AMERICAN FOREST TREES 339 



than the sawmills cut. The shops and manufacturing plants of ten 

 states use as much tupelo as is cut by all the sawmills in the United 

 States. These states are Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Louisiana, Mary- 

 land, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, and Texas. 

 The reason for factory use exceeding the sawmill cut is that much reaches 

 factories, in the form of veneer, which does not pass through a sawmill. 

 The lumber output of most of the timber trees of this country is from 

 one-third to one-half greater than the factory use. The difference 

 represents the rough lumber used, and which never goes to a factory. 



Tupelo lately entered the general market, but the yearly demand 

 now exceeds 100,000,000 feet. Its uses range from boxes and cheap 

 handles to interior finish and material for musical instruments. It is 

 particularly liked for containers for berries and small fruits, on their way 

 to market. Its whiteness and clean appearance fit it for that use. 



Higher grades of shipping boxes are also made. Wholesale grocers 

 order largely of this wood for spice, coffee, and tea boxes. These 

 commodities are exacting in their requirements because their odor, 

 which is often regarded as the criterion of their value, must not be 

 impaired. A wood with an odor of its own is immediately ruled out. 

 Cigar box makers use tupelo, sometimes as thin lumber for the whole 

 box, but usually as backing over which to lay a thin veneer of 

 Spanish cedar. Plug tobacco boxes are also made of tupelo. 



In Illinois and Michigan tupelo is listed among woods manufac- 

 tured into pianos, organs, mandolins, and guitars. In Maryland they 

 make scows and barges of it. In Arkansas and Louisiana it is worked 

 into excelsior and slack cooperage stock. It is a favorite wood in Miss- 

 issippi for pumplogs and broom handles. Its leading reported use in 

 Texas is for porch columns. In Missouri it is manufactured into laundry 

 appliances, such as washboards, clothes racks, and ironing boards. In 

 nearly all manufacturing centers of the country it is made into furniture 

 and interior finish. It is frequently substituted for yellow poplar in 

 panels, not only in furniture and cabinet work, but in carriage bodies. 



The supply of tupelo in southern forests is fairly large, and will 

 meet demand for some years, but it is a tree of slow growth, and when 

 present stands are cut, a new supply will probably never come. 



SOUR TUPELO (Nyssa ogeche) appears to be the only member of the gum group 

 whose fruit is of any value to man, and it is not very important. The large, dull red 

 drupes ripen in July and August, and sometimes hang on the trees until late fall, 

 allowing ample time for gathering them. They are very sour, for which reason the 

 tree is called sour gum. The fruit is put through a pickling process which renders it 

 palatable and it is not an infrequent article on southern pantry shelves. The range 

 of the tree is confined to the region near the coast from the southern border of South 

 Carolina, through the Ogeechee river valley in Georgia, to northern and western 



