137 



SMOKING PIPES. 



Pennsylvania leads all other states in the consumption of wood for smoking 

 pipes. Five woods supply the raw material for this line of manufacture; two 

 of them are foreign species. Applewood leads the list as to amount, and is 

 the only wood reported cut in the State. The best grades of pipes are made 

 from French briar, ebony, and rosewood, but the last named was not re- 

 ported in Pennsylvania. The sapwood of sweet or cherry birch and red gum 

 is used for cheap pipes, che former to imitate calabash and the latter rose- 

 wood. Olivewood pipes resemble meerschaum when finished. 



Table 90. Wood for Tobacco Pipes, year ending June, 1912. 



SPORTING AND ATHLETIC GOODS. 



Ash, on account of its strength and convenient weight, is probably the 

 premier wood for baseball bats. The entire amount listed in Table 91 went 

 for this use, and most of it was purchased in the form of squares, usually 

 3 inches by 3 inches by 38 inches long. In other states bat maufacturers used 

 several woods, the principal ones other than ash being hickory, willow, 

 beech, ironwood, and maple. Though all of these are trees indigenous to 

 Pennsylvania, and the wood easily obtained, the manufacturers in this State 

 did not report the use of any. 



Twice as much beech was used for game traps as any other wood and its 

 strength and density especially favor it for this purpose. Hard maple, its 

 chief competitor, with small quantities of ash and birch supplied the rest of 

 the material, purchased in the form of surfaced lumber. All used was cut 

 in the State. 



Sugar maple, hard, tough, close grained, easily turned, has proved the 

 best qualified wood for duck and ten pins. The quantity used in Pennsylvania 

 is somewhat disappointing considering the large quantity of pins sold. Infor- 

 mation was secured of a large number of duck pin squares being cut in the 

 State, but they were shipped elsewhere to be manufactured and doubtless 

 are sent back to be sold in the finished product. Lignum-vitae answered for 

 bowling balls and, though a composition ball resembling hard rubber is being 

 more generally used, the best bowlers prefer the wooden ball. Lignum- 

 vitae is the highest priced wood shown in the table and is bought in the form 

 of bolts shipped from the West Indies. No domestic wood possesses the com- 



