56 BULLETIN 1007, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



length of time, it should rest on poles or sticks to keep it off the 

 ground. A space of about 2 feet should be left between piles to 

 allow it to dry properly. Kiln-dried wood, if subjected to too high 

 temperatures, often exhibits a brittleness when cut into excelsior, 

 which makes it less desirable than the air dried. It is often very 

 profitable for the small timber owner to convert his basswood trees 

 into excelsior wood rather than to market them in other forms, 

 because the small-diameter material and limbs can be more closely 

 utilized. 



Basswood is also valuable as pulpwood, for which use it is pur- 

 chased at the same price as poplar. It is used for pulp mainly in 

 the southern Appalachians. Specifications call for 5-foot lengths, 

 with a minimum diameter of 4 inches. Bolts 4 to 7 inches in diameter 

 are not to be split, more than 7 and up to 10 inches in diameter to be 

 split once, more than 10 and up to 14 inches quartered, and above 

 14 inches to be split in proportion. Basswood pulpwood usually 

 brings about one dollar more per cord than beech, birch, and maple 

 pulpwood. 



Woodenware factories, particularly those making pails and tubs, 

 frequently buy bolts with a minimum diameter of 4 inches to 6 inches. 

 Lengths are usually 40 and 52 inches. In some cases longer lengths 

 are accepted. The price paid on cars at loading point ranges from 

 about $6.50 to $8 per cord and the freight amounts to $1 to $2 a cord 

 more. Second-growth timber is preferred. Box factories in some 

 instances buy basswood bolts for conversion into crating. They 

 take diameters down to about 6 inches, and 52-inch lengths are 

 usually preferred. 



Where the timber runs small in size, and especially on cut-over 

 tracts, where there is much young, rapid-growth stock, the bolt is 

 the practicable form for marketing. 



SUMMARY. 



Basswood is an important commercial timber of the northeastern 

 part of the United States. Since it grows in mixture with other 

 hardwood species and does not form dense stands, it has never been 

 a very plentiful timber. In regions where it was formerly compara- 

 tively abundant, particularly in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, 

 various industries have greatly reduced the supplies available, so 

 that it is now scarce in these States. The Great Lakes and south- 

 ern Appalachian regions are now the main sources of the timber. 

 Wisconsin and Michigan have furnished the largest quantities for 

 the last 20 years. During the last 12 years the quantities used have 

 diminished greatly; the amount of basswood lumber manufactured 

 during this period has been reduced by about 50 per cent. The 

 period of maximum lumber production was from 1906 to 1910; in 



