148 Discussion of Industries 
ratus.) The 1912 report included playground equipment in a 
separate table as well as signs and supplies, but owing to the 
smal] number of firms reporting for 1919 these two tables are 
now included under the miscellaneous heading in order that 
the reports may be kept confidential. 
The report of 1912 shows a total consumption of 30,790,300 
feet reported by 24 firms; in this report 3,708,000 feet are 
reported by 18 establishments. This marked decrease in con- 
sumption is due in part to the smaller number of firms report- 
ing and to the exclusion of dynamite made of wood-flour and 
fibre-board made of spruce, both of which were included in the 
former report. These industries are now included in census 
reports. Matches, formerly included in the miscellaneous table, 
are now tabulated separately, which makes a difference of over 
14,000,000 feet. 
White pine still holds first place in the miscellaneous table 
with 785,000 board feet purchased at a cost of $156.27, a price 
which indicates that a good grade of material was used. This 
is a marked increase over $32.80 in 1912. Hard maple is the 
second wood of importance; this wood was in ninth place in 
the former report at $30.04 a thousand and now is $33.76, 
which is a surprisingly small increase. The reason for this 
small increase probably is that formerly it was all brought in 
from outside the State, but now it is all State-grown, coming 
largely from small timber tracts. Beech is now in third place 
instead of sixth as formerly; in this case also a much larger 
proportion of the material was home-grown with only a slight 
increase in price. 
The woods used principally for florists’ sticks and plant 
supports are beech, birch, maple, and chestnut. Cork is 
received in rough form from Portugal and is 2 to 3 inches 
thick. It is used principally for bottle stoppers; and the waste 
goes into composition material, such as floor coverings, and is 
used also for refrigeration purposes. Willow is utilized almost 
exclusively in the manufacture of artificial limbs. The prin- 
cipal requisites of wood for this use are freedom from check- 
