White Pine, commonly called pine, is a rapidly growing tree in the Northern United States and in Canada. It attains a large size in favorable soils, and furnishes a light, soft, not strong wood, with a close and straight grain. The annual rings are marked by narrow summer growths, and the medullary rays are very fine and numerous. The color is a faint yellowish brown, darkening with exposure. Its abundance, the ease with which it is worked, and its power to hold glue, make its use very extensive, especially in all carpentry-work where an easily finished wood is desired. It is one of the best woods for making patterns for casting.

Georgia Pine, of the South Atlantic and Gulf States, is a large forest tree with smaller annual rings than pine, and with a broad, dense, resinous, and dark-colored summer growth, which gives to the wood a well-marked grain. In radial section the numerous and fine medullary rays are scarcely visible. The wood is heavy, hard, strong, and durable, becoming harder and somewhat brittle with age. It is used for heavy timbers, floors, and, because of its grain, sometimes as a trimming wood.

The many other species of pine have local or limited use. Among them the yellow or Jersey pine is perhaps the best known, as it is largely manufactured into lumber. Its properties are about intermediate between white and Georgia pine

Black Spruce grows in about the same regions as white pine, and furnishes a wood very similar to it, excepting that it is more resinous. This and white spruce are commonly called spruce, and are used extensively for inferior work.

Hemlock. - A species similar to spruce, grows in the Northern States. Its wood, which splits or breaks easily, is light, moderately soft, has a coarse, uneven grain, and is frequently shaky. It holds a nail much better than pine, which fits it for rougher building material.

White Cedar. - Abundant in the Atlantic States, supplying a soft, light, fine-grained, and durable wood, suited for a variety of purposes where durability rather than strength is required. The annual growth is of moderate size, made up of very small wood-cells, traversed by exceedingly fine and numerous medullary rays. It is used in boat - building, cabinet - work, cooperage, cigar - boxes, and shingles.

Red Cedar is a small tree of slow growth, widely distributed in various soils, usually rocky, but reaching its largest size in swamps. The wood is like white cedar, but more compact, even-grained, and durable. It is reddish-brown in color and extensively used in cabinet-work, because of its strong odor, which repels insects. Its durability makes it valuable for posts, sills, and other structures in contact with or near the ground.

Cypress. - This tree of the Southern swamps grows to a great size. It furnishes a most valuable wood, because of its durability, which is claimed to be superior to that of all other woods. It is light brown in color, and in structure similar to white cedar, with larger wood-cells. Its timber is preferable to pine in trimming brick houses, and in all parts exposed to the weather. In the South its employment is as general as that of pine in the North.

Redwood. - Of late years the wood of the giant fir-trees of California has been introduced into the chief lumber markets of the country. The wood-cells are large, the compact summer growth constituting about one quarter of the annual increase. The color is a dull red, the quality very durable, while the wood shrinks perceptibly in the direction of the grain. In other respects this wood resembles pine, and is used for general construction as well as ornamentation.