12 BULLETIN SS4, U. S. DEPAET*MEXT OE AGEICELTUEE. 
Tobacco boxes are also made of a single thickness of half-inch 
material strongly reinforced. They are made with inset bottoms and 
are usually nailed together by machines. Such boxes are often 
used for fine-cut tobacco, which is packed in them by machines. 
Fruit and vegetable baskets and packages and egg cases are often 
made of sycamore. These are composed of thin veneer. Sycamore 
is- favored because it veneers well, is clean-looking and uniformly 
colored, has considerable strength in this form, and is not so brash 
when dry as some woods, such as red gum, which- are used in place of 
it. Beech and maple, however, are usually considered as satisfactory 
as sycamore. The veneered splints of the ordinary market basket 
and the bottom boards in bushels and half bushels are often made 
from sycamore in place of elm. 
Basket makers consider sycamore the best wood available for the 
piece forming the sides of octagon berry boxes. This type of box 
is shown in Plate III. The piece forming the sides must be bent 
in eight places, and, in order that it may bend successfully, a V-shaped 
scoring is made across the piece for one-half its thickness. The 
scoring, therefore, is not merely a rough scratch, as in the ordinary 
berry box. This type of berry box is used in the western United 
States mainly for fancy berries, and it displays the fruit well. It is 
made in pints and half pints, the latter mainly for red raspberries. 
The sides and bottoms must be first dried in order that they mav be 
shipped flat. They are later bent in the dry state when the boxes 
are assembled. Sycamore, when dry, wiU stand such treatment 
without breaking more successfully than almost any other wood. 
Its good appearance is also a strong point in iis favor. Yellow poplar 
is a good wood for this purpose, but it is much higher priced. The 
average price paid for sycamore for baskets and fruit packages in 
Hlinois was SI 1.56 per 1,000 board feet, as compared with SIS. 22 
for yellow poplar. 
There are at least two serious objections to the use of sycamore 
for shipping boxes. An extremely light-colored wood, on which 
stenciling and writing show well, is usually preferred, since manu- 
facturers often advertise then products on the boxes in which they 
are shipped. Its relatively greater weight, in comparison with many 
other suitable woods, is another objection, as it increases shipping 
costs. The use of sycamore for boxes is, therefore, usually confined 
to certain smaller ones, such as have been described. 
The following States use the largest amounts of sycamore in the 
manufacture of boxes and crates of all kinds: Kentucky. Missouri, 
North Carolina. Virginia, Arkansas, and Illinois. Reports show a 
use of over a minion feet annually in each of these States. Indiana 
also uses large, but less amounts in this industry. All of these 
States, with the exception of Xorth Carolina and Virginia, have 
