OUR FORESTS 



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purposes. Cedar is used for shingles, cabinetwork, lead pencils, 

 etc. ; hemlock and spruce for heavy timbers and, as we have seen, 



Transportation of lumber in the East. Logs are mostly floated down rivers 



to the mills. 



for paper pulp. Another use for our lumber, especially odds and 

 ends of all kinds, is in the packing-box industry. It is estimated 

 that nearly 50 per cent of all lumber cut ultimately finds its way 

 into the construction of boxes. 

 Hemlock bark is used for tanning. 

 The hard woods ash, bass- 

 wood, beech, birch, cherry, chest- 

 nut, elm, maple, oak, and walnut 

 are used largely for the " trim " 

 of our houses, for manufacture of 

 furniture, wagon or car work, and 

 endless other purposes. 



Diagrams of sections of timber, 

 a, cross section; b, radial; c, tan- 

 gential. (From Pinchot, U. S. Dept. 

 of Agriculture.) 



Methods of cutting Timber. A 

 glance at the diagram of the sections 

 of timber shows us that a tree may be 

 cut radially through the middle of 



the trunk or tangentially to the middle portion. Most lumber is cut 

 tangentially. In wood cut in this manner the yearly rings take a more 

 or less irregular course. The grain in wood is caused by the fibers not 



