BLEMISHES IN BASSWOOD. 



85 



three species of this family. Tliey are serious in all, and either 

 lower the grade of the lumber or spoil it for all uses except fuel. 



Basswood, often called whitewood, is used for panel work, wooden- 

 ware, trunks, and other purposes where whiteness is desirable. The 

 inspection rules of the National Hardwood Lumber Association 

 particularly note that "black spots or streaks are a serious defect 

 and inspectors must be careful in estimating their damage. If they 

 are excessive they will reduce the piece one or more grades." 

 Furthermore, a great deal of basswood lumber is used for pyrographic 

 material, in which no stains are permissible. Thus sapsucker work 

 in basswood trees that are to be converted into lumber keeps the 

 product out of 

 the best grades. 

 A loss of about 

 25 per cent re- 

 sults for each 

 grade the lumber 

 is reduced. 



In some locali- 

 ties basswoods 

 are favorite trees 

 of the sapsuck- 

 ers, as for in- 

 stance on Plum- 

 mers Island, Md., 

 where three out 

 of five are at- 

 tacked. In 

 Rockfish Valley, 

 Va., also, the 

 writer noted a 

 large proportion 

 of basswood bar- 

 rel heads showing sapsucker defects. It is possible therefore that 

 losses due to bird pecks in basswood may at times be heavy. 



Basswood (Tilia pubescens). — In samples from Abbeville, La. 

 (fig. 35), black stains impregnate the punctured wood ring and are 

 so extensive as usually to be contiguous around it; they extend an 

 inch in each direction vertically from the wound. Large open black- 

 stained checks result, some extending toward the bark through 

 several annual rings. These defects are very serious and no good 

 lumber could be sawn from a trunk so defective. 



Species of Tiliace^e blemished. — Tilia americana (H. and F.) 

 (PI. IX, fig. 7), T. michauxii, and T. pubescens. 



THE FREMONTIA FAMILY (CHEIRANTHODENDRACE^) . 



The wood of the single native species (Fremontodendron californicum) 

 is blemished by small black checks up to half an inch in length. 



5.— Effects of sapsucker work on wood of basswood {Tilia pubescens). 

 Stain and extensive gnarly checks. 



