THE PRODUCTS AND USES OF BIRCH 



201 



for making paper pulp, as are the other birches, but the 

 supply is not large enough to make this use important. 

 Some of this wood is also employed in the manufacture 

 of excelsior, and for staves, heading and hoops for 

 slack cooperage. For turnery and many other uses the 

 white sapwood only is used. Trees 5 or 6 inches in 

 diameter, growing under favorable conditions, are prac- 

 tically all sap wood, but larger trees begin to form heart- 

 wood, which has an objectionable red color — the so-called 

 "red heart" — that reduces the value of the wood. 



The Indians and early settlers used the bark of paper 

 birch for berry buckets and containers for maple sugar, 

 bv stripping it off in rolls the size of a stove pipe or 

 larger. Many thoughtless berry pickers still follow the 

 custom, thereby causing the death of many trees. The 

 Indian not only frequently covered his lodge with sheets 

 of paper birch bark, but made the famed birch-bark 

 canoes of it. These canoes were ribbed with cedar and 

 then covered with large sheets of bark. The seams were 

 sewed with threads made of the roots of spruce or cedar 

 and closed with the pitch from Balm of Gilead. John 

 Burroughs writes : 



"The great triumph of the birch is the bark canoe. 

 The design of a savage, it yet looks like the thought of 

 a poet and its grace and fitness haunt the imagination. I 

 suppose its production was the inevitable result of the 

 Indian's wants and surroundings, but that does not 

 detract from its beauty. It is, indeed, one of the fairest 

 flowers the thorny plant of necessity ever bore." 



The principal use of the bark today is for souvenirs, in 

 which there is a considerable trade. 



GLACIICR I'ARK L.XUXCU 1-'I.\ ISlIliD IX HIKCII 



In boat building a little over one million feet of birch is used an- 

 nually, tlie wood being employed principally as interior finish for 

 cabins of motor boats, launches and similar pleasure craft. 



White birch is found in commercial quantities in Xev.' 

 England and northern New York. It has light, soft, weak 

 wood, which decays quickly when exposed to the weather. 

 It is used quite extensively in the manufacture of tools, 

 shoe pegs, barrel hoops and wood pulp, and like all other 

 birches is often cut for fuel. 



River birch is as plain a wood as can be found in 

 the forests of this country, and all its uses are based 



on service or convenience. In Louisiana it is considered 

 one of the best obtainable woods for ox yokes, many of 

 which are needed in lumbering operations. It is stronger 

 and stiffer than white oak, and much lighter. It is also 

 used to some extent for slack barrel headings and for 

 the bands which stiffen the tops and sides of peach 

 baskets. The wood bends in a satisfactory manner, which 



BIRCH l-OR IXTKRIOR TRIM 



Birch is extensively employed as interior trim in liouse construction. 

 It ranks eleventh in this industry and can be obtained in any of 

 the various standard forms of finish into which other species of 

 iinish woods are manufactured. Birch is especially prized for door 

 and panel work. 



is an important point in places where it is cheaper than 

 elm. It makes a desirable flooring where hard service 

 rather than handsome appearance is a requirement, as in 

 warehouses, barns and factories. It is employed as a 

 furniture wood for frames or to be overlaid with a 

 \-eneer of more expensive woods. It is also a cominon 

 wood for all kinds of woodenware, such as picnic plates, 

 butter dishes, kitchen utensils, small handles, washboards, 

 and ironing boards. It is light wood, impervious to water 

 and easy to work. 



VERMONT ACQUIRES LARGE AREA 



THE \'ermont Forestry Department has just con- 

 clud the purchase of a tract of about 2,000 acres 

 lying on the east side of Mount Mansfield. This 

 property, added to the one acquired a year ago on the west 

 side of the range, makes the total area about .5,000 acres. 

 The Mansfield Forest thus becomes not only the largest 

 State forest in Vermont, but, next to the Crawford Notch 

 forest in New Flampshire, the largest in New Epgla.n(;l. 

 It is understood that the State of New Hampshire paid 

 $100,000 for the Crawford Notch property of 6,000 acres, 

 while the Alansfield Forest will cost Vermont about 

 $13,.~)00. However, in the former case the timber was 

 included in the purchase, whereas funds were not avail- 

 able for the Vermont Forestry Department to purchase 

 the merchantable timber. A fairly satisfactory arrange- 

 ment has been made by the State Forester with the 

 grantors whereby they agree not to cut spruce and fir 

 trees which are less than 10 inches in diameter ; and 

 hemlock and hardwoods less than l-") inches, all trees to 

 be measured at breast height. 



