28 BULLETINS 12, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



Paper birch is one of the many woods entering into the manu- 

 facture of cloor knobs, and it contributes also to button molds — the 

 wooden interior pieces over which cloth or other covering is stretched 

 to make covered buttons. Tassel molds are also made of the wood. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Some paper birch is cut for lumber in the Lake States, though it 

 is not known how large the cut is, for it is listed with yellow and 

 sweet birch without distinction. ^luch box lumber and crating are 

 drawn from that source, and basket makers use it for fruit and 

 berry shipping packages. The red heart wood — the part rejected by 

 the spool and toothpick makers — is utilized to some extent in Michi- 

 gan and Wisconsin for canoe decking, chair seats, and opera-chair 

 backs. It contributes to interior finish and is turned for spindles, 

 grilles, stair work, and balustrades. Candy sticks, for stirring candy 

 in process of making, are one of the articles for Avhich the white 

 sapwood is in demand. The wood goes quite generally to excelsior 

 mills in its range, and in Michigan a very fine grade, cut small, is 

 called '' wooden wool.*' This birch is reported in the manufacture 

 of pulp, but the total quantity used can not be large. It is more 

 important in the slack cooperage industry, and the quantity of 

 •staves, heading, and hoops made annually is rapidly increasing; 

 but in this industry, as in many others, the several species of birch 

 are not separately reported, and the exact proportion that paper 

 birch supplies can not be determined. 



BARK COMMODITIES. 



The bark of the paper birch, made into canons, gave the species 

 great importance long before the wood was of any special value. 

 The Indians put the bark to other uses. They manufactured con- 

 siderable quantities of maple sugar in the North, and the ordinary 

 storing vessels for their sugar were made of birch bark. Such 

 boxes held from 20 to 70 pounds. 



Early settlers made berry buckets and similar vessels by girdling 

 the trees and stripping oif the bark in rolls the size of a stovepipe 

 or larger. The peeled, dead or dying trunks of j)aper-birch trees 

 in many localities in the North are proof that the custom of making 

 such buckets is not yet a thing of the past. Many trees are de- 

 stroyed to secure the bark, of which only a small part — perhaps a 

 section less than 2 feet long — is taken. 



Stationery and other articles are made of paper-birch bark — en- 

 velopes, writing paper, visiting cards, programs, and even small 

 books. Occasionally articles as large as tents are made of tho 

 bark. Formerly it was often so employed, and sometimes for the 

 roofs of camps and cabins. The bark is the most enduring part of 



