THE USES OF WOOD 



535 



kind of wood 

 and the shape of 

 the beam were 

 carefully looked 

 after as if they 

 had much to do 

 with the success 



quantity. Five feet of hardwood go to these manufac- 

 turers to one foot of softwood. The list follows : 



Native Hardwood Feet Used Yearly 



Maple 45.482,77s 



Yellow poplar 40,371,925 



Chestnut 38,125,141 



Oak 20,638,480 . 



Elm 15,602,440 



Birch 12,349,055 



Basswood 10,968,180 



Red gum. 9,243,825 



Black walnut 4,991,808 



Beech 4,186,000 



Ash 2,377,332 



Coittonwood 2,351,000 



of the bell. Such apparatus is said 

 not to be used outside of China at the 

 present time. 



Most softwoods listed in this in- 

 dustry do not owe their place to their 

 resonance. For instance, much white 

 pine and sugar pine are manufactured 

 into keys for organs and pianos, but 

 they are preferred for those places on 

 account of their lightness and small 

 tendency to warp, and not for any 

 quality of resonance which they may 

 possess. Such softwoods as hemlock, Douglas fir, yel- 

 low pine, and cypress are demanded for the frames 

 of large instruments to give the necessary strength 

 without too much weight or at too great a cost ; but 

 these woods hold places in this industry other than as 

 frame stock. 



Hardwoods constitute eighty per cent of all the 

 material furnished by forests to the manufacturers of 

 musical instruments in this country. That figure alone 

 tells the story of the importance of this class of woods 

 along the line indicated. Measured in feet, there is 

 much more softwood in the United States than hard- 

 wood five or six times as much. But in kinds or species, 

 hardwoods are far more numerous than the others. 

 Manufacturers engaged in the industry under discussion 

 use not only more kinds of hardwoods but a larger 



Tupelo. 

 Cherry. . . 

 Sycamore. 

 Butternut. 

 Buckeye . . 



Holly 



Hickory. . 



460,000 



334,i8o 



304,600 



98,100 



6,000 



3,58o 



225 



Total 207,894,636 



Maple leads all others. It is not 

 because this wood has some special 



Courtesy C. Bruno and Sons. 



GREAT CARE MUST BE EXERCISED IN 

 THE SELECTION OF WOOD FOR VIOLINS 



The quality of wood in a violin has much to 

 do in establishing the value of the instru- 

 ment. The old masters selected their wood 

 and prepared it with as much loving care as 

 they bestowed on the actual shaping and 

 joining. 



use which ac- 

 counts for the 

 large demand, 

 but it is due 

 to the general 

 fitness of maple 

 for many parts 

 of musical in- 

 struments. Most of its qualities are good ones, and 

 it has many. It fills numerous places and does it 

 well. It is an outside wood for show and an inside 

 wood for strength. It is hard, strong, stiff, heavy, 

 elastic, and handsome. Its chief place is for frames and 

 braces, and its hardness opens the way for its employ- 

 ment as piano actions. A single piano does not require 

 much wood for actions, but in the aggregate a large 



