Page:Handbook for Boys.djvu/150

Rh in West; even 150 feet high. Leaves 3 to 6incheslong. Found from Quebec to Florida and west to the mountains.

Shagbark or White Hickory (Hicoria ovata)

A tall forest tree up to 120 feet high. Known at once by the great angular slabs of bark hanging partly detached from its main trunk, forced off by the growth of wood, but too tough to fall. Its leaves are 8 to 14 inches long, with 5 to 7 broad leaflets.

Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) A magnificent forest tree up to x$o feet high. Wood, a dark purplish-brown or gray; hard, close-grained, strong, very durable in weather or ground work, and heavy; fruit round, 1¾ inches through. Leaflets 13 to 23, and 3 to 5 inches long. Found from Canada to the Gulf.

White Walnut or Butternut (Juglans cinerea)

A much smaller tree than the last, rarely 100 feet high, with much smoother bark, leaves similar but larger and coarser, compound of fewer leaflets, but the leaflet stalks and the new twigs are covered with sticky down. Leaves 15 to 30 inches long, leaflets 11 to 19 in number and 3 to 5 inches long; fruit oblong, 2 to 3 inches long. New Brunswick and Dakota and south to Mississippi.

Common Birch or Aspen-leaved Birch (Betula populifolia) A small tree on dry and poor soil, rarely 50 feet high. Wood soft, close-grained, not strong, splits in drying, useless for weather or ground work. A cubic foot weighs 36 pounds. Leaves: to 3 inches long. It has a black triangular scar at each armpit. The canoe birch is without these black marks. New Brunswick to Ontario to Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Black Birch, Sweet Birch, or Mahogany Birch (Betula lenta) The largest of the birches; a great tree, in Northern forests up to 80 feet high. The bark is scarcely birchy, rather like that of