OUR FORESTS 



HI 



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. 



a 



Methods of cutting Timber. — A Diagrams of sections of timber. 



glance at the diagram of the sections ^' ^/^f %^*^°^: .^' ^^^f jl' a''r.^''T 

 „ . . gential. (From Pmchot, U. S. Dept. 



of timber shows us that a tree may be of Agriculture.) 



cut radiallj^ 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 



