BASSWOOD 303 



to strong winds, as the wood is somewhat weak when 

 green. 



It can endure considerable shade, and to make it grow 

 tall and free from limbs, it must be crowded in early life 

 and until it reaches its height growth, when, if so situated, 

 it will grow a tall, slightly tapering stem, free from limbs 

 for forty or more feet. When it once overcomes its com- 

 petitors, it will throw out a rounded and somewhat open 

 top, with specialized limbs. Trees have been occasionally 

 found from one hundred to one hundred and twenty feet 

 high, with a diameter of four feet, but such growth is very 

 unusual. A tree eighty feet high and thirty inches in di- 

 ameter may be considered a large tree. Old trees are fre- 

 quently hollow, and in many cases the heartwood is found 

 entirely decayed for a portion of its height, and the tree 

 still growing, showing that the only function the heartwood 

 performs is to support the trunk and crown against the wind. 

 The roots of the Basswood run deep, and have been known 

 to penetrate fourteen feet and clog a sewer pipe. 



The wood is soft, generally straight-grained, and of fine 

 texture, not strong but tough, with light-brown heartwood 

 and an extremely thick and nearly white sap wood. There 

 is little difference between spring and summer growth, and 

 the medullary rays are small and inconspicuous, plainly 

 distinguishable in the live bark, however. Boards cut from 

 Basswood can be steamed and bent into many shapes suit- 

 able for carriagework and like purposes. It takes glue, 

 stain, and paint well, and is largely used for carriage pan- 

 els and cabinetwork, exterior and inside finish, cheap fur- 

 niture, toys, wood carving, pulp, and many other purposes 

 where light soft wood is required. It is not durable when 

 exposed to the ground or to the weather unless protected with 

 paint. Logs cut from it should be sawed the same year that 

 they are cut or injury will arise from decay. Lumber cut 

 from some trees is frequently found to have hard black 

 spots and streaks, from half an inch to two or more inches 

 long and from a narrow streak to an inch or so wide, and 



