Discussion of Industries 85 
machines, where extreme toughness and capacity to resist 
shock are essential properties. A small amount of bald 
cypress is imported into the State and is used principally for 
tanks in the threshing line. Elm is used chiefly for hay racks 
and ensilage cutter frames. Hickory is the highest-priced wood ~ 
consumed in the industry, the entirely disproportionate price 
tabulated tor loblolly pine being caused by a freak of the market 
at a time when astonishing prices were paid occasionally for 
material to keep factories up to the demand. 
Boot anp SHOE FINDINGS 
Boot and shoe findings include principally lasts, last blocks, 
shoe forms, shoe trees, fillers, and pegs. Sugar maple is the 
principal last stock for all factories and contributes 90 per 
cent of the wood used. The list of last woods includes persim- 
mon and beech, but these woods are not important in the indus- 
try. Basswood is used occasionally for lasts, generally as a 
filler, in the blocks, and for hollow forms. Sugar maple so 
admirably meets the requirements of the last industry that 
comparatively little other wood is used. All the woods used 
are home-grown except persimmon, which is brought from 
Arkansas, Tennessee, and other States. The short haul and 
the use of bolts or logs at the factory instead of rough-turned 
last blocks are factors of great aid in keeping down the cost 
of the high-grade wood demanded. Maple is_ preferred 
because it is hard, smooth-grained, tough, capable of high 
polish, does not warp or shrink, holds metal clamps well, and 
resists the severe wear to which it is subjected. The fact that 
New York’s woodlots and forests contribute 84 per cent of the 
maple consumed in the manufacture of lasts is evidence of the 
natural economic location of these factories. The industry is 
growing and will need all the bolts and rough dimension 
blocks available from our local woods. 
One of the features of remark in this industry is the increase 
of factories making wooden heels for women’s shoes, of which 
there are about 15 in New York and Brooklyn. This branch 
of the industry demands large quantities of high-grade hard 
