AMERICAN FOREST TREES 489 



Yellow poplar sawlogs have probably exceeded in number any 

 other wood, except white pine, floated down rivers and creeks to 

 market. The wood floats well and lumbermen have usually pushed far 

 up the rivers, ahead of other lumber operations, to procure it. Enor- 

 mous drives have gone and are still going out of rivers in the Appalachian 

 region. 



The uses of yellow poplar are so many that an enumeration is 

 impracticable, except by general classes. These are boxes and wooden- 

 ware, vehicles, furniture, interior finish, and car building. There is 

 another class consisting of low-grade work, such as common lumber, 

 pulp wood, and the like. 



There is a class of commodities which are usually packed in boxes 

 and require a wood that will impart neither taste nor stain. That 

 requirement is met by yellow poplar. It has been an important wood 

 for boxes in which food products are shipped. It is so used less fre- 

 quently now than formerly because of increased cost, but veneer is 

 employed to a large extent, and while the total quantity of wood going 

 into box factories is smaller than formerly, the actual number and 

 contents of poplar boxes are perhaps about the same. It is a white 

 wood and shows printing and stenciling clearly. That is an important 

 point with many manufacturers who wish to print their advertisements 

 on the boxes which they send out. Woodenware, particularly ironing 

 boards, bread boards, and pantry and kitchen utensils, are largely 

 made of poplar because it is light, attractive, and easily kept clean. It is 

 popular as pumplogs for the same reason. 



As a vehicle wood, yellow poplar is not a competitor of oak and 

 hickory. They are for running gear and frames; poplar for tops and 

 bodies. No wood excels it for wide panels. It receives finish and paint 

 so well that it is not surpassed by the smoothest metals. Many of the 

 finest carriage and automobile tops are largely of this wood. Incase 

 of slight accidents it resists dints much better than sheet metal. 



Cheap furniture was once made of yellow poplar. It now enters 

 into the best kinds, and is finished in imitation of costly woods, notably 

 mahogany, birch, and cherry. No American wood will take a higher 

 polish. It is also much employed as an interior wood by furniture 

 manufacturers. It fills an important place as cores or backing over 

 which veneers are glued. 



When used as an interior house finish and in car building, it is 

 nearly always stained or painted. Many of the broad handsome panels 

 in passenger cars, which pass for cherry, birch, mahogany, or rosewood, 

 are yellow poplar, to which the finisher and decorator have given then- 

 best touches. 



