48 USES OF COMMEKCIAL WOODS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



wood now excludes it from uses wherein its former cheapness placed 

 it. The highest grade of white pine does not differ much in cost 

 from black walnut and mahogany, though cheap grades may be had. 

 A table of clear white pine would not fall much, if any, below the 

 cost of one of oak. 



The use of white pine in furniture making is chiefly historical. A 

 hundred years ago it was employed for the interior of mahogany 

 bureaus, chiffoniers, and tables. To-day a cheaper wood is used. In 

 the pioneer days, within the pine regions, it furnished the bulk of the 

 rural furniture material. Articles made wholly of it did not last 

 long if they were subject to much wear or strain; but the wood was 

 cheap, easy to work, and it was made into chairs, benches, stools, 

 bedsteads, cupboards, presses, tables, and nearly all else that country 

 houses contained. Oak was nearly always to be had when pine was 

 used, and the preference given to pine was due, in most instances, to 

 the greater ease with which it could be worked. The makers of 

 church furniture find a number of places for white pine. 



BOXES. 



White pine holds its place remarkably well as a box material, in 

 spite of the lessening supply and advancing price. It is lighter than 

 the yellow pines and red gum, which are its hardest rivals. It nails 

 much more easily than they, though it does not hold nails so well. 

 Box lumber is generally of cheap grade, and second-growth pine is 

 not excluded because of knots. In Massachusetts, in 1908, box 

 makers used 263 million feet of second-growth pine, at an average 

 cost at the factory of $16.85 per thousand feet. A large part of this 

 pine was made into shoe boxes. Another large use for the wood is 

 in the manufacture of boxes for the shipment of cloth and other mer- 

 chandise from wholesalers to retailers. Shipping cases of this char- 

 acter are often of large size, requiring a hundred feet or more of 

 lumber. Boxes for pianos and organs are often of white pine, and 

 it is much in demand for fruit boxes and cases in which to pack 

 chocolates and candies for shipment. Many tobacco cases are made 

 of it, and it is, in fact, employed for boxes of so many kinds that par- 

 ticular reference to each class would be impossible. Many users of 

 cheese boxes insist on having it, in preference to all others, because 

 it imparts no taste. It is made into bottoms and tops, while the bent 

 wood is ash, elm, or some other wood which is not apt to impart a 

 taste. 



COOPERAGE. 



Large amounts of white pine are employed in cooperage, chiefly 

 in what is known as straight-stave ware. That includes fish and lard 

 buckets, washtubs, water pails, sirup buckets, keelers, piggins, churns^ 



