The growth rings are only moderately wide in the typical yellow oak; the ring is divided nearly evenly between springwood and summerwood. The former contains two or three rows of large, open pores. The medullary rays are fewer and smaller than those commonly found in oaks. A general average of the properties of the wood is somewhat difficult to give, because of remarkable variation in trees which grow under different conditions. In some instances, where the soil is fertile and climate favorable, the yellow oak produces a large, clear trunk, with sound wood, of good color, and equal to that of red oak; but the reverse is often the case--trunks are small and rough, wood hard and brittle, color not satisfactory, and strength not up to standard. Sometimes first class yellow oak passes without question as good red oak in the finish and furniture business, but that is not its usual course. Well developed wood is heavy, hard, strong, bright brown, tinged with red, with thin, lighter colored sapwood. Its weight is 43.9 pounds per cubic foot. The uses of yellow oak follow red oak pretty closely, but are not so extensive. Figures cannot be given to show the total annual cut of yellow oak, but the output is likely much below red oak, though it is found over a wider area, and some of it gets into the lumber yards in all regions where it grows. It is made into furniture from Maine to Louisiana. In cheaper grades of furniture, it may be the outside material, but its place is usually as frame stock, to give strength, but is not visible in the finished article. An exception to this is found in chairs where yellow oak is one of several species which go regularly to the sawmills which cut chair stock. Massachusetts snow plow makers use it, but of course it fills no such place in the South. In Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas it is bought by manufacturers of agricultural machinery. It is worked into cotton gins in Mississippi. Some extra fine stands of this oak occur in the Delta region of Mississippi. Frames of freight cars are made of it in Louisiana and Texas, and warehouse and depot floors are occasionally laid of this lumber. It is floor material in Michigan also, but that is of a better class than is required for warehouses. It is not infrequently sold as red oak for flooring and interior finish. Throughout the whole extent of yellow oak’s range it finds its way to wagon shops. It is less tough than white oak, but in many places, such as bolsters, sandboards, and hounds, it serves as well. Warehouse trucks and push cars are of this wood in many instances.