Part 26 (2/2)

Nevertheless, the tree had its virtues even in the eyes of the rail-splitters; for, though it was unwedgeable, it helped along the fence rail industry in a very substantial way by furnis.h.i.+ng the material of which mauls were made. It drove the wedges and gluts which opened other timbers. About the only maul that would beat out more rails than one of black gum was that made of a chestnut oak knot. The oak beetle's only advantage over gum was that it was harder and wore longer. So involved and interlaced are the fibers of black gum, that they cross one another not only at right angles, but at every conceivable angle. This can be seen in examining very thin pieces with a magnifying gla.s.s.

The wood is not hard, but is moderately strong, and stiff. It has been compared with hickory, but it is so inferior in almost every essential that no comparison is justified.

Black gum weighs 39.61 pounds per cubic foot. It is very porous, but the pores are too small to be seen by the naked eye, and are diffused through the wood and form no distinct lines or groups. The summerwood is a thin dark line, not prominent enough to clearly delimit the yearly rings of growth. The medullary rays are numerous, but very thin. In quarter-sawed wood they produce a l.u.s.ter, but the individual rays are practically invisible. The wood is not durable in contact with the soil.

The standing tree is apt to fall a victim to the agencies of decay.

Hollow trunks, mere sh.e.l.ls, are not uncommon. The entire heartwood is liable to fall away. The pioneers cut these hollow trees, and sawing them in lengths of about two feet, made beehives of them. They called them gums because they were cut from gum trees. Larger sizes, used in place of barrels, were also called gums, but these were usually made from sycamores. The black gum is not usually large. Individuals have been measured that were five feet in diameter and more than a hundred in height, but an average of sixty feet high and two in diameter is probably too much, except in the southern Appalachian mountains where the species attains its largest size.

It is a tree which will always be easily recognized after it has been seen and identified once. Its general outline, particularly when leaves are off, is different from other trees a.s.sociated with it. It might possibly be mistaken for persimmon unless looked at closely; but there are easily-recognized points of difference. Its branches are very small, slender, and short. Its bark is rougher than that of any other gum, and is much darker in color. It is the bark's color that gives the tree its name. The leaves have smooth edges. In the fall they change to gorgeous red, and one of their peculiarities is that half a leaf may be red while the other half remains green. Toward the end of the season, the green disappears. The dark blue drupes ripen in October. They do not seem to be food for any living creature.

Sawmills include black gum with tupelo in reporting lumber cut, and generally call both of them gum without distinction. The woods are quite different, and neither the standing tree nor the lumber of one need be mistaken for the other. The range of black gum is much more extensive than that of tupelo. Gum lumber cut north of the Ohio and Potomac rivers may be safely cla.s.sed as black gum, though a little of both red and tupelo gum is found north of those streams. In the South, the species cannot be separated by regions, for all the gums grow from Texas to Virginia. The total annual output of black gum is not known, but some operators estimate it at about 20,000,000 feet a year, or nearly one-fourth as much as tupelo.

The bulk of black gum lumber is used in the rough, for floors, sheathing, frames, and scaffolds; but a considerable portion is further manufactured. The amounts thus used annually have been ascertained for a few states, and furnish a basis for estimates for the whole country: Mississippi, 7,000 feet; Maryland, 85,000; Illinois, 120,000; Louisiana, 120,000; Missouri, 190,000; Texas, 360,000; Ma.s.sachusetts, 475,000; Alabama, 486,000.

The uses are general, except that the wood is not employed where attractive figure is required, for black gum is as plain as cottonwood.

It is not displeasing in its plainness, for the surface finishes nicely with a soft gloss which, except that it lacks figure, suggests the sap of red gum. It is specially useful in situations where noncleavability is required. Black gum mallets for stone masons and woodworkers are in the market. Mine rollers require a much larger amount. The entire 85,000 feet reported in Maryland was made into such rollers. They furnish the bearing for the rope that hauls the car up the incline out of the coal pit. Its toughness qualifies it for wagon hubs, but it is sometimes objected to because its softness causes the mortises to wear larger where the spokes are inserted, and the wheel does not stand as well as when the hubs are of good oak. Early farmers and lumbermen preferred black gum for ox yokes, and some are still seen where oxen are used; but many other woods are as strong and equally as serviceable for yokes.

