t
as they would paper. No matter whether birch wood is green or
dry, it will burn readily. The birch was the most useful tree of
the forest to the Indians. Its bark was used not only for making
their canoes, but also for building their wigwams. They even
dried and ground the inner bark into a flour which they used as a
food.

The northern sugar maple is another tree which is a favorite in
all sections where it is grown. This tree yields a hard wood that
is the best and toughest timber grown in some localities. The
trees grow to heights of 75 to 100 feet and attain girths of 5 to
9 feet. Maple lumber is stout and heavy. It makes fine flooring
and is used in skating rinks and for bowling alleys. Many pianos
are made of maple. Wooden dishes and rolling pins are usually
made from maple wood. During the spring of the year when the sap
is flowing, the average mature maple tree will yield from fifteen
to twenty gallons of sap in a period of three to four weeks. This
sap is afterwards boiled down to maple syrup and sugar.

Hemlock trees, despite the fact that they rank among the most
beautiful trees of the forest, produce lumber which is suitable
only for rough building operations. The wood is brown and soft
and will not last long when exposed to the weather. It cracks and
splits easily because it is so brittle. Hemlock is now of
considerable importance as pulpwood for making paper. For many
years, a material important for tanning leather has been
extracted in large amounts from the bark of hemlock trees.

One of the most pleasing uses to which the balsam fir is put is
as Christmas trees. Sometimes it is used in making paper pulp.
The balsam fir seldom grows higher than 50 feet or thicker than
12 inches. The leaves of this tree have a very sweet odor and are
in demand at Christmas time. Foresters and woodsmen often use
balsam boughs to make their beds and pillows when camping in the
woods.

[Illustration: PINE WHICH YIELDS TURPENTINE AND TIMBER]

Our native supplies of hardwoods and softwoods are used for
general building purposes, for farm repairs, for railroad ties,
in the furniture and veneer industry, in the handle industry, and
in the vehicle and agricultural implement industries. On the
average each American farmer uses about 2,000 board feet of
lumber each year. New farm building decreased in the several
years following the World War, due to the high price of lumber
and labor. As a result of this lack of necessa