SELLING WOODLOT PRODUCTS ON MICHIGAN FARMS. 21 



rock elm are usually required, and the billets for the handles are, as a 

 rule, split in order that no cross-grain may be left in them. Some beech 

 is also used in making logging tools. 



Handle companies buy very largely in the log or bolt through buyers 

 who get the material from farmers. Firms using hickory have to go to 

 other States for the bulk of their raw material, since there is compara- 

 tively little good hickory timber left in Michigan. Farmers owning good 

 young stands containing considerable hickory can well afford to hold 

 them and care for them in view of the steadily decreasing supply and 

 increasing demand. The same is true of thrifty, rapidly growing, young 

 ash timber. For fork and hoe handles, the specifications often designate 

 only second-growth ash. The requirements are high, and as a rule the 

 smallest sizes taken are: length 4 feet and a few inches, diameter 6 

 inches at the small end. The logs must be nearly straight, and with no 

 knots or branches showing on the surface. 



Manufacturers of scythe snaths use elm and white ash, with some 

 beech and maple for tholes. The elm is mostly rock elm, with some 

 tough soft elm. The log requirements of one company were : diameter 

 (small end) 12 to 30 inches, length 5I/2 feet and up, logs to be straight 

 and smooth. This company paid a good price for farm timber, on the 

 stump, with the understanding that it must be good to be accepted. 

 Top logs of inferior grade were left in the woods. 



Vehicles and vehicle parts 



Vehicle manufacturers draw the greater part of their supplies from 

 the general lumber market; much of it — especially hickory and white 

 oak — is supplied by southern jobbers in roughly shaped sawed products 

 and split billets. Nevertheless, some vehicle makers draw largely from 

 farm woodlots, and when this is the case it usually constitutes one of 

 the desirable markets for the farmer to investigate. Most of the ma- 

 terial thus bought, however, is in the form of rough planks from portable 

 mills. 



Some of the uses to which the various species are put in vehicle mak- 

 ing are as follows : 



Rock elm — sleigh runners, sled beams, sled poles, eveners, single-trees, 

 brake blocks, etc. 



Soft elm — ^wagon box bottom cleats, etc. 



Hard maple — wagon axles, plank for wagon and sled bodies and 

 beams, bolsters. 



Soft maple — wagon box bottom cleats, etc. 



Oaks — gearings, sills, bed pieces. 



White oak — reaches, tongues, etc. 



Birch — ^hubs. 



Basswood — wagon box boards. 



White ash — wagon poles and bodies. 



Shagbark hickory — axles, single trees. 



Second-growth hickory — spokes. 



Whitewood (yellow poplar) — ^wagon bodies. 



White pine — wagon box bottoms. 



Norway pine — wagon box bottoms. 



