Part 26

What lumbermen call red oaks, speaking in the plural, botanists prefer to call black oaks. The difference is only a difference in name for the same group of trees. The general dark color of the bark suggests the name to botanists, while the red tint of the wood appeals more to the lumberman, and he prefers the general name red oaks for the group. They mature their acorns the second year, while the trees belonging to the white oak group ripen theirs the first year. There are other differences, some of which are apparent to the casual observer, and others are seen only by the trained eye--often aided by the microscope--of the dendrologist. Several of the black oaks have leaves with sharp pointed lobes, ending in bristles. This helps to separate them from the white oaks, but not from one another, for the true red oak, the scarlet oak, the yellow oak, the pin oak, and others, have the sharp-pointed lobes on their leaves; while the willow oaks have no lobes or bristles on theirs, yet are as truly in the black oak group as any of the others. The identification of tree species, particularly when they are as much alike as some of the oaks are, is too difficult for the layman if he undertakes to carry it along the whole line; but it is comparatively easy if confined to the leading woods only. An understanding of the geographical range of a certain tree often helps to separate it from others. The knowledge that a tree does not grow in a particular part of the country, is proof at once that a tree in that region resembling it must be something else. If that principal is borne in mind it will greatly lessen mistakes in identifying trees. In accounts of the black oaks in the following pages, a careful delimiting of ranges will be attempted in the case of each.

The range of red oak extends from Nova Scotia and southern New Brunswick through Quebec and along the northern shore of Lake Huron, west to Nebraska. It covers the Ohio valley and reaches as far south as middle Tennessee. It runs south through the Atlantic states to Virginia, while among the Appalachian mountains the range is prolonged southward into northern Georgia. That is the tree’s extreme southern limit. It reaches its largest size in the region north of the Ohio river, and among the mountain valleys of West Virginia, and southward to Tennessee and North Carolina. It is a northern species. Toward its southern limit it meets the northern part of the Texan red oak’s range (Quercus texana). There is some overlapping, and in many localities the two species grow side by side.

The red oak is known by that name in all parts of its range, but in some regions it is called black oak, and in others Spanish oak. The latter name properly belongs to another oak (Quercus digitata) which touches it along the southern border of its range.

The average size of red oak in the best part of its range is a little under that of white oak, but some specimens are 150 feet high and six feet in diameter. Heights of seventy and eighty feet are usual, and diameters of three and four are frequent. The forest grown tree disposes of its lower limbs early in life, and develops a long, smooth trunk, with a narrow crown. The bark on young stems and on the upper parts of limbs of old trees is smooth and light gray. All leaves do not have the same number of lobes, and they are sharp pointed, and fall early in autumn.

The acorns are bitter, and are regarded as poor mast. Hogs will leave them alone if they can find white oak acorns, and squirrels will do likewise. The best red oak timber grows from acorns, though stumps will send up sprouts. The sprout growth may become trees of fairly large size, but they are apt to decay at the butt. The acorn-grown tree is as free from defects as the average forest tree. Cracks sometimes develop in the trunk, extending up and down many feet. Unless the logs are carefully sawed, a considerable loss occurs where these cracks cross the boards. Trunks are occasionally bored by worms, as all other oaks may be.

Red oak grows rapidly. It will produce small sawlogs in the lifetime of a man. It is a favorite tree for crossties, and railroads have made large plantings for that purpose. The ties do not last well in their natural state, but they are easy to treat with preservatives by which several years are added to their period of service. It has been a favorite tree with European planters for the past two hundred years; but the most of the plantings beyond the sea have been for ornament in parks and private grounds.

The principal interest in red oak in this country is due to its value for lumber. That interest is of comparatively recent date. Some red oak has always been used for rails, clapboards, slack cooperage, and rough lumber; but while white oak was cheap and plentiful, sawmill men usually let red oak alone. It had a poor reputation, which is now known to have been undeserved.

Red oak is lighter than white oak, and it is generally regarded as possessing less strength and stiffness. The wide rings of annual growth, and the distinct layers of springwood and summerwood, give the basis for good figure. To this may be added broad and regular medullary rays which are nicely brought out by quarter-sawing. The tone of the wood is red, to which fact the name red oak is due. It has large, open pores. A magnifying glass is not required to see them in the end of a stick. It is said that smoke may be blown through a piece of red oak a foot in length. These open pores disqualify the wood for use in tight cooperage. Liquids will leak through the pores. Statistics of sawmill output in this country do not separate the white and black oaks, and the quantity of lumber sawed from any one species is not known. Manufacturers are disposed to separate them. Some furniture makers use red oak exclusively for certain purposes, and the same rule is followed by makers of other commodities.

