The Appeal., 1923-01-13
find 63OUSES
FOR Eastwood
Tree That Pioneers Thought
Worthless Is Utilized by !,
Many Manufacturers.
SCIENTISTS COME TO RESCUE

z -
/ periment-DifficuIt to Overcome
inherited Natural Prejudice
That Wood Was Worthless.
| Washington.-At least 80 per cent
of the American-bern grandfathers
and grandmothers in the United States
are familiar with the slang meaning
of the word Eastwood" That is be-
cause such percentage Of these ven
cradle persons came from the section
Of the country In which the basswood
tree is indigenous. The reason Tor
the use of such a slang term was that
It's colloquial meaning reflected the
opinion of the value of the tree. When
our grandparents wanted to describe
an utterly worthless object or even
person deemed to be worthless, such
person or object was said to be 'bass-
wood" because Of all the vast natural
wealth which the pioneers found In
this country the Eastwood tree was
considered Of least value - .4-t .
| In the early days when the Ameri-
can pioneer went into the wilderness
he had to depend on the things he
found in that environment to Ill his
everyday needs. He must build his
houses Of the native woods, he must
weave his clothes Of native fibers and
must raise his own food. Such civ
ilization caused these people to put
definite values upon all the products
Of nature. Everything had a value.
Hickory was good for ak handles and
ash for wagon spokes. Pine and all
kinds Of oak were excellent firewo0d,
but Eastwood was discovered to be
good for nothing. s~> IT,.
/ It's fbers were too spongy and
stringy to work into anything useful.
It was not strong to Withstand pres
sure. It did not last long, and 1t would
not burn well. Almost any other kind
OF waste wood at least would make a
good fire, but Eastwood when set
alisht would sputter for q while and
60 out, and what little burning It
would do gavevery little heat In COM
parison with other fuels.
So it was not surprising that men
and women who must put definite
values on materials and on people sur
rounding them should coin new word
for their language and agree that
''basswood" should describe a useless
object or a worthless drone. In the
states from the Atlantic coast to the
prairies and from Georgia and Mis-
sissippi to the Canadian line the bass
wood tree grows in nearly every coun.
,ty and in this section the slang term
ibasswood can be heard among old peo-
pie to this day.
Science to the Rescue. T
II this were play, at this point the
words ENTER science in the form Of
the Department Of Agriculture" should
be written. To pursue the fantasy,
science would be a Prince Charming
come to alter the life Of Eastwood, the
Cinderella Of the forest. It took some
years Of investigation and experiment
tation and the overcoming Of the in
herited natural prejudice and belief
that Eastwood was worthless, but
science persisted and the other day
the Department Of Agriculture issued
from it's press booklet devoted en-
tirely to this useless wood. la-.e
! The booklet lists $50 practical uses
Of basswoodI
/ The despised Cinderella Of the for
est, once the scorn Of the pioneers,
now Is priced for many uses and chief
ly through the investigative work and
experimentation Of \ this scientific
workshop Of Uncle Sam. .-E.:
The scientists Of the department
consider all the characteristics Of q
\ commodity and select the good points.
Then they find the uses to which such
good points can be put. Basswood Is
Ia wood Of peculiarly clean appearance.
Because Of its spongy texture It does
mot split and therefore can be used In
small pieces. Such characteristics, on
consideration, were found to be very
desirable In the manufacture Of con-
tainers for food. People want to have
food packed in clean containers which
win not readily fall apart.
Used In Pail Trades.
So the humble basswood came into
wide use In the manufacture Of such
containers as lard pals, candy pals
and pals for variety Of other foods.
It's clean, white appearance was ap-
preciated by housewives and manufac-
turers are quick to discover what the
housewife, one Of the best customers
In the world. wants. Woodenware was
the next development. Chopping bowls
and all sorts of wooden dishes were
made from the discarded basswood
which would not burn and was no
good for construction. Soon another
household use was developed and bass
wood appeared In the form Of chill
dren's toys. Here again its clean an
pearance and its nonspIitting qualities
were valuable. Alse, Il IL Hight I'm
weight, and q bassweod Hen can be
thrown much farther across the nur-
sery than one made Of material a.
heavy as oak.
Pursuing the household uses, iron
ing boards, wringers and other things
used in the laundry, where clean,
white woodwork Is at premium. were
made from Il.
Nearly every one has seen the clean.
white little wooden boxes IN which