38 BULLETIN 100*7;, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



angles to form the completed honey section. The strips are shipped 

 flat from the factory and should be steamed at the scorings to bend 

 satisfactorily. Apparatus is sold to apiarists for this purpose, 

 although the strips can be bent without breaking by moistening the 

 wood where the scorings have been made. Basswood does not break 

 readily when bent in this way, which makes it valuable for this use. 



Manufacturers of honey sections prefer to get their basswood from 

 the Lake States. Some is purchased from West Virginia mills, 

 but this is not considered so white and clear or so suitable for this use. 

 Basswood which is cut in the winter is preferred for the manufacture 

 of honey sections, because it is less likely to discolor than if cut in the 

 summer. Some firms make a practice of buying it partially seasoned 

 in the winter. It is then piled in the open on sticks for 9 months to a 

 year, after which it is piled solid for a year under cover. Where this 

 practice is followed it is necessary to keep a very large stock of 

 lumber on hand. 



Factories making honey sections and other bee-keepers' supplies 

 generally find it necessary to manufacture a number of miscellaneous 

 articles in order to utilize their small-dimension and defective bass- 

 wood. Such articles as small boxes, handles of cheap fans, calendar 

 sticks, and washboards are among the most common. Trimmings 

 cut from the ends of thin basswood strips are sold for hay-balers' 

 labels, on which weights are written. Brown and dark-streaked 

 material can be used for these purposes. Basswood is sometimes 

 used for the interior of hives and occasionally for the sides, but white 

 or western yellow pine is more often used for these parts, and cypress 

 for the tops and bottoms, because a more durable wood is desired. 



Manufacturers of apiarists' supplies assert that there is no satis- 

 factory substitute for basswood in the manufacture of honey sections. 

 Yellow poplar is not so strong at the corners of the honey sections 

 where it is bent and, moreover, it not in general so white and clear 

 as basswood. The sapwood might serve, however, if it could be 

 obtained in large quantities. Cottonwood might be made to serve, 

 but it does not machine smoothly. The warping of tupelo, which 

 might otherwise be suitable, precludes its use for the purpose. 



Other articles for which basswood is adapted are butter molds, 

 because it looks clean and can be easily carved, and parts of churns, 

 on account of its light color. Incubators and poultry coops are often 

 made partly of basswood, because it is light in weight and easy to 

 work. 



New York, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Ohio use the largest quantities 

 of basswood for this line of wooden products, because of the bee, 

 dairy; and poultry industries in those States. 



