C!6f?  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
839 
The  Lightest  Known  Wood 
The  picture  at  Fig.  318  shows  side  by 
side  the  lightest  and  the  heaviest  wood 
known  in  the  world.  The  two  samples 
are  accurately  balanced  on  a  pair  of 
scales  so  that  we  may  see  the  .  bulk  re¬ 
quired  of  the  light  wood  to  offset  an 
equal  weight  of  the  heavier.  The  lighter 
Heaviest  and  Lightest  Wood.  Fig.  318 
sample  is  known  as  Falsa  wood,  and  is 
described  in  a  garden  bulletin  issued  by 
the  Missouri  T'.otanieal  Harden.  The 
tree  is  known  scieutifiea ily  as  Oehroma 
l.agopu.s  and  belongs  to  the  order  of 
Ihunbaceae.  It  is  closely  related  to  the 
silk  cotton  tree  and  grows  throughout 
the  West  Indies  and  Central  America. 
It  is  said  to  he  one  of  the  commonest 
trees  in  I’orto  Rico.  The  trees  grow  to 
lie  about  one  foot  or  more  in  diameter. 
There  are  various  names  for  the  wood,  as 
corkwood,  floating  wood  or  lauero.  It  is 
probably  the  lightest  known  wood. 
The  picture  shows  two  pieces  of  wood 
and  of  exactly  the  same  width  and  thick- 
mss,  lint  the  Balsa  wood  is  It)  times  the 
length  of  the  ironwood.  The  following 
table  shows  the  weights  in  pounds  per 
c-iibic  foot  of  various  American  woods 
for  comparison. 
Common  Scientific  Weight.  Lhs. 
Name  Name  Per  Cu.  Ft. 
UiiIku  Oi.'lirolim  t.am'i'Us .  7.3 
I’mlt  (from  cnrk  oak.  (jnm-ns  Culler) .  13  7 
Mis.vmn  eorl; wood  l.eiluorisi  llnridann .  C  l 
White  | line  I’uiu*  Blivlm* . ' .  2'! ,7 
(Mln)im  la  tel  pa  sitfelmn .  2ii  2 
Cypress  Taxodium  lUatli’hiiin . 2X0 
Diimihis  lit  -T’Kiitiilotsupu  inucrmiiita .  32. 1 
Svi-floiore  I’liiutanus  niTiiieutalls . 
He. I  nak  Ijiioiviu  uihra .  .  10  ", 
Maple  Aver  Hari’iiaroiii . . .  . .  43.0 
Iaoipleaf  pin.  1'imis  pnlustris .  11.  li 
Mahocaiiy  -Swlctenni  Mnlingoni .  4"  0 
. . Usl-  Iliibiniu  Pseudo  Acacia .  43. 1 
White  oak  -  quercnis  alba .  Hi  X 
Hickory —Caryn  alba .  54  2 
I.;\e  oak-  QtlffOllS  virgiiiiaiia .  00,3 
Irmdoirk  Kuculyiitus  leuuoxylon .  70.3 
l.lcnum  i  Itac-Oiialacmn  sanctum .  71.0 
Klinuy  Dlnspyi'US  Bhcnus .  70  0 
iJlack  iroiiwoiiil  -ICrupiedcndron  ferreum .  81  0 
'rhi'  Balsa  wood  is  used  after  treat¬ 
ment  with  paraffin  for  making  the  float¬ 
ing  parts  of  modern  life  preservers  ami 
fur  lift  rafts.  It  is  also  employed  by 
the  Government  for  making  floating  at¬ 
tachments  to  ocean  signals,  and  also  for 
the  linings  of  refrigerators  and  tireless 
cookers.  The  ironwood  is  used  for  rud¬ 
der  posts  on  ships  and  some  other  places 
where  a  very  strong  wood  is  required. 
It  is  interesting  to  see  bow  some  of  our 
common  American  woods  compare  in 
weight  and  strength  with  the  ironwood. 
It  is  probably  the  heaviest  and  strongest 
wood  known. 
Columbian  Raspberry 
A  oa inter  here  is  trying  to  get  farmers 
ti>  grow  the  Columbian  raspberry,  a  pur¬ 
ple  cap.  lie  says  growers  in  Xew  York 
Stale  have  discarded  blackcaps  for  these 
purple  enps ;  which  are  claimed  to  have 
all  (lie  good  finalities  of  both  red  and  black 
raspberries.  Is  tlo  re  anything  in  it V 
Benton.  Mich.  w.  K.  p. 
You  can  be  assured  there  is  “everything 
in  it"  so  far  as  the  popularity  id'  the  Co¬ 
lumbian  berry  is  concerned.  The  canner¬ 
ies  throughout  the  Western  New  York 
fruit  belt  have  practically  ceased  putting 
up  the  black  raspberry.  When  as  a  boy  I 
“picked  berries"  during  the  school  vaca¬ 
tion  the  blackcap  was  at  its  best  in  this 
section.  It  practically  dominated  the 
berry  field,  but  its  resistant  qualities  to 
bush  plant  diseases  proved  feeble,  and 
after  a  varied  experience  many  large 
growers  rearranged  their  land  to  other 
crops.  The  canneries  no  doubt  would  to¬ 
day  receive  the  fruit  if  the  growers  fur¬ 
nished  it,  hut  New  York  growers  find  it 
more  satisfactory  and  profitable  in  every 
way  to  crop  the  Columbian  and  to  a  much 
smaller  extent  the  Cuthbert  variety. 
The  Columbian  plant  is  hardy,  will 
grow  under  conditions  not  always  most 
favorable  and  yields  regularly  and  well. 
