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FORESTRY BRANCH BULLETIN No. 63 



dealers for shipping dry-cured and pickled fish. The staves and headings 

 of cooperage stock are made of spruce and fir wood, the hoops chiefly of birch 

 and ash. 



Seven kinds of wood are reported in the above table, Spruce and balsam 

 fir are the only softwoods employed and are in small quantities, forming 

 only 0-3 per cent of the total reported. Birch forms 63-4 per cent of the total 

 wood used. A comparatively large quantity of birch is cut into veneer sheets 

 which are shipped to the British Isles. 



The material used in this industry is purchased in the province, with the 

 exception of 17 per cent made up mostly of basswood and elm bought from 

 Ontario. The raw material is received in the form of round logs or bolts. The 

 firms that purchased manufactured material and merely put it together are 

 not included. The average price paid is next to the lowest, coming above wood- 

 pulp. 



As to the mode of manufacture and the use which is made of the different 

 kinds of wood reported, it may be said that a certain proportion of all the species 

 reported is used for sawn tight staves. Spruce, oak, and balsam fir are used 

 for split staves. Headings are made of birch, spruce, and balsam fir. 



TABLE 9 FOUNDRY BOXES 



This industry is the twenty-third in the list, the second to the last, with a 

 total consumption of less than one-tenth of 1 per cent. Moulding boxes are 

 given under a special heading merely to show the importance of wood even 

 in the putting into shape of its most largely used substitutes, steel and iron. 



Reports show that at least 251,000 feet board measure of wood material 

 are yearly required for moulding boxes and flasks. The rough usage and intense 

 heat to which these boxes are subjected usually limit their usefulness to a rela- 

 tively short period. There is a tendency to replace wooden boxes by metal 

 boxes as these are cheaper in the long run on account of durability, but up to 

 the present time wood has been preferred both for its cheapness and strength. 



Five species of wood are used. Spruce leads, having fairly suitable qualities 

 for the purpose and being cheap and easily obtained. Pine is considered much 

 superior to spruce for foundry boxes. It is claimed that it warps less when 

 exposed to intense heat than any other Canadian wood. All the wood used 

 was purchased in Quebec, generally in the form of two-inch planks. The price 

 paid is over $1 below the average. 



