Brushes and Brooms 127 
rougher articles such as broom splints. Of the eighteen kinds 
of wood reported the native species were quoted by manufac- 
turers at prices so low as to suggest that parts of the stock 
were purchased before the war conditions raised the cost. On 
the other hand the foreign luxury woods — satinwood, coco- 
bola, and ebony — cost upward of {900 per thousand. 
SHUTTLES, Spoots, AnD Bossins 
New York is becoming increasingly important in this in- 
dustry with a consumption of considerably over 2,000,000 
feet of beech, maple, birch, yellow poplar, basswood, and dog- 
wood which cost nearly $100,000 in 1919. The quantity con- 
sumed and the price per thousand are almost exactly double 
the amounts reported in 1912. The industry as reported in 
New York does not include shuttle blocks, which are commonly 
made of dogwood and persimmon. 
Bobbins are reels used to hold yarn or thread, having a hole 
bored through their length by which they may be placed on a 
pivot and used on spinning or warping machines. The rough 
stock is generally small dimension squares of birch, beech, 
sugar maple, and dogwood. The manufacture of spools is 
more peculiarly a New England industry, and is centered in 
Maine. Spool factories of that State turn out very large 
quantities of spools annually. Good quality white birch is 
used very extensively. It reaches the factory in small squares 
from short lengths up to four feet and free of all defects. 
The birch is cut in winter and sawed by small portable mills 
which operate along the railroad lines. One thousand feet of 
bars require about two and one-half cords of wood. At the 
portable mills the bars are piled criss-cross for thorough sea- 
soning. In June the stock is ready for shipment to factories. 
The machines for making spools are complicated. The finished 
articles drop from the lathe at the rate of about one per second, 
and are perfectly uniform and true. Finished spools are mar- 
keted largely in the northeast. 
In this industry beech is listed as the leading wood, a large 
amount of which is used in making reels for the cordage and 