TEXAN RED OAK

TEXAN RED OAK

(Quercus Texana)

The line between red oak (Quercus rubra) and Texan red oak is closely drawn by botanists, but lumbermen do not recognize much difference except toward the extreme ranges of each. Some call one simply red oak and the other southern red oak, but that leaves doubtful the timber on a large area occupied by both species. Their ranges overlap two or three hundred miles in the Ohio valley and on the southern tributaries of the Ohio river in Kentucky and Tennessee. A large amount of red oak from that region goes to market, and no one knows, and few care, whether it is of the northern or southern species. It is usually a mixture of both. But outside of the common zone where both trees grow, the woods of the two are kept fairly well separate. Thirty years ago Texan red oak received slight recognition from botanists. When Charles S. Sargent compiled in 1880 a volume of over 600 pages, “Forest Trees of North America,” for the United States government, and which was published as volume 9 of the Tenth Census, he did not so much as accord this tree the dignity of a species, but called it a variety of the common red oak. Its range and its great importance were little understood at that time. Sargent thus described its range: “Western Texas, valley of the Colorado river with the species and replacing it south and west, extending to the valley of the Neuces river and the Limpia mountains.”

Compare that restricted range with that given by the same author twenty-five years later in his “Manual of the Trees of North America.” He gives it thus: “Northeastern Iowa and central Illinois, through southern Illinois and Indiana and western Kentucky and Tennessee, to the valley of the Apalachicola river, Florida, northern Georgia, central South Carolina, and the coast plains of North Carolina, and through southern Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana to the mountains of western Texas; most abundant and of its largest size on the low bottom lands of the Mississippi basin, often forming a considerable part of lowland forests; less abundant in the eastern Gulf states; in western Texas on low limestone hills and on bottom lands in the neighborhood of streams.”

This quotation is given in full because it shows how scientific men change their opinions to conform to new evidence. The range of that particular species was as wide in 1880 as in 1905, but botanists had not yet worked it out. Thus knowledge increases constantly, and year by year the resources of American forests are better understood. In this instance, what in 1880 was supposed to be a rather insignificant variety, occupying a restricted area in Texas, was found by 1905 to be a separate species, covering sixteen states in whole or in part. Similar progress concerning the forests has been made all over the country, not only by botanists but by lumbermen. Trees which were formerly considered so nearly alike that no distinctions were made, are now recognized to be quite different.

The Texan red oak is frequently called spotted oak. The appearance of the bark suggests the name. Large, irregular, whitish patches cover the trunks. That peculiarity is not noticeable everywhere and on all trees, but is common west of the Mississippi river. The tree is sometimes known as Spanish oak in the southwestern part of its range, but the name is ill-advised, for the true Spanish oak (Quercus digitata) occurs in the same region. The most usual name for this species, in nearly all parts of its range, is simply red oak.

The Texan red oak varies greatly in size of trees, as is natural in so wide a geographical range. Trees have been reported 200 feet high and eight feet in diameter; but sizes like that are extraordinary and attempts to locate anything approaching them at this day have not been successful. The average in the lower Mississippi valley is eighty or ninety feet in height, and two or three in diameter. In Texas this size is seldom reached, the average not much exceeding half of it.

The leaves of Texan red oak are about half the size of those of the northern species. That alone will not serve to separate them, because of such great variation. It applies only to averages. The southern trees’ leaves are from three to six inches long, two to five wide; the northern species bears leaves from five to nine inches long and four to six wide. The acorns of the two species do not show so much difference in size. The states which use Texan red oak in largest amounts are Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas, though some of this wood finds its way to northern markets where it passes as red oak without any questions. That condition renders very difficult the task of separating the woods. It is not so difficult further south where the true red oak is seldom seen. Shipments go north, not south. The two red oaks mingle in the lumber yards north of the Ohio river, but seldom south of the Tennessee river.

