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450 The Book of Woodcraft . TILIACE^ — LINDEN FAMILY Basswood, White- wood, Whistle- wood, Lime or Linden. {Tilia americana) A tall forest tree 60 to 125 feet high; usually hollow when old. Wood soft, straight-grained, weak, white, very light. A cubic foot weighs 28 lbs. It makes a good dugout canoe or sap trough. The hollow trunk, split in halves, was often used for roofing (see log-cabin). Poor firewood, and soon rots; makes good rubbing sticks for friction fire. Its inner bark supplies coarse cordage and matting. Its buds are often eaten as emergency food. Leaves 2 to 5 inches wide. Its nuts are delicious food, but small. There are two other species of the family, Southern Basswood {T. pubescens) known by its small leaves and the Bee tree {T. heterophylla) known by its very large leaves. Basswood Whistle. Take a piece of a young shoot of basswood, smooth and straight, about 6 inches long, without knots, bevel the end. Hammer this all around with a flat stick or roll it between two flat boards. Very soon the bark can be slipped off in one whole piece. Now cut the stick to the shape of a whistle plug, slip the bark on again and you have a whistle. Make it longer and cut off the plug, add holes and you have a pipe. The exquisite spotless purity of the wood laid bare when the bark is slipped off is so delicate and complete that a mere finger touch is a de- filement. It is from this we get the phrase "clean as a whistle."