SUGGESTED USES. 31 



pally for fruit baskets, and for this purpose is cut into veneer one- 

 twentieth of an inch thick. Some is made also into wagon stock. 



The cost of all hardwoods is high. Ash and plain oak average $100 

 per thousand board feet, while quartered oak and hickory average 

 $125 per thousand. Iron bark brings about $105 per thousand, and 

 Siberian oak about $80 per thousand. This includes the cost of 

 transportation. 



SUGGESTED USES FOB TANBABK OAK. 



Up to the present time little has been known of the possibilities of 

 tanbark oak. The feeling has been that the wood was subject to 

 checking and warping to such a degree as to render its use impracti- 

 cable. All hardwoods are more or less subject to these defects, and 

 it is believed that the difficulties encountered in seasoning tanbark 

 will prove no greater than those which have been overcome in some 

 of the eastern hardwoods. In fact, the experiments made by the 

 Forest Service, which it must be remembered were conducted under 

 unfavorable conditions, showed that the wood can be seasoned in a 

 dry kiln in such a manner that more than half of it will be satisfactory 

 material and only 10 per cent badly checked. 



The lumber company mentioned as manufacturing tanbark oak 

 flooring has had several experimental floors laid and in all cases they 

 have proved satisfactory under hard usage. About 200,000 feet of 

 flooring has been made up, and about 1,000,000 feet of lumber is in 

 process of drying. In sawing this lumber the regular equipment of a 

 redwood mill was used. Tanbark oak seems well suited for flooring. 

 It has a pleasing grain and color and the necessary hardness. By 

 using short pieces of the same length, say, from 9 to 18 inches, grooved 

 and tongued on the ends, as well as on the sides, the material can be 

 closely utilized. In laying a floor from such pieces a pleasing effect is 

 obtained by having each strip of flooring break joints with the strips 

 on each side and by alternating the light and dark pieces in each strip. 



It is quite probable that tanbark oak will prove suitable for tight 

 cooperage. There seems to be a feeling at present that a contained 

 liquid would be affected by the wood, but so far as is known the wood 

 has not yet been given a fair trial. In regard to the tannin in the 

 wood, there is said to be a higher percentage in the case of eastern 

 white oak (1.32 per cent) l than in the case of tanbark oak (0.63 

 per cent). Of course there may be other constituents that render 

 tanbark oak unfit for use as a liquid container, but it is at least worthy 

 of a trial. 



As an inside finish, tanbark oak has the beautiful figured grain of 

 other oaks, and there is apparently no reason why it should not give 



i See Yearbook for 1902, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, article entitled "Chemical Studies of Some Forest 

 Products of Economic Importance." 



