinds of fir, five varieties of
spruce and four of hemlock. The finest
specimen in the collection, though not the
largest, Is a section of the Douglass fir. The
bark is pltted with holes where the wood.
peckers insert grub bearing acrons, leaving
the grub to fatten, and then in the fullness
OF time devouring it. Another splendid
specimen is pine, the Lambctaua which
measures five feet across. A section OF the
sempercirens, is eight feet six inches ia
diameter. This is the red wood of com.
merce, not the big tree, which is TIE SeQUsid
giganteG. A specimen Of the spruce genus
the Picea Engelmlnni, is from tree 40
years old and of "A sngulaTly fine grain
There are four varieties OF hemlock, seven Of
juniper and four 81 cypress, and the Louis
lana cypress, or 7dr0dium, forms genus 10y
itself
The pecan nut tree is hickory, the ca1yC
rdtornis, the shell-barlI walnut of tbs
North is the cdrya alba, and there are sis
other hickories whose nuts are not edible
But they are singularly servceahle in com.
merce. The youth Of the country will he
grieved TO learn that there are only two
varieties OF persimmons, that of Texas and
that o. Virginia, both of which shrink
enormously in seasoning, so that their wood
Is not likely to be utilized either for lumber
or furniture. But much NAV be done witt
with the persimmon by cultivation, and q
seedless variety OF the Virgnian kind ha,
been raised in Tennessee. 1t ia thought thai
the Japanese persimmon might be acclimat
lied Hast OF the Rocky Mountains: its WOOD
is more servceable than that of our owl
trees. We have twelve varieties Of ash, ,
wood that is coming more and more int
prominence, and deservedly so. Its tough
ness Is proverbial, and has long been utilizeC
by carriage makers for certain parts OF th'
wheels. But it is fine, handsome wood
superior In appearance 10 white pine ant
1t is now being used largely for tables
desks, benches, etc, combining in itself Thu
qualities of oak and pine The three varie
ties most used are the hme7Tcdna, tn,
Oreg0nd and the sanlJucit6lia. There ar,
six varieties of birch, of which the hes
: known is the paper bark. The yellow hlcl
is good, handsome wood, and grew larcrl,
10 the Adirondack region, ana upon ,h'
Ausable and Sararac rivers. BIT l. ha
nearly all been cut down for the force
where charcoal hammered blooms are man
ufactured.
| or willows there are Eighteen varieties. q
, poplar nine, Of alder seven; of lcecl
throughout the United States there is hu
one, and that unfortunately Is not the on
that gives the fine nuts. The blue beech o
| the Carollnas often called the iron wood. !
not beech at all. Il is a carpiaus. not
tdgus. There is considerable confusion ais
over the basswood, the genuine bling th
tulip tree, or liyiOdendr0n. All Tiers il
5 cludng the three varei,s of 1rha are t0 h
2 for the future considered counierf. its. III
+ sweet. gum is also q Stumbling block, IN
rue being the hquidamJar. Then III
. thorns are also source of error. There
the ThdmnuS, which las three varieties. an
r me erdtG9uS, which has sixteen, and tn
e whole ninrteeu are unfortunately Gale
either black-tborn or buck.thnrn, or whit,
thorn. The RhuS is another roint Of mi
: taklngs, one variety in Virginia being callc
, poison oak, and another in California n-Iso
I IVY: There are ten kinds Of maple, Glove
C Indigenous varieties OF pruHus four hollie
: ana tve varieties of rec that has no oiht
name than naked wood. Boauically it
Q the Eugentd. Then there Is the svcamor
, p9deanus or plane tree, which is n N nc
: better name than the former. Sycamore
@ only the Indian name Sycamore, or gre
n sachem. There is mahogany that grows
e Florida, but either the specimen is pc,
, one or the variety amounts to little; or
: there are in the collection two palms, Il
e cocoanut and the palmetto or The beaulif
r magnoias of the South there are sevc
n varieties, and the elm of the North has fiv
i including tu'ca the slippery elm.