=Dogwood= (_Cornus_), is a shrub or small tree, the wood of which is exceedingly hard and is used for many purposes. The astringent bark and sometimes the leaves are used in medicine. There are about eighteen species in the United States. The FLOWERING DOGWOOD is a small tree, native of the Eastern States. It has showy white petal-like bracts surrounding its clusters of small flowers.
=Ebony= (_Efenaceæ_), is chiefly a species of tropical trees. The hard, dark colored heartwood of these is the source of most of the ebony of commerce. Those of India, Ceylon, and other tropical countries, furnish the best quality.
=Elm= (_Ulmus_). There are about six species which are native to the United States. They attain a height of forty-five to ninety feet, and blossom before their leaves appear, in March and April. The AMERICAN WHITE ELM is a large tree ninety to one hundred feet high, growing from Newfoundland to Florida and Texas. The wood is tough, strong, and largely used for wheel hubs, in cooperage, and for shipbuilding. It is a fine street and park tree. The CORK ELM is a tree seventy to ninety feet high, growing from Quebec and Vermont westward to Nebraska and Tennessee. The wood is considered the best of American elms, and is much used for agricultural implements and bridge timbers. The SLIPPERY, or RED ELM is a tree sixty to seventy feet high, growing from Ontario to Florida, westward to Nebraska and Texas. The wood is durable in contact with the soil and is much used for fence posts and railway ties. The mucilaginous inner bark is used in medicine.
=Eucalyptus=, a genus of _Myrtaceæ_, contains about two hundred lofty trees occurring chiefly in Australia and the Malayan Archipelago. Many reach a height of one hundred and fifty feet and a girth of twenty-five feet, and they frequently become hollow. The species are of great economic value, yielding oils, kinos, and useful timber, while the well-known oil of eucalyptus is obtained from the blue-gum tree.
=Fir= (_Abies_), a genus of the Pine family containing about twenty-five species, natives of the cooler portions of the north temperate zone. The SILVER FIR, is a common tree in central Europe, and is common to the mountainous forests of Germany. It reaches ninety to one hundred and thirty feet in height, and has a smooth, light silver-grey bark, and needle-shaped leaves, which, although they stand singly and in a spiral form round the branches, are yet distinctly turned towards two sides, and are serrated at their points. The large, conical fruits stand like tapers upright on the branches, and decay upon the tree; whilst their spindles remain standing. The wood of the white fir tree is much valued. It is used as timber, and in particular for making masts; it is also useful for making all kinds of carved work, and for the manufacture of musical instruments. It is also the source of the Strassburg turpentine. The BALSAM FIR is a tree fifty to eighty feet high, growing from Virginia northward. Canada balsam is made from the sap. The WHITE FIR or GREAT SILVER FIR is a large tree, often three hundred feet high and ten feet in diameter, growing from British Columbia to lower California. The wood is soft and extensively used for cooperage and boxes. The RED FIR is a large tree one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet high, found in the same regions as the white fir. It is often planted in Europe as an ornamental tree. The MEXICAN FIR is a magnificent silver-leaved tree one hundred and fifty feet high.