Trees of the Northern United States / Their Study, Description and Determination

by A. C. Apgar

Fig. 2.

Since all the stems with which we have to deal are exogens, a particular description of that class will here be given. [Fig. 1] shows the appearance of a section of an Ash stem six years old. The central portion, which is about as thick as wrapping-twine, is the pith; from this outward toward the bark can be seen the six annual layers of the wood; and then comes the bark, consisting of two portions. First there is an inside layer of greenish material, the fresh-growing portion, and lastly the outer or dead matter. This outer portion must crack open, peel off, or in some way give a chance for the constant growth of the trunk. The different kinds of trees are readily known by the appearance of the bark of the trunk, due to the many varieties of surface caused by the allowance for growth. None of the characteristics of trees afford a better opportunity for careful observation and study than the outer bark.

The Birches have bark that peels off in thin horizontal layers—the color, thinness, and toughness differing in the different species; the Ashes have bark which opens in many irregular, netted cracks moderately near each other; the bark of the Chestnut opens in large longitudinal cracks quite distant from one another. The color of the bark and the character of the scales are quite different in the White and the Black Oaks.

In the woody portion radiating lines may be seen; these are the silver grain; they are called by the botanist medullary rays.

The central portion of the wood of many large stems is darker in color than the rest. This darker portion is dead wood, and is called heart-wood; the outer portion, called sap-wood, is used in carrying the sap during the growing season. The heart-wood of the Walnut-tree is very dark brown; that of the Cherry, light red; and that of the Holly, white and ivory-like. The heart-wood is the valuable part for lumber.

If examined under a magnifying glass, the annual layers will be seen to consist of minute tubes or cells. In most trees these tubes are much larger in the portion that grew early in the season, while the wood seems almost solid near the close of the annual layer; this is especially true in the Ashes and the Chestnut; some trees, however, show but little change in the size of the cells, the Beech being a good example. In a cross-section, the age of such trees as the Chestnut can readily be estimated, while in the Beech it is quite difficult to do this. Boxwood, changing least in the character of its structure, is the one always used for first-grade wood-engravings.

When wood is cut in the direction of the silver grain, or cut "quartering" as it is called by the lumbermen, the surface shows this cellular material spread out in strange blotches characteristic of the different kinds of wood. [Fig. 16] shows an Oak where the blotches of medullary rays are large. In the Beech the blotches are smaller; in the Elm quite small. Lumber cut carefully in this way is said to be "quartered," and with most species its beauty is thereby much increased.

Any one who studies the matter carefully can become acquainted with all the useful and ornamental woods used in a region; the differences in the color of the heart-wood, the character of the annual layers, and the size and the distribution of the medullary rays, afford enough peculiarities to distinguish any one from all others.

Branching.—The regular place from which a branch grows is the axil of a leaf, from what is called an axillary bud; but branches cannot grow in the axils of all leaves. A tree with opposite leaves occasionally has opposite branches; while a tree with alternate leaves has all its branches alternate.

Most branches continue their growth year after year by the development of a bud at the end, called a terminal bud. Many trees form this bud for the next year's growth so early in the year that it is seldom or never killed by the winter weather; such trees grow very regularly and are symmetrical in form. Most evergreens are good examples. [Fig. 3] represents a good specimen. The age of such trees, if not too great, can be readily ascertained by the regularity of each year's growth. The tree represented is sixteen years old. The branches that started the fifth year, about the age at which regular growth begins, are shown by their scars on the trunk.