$38 AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



luster, but are too minute to develop much figure. The general tone of 

 the wood is white. It is soft, works easily, holds its shape well, and is 

 tough, but is in no sense a competitor of oak and hickory in toughness, 

 though it shows the quality best in thin panels which resist splitting and 

 breaking. 



In the days when it was customary to ceil houses with boards, both 

 overhead and the walls of rooms, carpenters were partial to basswood 

 because of its softness. Dressing lumber was then nearly always done 

 by hand, and the carpenter who pushed the jack plane ten or twelve 

 hours a day, looked pretty carefully to the softness of the wood he 

 handled. In tongued and grooved work, as in ceiling and wainscoting, 

 it was not necessary to dress the fitting edges as carefully when basswood 

 was used as in using some others, because it is so soft that fittings can be 

 forced, and cracks may be closed by driving the boards together. 



Slack coopers have long employed basswood for barrel headings, 

 and also in the manufacture of various kinds of small stave ware, such 

 as pails, tubs, and kegs. In this use, as in ceiling, the softness of the wood 

 is a prime consideration, because the pressure of the hoops will close 

 any small openings. Its whiteness and its freedom from stains and 

 unpleasant odors are likewise important when vessels are to contain 

 food products. Box makers like the wood on that account, and large 

 quantities are manufactured into containers for articles of food. 



Much basswood is cut into veneer, some of which serves in single 

 sheets as in making small baskets and cups for berries and small fruits, 

 but a large part of the output is devoted to ply work. Usually three 

 sheets are glued together, but sometimes there are five. By crossing 

 the sheets, to make the grain of one lie at right angles to the next, plies 

 of great strength and toughness are produced. Trunk makers are 

 large users of such, and many panels of that kind are employed by 

 manufacturers of furniture and musical instruments. 



Woodenware factories find basswood one of their most serviceable 

 materials, and it is made into ironing boards, wash boards, bread boards, 

 and cutting boards for cobblers, saddlers, and glass cutters. Its lightness 

 and toughness make it serviceable as valves and other parts of bellows 

 for blacksmiths, organs, and piano players. Makers of gilt picture 

 frames prefer it for molding which is to be overlaid with the gilt or gold. 

 It is serviceable for advertising signs because its whiteness contrasts well 

 with printing. Makers of thermometers use it frequently for the wooden 

 body of the instrument, and yard sticks are made of it. Apiarists find 

 no wood more suitable for the small, light frames in which bees build the 

 comb. 



The uses of this wood are so many and so various that lists would 



