12 BULLETIN 12, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGKICULTUEE. 



production of this wood for years, and some well-informed timber- 

 men in the State believe there is not 15 years' supply at the present 

 rate of cutting. Wisconsin now leads in the production of birch 

 lumber, but most of it is yellow birch. 



The supply of sweet birch in the forests has been diminishing 

 steadily since the settlement of the country began, especially in the 

 valleys and coves among the mountains where the best of the birch 

 has always been found. The narrow and fertile tracts between 

 ranges , of hills made good farms and were early cleared. The 

 finest birch went into log heaps and was consumed to make way for 

 pasture and grain. The pioneer's wide fireplace demanded large 

 quantities of fuel, and the splendid birches of the near-by coves 

 were felled and converted into firewood. This process went on 

 from Tennessee to Maine for a century or two, and had destroyed 

 the finest of the country's birch before the value of the wood for 

 lumber was realized. During the past 30 or 40 years sawmills have 

 been putting it on the market, and are now rapidly cutting out the 

 remnants of the splendid but scattered birch forests. 



The most difficult problem which the early sawmill man had to 

 solve was to prevent birch lumber from warping. Few woods be- 

 have worse when attempts are made to season it in the old way. The 

 only process known by the rural millman years ago was to pile his 

 birch and upon it stack thousands of feet of other lumber. If he 

 succeeded in superimposing weight sufficient to hold the birch straight 

 it sloAvly seasoned and gave no further trouble. Modern mills using 

 improved methods, have no especial difficulty in seasoning birch. 



EARLY USES. 



Though in early times sweet birch was used chiefly for fuel, there 

 is evidence that it was on the market as timber more than a century 

 ago. As early as 1791 shipments were going regularly to Clyde and 

 Liverpool.^ The use to which it was put in England and Scotland 

 is not stated, but at or about that time it was found in New England 

 shipyards. It is stiff and strong, and was suitable for many parts 

 of vessels, if placed where it was not subject to alternate dryness and 

 dampness. In unfavorable situations it is not durable. Small- 

 dimension stock cut from green logs gives much trouble because of 

 its tendency to warp, but large timbers behave better. 



Birch is believed to have been the first w^ood employed as an 

 imitation of mahogany in this country, but the exact date is uncertain. 

 Boston furniture makers were putting it to that service very early. 

 It is still so used, and one of its commercial names is mahogany 

 birch, given it because of its success as a counterfeit. It is called 



1 " Commerce of Em-ope," p. 542, J. J. Oddy, London, 1805. 



