10 BULLETIN 272, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



At present, however, purchasers largely specify against dry-kiln and 

 in favor of long-period air-seasoned lumber. 



Cypress shrinks about 8 to 10 per cent in volume/ and in this re- 

 spect is intermediate between the light and heavy pines. 



USES. 



Cypress has a great variety of uses, and for many of these it is 

 selected as a preferred material. The key to its usefulness is its re- 

 sistance to decay and other forms of deterioration when in contact 

 with moisture, and its quality of being easily worked. It is used ex- 

 tensively for outside finish of buildings, such as siding, casing, sashes, 

 doors and blinds, cornice, railings, steps and porch material. As a gutter 

 stock, cypress outlasts many other materials and is in favor for high- 

 grade work. Standard planing products consume large quantities 

 of cypress. These include ceiling, siding, flooring, molding, and 

 finish. On account of its freedom from taste and great durability 

 it is a preferred material for tanks, vats, tubs, and wooden buckets. 

 These are used for water storage, and by creameries, breweries, baker- 

 ies, dye works, distilleries, and soap and starch factories. In the 

 construction of greenhouses, where wood is subjected to extremes of 

 heat and moisture, cypress is used probably more than any other 

 wood. It is also a leading wood for pumps, laundry appliances, cas- 

 kets, and coffins. Cypress is extensively used throughout the South 

 in the construction of picket fences, which there remain the standard 

 form of yard fence. In the moist, hot climate of the South, split 

 cypress shingles have outlasted all other roofing materials commonly 

 used, except the best grade of slate and tiles. While the ordinary 

 sawed shingle is very durable, the relatively high value of cypress 

 wood has resulted in cedar taking the lead as shingle material. 



More than two-thirds of the total cypress-lumber output, estimated 

 in round figures at 740,000,000 board feet in 1914, is further manu- 

 factured and utilized by the wood-manufacturing industries in the 

 United States. The reports for 1911 show that 68 per cent (668,- 

 353,342 board feet) of the amount cut in that year was so used by these 

 industries. 2 The balance of the lumber cut goes into general use in 

 the retail market. 



Relatively small amounts of cypress go into the primary products 

 other than lumber. In 1911 the electric and steam railroads pur- 

 chased cypress crossties to the number of approximately 5,800,000 or 

 about 4.3 per cent of the total for the year. 3 Only 72,995 cypress 

 poles were reported purchased in 1911 by all the principal classes of 



1 See Forest Service Circular 19, pp. 10-11, for earlier experiments in drying cypress wood. 



2 Taking the year 1911 as an average year for figures collected from the wood-using industries in the 

 period 1910 to 1912, inclusive. 



3 Includes large numbers of ties from pecky hearts and hewed small-pole timber. Figures for 1911 are 

 latest available for ties, poles, and cooperage. 



