Black Walnut.  Color rich dark or chocolate brown.  Odor mild but
    characteristic.  Tasteless or nearly so.  Wood parenchyma in numerous,
    fine tangential lines.  Wood heavy and hard, moderately stiff and
    strong.  The wood is used principally for furniture, cabinets,
    interior finish, moulding, and gun stocks.

2.  Pores all minute or indistinct, evenly distributed throughout annual ring.

(a) With conspicuously broad rays.

1.  Sycamore.  Fig. 151.  Rays practically all broad.  Color light brown,
    often with dark stripes or “feather grain.”  Wood of medium weight
    and strength, usually cross-grained, difficult to split.

    The wood is used for general construction, woodenware, novelties,
    interior finish, and boxes.

2.  Beech.  With only a part of the rays broad, the others very fine, Fig.
    151.  Color pale reddish brown to white; uniform.  Wood heavy, hard,
    strong, usually straight-grained.

    The wood is used for cheap furniture, turnery, cooperage,
    woodenware, novelties, cross-ties, and fuel.  Much of it is
    distilled.

(b) Without conspicuously broad rays.

1.  Cherry.  Rays rather fine but very distinct.  Color of wood reddish
    brown.  Wood rather heavy, hard, and strong.

    The wood is used for furniture, cabinet work, moulding, interior
    finish, and miscellaneous articles.

2.  Maple, Fig. 152.  With part of the rays rather broad and conspicuous,
    the others very fine.  Color light brown tinged with red.  The wood of
    the hard maple is very heavy, hard and strong; that of the soft
    maples is rather light, fairly strong.  Maple most closely resembles
    birch, but can be distinguished from it through the fact that in
    maple the rays are considerably more conspicuous than in birch.

    The wood is used for slack cooperage, flooring, interior finish,
    furniture, musical instruments, handles, and destructive
    distillation.

3.  Tulip-tree, yellow poplar or whitewood.  Rays all fine but distinct. 
    Color yellow or brownish yellow; sapwood white.  Wood light and soft,
    straight-grained, easy to work.

    The wood is used for boxes, woodenware, tops and bodies of vehicles,
    interior finish, furniture, and pulp.

4.  Red or sweet gum.  Rays all fine but somewhat less distinct than in
    tulip tree.  Color reddish brown, often with irregular dark streaks
    producing a “watered” effect on smooth boards; thick sapwood,
    grayish white.  Wood rather heavy, moderately hard, cross-grained,
    difficult to work.

    The best grades of figured red gum resemble Circassian walnut, but
    the latter has much larger pores unevenly distributed and is less
    cross-grained than red gum.