MAINE'S WHITE BIRCH. 



Of the hardwood industries in Maine the white or paper birch 

 is fast forging to the front. Entering as it does into the manu- 

 facture of the milhons of spools used by the largest makers of 

 thread in the world, and into the hundreds of novelties, it makes 

 a class by itself. The cutting and manufacture of this wood 

 has made many a small hamlet of this state a prosperous com- 

 munity. 



It is also encouraging to know that the demand will always 

 be good and the continual growth of this species of wood 

 promises to equal the demand for many years to come. 



Considering the importance of this wood and that a special 

 study has been made of it by S. T. Dana of the United States 

 Forest Service, we have obtained special permission of the 

 department to include the result of his research in this report. 



Importance of Paper Birch. 

 Although paper birch (Bctula papyrifcra) docs not rank with 

 the most important hardwoods, it is, nevertheless, a valuable 

 species in the Northeast, and particularly in Maine. In this 

 State it stands second in amount of annual cut of hardwoods, 

 and is exceeded only by the aspens. It is used almost exclu- 

 sively by a number of woodworking industries, and no satis- 

 factory substitute for it has yet been found in the manufacture 

 of certain articles. From the point of view of the forester also 

 it is a particularly interesting tree, because it grows mainly on 

 burned-over areas, and the present extensive stands of it are 

 due to past fires. This characteristic of occupying burned-over 

 tracts it shares with "popple," with which it is frequently asso- 

 ciated. Both species are, in a way, the pioneers of the forest; 

 they occupy the ground only for a short while and prepare the 

 way for the permanent forest type natural to the locality. Yet 

 in spite of the value of paper birch from both an economic and 

 a silvicultural point of view, very little has been published con- 

 cerning it. 



