The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-07-29
SCARCITY OF GENUINE WHITE
 OAK TIMBER

Washington, D. C.. July 29.-It will 1urDrise most persons who know some thing about oak to be told that the so-oalied white oak timber of our markets is often a mixture not only of various species of the white oak group but also of other special, such as the red oak. This general un- known fact is reported by the U. g.. Department of Agriculture, which. as . part of its forestry work, is fre- quently called upon to pass judgment dispute aRTn ene 'oeh'''' or market "00'' m
 Foresters divide all the oaks into two distinct groups, the white oak group and the black oak group. One way of distinguishing the two is by the fact that the black oaks require two years to mature their aerons. while the white oaks take but one. The woods Of the two groups of oaks arc also structurally different. The true white oak known to bot1nists as Quercus alba, is merely one of the |. species which make up the white oak group Red oak on the other hand, belongs to the black group. Red oak mas a number of other common names, among them mountain oak, black oak, and Spanish oak.
 There is so much confusion in the ordinary use of names of the oaks that it is almost impossible to keep them straight without resorting to the scientific names, but the marketing of wood of the black oak group as white oak is hardly fair to the con- sumner. Red oak, for instance, is now much more abundant than white oak, grows faster. and is generally regard ed as inferior. The two species of ten grow together and occupy the same general region.
 Tn Ixy nf oh market white oak was derived almost , entirely, 1t is safe to say, from Quer- GUS alba, the true white oak. This species combines approximately the utmost strength and toughness of any of the timber oaks, exempting possibly the southern live oak, which in the CO., lonial days was so highly prized for shipbuilding that it-was protected by special laws. The immense inroads made upon the then apparently mex haustible white oak forests, which stretched from the Atlantic seaboard to about Missouri, gradually so re- duced the supply that the use of other species became inevitable.
 At the present time it is almost im- possible to obtain a consignment of white oak that does not contain pieces of some other species. Of the white oak group those most used, in addi- tion to the true white oak, are bur
  post oak, swamp white oak, COW oak, and overcup oak of the black oak group. Texas red oak, red oak, and spotted or water oak
 Real white oak timer of number one i, quality is very largely cut into quar- fer-sawed boards, while a combina- Aon of one or more white oaks and red oak may constitute other cuts of F"white oak" In many markets, the term cabinet white oak is now un- derstood to include a mixture of white oak and red oak. while it often signi- fies red oak only.
 The question, What is white oak?'' is now coming up among consumers and manufacturers of commercial oak timber. The above named white oaks are distinct but closely related species, which together must be depended up- on for the future supply. For the or dinary purposes for which true white oak is used. practically all the trees of this group yield woods thatscan be interchanged and will serve equally we'll