SUMMARY OP DAMAGE TO LUMBEE. 89 



series of sapsucker pecks. The bird evidently had drilled through one 

 and in places two layers of sapwood, and the resulting cavities were 

 partly filled by invaginations of wood from the succeeding annual 

 ring. Each of these invaginated plugs is split and gnarly. The 

 wood surrounding the partly filled holes is stained through from two 

 to four annual rings. The other handle, from Marion, Ind., contains 

 small black slightly open checks with light stains extending some 

 distance along the grain. Only checks are present, but the handle 

 had been placed in the lowest grade. 



Species of Oleace^e blemished. — Black ash, white ash, and 

 devilwood (A. A.). 



THE TRUMPET CREEPER FAMILY (BIGNONIACE,E) . 



Two trees of this family are slightly blemished by small brown 

 stains and checks due to sapsucker pecking, but the injury is probably 

 of no economic importance. 



Species of Bignoniace^: blemished. — Hardy catalpa (A. A. and 

 A. M.) and desert willow. 



THE HONEYSUCKLE FaMILY (CAPRIFOLIACEJE) . 



Blemishes varying from small black checks to large open knotty 

 black cavities due to sapsuckers have been noted in the wood of two 

 trees of this family. 



Species of Caprifoliace^ blemished. — Viburnum lentago (A. A.) 

 and V. prunifolium. 



SUMMARY OF BLEMISHES AND ORNAMENTAL EFFECTS IN LUMBER 

 RESULTING FROM SAPSUCKER WORK. 



The embellishments, sapsucker bird's-eye and curly grain, present to 

 some extent in practically all the wood samples described, while 

 attractive and possibly available for use on a small scale, are usually 

 not marked enough to be of commercial importance. Furthermore, 

 they are invariably accompanied by defects which in most cases rob 

 them of practical value and frequently so disfigure or weaken the 

 wood as to lower seriously or even destroy its market value. 



It has been shown that sapsucker work unfits for use such impor- 

 tant ornamental woods as mahogany, black walnut, white oak, yellow 

 poplar (Liriodendron) , chestnut, cherry, sweet gum, and hard maple; 

 that it seriously blemishes woods prized for particular qualities, such 

 as ash, basswood, red cedar, holly, buckeye, dogwood, and hickory, 

 in the case of the latter causing an annual loss of more than half a 

 million dollars; and that sapsucker work sometimes destroys the 

 value of wood even for heavy construction, as in southern basswood, 

 Engelmann spruce, and western hemlock. In all, defects due to 

 sapsucker work have been found in the wood of 174 species of trees. 



