TIMBER OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 95 



inside finish, but chiefly for boxes, as it is light, strong, 

 and cheap. It is of fine even grain, moderately hard and 

 stiff, not elastic, very tough and hard to split, easily worked, 

 but is not durable in contact with ground ; it is also used in 

 the States for flooring, laths, wooden pumps, and turnery, 

 largely for mouldings, and in Great Britain chiefly for 

 casings over electric wire fittings ; great quantities are 

 used for this purpose. Great Britain is the best market 

 for tupeloe. 



Weight when well seasoned about 32 Ibs. per cubic foot. 

 Some of it lost 32 per cent, of its weight by kiln drying 

 for fifteen days and shrunk 4^ per cent. 



Black Gum (Nyssa sylcatica) is the other of the southern 

 States gums, and, though it has a greater range than 

 tupeloe or red gum, nowhere forms an important part of 

 the forest. Owing to its less abundant supply and the 

 poorer quality of its timber it is not cut as mill timber, 

 but is used for wagon repairs, cattle yokes, and other 

 purposes requiring a strong non-splitting wood, also largely 

 for pulley blocks and belt wheels. 



Chestnut (Castanea viilgaris) was formerly common over 

 the New England States, Pennsylvania supplying 18 per cent, 

 of the total cut, Tennessee coming next, but the timber is 

 getting so scarce that supplies have been drawn from the 

 Canadian boundary and as far west as Minnesota on the 

 north to the centre of Texas on the south ; it is one of the 

 chief timbers used in the States for telegraph poles, and 

 something like 53,000,000 cubic feet are required annually 

 for this purpose, also for sleepers and fencing. Chestnut 

 is a long-lived tree attaining an age of 400 to 600 years, but 

 trees over 100 years are usually hollow ; it grows quickly, 

 and sprouts from a chestnut stump often attain a height 



