MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 477 



Baeswood ie a well known tree, a favorite with those who keep bees. 

 The wood is soft, but valuable for boxes of buggies, broom handles, heads 

 of barrels, wooden shoes, for certain parts in furniture, for excelsior and for 

 many other purposes. 



Birches: The white bark of the canoe or paper birch is well under- 

 stood, and its uses. The wood is valuable for fire wood, for turning into a 

 variety of objects, such as spools, useful for shoe pegs, useful for lumber, 

 for veneers, etc. This is not the white birch of the Atlantic coast. 

 Cherry birch is a small tree found in swamps, and the wood is like the 

 last above named. Yellow birch is a much larger tree, and is abundant in 

 the northern part of the lower peninsula. The wood makes admirable 

 furniture and takes a slight stain. 



Butternut is found in much of the lower peninsula on low land. The 

 wood is soft, of a brown color, and useful for furniture in great variety, 

 finishing the interior of houses, etc. It is a little muddy in color, but 

 veneers cut around the log are most admirable. 



CEDAR, CHERRY AND ELMS. 



Bed cedar does not exist anywhere in abundance. White cedar or arbor 

 vitae is a favorite ornamental evergreen found in swamps from the center 

 of the lower peninsula northward. The timber furnishes nearly all the' 

 telegraph poles of the north; some railroad ties, shingles and is useful for 

 tubs, boats and very durable for fence posts. 



Cherry: The red wood of black cherry is famous for furniture, some of 

 it much resembling mahogany. The timber is durable for posts and sills. 



Elms : Of these there are three kinds in the State. Probably it is not 

 twenty-five years since the wood of the water, or American elm, when 

 grown on low land in the forest, was considered absolutely worthless. It 

 worked easily, but the plank warped so that you could scarcely make a 

 barn floor that would be sheep tight. The wood is soft or spongy, and 

 when steamed it is easily cut into thin strips, very nice for cheese boxes, 

 baskets, berry boxes, crates and strips for a great variety of uses. Three 

 or four elm baskets can now be made at a cost not exceeding one made 

 of the old fashioned splints of black ash or white ash. True they will not 

 last as long, but they are lighter and a clean one can be had the oftener. 

 New designs have been made for securing the lapped hoops for barrels, so 

 that those of elm are preferred to hoops of black ash for strength and 

 durability. 



Smaller trees of this same species of elm, especially when grown on dry 

 land, make tough timber, and are known as " grey elm." This is very 

 valuable for hubs of buggies and is employed where rock elm is now much 

 used. There is still a good deal of American elm left in Michigan, scat- 

 tered all over the lower peninsula. 



Although the timber of rock elm is lighter in weight and not so strong 

 much of it is used in the place of hickory, for certain parts of carriages, 

 frames of boxes, whifiletrees, cutters, etc. In answers very well for certain 

 parts of farm implements. The trunk is usually very straight; the young 

 branches abound in corky ridges. It thrives on rich land from central 

 Michigan northward. 



Bed or slippery elm is not so abundant. The lumber is rather light, 

 easily split, of a reddish brown color. The timber is quite durable for 



