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- The American forest is valuable for many reasons. Not
- only is it beautiful to observe and explore, but it also is
- our major provider of construction material. Few are aware
- that plywood has greater structural strength than steel. A
- further application of wood is its conversion into pulp for
- making paper. Newsprint is made only from wood pulp. Wood
- pulp fibers come from cellulose, a remarkable material that
- forms the cell walls of wood. Cellulose gives wood tensile
- strength. The remainder of the wood content is lignin, the
- glue that holds the fibers together, making the wood solid.
- Another product of wood pulp is rayon. Rayon not only
- is used in making textiles, but it is important for cord in
- the manufacture of tires. Of the many majestic trees which
- adorn the American forest, no tree is more elegant than the
- redwood. Redwood trees grow along our west coast attaining
- average heights of nearly one hundred yards. Just think of
- a tree being as tall as a football field is long. Redwoods
- may live as long as two thousand years. A mistaken idea is
- that the redwood is a slow growing tree. Yet, in truth the
- redwood has one of the most rapid growth rates of any tree.
-