Investigations made by the Forest Service of the utilization of woods in various states show that factories report the annual use of Texan red oak as follows: Louisiana 1,777,000 feet, Mississippi 2,400,000, Texas 2,814,000, Alabama 5,500,000, and Arkansas 39,301,000. This does not include lumber or other forest products used in the rough, or lumber shipped out of the respective states.

Texan red oak is heavier than its northern relative, hard, light, reddish-brown, much of it of rapid growth, with wide, clearly defined annual rings. The medullary rays are prominent, and show well in quarter-sawing. The best of the wood is as strong as red oak, and compares favorably with it in physical properties.

One of the most exacting uses of wood is for fixtures, such as counters in stores, bars in saloons, partitions in banks and counting rooms, and standing desks in offices. Extra wide and long pieces are required, and they must show satisfactory figure, and be finished to harmonize with the interior of the room where they are placed. Texan red oak is selected by builders in many southern cities for that class of fixtures, and it meets the requirements. It is used also for interior finish and furniture, and stair work.

Like most members of the black oak group, the wood is inclined to rot quickly in damp situations, but it measures well up to the average of the group to which it belongs. It is often employed in the South as bridge material, particularly as flooring for wagon bridges, where the wood’s hardness is its chief recommendation. Much is converted into flooring for halls, houses, and factories.

The available supply of this valuable wood in the forests of the South is not known, but there is little doubt that it exists in larger quantities than any other species of oak within its range. Perhaps in total quantity it exceeds red oak (Quercus rubra) in the whole United States. It is quite generally distributed over an area exceeding 300,000 square miles, and toward the western part, it is the prevailing oak. The future of this oak is assured. It is now cut at a rapid rate, and doubtless the annual growth falls short of the yearly demand; but it occurs in a range so extensive that scarcity will not come for a long period. If the time ever comes in the South when planted timber must be depended upon to meet the needs of the people, this oak will fill an important place in woodlots. It does not grow as rapidly as willow oak, but its range is more extensive, and it possesses certain desirable properties not found in willow oak. The acorns are rather poor mast, and this is in the tree’s favor, for the seed will be left to grow instead of being devoured by hogs and small animals of the woods. In that respect it has an advantage over cow oak and the other white oaks which occupy parts of its range. Their acorns are sought as food by domestic and wild animals. Texan red oak prunes itself well when it grows in close stands, but is low and limby when it occupies open ground. The trunks vary in form, but are inclined to enlarge at the base, particularly when they grow in low, damp situations, as many of the best do in the South.

GEORGIA OAK (Quercus georgiana) is one of the minor oaks of the South and has not been found outside of Georgia. It grows in the central part of the state on Stone mountain and on a few other granite hills. Whether the species originated there and was never able to work its way down to the more congenial valleys below, or whether it once grew lower down and was crowded to its last retreat by other species, is not known. But an interest attaches to it from the very fact that its range is so restricted and that its habitat is on the sterile summits. Lumbermen care nothing about this tree. Few of them ever saw it or heard of it. The trunk is small, the acorns only from one-third to half an inch long, and the leaves are of a form midway between those of pin oak and turkey oak. The characters of the wood have not been reported, but since there is not enough of it to have any commercial value, the matter is not very important.

YELLOW OAK

YELLOW OAK

(Quercus Velutina)

This tree is known as black oak in Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ontario; quercitron oak in Delaware, South Carolina, Louisiana, Kansas and Minnesota; yellow oak in Rhode Island, New York, Illinois, Texas, Kansas and Minnesota; tanbark oak in Illinois; yellow-bark oak in Minnesota and Rhode Island; spotted oak in Missouri; dyer’s oak in Texas; and yellow butt oak in Mississippi.

Those who call this tree black oak have in mind the bark which is usually quite dark, though all members of this species do not present the same appearance in that respect. Some trunks are gray, and in color do not greatly differ from white oaks, but would hardly be mistaken for them. Tanbark oak, a name occasionally given to this tree, is not applied in the region where chestnut oak grows, because it is much inferior to chestnut oak as tanning material. It is not only poorer in tannin, but the coloring matter associated with the inner bark is troublesome to the tanner who is compelled to remove it or neutralize it unless he wants his leather given a yellow tone. Dyer’s oak is a name which refers to the value of the bark for coloring purposes. The botanical name velutina refers to the velvety texture of the inner bark.