made up of this species, the “bird's-eye” variety—formerly much
prized for cabinet work—being there abundant. The other species
of maple of less importance are the soft maple (A. dasycarpum),
having a wide range, and attaining its greatest development in the
valley of the lower Ohio, and the red maple (A. rubrum), also
ranging from New Brunswick westward to the Lake of the Woods
and south to Texas, and being largest and most abundant in the
central portion of the Mississippi valley. The oaks range over the
entire eastern forested region from Maine to Florida, and west
nearly as far as arboreal vegetation extends. The number of
species is large. The white oak (Q. alba) ranges over nearly the
whole forest region of the east, reaching its greatest development
along the western portion of the Appalachian belt, and in the valley
of the Ohio and its tributaries. The burr oak (Q. macrocarpa) has
almost as wide a range as the white oak, extending farther west
and north-west than any oak of the Atlantic forests; it forms, with
the scarlet oak (Q. coccinea), the principal growth of the
“oak-openings” in the prairie region. The red oak (Q. rubra) has also
a wide range; it extends farther to the north than any other species.
The jack oak or black jack (Q. nigra) is a small tree of little
value except for fuel, but widely disseminated in the west and
south-west of the eastern forest region, and forming with the post
oak (Q. obtusiloba) the growth of the so-called “cross timbers” of
Texas. The live oak (Q. virens) is an evergreen tree of considerable
value, chiefly developed along the Gulf coast and through western
Texas into the mountains of northern Mexico. The chestnut oak
(Q. Prinus) ranges through the Appalachian region, from Lake
Champlain to northern Alabama, and west to central Kentucky
and Tennessee. Its bark is used in preference to that of the other
North American oaks in tanning. The ash is represented by several
species. The white ash (Fraxinus americana) is of special value,
and its range is very extensive, namely, east and west from Nova
Scotia to Minnesota, and south-west to the extreme border of Texas.
This species has its greatest development in the bottom lands of
the lower Ohio valley. Towards the west and south-west it
diminishes in size and importance, and is replaced to a considerable
extent by the green ash (F. viridis). The range of the red ash (F.
pubescens) is nearly as large as that of the white ash, except that it
does not extend quite so far to the south-west. Its wood is less
valuable. The chestnut (Castanea vesca, var. americana) is an
important tree, with a wide range. The American chestnut is smaller
and sweeter than the European. The species ranges from southern
Maine west to Indiana, and south along the Appalachians to
northern Alabama, attaining its greatest development along the
flanks of the mountains in North Carolina. The birch is
represented in the eastern forest region by several species. The white,
canoe, or paper birch (Betula papyracea) reaches a higher latitude
than any other tree of the American deciduous forest. It ranges
south to the mountainous region of northern Pennsylvania, and
west to British Columbia. The yellow or grey birch (B. lutea) is
one of the largest and most valuable trees of the New England
forest, ranging south along the higher portion of the Appalachians
to North Carolina, and west to southern Minnesota. There are in
the region several species belonging to the two genera of the
Juglandaceæ, Juglans and Carya, which have a wide range, and are of
importance both for their wood and for their fruit, and which also
are among the most attractive ornaments of the forest. Prominent
among these are the hickory (Carya alba), the butternut (Juglans
cinerea), the black walnut (J. nigra), and the pecan (G.
olivæformis). The pecan does not occur to the north-west of Indiana,
has its greatest development in the rich bottom lands of Arkansas,
and is the largest and most important tree of western Texas. The
butternut occurs in New England, but is by no means an abundant
tree in that region; farther west, especially in the valley of the
Ohio, it attains its maximum development. The black walnut is
hardly known in New England, unless on its extreme western
border; but south-westward along the Appalachians and west to
the Mississippi it is a tree of great value and importance. It
attains its maximum development on the western slope of the
southern portion of the Appalachian range and thence to Arkansas.
Hardly any other wood is ever used for gunstocks. The American
elm (U. americana) has a wide range, extending from southern
Newfoundland to Texas and west to central Nebraska. This species
is especially the tree of the river bottoms, and specimens occurring
isolated in natural meadows often attain great size. The rock
or white elm (U. racemosa) is a tree hardly occurring in New
England, but largely developed in the region of the Great Lakes,
west to north-eastern Iowa, and south to central Kentucky. Its
wood is considerably denser than that of U. americana. The beech
(Fagus ferruginea) occurs through nearly the whole of the eastern
forest region, ranging from Nova Scotia south and south-west to
Florida and Texas, and west to Missouri. The linden, lime,
bass-wood, or white-wood (Tilia americana) is a tree of wide range,
occurring more and more abundantly as we go west from New
England through the region south of the Great Lakes into the
Ohio valley, and found south along the Appalachians to Georgia.
