File:The American Museum of Natural History (1991) (18110354705).jpg

Title: The American Museum of Natural History
Identifier: american00titc (find matches)
Year: 1891
Authors: Titcomb, Mary
Subjects: American Museum of Natural History; Natural history museums
Publisher: (Austin, TX) : BookLab, Inc.
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: IMLS / LSTA / METRO

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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 389 Too orTHr
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fruit of ilio Viirious trees. The ninnbers attached to tlic piiintiiigs correspond to tliosc oil the trunks, so that comparative study is made easy. There arc over four liundred specimens of wood in this collection ; in fact, Avith ' the exception of about lialf a dozen rare kinds, difficult to obtain, every variety of tree known in North America is here repre- sented. Even the superficial examination a casual vis- itor of necessity gives is full of interest. There are nearly fifty varieties of oak—who would have thought BO many existed ?—and nearly as many of pine. Rome of these specimens are magnifi- cent. An elegant trunk of the sugar pine, about " feet in diameter, and fragrant with balsam, oomcs from California ; and from other sections, fine varieties of the useful white, red, yellow and black pine. The yew is common along the California coast, but there is one species found only in a little spot in Florida. A plank, %^ feet in diameter, of the redwood, one of the California sequoia, enables one to get a little idea of a tree that sometimes grows to the height of 300 or 400 feet, and from 30 to 40 feet in diameter ; and a section of the harh of the California big tree, 13 inches thick, is wonder- fully suggestive. "fHrV/oooPjALL One specimen of hemlock or Cr presents a most singular appearance, the rough bark being tliickly perforated by woodpeckers. This tree is 336 years old. An nnpretentions-looking larch, found on the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains, in Wash- ington, measuring only 17^ inches in diameter, is remarkable for its age of 5G2 years. It Avas the only specimen found in a long time, and was brought to the museum at great expense. The black ironwood is the hardest in the col- lection. From the black locust, which possesses a peculiar ringing quality, policemen's clubs are made. The curious-knobbed "toothache-tree," or prickly ash, the peculiar giant cactus, rich ebony, cherry and mahogany woods, and hun- dreds to which we cannot even allude, afford a fruitful field for investigation. Not only is the study of such a collection of practical utility to builders, cabinetmakers, etc., but to growers of fruit, and those interested in the culture of ornamental trees. To assist stn-

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