COMMERCIAL USES OF THE WHITE ELM 



265 



came scarce. The '"orham wood" 



of which church pews were 



sometimes made in England is 



said to have been white elm 



from the eastern part of the 



United States. 



In recent years elm has been 



successfully finished in a num- 

 ber of styles highly attractive. 



Some of the wood thus finished 



resembles the heartwood of 



sweet and yellow birch, other is 

 of lighter tone and might pass 



for the sawwood of birch, or 

 for maple, and by deepening the 

 color the wood becomes an imi- 

 tation of cherry. The resem- 

 blance to other woods is secured 

 by giving elm colors similar to 

 those of the woods imitated, and 

 not by copying figure and grain. 

 Few woods possess as little nat- 

 ural figure as elm, and stains and 

 fillers do not impart much figure 

 because the annual rings are not 

 clear cut, large pores are not 

 numerous, and medullary rays 

 are small and inconspicuous. 



Elm's place is in cheap furni- 

 ture or in the interior parts of 

 more expensive kinds. Reports 

 by manufacturers indicate that 

 the total demand for elm by fur- 

 niture makers is above 20,000,000 

 feet a year. The Ohio Valley, 

 with Michigan, Wisconsin and 

 Missouri, use most of this wood 

 that goes into furniture. A rather 

 large quantity is employed in chair making, including 

 chairs for children, invalids and for camps. The wood 



This is on the estate of Mr. 

 above the ground it is 1 

 planted between 1750 and 



HOOPS MADE FROM ELM 



Elm is the principal wood used for hoops in the slack cooperage industry. 

 In 1910, the last year that statistics of this kind were gathered, there 

 was produced a total of 29,571,200 hoops. Of this quantity 28,302,900, 

 or nearly 96 per cent, were of elm. 



THE STIRLING ELM 



llenry E. Pellew of Sharon, Litchfield County, Conn. At a point 4 feet 

 3 feet in circumference, Its greatest spread is about 90 feet. It was 

 1755. 



is employed in the manufacture of kitchen tables and 

 other furniture, because of the ease with which it may 

 be kept white by scrubbing. Its usual place in furniture 

 making is as frames. It is listed as material for mission 

 furniture, billiard table rims, bed slats, china closets, and 

 benches and stools. Elm is well suited for bentwood 

 work. It bends nearly as easily as hickory, but is not as 

 strong and does not take as smooth polish. Splinters are 

 more liable to rise from the surface than when hickory 

 is the wood employed. In Michigan white elm is re- 

 ported as church pew material. 



BOXES AND CRATES 



The facility with which elm may be bent without 

 steaming or otherwise heating it makes it excellent crate 

 stuff, particularly where long pieces are wanted as when 

 furniture and machinery are shipped. Thin elm boards, 

 10 feet or more in length, may be bent in the form of a 

 circle without breaking. That quality is valuable for 

 certain kinds of crating. 



The annual demand for elm for boxes and crates ex- 