The  berry  is  large,  tempting  to  the  eye 
and  pleasing  in  taste.  It  is  not  at  all 
difficult  to  secure  harvesters  with  this 
berry.  I  am  not.  familiar  with  experi¬ 
ence  in  drying  the  Columbian  berry,  the 
dealers  here  in  evaporated  fruits  buying 
the  dried  blackcaps  from  other  districts. 
But  with  canneries  convenient  I  should 
say  that,  sufficient  outlet  is  furnished  by 
them  to  care  for  all  the  crop  at  a  profit¬ 
able  margin  to  the  grower.  Contracts  are 
made  here  by  the  preserving  plants  on  a 
basis  of  from  five  to  six  cents  per  quart 
for  the  fruit  delivered  to  the  cannery. 
While  this  is  much  under  the  price  paid 
for  Cuthberts  the  large  berry  and  the 
heavy  yield  per  bush  make  a  satisfactory 
average  to  the  grower.  a.  it.  pclver. 
New  York. 
Oriental  Sycamore  for  Shade 
I  have  been  advised  to  get  an  Oriental 
sycamore  for  a  quick -growing  shade  tree. 
Can  ymi  tell  me  anything  about  it,  or 
can  you  tell  me  of  any  better,  or  as 
good?  w.  G.  T. 
Saugerties,  X.  Y\ 
The  oriental  plane  (sycamore)  is  a 
beautiful  large  spreading  tree,  and  is  con¬ 
sidered  orie  of  the  choicest  ornamental 
trees  in  cultivation.  In  congenial  soil  it 
is  a  rapid  grower,  but  is  naturally  com¬ 
pact  iri  habit  of  growth,  seldom  push¬ 
ing  out  large  unbalanced  limbs  like  our 
native  (occidcntalis )  plane.  A  little  prun¬ 
ing  in  the  way  of  shortening  in  the  limbs 
and  side  branches,  while  the  tree  is 
small  enough  to  admit  of  it,  will  cause 
the  top  to  grow  more  compact  than  if 
allowed  to  grow  unchecked,  aud  will  be 
helpful  in  preserving  tin  symmetrical  form 
of  the  tree  for  many  years  after  all  prun¬ 
ing  must  cease  by  reason  of  size,  making 
pruning  no, longer  practicable.  K. 
Repairing  Decaying  Trees 
We  have  two  trees,  a  maple  and  a  pine, 
that  were  injured  and  arc  likely  to  die. 
A  few  years  ago  the  maple  tree  was 
tapped  for  its  juice,  and  now  that  same 
outlet  possesses  a  decayed  space  of  about 
one  square  foot.  The  bark  of  the  pine 
tree  was  removed  from  its  trunk  but  the 
tree  shows  no  sign  of  decay.  What 
suggestions  can  you  give  us  for  remedy¬ 
ing  these  trees.  L.  c. 
Brant,  X.  Y. 
During  the  Summer  season  when  the 
flow  of  sap  in  the  maple  free  is  not  so 
active  as  it  is  in  the  Spring,  it  is  possi¬ 
ble  to  remove  from  a  decayed  portion  of 
the  tree  the  rotted  wood.  After  the  sur¬ 
face  of  tlie  cavity  thus  made  lias  been 
coated  with  creosote  or  some  other  equal¬ 
ly  good  wood  disinfectant,  this  cavity 
may  be  filled  with  any  sort  of  material 
which  will  exclude  air  and  moisture  from 
the  cavity  and  thus  prevent  further  de¬ 
cay.  After  the  filling  is  inserted  in  such 
a  way  as  to  allow  the  cambium  tissue, 
the  active  part  of  the  tree  immediately 
under  the  hark,  to  push  the  woody  tissue 
over  the  surface  of  a  cavity,  it  will  he 
only  a  comparatively  short  time  before 
the  bark  has  completely  covered  the 
wood.  Concrete,  wood  blocks,  oakum  and 
aSplialtuin  blocks  may  be  used  for  filling 
the  cavity.  In  small  decayed  portions  of 
pine  trees,  it  is  advisable  to  remove  the 
decayed  tissue  only  and  then  coat  the 
surface  with  tar,  omitting  the  filling  for 
the  cavity. 
Controlling  Locust  Sprouts 
Is  any  method  known  to  science  by 
which  I  can  rid  my  lawn  of  locust 
sprouts  that  persist  in  coming  up  around 
the  stumps  of  my  two  big  locust  trees 
that  1  had  enr  flown  last  year?  I  can 
easily  kill  them  wherever  the  lawn  mower 
can  run,  hut  not  among  the  roots  of  those 
immense  old  stumps.  E.  A. 
Ashville,  X.  Y. 
The  locust  is  very  tenacious  of  life,  the 
roots  often  remaining  alive  and  active 
for  years  after  the  tree  has  been  out 
down.  As  long  as  the  roots  remain  alive 
they  will  persistently  send  tip  sprouts, 
and  about  the  only  way  to  keep  them  un¬ 
der  control  is  just  as  persistently  to  keep 
them  cut  down.  There  is  no  other  way  to 
manage  it.  as  the  roots  cannot  be  reached 
by  any  destroying  treatment  that  might 
he  applied.  As  long  as  there  is  even  a 
small  portion  of  a  live  root  you  may  ex¬ 
pect  to  be  troubled  with  sprouts  from  it, 
but  if  every  sprout  is  cut  down  promptly, 
as  soon  as  noticed,  the  roots  will  sooner 
nr  later  succumb,  in  fact  much  sooner 
than  they  will  if  sprouts  are  cut,  only 
after  they  have  attained  some  size.  ic. 
m  '  f/OT 
1  u  'w 
DETROIT 
