The Principal Species of Wood: Their Characteristic Properties: First EditionSnow, Charles H. (Charles Henry)
Science
The Principal Species of Wood: Their Characteristic Properties: First Edition
Snow, Charles H. (Charles Henry)
Wood
Modulus of Rupture.
10,400.
Remarks.
Canadensis refers to Canada, the locality where tree excels. [p164]
FOOTNOTES
The Southern or Carolina Hemlock (_T. caroliniana_) resembles
Hemlock. The Western Hemlock (_T. heterophylla_, Alaska to
California) attains height of 180 feet, diameter of 9 feet, and is
said to afford heavier and better wood. This tree is known by the
following names (Sudworth):
Western Hemlock, Hemlock Spruce (Cal.).
Hemlock (Oreg., Idaho, Wash.).
Alaska Pine (Northwestern Lumberman).
Prince Albert's Fir, Western Hemlock Fir, California Hemlock Spruce
(England).
"The Western Hemlock." Allen, U. S. Forestry Bureau Bulletin No. 33.
LARCH. TAMARACK.
(_Larix_.)
Larch was well known in the older time, and was prized in Europe
and the Orient. The two principal American species are also called
tamarack and hackmatack. The Eastern larch or tamarack (_L.
americana_) prefers peculiar low, wet areas known as tamarack swamps.
The Western tree (_L. occidentalis_) resembles the European species
and prefers dry places.
Larch wood has always been regarded as very durable. It is noted by
Pliny and other ancient authors.[88] Vitruvius mentions a bridge
that, having burned, was replaced by one of larch, because that wood
would not burn as readily.[89] The foundation-piles of Venice are
said to be of larch.[90] It should be remembered that the identities
of ancient woods are not always beyond question. American larch
resembles, if it does not equal, true foreign wood. The trees are
tall and straight, but so slender as to be seldom cut into lumber,
almost the entire supply being demanded for posts, ties, and poles.
The exceedingly durable wood resembles spruce in structure, and hard
pine in weight and appearance.
Larch trees are marked by the fact that their foliage is deciduous.
The little leaves, gathered in tufts or bundles, are of a bright
pea-green when fresh in the springtime. The appearance of tamarack
trees when divested of foliage in the winter is very gloomy.
FOOTNOTES
[Footnote 88: Pliny, XVI, 43-49 and XVI, 30.]
[Footnote 89: Vitruvius, II, 9.]
[Footnote 90: Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. XIV, p. 310.]
[Illustration: PLATE 32. LARCH (_Larix_).
Larch Trees in Winter.]
TAMARACK, LARCH.
_Larix americana Michx._
_Larix laricina (Du Roi) Koch._
Nomenclature. (Sudworth.)
Tamarack, Larch, American Larch (local and common names).
Hackmatack (Me., N. H., Mass., R. I., Del., Ill., Mich.).
Black Larch, Red Larch (Minn., Mich.).
Juniper (Me., Canada).
Locality.
Northern United States and southern Canada, east from Great Lakes.
Features of Tree.
Seventy to ninety feet high, one to three feet in diameter. Short
pea-green deciduous leaves in tufts. A slender tree, winter aspect
gloomy.
Color, Appearance, or Grain of Wood.
Heartwood light brown, sapwood nearly white. Coarse conspicuous
grain, compact structure, annual layers pronounced.
Structural Qualities of Wood.
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