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Excerpt from Uses of Commercial Woods of the United States: Beech, Birches, and Maples The three genera beech birch, and maple, which include 18 com mercial species, besides several species or varieties too small or too scarce to be of commercial importance, form a group closely related. This relationship, however is commercial rather than botanical. The woods of all have several points of similarity, such as hardness, strength and susceptibility of fine polish, and in the main their uses are similar. They grow usually. In the same regions, and they are often lumbered and milled almost as though they were a single wood but the resulting lumber is piled and sold separately. It is not unusual in New England the Appalachian region, and the Lake States for lumbermen to speak of beech, birch, and maple as the hardwoods, thereby placing them in a group by themselves, separate from oak, elm, gum, and the rest. This is especially true when beech, birch, and maple go to chemical plants manufacturing char coal, wood alcohol, acetates, and other by-products. These woods in 1909 constituted more than 90 per cent of all the hardwoods employed in distillation in the United States. They made up, also, a large but. Unknown percentage of the country's hardwood ooring, material for furniture and agricultural implements, and interior finish for houses. In a variety of small commodities they hold first place. Though there is a general similarity in the properties and quali ties of this group of woods, yet each species has its individuality, and in some ways is different from the others, and has different or special uses. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the age