82 



Table 53. Wood for Ship and Boat Building, year ending June, 1912. 



*Less than 1-100 of 1 per cent. 



CASKETS AND COFFINS. 



This industry includes, in addition to caskets and coffins, outer or rough 

 boxes and shipping cases. Caskets are the burial cases more universally used. 

 Coffins, at one time in greater demand, are now but relatively seldom em- 

 ployed. They are irregular in form , widest at the part corresponding to the 

 shoulders, narrowing slightly towards the head, and considerably at the feet. 

 The statistics for Pennsylvania show not over 5 per cent, of the wood de- 

 manded by the manufacturers was for coffins. More than this amount is used , 

 however, since many coffins are handmade. They are manufactured by cabi- 

 netmakers who cater for local trade in all small towns throughout the State. 

 The quantity of wood used by one is small , but for a thickly populated state 

 like Pennsylvania the aggregate consumption would amount to considerable, 

 although it was found impracticable to collect statistics so widely scattered. 

 Black walnut for many years has been the principal coffin wood and it is 

 still called on for the better grades. Cheap coffins are of woods that are soft, 

 easily worked, and at the same time adaptable to stain and polish. Yellow pop- 

 lar is more used than any other kind for both. factory and hand made coffins, 

 in the southern states cypress is the leading coffin material, on the Pacific 

 coast western red cedar, and in the Lake states basswood. 



