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Pipe Stems of Bird Cherry 



The pipe stem is oue of the smallest articles made of wood, and 

 has attracted no particular attention from those who make a busi- 

 ness of compiling statistics to show how much and what kinds of 

 wood are used in the country. Consequently, there seem to be no 

 available statistics showing how much or what kinds of wood are 

 made into pipe stems. 



A common material for that purpose is a species of wild cherry 

 that grows throughout half of the United States and in nearly half 

 of Canada. I\ has a long list of names, some applied locally and 

 others are quite general. The most common of the names are bird 

 cherry and fire cherry; but it has other titles, among them wild red 

 cherry, pin cherry, pigeon cherry, and simply wild cherry. 



The name ' ' wild red cherry ' ' is not an inappropriate name for 

 this bush or tree, because it is the only wild cherry, of the eight or 

 nine species in the United States, that is red when fully ripe, though 

 two others are red before ripe but change to purple or black 

 afterwards. 



No lumberman ever struck an axe into the trunk of this cherry 

 for business purposes; because not one trunk, probably, in a million 

 ever attains a diameter of one foot. Enormous numbers spring up 

 in regions bared by fire, but they die young. Most of them begin 

 to die within four or five years after they spring up; a smaller num- 

 ber survive fifteen or twenty years; and only in rare cases does one 

 attain pole size. The extreme size is stated to be eighteen inches in 

 diameter; but it is doubtful if any man in his whole life ever saw 

 two of the trees that large. 



The forester concedes that the wild red cherry (which he calls 

 Prunus pennsylranica) is a good thing in its place. Its dense thickets 

 provide protection to areas which otherwise would be barren. Under 

 this protection, trees more valuable are able to secure a foothold, and 

 when the cherry bushes die, wliich takes place speedily, the better 

 trees hold the ground. 



As far as can be ascertained, the pipe stem maker is the only per- 

 son who has ever found a use for the wood of this cherry. When 

 the bush is small, say four or five years old, the central stem and the 

 branches are long and smooth, with bright 

 bark, decorated with markings running a 

 fourth or a third of the way round the 

 stems at frequent intervals, and giving a 

 pleasing figure. These markings are lenti- 

 cel scars — as botanists call them. They 

 are holes in the bark, and through them 

 the growing wood gets rid of some of the 

 water or sap which it no longer needs. 

 Xearly all kinds of cherry trees have these 

 markings, and they are prominent also 

 on certain birches and other trees. 



The pipe stem maker values these dec- 

 orations highly. Aside from these orna- 

 mental markings it is not apparent that 

 the cherry stem has any particular value 

 over many other woods. The pipe stems 

 are made in all sizes from nearly an inch 

 in diameter down to a quarter of an inch, 

 and in length from three or four inches 

 up to two feet, and a few are still longer. 

 A hole is bored lengthwise through the 

 stem, and three or four scallops and trim- 

 mings with a knife complete the process 

 of manufacture, ready for the stem's at 

 tachment to the bowl. Occasionally a var- 

 nish or filler of some sort is used, but most 

 have no artificial finish after the desired 

 shape has been given. 



There appears to be no particular time 

 or place of cutting the stock, but winter 

 cutting is preferred because the bark is 



—24— 



then tight and is less liable to injury in handling. The probabUity 

 that the supply will become scarce is remote, as any person will 

 speedily conclude who has ever seen a thicket of this cherry and noted 

 the number of thickets in a region. It is a thinly-stocked acre which 

 will not easily yield ten thousand first-class pipe stems. A single 

 ridge on some of the spurs of the Alleghany mountains contains 

 enough of this cherry to supply stems for all the pipes of earth, from 

 the creation of Adam till the last human footprint fades from the 

 sands of time at the end of the world. 



Sometimes the pipe's bowl as well as the stem is of this wood, 

 with the bark still on. The effect is rustic, but such a pipe is not 

 of high grade. The bowl is inclined to burn, and when it escapes 

 that mishap, the heat from the burning tobacco causes the bowl to 

 check and split in a short time. 



Chicago Council Adopts Increased Fire Limits 



At a meeting of the council of the city of Chicago, held at the 

 council chamber on March 22, it was decided by vote of thirty-nine 

 to six to adopt the recommendations for enlarging the fire limits of 

 the city, whereunder they are increased some twenty square miles in 

 area. For a time it looked as though there would be an effort to 

 extend the limits twenty square miles further than the district 

 described in the provision adopted, but this provisional fire limit plan 

 was unfavorably received. 



There have been rather vague charges raised against lumbermen 

 to the effect that they had provided $1,000,000 at a recent meeting 

 to fight the measure. The ridiculousness of the charges are, of 

 course, shown on the face of them, but there are plenty of people 

 in Chicago who have been willing to give the charge credence in spite 

 of very forceful and convincing denials of any such action and of 

 grounds for even suspecting anything of this sort of the lumbermea 

 of this city. 



All the honor is not in the work of the big saws; the little one» 

 cut wood, too. 



THE H.\ND\VR1TING ON THE W.\LL, AND YET THEY WONDER WHY THE TRAIN IS LATE. 



