56 BULLETIX 1007, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGEICULTUEE. 
length of time, it should rest on poles or sticks to keep it off the 
ground. A space of about 2 feet should be left between piles to 
allow it to dry properly. Kiln-dried wood, if subjected to too high 
temperatures, often exhibits a brittleness when cut into excelsior, 
which makes it less desirable than the air dried. It is often very 
profitable for the small timber owner to convert his basswood trees 
into excelsior wood rather than to market them in other forms, 
because the small-diameter material and limbs can be more closely 
utilized. 
Basswood is also valuable as pulpwood, for which use it is pur- 
chased at the same price as poplar. It is used for pulp mainly in 
the southern Appalachians. Specifications call for 5-foot lengths, 
with a minimum diameter of 4 inches. Bolts 4 to 7 inches in diameter 
are not to be split, more than 7 and up to 10 inches in diameter to be 
split once, more than 10 and up to 14 inches quartered, and above 
14 inches to be split in proportion. Basswood pulpwood usually 
brings about one dollar more per cord than beech, birch, and maple 
pulpwood. 
Woodenware factories, particularly those making pails and tubs, 
frequently buy bolts with a minimum diameter of 4 inches to 6 inches. 
Lengths are usually 40 and 52 inches. In some cases longer lengths 
are accepted. The price paid on cars at loading point ranges from 
about S6.50 to $8 per cord and the freight amounts to SI to §2 a cord 
more. Second-growth timber is preferred. Box factories in some 
instances buy basswood bolts for conversion into crating. They 
take diameters down to about 6 inches, and 52-inch lengths are 
usually preferred. 
Where the timber runs small in size, and especially on cut-over 
tracts, where there is much young, rapid-growth stock, the bolt is 
the practicable form for marketing. 
SUMMARY. 
Basswood is, an important commercial timber of the northeastern 
part of the United States. Since it grows in mixture with other 
hardwood species and does not form dense stands, it has never been 
a very plentiful timber. In regions where it was formerly compara- 
tively abundant, particularly in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, 
various industries have greatly reduced the supplies available, so 
that it is now scarce in these States. The Great Lakes and south- 
ern Appalachian regions are now the main sources of the timber. 
Wisconsin and Michigan have furnished the largest quantities for 
the last 20 years. During the last 12 years the quantities used have 
diminished greatly: the amount of basswood lumber manufactured 
during this period has been reduced by about 50 per cent. The 
period of maximum lumber production was from 1906 to 1910; in 
