70 woolil'KcKKlis ix ftELATtON TO TREES. 
or Lumber dealer od the cul timber graded out by the manufac- 
turers' requirements in regard to bird pecks. The writer lias been 
told of a case where 1 1 cords of hickory timber were rejected from a 
lot of 7 cords by this inspection. Finally, in spite of all the care 
exercised by the manufacturer to secure perfect stock, bird pecks 
unnoticed before appear in the finished product (see PI. XI, fig. ]). 
In the case of handles at least, (his is true of quite a noticeable pro- 
portion of the output. Mr. II. A. Tatem, president of the Winston 
Handle Co., Winston-Salem, X. C, writes as follows: 
No matter li<>w good the handle, a bird peck generally puts it way below cost. 
There are many high-class handles with a very slight peck, hut down they go. . . . 
There is no trouble III disposing <>t" them, because they are splendid value for the cost 
to the consumer. The peek does not injure the handle itself; it is simply defective 
in appearance. 
While we can not agree with the statement that a bird peck never 
injures a handle, yet our correspondent goes straight to the root of 
the trouble not only with bird pecks in hickory but in many other 
woods. Market values depend on appearance more than on quality. 
However, in the case of hickory the injury is real enough. The 
gnarly growth caused by the healing of sapsucker wounds is exceed- 
ingly objectionable in lumber prized above all things for its straight, 
clear grain and flexibility. This gnarled condition, as well as the iron 
streaks which make the quality of the wood fibers uneven, lowers the 
value of the handles because of the tendency of the grain to rough 
up or splinter. A member of the Forest Service has stated to the 
writer that this trouble more than any other would lead him to grade 
out bird-pecked handles. Uneven quality of the grain is watched for 
very closely in handles purchased for the Forest Service. 
Mocker nut (Ilicoria alba). — Specimens were collected in Fairfax 
County, Va., March 21, 1909, from a tree bearing abundant sap- 
sucker work, including several conspicuous swollen girdles (PI. X, 
fig. 1). It is clear that the sapsucker when attacking this species 
punctures one or more layers of sap wood. The excavations do not 
heal perfectly, but persist as small cavities with radiating fissures, all 
very darkly stained. A cross section through the tree at the level of 
one of the protruding girdles (PI. X, fig. 3) shows many concentric 
series of stains, evidence that the ring of punctures had been pecked 
open year after year, Longitudinal sections show the usual appear- 
ance of these stains in hickory lumber (PI. X, fig. .2) — namely, very 
dark iron streaks up to an inch in width, which extend a foot or more 
both up and down along the grain. The wood shows a distinct 
tendency to check or split along the course of the stains. 
In a specimen of mocker nut from Cloverdale, Ind., the iron streaks 
extend through from 10 to 12 annual rings of wood, and checks from 
the wounds have required the deposition of from 5 to (> annual rings 
