576 INDUSTRIAL USES OF WOOD. 



which the coppice grows, and they should measure 12 inches 

 in diameter at the larger end. Fascines are used transversely 

 to the bank of the stream ; long thin fascines, made of the 

 finest available material, only 5 or 6 inches thick, but 24 to 50 

 feet long, which are bound with withes at intervals of ten 

 inches being pegged down over them. Another kind of fascine 

 is 12 to 20 feet long and 24 to 36 inches across, filled with 

 heavy stones, and sunk alongside the bank in deeper water 

 where the stream is strong. Quick-growing trees and shrubs 

 with five to six years' rotation, especially willows,* are used 

 for fascines ; also buckthorn, euonymus, viburnum, privet, 

 alder, elder, hazel, poplars, ash and thorns. 



The best time for felling coppice for fascines is in March, 

 just before the spring- shoots come out. This is satisfactory, 

 alike to the engineer and the forester, as the former gets the 

 material when it is richest in sap and therefore heaviest, 

 whilst the latter cuts the coppice just before sprouting, which 

 secures a good reproduction from the stools. 



For wattle-fences, duck-decoys, etc., osier- willows yield the 

 best material. 



SECTION V. WOOD USED IN MACHINERY. 



Iron and steel are fast replacing wood in machinery ; it 

 is only in purely agricultural districts that any machines 

 are made wholly of wood. It is therefore only parts of 

 machinery, chiefly the frame-work, bearings and fixings of 

 heavy machinery, that are made of wood. Wood is used 

 chiefly in sawmills, flourmills, etc., and in machinery for 

 driving wooden stamping-hammers. Even in large factories,, 

 however, wood is still required ; this is generally wood of 

 dense structure, which resists shocks and friction. 



In all works driven by water-power, the water-wheel is the 

 most important implement and has been referred to already. 

 In extensive plains, sails of windmills replace the water- 

 wheel ; they are made always of coniferous wood, chiefly of 

 Scots pinewood of best quality, such as is required for masts 

 of ships and are sometimes very large. Pieces should 



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