THE LUMBER INDUSTRY IN EASTERN NORTJI CAROLINA. 128 



valuable woods of the eastern rnited States, and decidedly the 

 most valuable in the eastern })art of North Carolina, where it has a 

 large and constantly increasing number of uses. It is employed 

 for making cooperage ware, pails, tubs, railroad tank plank and 

 boat plank, sliingles, sashes, railroad ties, telegraph and telephone 

 poles and for fencing. All of these services to which it is put are 

 based on the property it possesses of withstanding exposure to 

 moisture, or alternate wetting and drying, and its small shrinkage. 

 In this State it is also used in the manufacture of cheap furniture, 

 and is said to be particularly suited for such, being easily worked, 

 shrinking very little, and being light. 



Cypress is largely used for shingles, and in other ways in which 

 white cedar is used. Besides, on account of its great size, wide 

 paneling, wainscoting and building material, sashes, blinds, 

 exterior mouldings, and other wood-work exposed to the weather, 

 are made from it. The poorer quality wood, where it is worm- 

 eaten and "peggy," is sawn into fence boards. 



The uses reported tor the other woods were very few, and indeed 

 very little of them is being sawn. Some sweet-gwm is sawn into 

 lumber for making furniture, but it warps so badly that it is dif- 

 ficult, even when kiln-dried at once, to get good boards for ship- 

 ment. A use for which it is well adapted is to make veneer ware, 

 butter and lard dishes, crates, small baskets, etc., and it is being 

 largely employed in such manufactures in the eastern section. 

 For making the veneer, the gum logs are cut to a uniform length, 

 steamed thoroughly to soften the wood, placed in a large turning 

 lathe the chisel of which takes off a thin sheet of wood as broad 

 as the log is long. The chisel is moved automatically nearer to 

 the center of the log with each revolution of the latter to make the 

 sheet taken off of a uniform thickness. These sheets are then cut 

 to size and pressed or bent into the shape desired, and steam-dried 

 to prevent any warping. 



The black-gum is being used for making staves and crates for use 

 in trucking, for which uses manufacturers say it is well suited, not 

 being heavy, and about the cheapest material that can be gotten. 



Several thousand feet of maple was reported by one company 

 among their products as being sawn for use in finishing the interior 

 of railroad cars. 



