Fig. 132. A, black ash; B, white ash; C, green ash.
The different species of ash may be identified as follows (Fig. 132):
| 1. Pores in the summer wood more or less united into lines. | |
| a. The lines short and broken, occurring mostly near the limit of the ring. | White Ash. |
| b. The lines quite long and conspicuous in most parts of the summer wood. | Green Ash. |
| 2. Pores in the summer wood not united into lines, or rarely so. | |
| a. Heart-wood reddish brown and very firm. | Red Ash. |
| b. Heart-wood grayish brown, and much more porous. | Black Ash. |
In the oaks, two groups can be readily distinguished by the manner in which the pores are distributed in the summer wood. (Fig. 133.) In the white oaks the pores are very fine and numerous and crowded in the outer part of the summer wood, while in the black or red oaks the pores are larger, few in number, and mostly isolated. The live oaks, as far as structure is concerned, belong to the black oaks, but are much less porous, and are exceedingly heavy and hard.
Fig. 133. Wood of Red Oak. (For white oak see fig. 129, [p. 294].)
Fig. 134. Wood of Chestnut.