BASSWOODS. 279 



when properly seasoned is nearly white in color but gener- 

 ally it can hardly be distinguished from the light brown 

 heartwood. It warps badly when exposed to weather and rots 

 quickly when in contact with moisture. The specific gravity 

 is 0.4525; weight of a cubic foot 28.20 pounds. 



Uses. The Basswood is a good street and lawn tree in 

 suitable locations taking on a very beautiful form and is not 

 nearly so much used for this purpose as it should be. It is 

 very hardy and resists drouth well and is desirable in timber 

 plantings in this section. Newly transplanted street trees of 

 this species are liable to injury from sun scald in this section 

 until they are well established and for this reason should 

 have their trunks protected from the sun for several years 

 after they are set out. 



The wood is largely sawed into lumber and under the name 

 of white-wood is used in the manufacture of cheap furniture, 

 wooden ware, carriage boxes etc. , for interior finishing and 

 a variety of other purposes. It is also used for paper pulp 

 but makes an inferior quality of paper. The inner bark, known 

 as bast, is occasionally made into coarse'cordage and matting 

 The manufacture of these latter materials from European 

 Linden has been conducted on a large scale in Europe but has 

 never attained any importance in the United States. The 

 bast fibre is obtained by stripping the bark from the trees in 

 the spring and soaking it until the mucilage that binds the 

 layers together is soaked out. 



Tilia vulgaris. European Basswood. European Lin- 

 . den. 



Native of northern Europe, forming a large tree. The 

 wood of this species is much like that of the American 

 Basswood. c The leaves, however, are smaller and more reg- 

 ularly heart shaped. The tree is compact in habit and has 

 numerous short, rather slender reddish twigs. There are 

 many varieties. This species has been doing very well for 

 about seven years in the forest plantation at the Minnesota 

 Experiment Station and seems to be of some value for this 

 section. The varietis of the broad leaved European Linden 

 ( T. Platy phyllos) have failed in this section. 



