446 EXPERIMENT STATION EECORD. 



this urea. 'Vlw total outlay per acre for forest i»laiitiii.i; is placed at ai>i)roxi- 

 iiiately $10. 



Special atteutiou is called to insects as obstacles to planting in western 

 Pennsylvania, the more serious of these being a measuring worm and certain 

 insects especially injurious to locust trees. 



The utilization of tupelo, II. B. Holroyd ( U. .S'. Dcpt. Agr., Forest 8err. 

 Circ. 40, lip. 16, figs. 4). — An account is given of the range and distribution of 

 this wood, its uses, methods of logging and milling, the air and kiln-drying. 

 With increasing knowledge as to the best methods of handling this timber has 

 come an extension of the uses to which it is put. In IDU") it is estimated 

 that 40,000.000 ft. of this lumber was cut. 



The dry wood weighs about 32 lbs. per cubic foot and the shipping weight 

 varies from 3,000 to 3,500 lbs. per thousand feet. The wood is strong, stiff, 

 tough, and hard to split, but easy to work with tools. It takes glue, paint, 

 or varnish well, absorbing but little of the material. The better grades of the 

 wood are extensively used in England for interior finish and flooring. 



Tupelo is much used in this country in the manufacture of boxes, laths, 

 pumps, violin and organ sounding boards, drawers, panels, etc. It promises 

 to be especially useful for tramways and as flooring for depots, warehouses, 

 and other places subject to heavy traffic. As it takes preservatives well it is 

 thought it may find use as cross-ties, street paving, and cross-arms. 



Special cai'e must be taken in piling tupelo. The front foundation of the 

 pile should be at least 2i ft. high and have a slope of 1 in. for each foot of 

 length. The best results have been obtained by malting the pile G ft. in width 

 and not over IG or 17 ft. high. Cross strips should be made of thoroughly dry 

 material, li to 2 in. wide and 1 in. thick. An 18-ft. pile should contain 7 of 

 these strips, a IG-ft. pile G, a 14-ft. pile 5, and a 12-ft. pile 4. The boards 

 should be laid 24 to 3 in. apart. Between the top of the pile and the roof a 

 space of about G in. should be left to admit plenty of air. The roof should 

 extend a foot or two beyond each end of the pile and should be so constructed 

 as to exclude the rain. At least 18 in. should be left between piles. 



Experiments show that tupelo can be kiln-dried by the same methods and 

 with the same success as red gum. " The lumber should enter a temperature 

 of about 93° F. at the, wet end of the kiln. The temperature gradually in- 

 creases as the truck moves toward the dry end, where it should stand in a 

 temperatui'e of from 140° F. to 150° F. for 2 or 3 days." The lumber on the 

 kiln truck should be so piled as to leave continuous open spaces in order to 

 give an upward vent and aid the circulation. Tupelo lumber kiln-dried 15 

 days came out without molding, staining, or stick rotting. The loss in weight 

 was aI)out 33 per cent and the shrinkage in board measure 4.4 per cent. 



Grades and amount of lumber sawed from yellow poplar, yellow birch, 

 sugar maple, and beech, E. A. Braniff (U. S. Dept. Agr., Forest Serv. Bill. 

 73, pp. 3(1). — An endeavor was made to determine in typical localities and under 

 good conditions of manufacture the graded yield and money vahie of yellow 

 poplar, yellow birch, sugar maple, and beech. 



The graded yield of yellow poplar was made in both Virginia and Tennessee, 

 and of birch, sugar maple, and beech in the Adirondack hardwoods. In this 

 work the saw crews were followed, the trees and individual logs in the trees 

 measured and marked as they were felled, and the amount and grade of lumber 

 produced by each log determined at the mill. In the case of yellow poplar 

 5,735 logs from 1,407 trees were thus traced through a Tennessee mill and the 

 logs from 315 trees through a Virginia sawmill. The yield of firsts and seconds, 

 saps, box boards, commons, and shipping and mill culls is shown in tables for 



