62 



WOOD-USING INDUSTRIES 



as they are to-day, made from soft woods which when stained, grained 

 and varnished, imitate hardwoods. Coffins are irregular in shape. 

 They are widest near one end, corresponding to the shoulders of a 

 person, and from there slope towards each end. Yellow poplar is the 

 principal coffin wood, which with black walnut met the entire demand 

 in Virginia. 



Caskets are rectangular. Some of them have rounded corners, 

 and in others, the corners are cut off and squared, giving the casket 

 something of an octagonal appearance. Nearly all caskets are cloth 

 covered, and this permits the use of low grades of lumber. Chestnut, 

 based on the quantity used, is the most important American casket wood- 

 Other caskets, usually the high-priced ones, are richly carved and 

 finished in the natural wood. White oak, mahogany, and walnut, 

 selected for their beauty of grain, served for making these. Over 

 three-fourths of the total reported by the Virginia casket makers was 

 chestnut. Red cedar, white oak, and mahogany consituted the rest. 

 Virginia manufacturers did not report buying cypress which is the 

 piincipal casket wood used in Missouri and the southern Mississippi 

 Valley States. In Oregon and Washington, western red cedar has 

 proved a most valuable wood for casket making and is used in large 

 quantities. Sitka spruce is also employed. 



Lumber consumed for making outer cases, sometimes called rough 

 boxes, is included in the statistics of this industry. The woods reported 

 for this use by the Virginia manufacturers were chestnut, yellow poplar, 

 hemlock, shortleaf pine, white pine, and red cedar,. 



TABLE 21. CASKETS AND COFFINS. 



CHAIRS 



White oak and red oak constituted nearly six-seventJhs of the ma- 

 terial demanded by the Virginia chair makers. The prices paid for 