Rollers of this wood for gla.s.s factories are common. It is made into hatters' blocks where a wood is wanted which, when thoroughly seasoned, will hold its shape. It is less popular for this purpose than yellow poplar. One of the best places for black gum is in the manufacture of bored water pipe. The wood's interlaced fiber prevents splitting under the internal stress due to hydrostatic pressure. The sh.e.l.l of such pipes can be thinner than with most woods. A drawback is found in the non-durable qualities of black gum. However, the internal pressure of water keeps the wood thoroughly saturated, and prolongs its life when used as pipes.

The makers of firearms employ black gum as gunstocks and pistol grips.

The wood is stained to make it darker. It is cut by the rotary process into cheap veneer and is made into baskets and berry crates. Less trouble with the veneer, on account of breaking, is experienced than might be expected of a wood so cross-grained. It is sawed into thin lumber for boxes for s.h.i.+pping coffee and other groceries. It is a subst.i.tute for cottonwood and yellow poplar in the manufacture of certain lines of woodenware, notably, ironing boards, rolling pins, potato mashers, and chopping bowls. It is made into interior finish for houses; and furniture manufacturers find many places where it is a serviceable material. Musical instrument makers employ it, particularly as trusses for pianos, and in frames of pipe organs. In Louisiana it is converted into excelsior, and in Mississippi into broom handles, and parts of agricultural implements, particularly hoppers and seedboxes.

All gums are hard to season, and this one is no exception. It checks badly, but the checks are usually very small.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

TUPELO

[Ill.u.s.tration: TUPELO]

TUPELO

(_Nyssa Aquatica_)

Tupelo is said to be an Indian name. White men have applied it to three species of gum, all of the same genus, namely, black gum (_Nyssa sylvatica_), sour tupelo (_Nyssa ogeche_), and tupelo (_Nyssa aquatica_). Probably, the name tupelo applies as well to one as to the other, for it is said to refer to the drupe-like fruit; but custom confines the name to the species now under consideration. It is largest of the three species, most abundant, and most important. Sour gum is heard in Arkansas and Missouri, swamp tupelo in South Carolina and Louisiana, cotton gum in the two Carolinas and Florida, wild olive tree in Louisiana, and olive tree in Mississippi.

The range of tupelo extends from Virginia along the coast to Florida, northward in the Mississippi valley to southern Illinois, and westward to Arkansas and Texas. It prefers swamps and attains largest size in low ground which is subject to frequent overflow. The tree will stand in several feet of water the greater part of the year without injury. It is closely a.s.sociated with cypress, the planer tree, and other species which grow in deep swamps.

Tupelo has not figured much in tree literature outside the books of botanists. Travelers and local writers have paid it little attention. It has not been remarkable for anything in the past, and has escaped observation to a large extent because it grows in swamps and along bayous, remote from the usual routes of travel. Its flowers attracted no attention, its fruit was worthless, and the early settlers did not put themselves to trouble to procure the wood for any purpose. That was the situation from the early settlement of the country where this species is found up to a very recent period when economic conditions began to bring tupelo into notice.

It first attracted attention in the markets as a subst.i.tute for yellow poplar. That was brought about by an attempt to pa.s.s it as poplar. The growing scarcity of that wood in the region about Chesapeake bay led to the trial of tupelo. It was sold as bay poplar, and the purchaser was left to infer that it was poplar cut in the region tributary to Chesapeake bay. Probably few buyers were deceived, but they found the wood a fair subst.i.tute for the yellow poplar which they had been purchasing in the Baltimore and Norfolk markets. It is known as bay poplar yet in many localities. It goes to England as such. One of its most important uses in that country is as casing for electric wire fittings. It has, however, many other important uses in England and on the continent. It is claimed that it may be stained to imitate Circa.s.sian walnut in the manufacture of furniture. This is possible, but most probably tupelo has been confused with red gum which is a well-known subst.i.tute for Circa.s.sian walnut.

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