UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1436 
I BUKBAU C 
Washington, D. C. 
September, 1926 
UTILIZATION OF DOGWOOD AND PERSIMMON 
By John B. Cuno, Associate Wood Technologist, Branch of Research, Forest 
Service 
Importance of dogwood and persim- 
mon 
The trees 
The annual cut and present supply 
Cutting and marketing dogwood and 
persimmon 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Page 
11 
1 
2 
Shuttle blocks 
Shuttles 
15 
26 
8 
10 
Products other than shuttles 
Substitute woods 
29 
37 
41 
IMPORTANCE OF DOGWOOD AND PERSIMMON 
The woods of flowering or eastern dogwood (Cornus florida) and 
persimmon (piospyros virginiana) are important in American 
industry not because of the quantity consumed but because of the 
unusual combination of properties which fits them for special uses. 
Other woods have some of the same properties, such as hardness, 
toughness, fineness of texture, and smoothness when subjected to 
wear, but few if any possess them all to such a degree as dogwood 
and persimmon. This combination of properties is of special value 
for shuttles, bobbins, spool heads, golf club heads, infants' shoe lasts, 
small handles, brush backs, turnpins, mallets, pulleys, and many 
novelties. 
Shuttle blocks and shuttles, for which dogwood and persimmon, 
together with a small quantity of boxwood, are the only woods used 
at present, stand out in importance far above the other products 
mentioned. Shuttles are indispensable to the cotton, woolen, and 
silk mills of the country, representing a capitalization of over 
$5,000,000,000. Also there is a constant demand from foreign coun- 
tries for over half the shuttle blocks manufactured here. 
The demand for dogwood is met with difficulty, and for a number 
of years the wood has commanded a higher price than most other 
woods native to the United States. The supply of sizable logs is 
limited and clear pieces are not easy to obtain from dogwood bolts. 
Dogwood is generally preferred to persimmon, but the proportion of 
103115°— 26 1 
