24 



WOOD-USING INDUSTRIES OF MARYLAND 



in the case of beech, was based on logs, and not on sawed lumber. The 

 elm from without cost more than four times as much, or $33 a thou- 

 sand, and three-fourths of all came from without. Michigan fur- 

 nished most of it, but shipments were reported from New Jersey, 

 Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia. The average price of elm for 

 the whole country in 1908 was $18.40 per thousand. The Maryland 

 basket makers paid $8.10 per thousand more. The toughness of the 

 elm makes it suitable for hoops or bands round the tops of baskets, and 

 a large part of it was so used. The demand for a cheaper wood for 

 this purpose is extensively felt, and many substitutes have been tried. 

 It is claimed that river birch, which grows plentifully in Maryland, 

 answers fairly well, but no manufacturer reported its use for that 

 purpose. Some of the sweet birch reported may have been used for 

 hoops. 



TABLE 7. Baskets. 



Red gum heads the list of Maryland basket woods in both quantity 

 and value ; in amount, 40 per cent, and in value, 42. Eighty per cent 

 of the total was cut in Maryland, and the state-grown wood was $1.27 

 per thousand cheaper than the imported. Of the 600,000 feet shipped 

 in, the chief part came from Virginia and North Carolina. The 

 average price paicJ for red gum was $14.30, while in 1908 the average 

 for the run of mills in the United States was $13.08. Though this 

 wood is cut in commercial quantities in twenty-two States, its average 

 price varies less than that of most lumbers, the difference between the 

 highest, in Indiana, and the lowest, in North Carolina, being only 

 $3.84. It is more used for veneers than any other American wood, 

 and basket makers are among the largest users of the veneers. 



