LOBLOLLY PINE. 23 



woods combined (17 species were used) in the manufacture of boxes 

 and crates, and was second in cooperage and basket making. Among 

 the numerous commodities of which it forms part of the material or 

 all of it are basket bottoms, vegetable crates, nail kegs, and boxes for 

 fruits, vegetables, and bottles. It has a regular place in vehicle man- 

 ufacturing for beds and bodies for wagons and carts, and in boat 

 building for masts, siding, decking, lining, ceiling, cabins, and all 

 kinds of finish and joiner work in skiffs, yachts, motor boats, and 

 sailing craft. It is widely used by slack coopers. It is standard 

 material for interior finish and is frequently employed on an equal 

 footing with longleaf pine, which it closely resembles if pieces are 

 carefully selected with regard to grain. It takes finish well, and if 

 painted, as it usually is when used as weatherboarding, it wears well 

 and needs repainting only at long intervals. It is excellent flooring 

 lumber, and serves for practically all kinds of interior finish win- 

 dow and door frames, ceiling, wainscoting, molding, railing, balus- 

 ters, brackets, and stair work. Cabinetmakers work it into many 

 articles, and it is seen in wardrobes, clothespresses, shelving, drawers, 

 compartments, and boxes. It has no less a range of uses in furniture 

 making, going for the most part into frames for couches, lounges, 

 and large chairs. 



A report of the wood-using industries of North Carolina in 1909 

 showed conditions similar to those in Maryland, in regard to loblolly 

 pine. There more of it was used than of all other woods combined, 

 the total being considerably more than 300 million feet. Practi- 

 cally every industry of the State that employed wood in manufac- 

 turing gave a prominent place to loblolly pine. Nearly 3 million 

 feet were used for telephone cross-arms, it being practically the only 

 wood employed for that purpose in the region. A comparatively 

 large use in North Carolina is for tobacco hogsheads. Loblolly and 

 longleaf pine aggregate 98 per cent of all the matched flooring manu- 

 factured in that State, but as the two woods are not listed separately 

 in the statistics the proportion of each is unknown, except that most 

 of it was loblolly. 



RAILROAD TIMBERS. 



Railroad companies buy large quantities of loblolly pine. It is used 

 in car construction, chiefly for freight cars. It is employed in bridge 

 and trestle work, though it does not rank with longleaf in strength 

 or elasticity. It may be had in timbers that will compare in size 

 with the best longleaf pine. Much is cut for crossties, but its tend- 

 ency to speedy decay makes it unprofitable for that purpose unless 

 it has been given preservative treatment. Loblolly pine is among the 

 most easily treated timbers of the United States. 