It has its maximum development towards the west and south-west
in the rich bottom-lands. The tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera),
called also yellow poplar and white-wood, is one of the largest and
most beautiful trees of the eastern forest region. It is rare in New
England, but has its maximum development from New Jersey
south along the slopes of the Appalachians to Tennessee and North
Carolina, and west in the Ohio valley. The genus Magnolia is
represented by several species, two of which are of importance,
especially for the great beauty of the tree and its flowers. These—M.
glauca and M. grandiflora—like the other species of the
magnolia, are pretty closely limited to the Atlantic coast and Gulf
region, and the lower portion of the Mississippi valley. M. glauca,
which has a variety of names, among which those of sweet bay and
white laurel are most common, is found over a small area on Cape
Ann in Massachusetts, and in no other place in New England,—its
range being from New Jersey southward, chiefly along the coast
to Florida, and west to Arkansas and Texas. M. grandiflora,
called the big laurel or the bull bay, an evergreen, and one of the
finest trees of the region, is pretty closely limited to the southern
and south-western coast, ranging from North Carolina south to
Tampa Bay, westward to south-western Arkansas, and along the
Texas coast to the valley of the Brazos. There are two trees
known familiarly as the locust which are of considerable
importance. One is the Robinia Pseudacacia, commonly called either
simply the locust or the yellow locust; the other is Gleditschia
triacanthos, to which the popular names honey locust, acacia, sweet
locust, and black locust are given. The former occurs naturally
in the Appalachians from Pennsylvania to Georgia, reaching its
maximum development on the western slopes of the mountains of
West Virginia, but has been introduced and cultivated over the
whole region east of the Rocky Mountains, wherever trees can be
made to grow. This tree, however, over an extensive portion of
the region where it was formerly cultivated has been exterminated
by the attacks of the “locust borer” (Cyllene picta). The other
locust, the three-thorned acacia, ranges from Pennsylvania, along
the western flanks of the Appalachians, south as far as Florida,
south-west through northern Alabama and Mississippi to Texas,
and west from Pennsylvania through southern Michigan to eastern
Kansas. It is the characteristic tree of the “barrens” of middle
Kentucky and Tennessee, and attains its maximum development
in the lower Ohio bottom-lands. It is widely cultivated throughout
the region east of the Appalachians for shade and ornament,
and for hedges. There are certain trees and shrubs in the eastern
forest region of little or no economical importance, but which,
especially when in flower, are highly ornamental. Of these only a few
can be mentioned: the mountain ash (Pyrus americana), ranging
over nearly the whole region, and much cultivated as an ornamental
tree on account of the beauty of its fruit, of dark reddish or scarlet
colour, and remaining long upon the branches; the sumach (Rhus
glabra), a handsome shrub, from 4 to 10 feet in height and very
striking both for foliage and fruit, and a very characteristic feature
of the New England landscape, as seen along the borders of the
forests and by the sides of country roads; the mountain laurel
(Kalmia latifolia), covering extensive areas of half-cleared forests
in the hilly regions and very conspicuous at the flowering season,
June and July, one of the most beautiful of all the characteristic
native American shrubs; the dog-wood or cornel (Cornus
alternifolia), a beautiful shrub, rising occasionally to sufficient
height to be called a tree, ranging from the St Lawrence to
Alabama, and in certain regions, especially in parts of New Jersey
and Pennsylvania, very conspicuous at the time of its flowering,
the landscape from a distance looking as if it had been snowed
upon. The red-bud (Cercis canadensis), a small tree, is a
conspicuous feature of the forest in the extreme south-west, especially
in southern Arkansas, the Indian Territory, and eastern Texas.
Although the forest vegetation of the eastern region is essentially deciduous in character, coniferous trees are widely spread over the whole country from Maine to the southern border of Georgia. The genus Pinus is by far the most widely distributed and most interesting of the conifers. First in value is the white pine (P. Strobus), a northern tree, having its maximum development in the region of the Great Lakes, ranging from Maine west to Lake Superior, and south-west along the Appalachians to Georgia, and attaining a height greater than that of any other species in the eastern forest region, namely, somewhat less than half that of the tallest trees in the Pacific coast belt. The most important pineries of the eastern States are in Maine, where this species occurs scattered through the deciduous forests, and where the most easily accessible trees of large size have already been pretty well thinned out; Michigan and Wisconsin are the chief pine-producing States of the western and north-western region. Saginaw Bay, on Lake Huron, may perhaps be designated as the headquarters of the north-western pine lumber industry. The somewhat less valuable southern pine (P. palustris), called also hard, yellow, long-leaved, and Georgia pine, is, in contrast with the white pine, decidedly a southern species, ranging from southern Virginia south to Florida, and south-west through the Gulf States to the valley of the Red River in Louisiana and that of the Trinity in Texas. It occurs over ex-
