BULLETIN 



Xo. 



Contribution from the Forest Service, 



October 11, 1913. 



USES OF COMMERCIAL WOODS OF THE 

 UNITED STATES. 



BEECH, BIRCHES, AND MAPLES. 



By IIu Maxwell, E-riJcrt. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The three genera. l)eech. birch, and maple, which inchide 18 com- 

 mercial species, besides several species or varieties too small or too 

 scarce to be of commercial importance, form a group closely related. 

 This relationship, however, is commercial rather than botanical. 

 The woods of all have several points of similarity, such as hardness, 

 strength, and susceptibility of fine polish. *and in the main their 

 uses are similar. They grow usually in the same regions, and they 

 are often lumbered and milled almost as though they were a single 

 wood, but the resulting lumber is piled and sold separately. It is not 

 unusual in Xew England, the Appalachian region, and the Lake 

 States for lumbermen to speak of beech, birch, and maple as ** the 

 hardwoods.'" thereby placing them in a group by themselves, separate 

 from oak, elm, gum, and the rest. This is especially true when 

 beech, birch, and maple go to chemical plants manufacturing char- 

 coal, wood alcohol, acetates, and other by-products. These woods 

 in 1909 constituted more than 90 per cent of all the hardwoods 

 employed in distillation in the United States, They made up, also, 

 a large but unknoAvn percentage of the country's hardwood flooring, 

 material for furniture and agricultural implements, and interior 

 finish for houses. In a variety of small commodities they hold first 

 place. 



Though there is a general similarity in the properties and quali- 

 ties of this group of woods, yet each species has its individuality, and 

 in some ways is different from the others, and has different or special 

 uses. 



6534^— Bull. 12—13 1 



