20 BULLETIN 12, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 



unbroken and many fine species abundant. For that reason it is 

 somewhat surprising that as long ago as 1803 it was listed at Pitts- 

 burgh as a furniture material and contributed, together with black 

 walnut and cherry, to the trade in furniture with settlers embarking 

 there for Kentucky,^ Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. 



Before 1803 yellow birch was giving service in Maine, though the 

 amount demanded must have been small. In some instances it was 

 used in ways rather peculiar. The long, slender saplings were cut 

 for withes, which were employed in binding furs and household goods 

 for shipment, for baling hay, and even in binding coffins, though what 

 useful purpose was served in the last case early chronicles do not 

 state. Bent -wood yellow-birch cradles for children were common. 



Textile mills came into New England at an early day, and their 

 demand for bobbins and spools was met in part by yellow birch, 

 though it was of less importance for such uses than its forest neighbor, 

 paper birch. Yellow birch is to-day one of the regular woods de- 

 manded for spools and bobbins in New England mills, and this service 

 is probably its most important one outside of its use for furniture. 



FURNITURE. 



Yellow birch is not usually considered equal to sweet birch as a 

 furniture wood, but it is much used, and not infrequently the pur- 

 chaser of birch furniture buys the yellow without knowing the 

 difference. The better grades of the heartwood are so much like the 

 heartwood of sweet birch that only persons well acquainted with 

 both can distinguish one from the other. ^Yhen finished naturally — • 

 that is, when the grain of the w^ood is not concealed or doctored by 

 stains — the sweet birch possesses a softened characteristic glow which 

 yellow birch never shows. Yellow birch lends itself well to the 

 finisher's art, and much handsome furniture, strong and substantial, 

 is made of it. The largest use is probably in the Lake States. 



In the manufacture of bookcases, chiffoniers, dressers, tables, ward- 

 robes, commodes, couches, lounges, settees, and other household furni- 

 ture the visible wood, if of birch, is the heartwood, selected for its 

 color, while the sapwood, which is yellow or white and without attrac- 

 tive grain, goes to inside parts, such as drawers, partitions, slides, and 

 backing for veneer. In lessening sawmill and shop waste, a good deal 

 of the strong and stiff sapwood must be worked into something not 

 intended for show, and the manufacturer of furniture has many 

 places where such material can be employed. In cheaper kinds of 

 furniture, like kitchen tables and cabinets, the sapwood can be used 

 for outside parts. It is really more desirable than the heartwood in 

 such places, l^ecause it is white and is easily kept clean. 



Some makers of morris chairs and large rocking chairs employ 

 much yellow birch, as it is well suited to articles where weight, 



