CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TREE: Height, 60'-100'; diameter, 3'-4'; branches, low; bark, silvery, yellow, gray, peeling horizontally into thin, papery, persistent layers, but on very old trunks, there are rough, irregular, plate-like scales; leaves, ovate, sharply, doubly serrate; fruit, erect, 1" strobiles. APPEARANCE OF WOOD: Color, light reddish brown, sap-wood white; diffuse-porous; rings, obscure; grain, close, fairly straight; rays, numerous, obscure. PHYSICAL QUALITIES: Heavy (21st in this list); 40 lbs. per cu. ft.; sp. gr., 0.6553; very strong (2nd in this list); very elastic (2d in this list); medium hard (22d in this list); shrinkage, 6 per cent.; warps .........; not durable; rather hard to work, polishes well; splits with difficulty, holds nails well. COMMON USES: Furniture, spools, button molds, shoe lasts, shoe pegs, pill boxes, yokes. REMARKS: The birches are not usually distinguished from one another in the market. [Illustration: Radial Section, life size.] [Illustration: Cross-section, magnified 37-1/2 diameters.] [Illustration: Tangential Section, life size.] 39 BEECH. _Fagus grandifolia_ Ehrhart. _Fagus americana_ Sweet. _Fagus ferruginea_ Aiton. _Fagus atropunicea_ (Marshall) Sudworth. _Fagus_ (Greek _phago_ means to eat), refers to edible nut; _ferruginea_, refers to the iron rust color of the leaves in the fall; _atropunicea_, meaning dark red or purple, may refer to the color of the leaves of the copper beech. [Illustration: Habitat.] HABITAT: (See map); best in southern Alleghany Mountains and lower Ohio valley. [Illustration: Leaf.] CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TREE: Height, 70'-80' and even 120'; diameter, 3'-4'; in forest, trunk tall, slender, sinewy; bark, smooth, ashy gray; leaves, feather-veined, wedge-shaped, serrate; leaf buds, long, pointed; fruit, 2 small triangular nuts, enclosed in burr, seeds about once in 3 years. APPEARANCE OF WOOD: Color, reddish, variable, sap-wood white; diffuse-porous; rings, obscure; grain, straight; rays, broad, very conspicuous. PHYSICAL QUALITIES: Heavy (20th in this list); 42 lbs. per cu. ft.; sp. gr., 0.6883; very strong (10th in this list); elastic (13th in this list); hard (22d in this list); shrinkage, 5 per cent.; warps and checks during seasoning; not durable; hard to work, takes fine polish; splits with difficulty, hard to nail. COMMON USES: Plane stocks, shoe lasts, tool handles, chairs. REMARKS: Often forms pure forests. Uses due to its hardness. [Illustration: Radial Section, life size.] [Illustration: Cross-section, magnified 37-1/2 diameters]. [Illustration: Tangential Section, life size.] 40 CHESTNUT. _Castanea dentata_ (Marshall) Borkhausen. _Castanea_, the classical Greek and Latin name; _dentata_, refers to toothed leaf. [Illustration: Habitat.] HABITAT: (See map); best in western North Carolina, and eastern Tennessee. [Illustration: Leaf.]