OF VIRGINIA 27 



is in furniture making for drawer sides and bottoms, mirror backing 

 and table slides. 



BEECH 



The beech tree is most abundant in the Northern States, wheie it 

 grows on the slopes and well-drained uplands. In the Gulf States it 

 occurs less abundantly, but it is found on lowlands and borders of 

 streams and swamps. In Virginia its best development is in the 

 mountain region where it is more common than in the lowlands of the 

 Coastal Plains. Beech is held in high favor as turning wood and there- 

 fore is in great demand for chair stock and novelties: its most ex- 

 acting demand is for plane -stocks. Vast quantities of beech wood are 

 used by the wood distillation plants, and in this use it leads in quantity 

 all other woods. In Virginia its chief use is for flooring. Though 

 manufacturers often report the use of both white and red beech, botani- 

 cally there is but one species. These two names arise from the dif- 

 ferent color of the heartwood and sapwood, the former being reddish 

 and the latter white. The beech tree is easily identified in the forests by 

 its smooth and light colored bark. Its trunk is symmetrical, of large 

 proportions and the contour of the tree attractive. 



SYCAMORE 



Virginia saw-mills cut nine times as much sycamore as is purchased 

 by the manufacturers in the State itself ; but the quantity of sycamore 

 sent in from other States exceeds the lumber cut more than 50 per cent. 

 Makers of tobacco boxes and packing boxes use almost all that is 

 manufactured in Virginia. When quarter-cut, it makes a handsome 

 appearance in furniture and cabinet work. Sycamore is the easiest 

 distinguished of the American trees; the white and mottled bark is 

 very noticeable, as are the rough balls it bears, which remain hanging 

 on the tree throughout the winter. The sycamore grows in all parts of 

 Virginia from the submerged lands of the Tidewater and swamp 

 regions, high into the Mountain region, where it occurs mostly along 

 streams. 



BASSWOOD 



Basswood is fairly abundant and is one of the most useful trees 

 of the eastern United States and Canada. In Virginia it appears most 

 abundantly in the mountain region. The Virginia sawmills cut nearly 

 nine times more than the manufacturers of the State require, and yet 

 nearly 50 per cent of the manufacturer's demand was met from wood 

 grown in other States. The wood is light, soft and easily worked, 

 and in many of its uses becomes a competitor of yellow poplar. It 



