brown-colored, hard
wood of remarkable durability. The white oak is the monarch of
the forest, as it lives very long and is larger and stronger than
the majority of its associates. The timber is used for railroad
ties, furniture, and in general construction work where tough,
durable lumber is needed. Many of our wooden ships have been
built of oak. The white oaks often grow as high as 100 feet and
attain massive dimensions. The seeds of the white oaks are light
brown acorns, which are highly relished by birds and animals.
Many southern farmers range their hogs in white oak forests so
that the porkers can live on the acorn crop.

Beech wood is strong and tough and is used in making boxes and
barrels and casks for the shipment of butter, sugar and other
foods. It makes axles and shafts for water-wheels that will last
for many years. The shoes worn by Dutch children are generally
made of beech. The wood is red in color. The beech tree is of
medium size growing to a height of about 75 feet above the
ground. There is only one common variety of beech tree in this
country.

Hickory trees are very popular because they produce sweet, edible
nuts. The hickory wood is exceedingly strong and tough and is
used wherever stout material is needed. For the spokes, wheels
and bodies of buggies and wagons, for agricultural implements,
for automobile wheels and for handles, hickory is unexcelled. The
shafts of golf clubs as well as some types of base-ball bats are
made of hickory. Most hickory trees are easy to identify on
account of their shaggy bark. The nuts of the hickory, which
ripen in the autumn, are sweet, delicious and much in demand.

Our native elm tree is stately, reaching a height of 100 feet and
a diameter of 5 to 6 feet or more. It is one of our best shade
trees. Elm wood is light brown in color and very heavy and
strong. It is the best available wood for making wagon wheel hubs
and is also used largely for baskets and barrels. The rims of
bicycle wheels generally are made of elm.

The canoe birch is a tree which was treasured by the early
Indians because it yielded bark for making canoes. Birch wood is
used in making shoe lasts and pegs because of its strength and
light weight, and the millions of spools on which cotton is wound
are made of birch wood. School desks and church furniture, also,
are made of birch. The orange-colored inner bark of the birch
tree is so fine and delicate that the early settlers could use i