tric car for traveling around the
orchards, I used butternut rather than oak or metal, which saved at
least 100 pounds of weight, an important matter since the source of the
car's power is automobile storage batteries.

Butternut is very durable in contact with the ground and is used for
fence posts on farms where it is plentiful. Bird houses built of this
wood will last indefinitely, even a lifetime if they are protected with
paint or varnish. Butternut is like red cedar in this respect, although
much stronger. Stories have been told of black walnut logs which, after
lying unused for fifty years, have been sawed into lumber and found to
be still in excellent condition. It is quite likely that the same could
be said of butternut for these woods are very much alike in the degree
of their durability and resistance to weather.

An incidental value butternut trees have is their ability to bleed
freely in the spring if the outer bark is cut. Therefore, they can be
tapped like maple trees and their sap boiled down to make a sweet syrup.
It does not have the sugar content that the Stabler black walnut has,
however. Another possible use is suggested by the shells of butternuts
which, even when buried in the ground, show great resistance to decay. I
have found them to be still intact and possessing some strength after
being covered by earth for fifteen years. This indicates that they might
be used with a binder in a composition material. Their extreme hardness
also offers a good wearing surface.

[Illustration: _Electrically operated wagon constructed of native
butternut wood known for strength and light weight as well as
durability. Author's sons aboard. Photo by C. Weschcke 1941._]

Not only good things can be said of the butternut tree and it would be
wrong to avoid mentioning the deleterious effect that a butternut tree
may have on other trees planted within the radius of its root system. I
have had several experiences of this kind. One butternut tree on my
farm, having a trunk six inches in diameter, killed every Mugho pine
within the radius of its root system. This amounted to between 50 and
100 pines. Their death could not be attributed to the shade cast by the
butternut as Mugho pines are very tolerant of shade. As the first
branches of the butternut were more than three feet off the ground, the
pines could not have been influenced by the top system of the tree nor
do I believe that it was due to fallen leaves, but ra