The Uses of Aspen or Popple 



Minnesota lias a million ai-ios of asiwn or popple, ami tin' state- 

 forest service has eomnieiiced a campaign to place this wood in the 

 class of useful forest materials, where it belongs. For the past 

 five months E. 0. Buhlcr has boon carrying on investigations with 

 that object in view. 



It has resolved itself into .-i question of education. The wood 

 is all right, but the people generally, and particularly the settlers 

 in northern Minnesota, do not know it. They formerly looked on it 

 as a nuisance. It was in the way. They had to cut it and burn it 

 when they cleared land. No one thought of selling it, because no 

 buyers ever made inquiries concerning it. 



The need for the utilization of a cheaper wood is seen at a glance 

 when the rise in the price of white pine is considered. Thirty 

 years ago white pine land in Minnesota sold for $2..50 per acre. 

 There was approximately 25,000 board feet per acre. This made 

 the price of stumpage about 10 cents i)er 1,000 feet. Twenty years 

 ago the price had risen to $1 per 1,000 feet. Last year the price 

 received at state sales was $9 per 1,000 feet. A rise from 10 cents 

 to .$9 per 1,000 feet within thirty years. 



The same story can be told with regard to Norway pine. Ten 

 years ago a homesteader would not settle on land that was covered 

 with Norway pine. Last year at the state sales in Minnesota the 

 price for Norway pine was about .$8 per 1,000 feet. 



What is true of white i^ine and Norway is also true of tamarack, 

 cedar, spruce, hemlock, southern gum and cypress. 



While the price was rising rapidly for all these other woods, there 

 remained unused in Minnesota millions of feet of popple, or aspen. 

 It averages about 2,000 feet per acre, making a grand total of about 

 2,000,000,000 board feet in the state. Much of it is in the north- 

 western part of the state. 



Aspen is a widely-dispersed species. The light seeds are carried 

 long distances by the wind, and burnt tracts are seeded with young 

 growth. The trees grow rapidly, but they do not attain great age. 

 The aspen has been called the ' ' sudden sawlog ' ' tree, because it 

 so quickly attains full growth. It is not a large tree, however. 

 Pole sizes are usual, and timber larger than that is uncommon. 



Enormous areas are coming on. Seedlings are taking possession 

 of cutover laud as well as of burnt tracts, and the years to come 

 will see a large quantity of this timber ready for market. 



The question which is now being discussed in Minnesota is. 

 What shall be done with this timber? Other states and regions 

 have partly solved the problem. The cutters of pulpwood take 

 hundreds of thousands of cords annually for use in the manufacture 

 of paper. It Is white, with good fiber, and is valuable for pulp. 

 The mills pay seven or eight dollars a cord for it, delivered at the 

 place where it is wanted. 



The wood has many other uses in different regions. New England 

 manufacturers convert it into the following commodities: Basket 

 bottoms, hoops, boxes, brush backs, buckets, pails and tubs, window 

 cases, ceiling, crates, excelsior, handles for dippers, knives, and 

 ladles; spools and spool heads, toys, parts of wheelbarrows, and 

 children's sleds. Many of the same uses are reported for the 

 wood in New York and some in addition. It is used for ladders, 

 casket boxes, parts of organs, and refrigerators. In Michigan the 

 wood is employed in making dishes, fish kits, jelly buckets, lard 

 pails, putty kegs, spice kegs, and sugar buckets. In Minnesota 

 some flooring has been made of aspen, and it has likewise been 

 reported for siding. Its other uses in Minnesota are much the 

 same as those in Michigan. 



These uses are wide enough in their range to sliow that the wood 

 has value. The chief limit to its usefulness is on account of the 

 small size of the trees. It is strong enough for many purposes. 

 Geographically, it is a northern species, but its range extends down 

 to Pennsylvania, Missouri, New Mexico and Arizona. It is difficult 

 to state what the annual output is, because when sawmills cut it 

 they may call it cottonwood, or jioplar, or aspen, or perhaps balm 



—32— 



of (iilead, though the tree itself is not likely to In- mistaken for 

 the latter. 



If the time ever comes in the northern country when trees are 

 planted on vacant tracts, little expense need be jncurrt-l to seed 

 the ground with aspen. Seeds may be blown for miles away, and 

 usually a bared surface will receive enough to stock it fully. The 

 common cottonwood overlaps the aspen 's range in the North, but 

 usually the former loses its importance and gradually gives way 

 to aspen as the cold regions are reached. The largetooth aspen is 

 often mistaken for the smaller species, and the woods of the two 

 closely resemble each other. They occupy the same range in part. 



Bethabara an Excellent Timber Tree 



Bethabara is a copyrighted name applied to a British Guiana 

 wood now imported into the United States chiefly for making 

 fishing rods for which it is said to have no equal. In the region 

 where it grows the Indians call it wasiba or washiba, and the 

 English speaking people have given it the name of bow wood, be- 

 cause the Indians use this wood more than any other for making 

 their bows. The wood was given the name bethabara by a New 

 York dealer in order not to make known where it originated which 

 enabled him to monopolize the trade. It was at one time reported 

 to come from West Africa, but it is now generallv known among 

 users of this wood that it is obtained from a rare and little-known 

 tree, which grows along the banks of the Issoroora Creek and 

 Pomeroon river in British Guiana. Its exact distribution is not 

 known, but it is quite likely that the tree grows also in parts of 

 Venezuela, Brazil and in Dutch and French Guiana. It is said to 

 attain a height of from eighty to one hundred and twenty feet 

 and a diameter of from three to four feet. It has a clear cylin- 

 drical bole for twenty or thirty feet. 



The wood is light olive-colored after it is exposed to the light 

 and air, but on a freshly cut surface it is of a yellowish-green 

 color which is due to the contents of the pores in the wood. These 

 pores are filled with a substance known as tylosis which is of an 

 orange color turning darker with age. These tyloses which are 

 gummy are so abundant that they adhere to the edge of tools and 

 produce an effect similar to dullness. The edge of tools must bo 

 frequently cleaned by means of a whet-stone or by washing it in 

 a weak solution of sodium hydroxide. The wood is exceedingly 

 hard, heavy (about seventy-six pounds per cubic foot), tough, 

 elastic, and works with difficulty. It is exceedingly durable in 

 contact with the soil and is frequently employed in British Guiana 

 for fence posts, telegraph poles, and for the foundation of houses. 

 It is used wherever great strength, hardness, and durability are 

 required. Bethabara is frequently believed to be related to green- 

 heart (Nectandra rodiaei), since these two woods have nearly 

 similar physical qualities, but this is not the case. Bethabara is 

 an undescribed species of Tecoma and a member of the catalpa 

 family, while the greenheart belongs to the laurel family of plants. 

 There is another wood in the market known as niob which is simi- 

 lar to the bethabara though it is considered by some to be the 

 tonga or tonguin (Dipteryx odorata) which belongs to the pea 

 family. The uses of bethabara is this country are not numerous. 

 It is now being imported only in small quantities and practically 

 all of this material is consumed by the fishing-rod makers. It is 

 used occasionally for making walking sticks and umbrella handles. 



President Barnaby and Secretary Fish of the National Hardwood 

 Lumber Association have just returned from Buffalo, N. Y., where 

 they were in conference with committee of Buffalo lumbermen having 

 charge of local arrangements for the seventeenth annual convention, 

 June 18-19th. After going over the ground carefully, the Hotel 

 Statler was selected as convention headquarters. The Statler is a 

 new and modern hostelry, provided with ample assembly hall and 

 otherwise having the capacity, equipment and service for taking the 

 best of care of a full-fledged convention. 



