SUMMARY OF DAMAGE TO LUMBER. 89 
series of sapsucker pecks. The bird evidently had drilled through one 
and in places two layers of sapwood, and the resulting cavities were 
partly filled by invaginations of wood from the succeeding annual 
ring. Each of these invaginated plugs is split and gnarly. The 
wood surrounding the partly filled holes is stained through from two 
to four annual rings. The other handle, from Marion, Ind., contains 
small black slightly open checks with light stains extending some 
distance along the grain. Only checks are present, but the handle 
had been placed in the lowest grade. 
Species of Oleace^e blemished. — Black ash, white ash, and 
devilwood (A. A.). 
THE TRUMPET CREEPER FAMILY (BIGXOXIACKE). 
Two trees of this family are slightly blemished by small brown 
stains and checks due to sapsucker pecking, but the injury is probably 
of no economic importance. 
Species of Bigxoxiacejs blemished. — Hardy catalpa (A. A. and 
A. M.) and desert willow. 
THE HOXEYSUCKLE FaMILY (CAPRIFOLL\CE^). 
Blemishes varying from small black checks to large open knotty 
black cavities due to sapsuckers have been noted in the wood of two 
trees of this family. 
Species of Caprifollvce^: blemished. — Viburnum lentago (A. A.) 
and V. prunifolium. 
SUMMARY OF BLEMISHES AND ORNAMENTAL EFFECTS IN LUMBER 
RESULTING FROM SAPSUCKER WORK. 
The embellishments, sapsucker bird's-eye and curly grain, present to 
some extent in practically all the wood samples described, while 
attractive and possibly available for use on a small scale, are usually 
not marked enough to be of commercial importance. Furthermore, 
they are invariably accompanied by defects which in most cases rob 
them of practical value and frequently so disfigure or weaken the 
wood as to lower seriously or even destroy its market value. 
It has been shown that sapsucker work unfits for use such impor- 
tant ornamental woods as mahogany, black walnut, white oak, yellow 
poplar (Liriodendron) , chestnut, cherry, sweet gum, and hard maple; 
that it seriously blemishes woods prized for particular qualities, such 
as ash, basswoed, red cedar, holly, buckeye, dogwood, and hickory, 
in the case of the latter causing an annual loss of more than half a 
million dollars; and that sapsucker work sometimes destroys the 
value of wood even for heavy construction, as in southern basswood, 
Engelmann spruce, and western hemlock. In all, defects due to 
sapsucker work have been found in the wood of 174 species of trees. 
