MEASURES AND BOXES. 603 



are pieces of 4, 6, 8, etc., up to 24 hands, the breadth varying 

 with the length between 2J and 8 inches. Wood must be used 

 green for this purpose, the preparation of the pieces and sub- 

 sequent bending thus being facilitated. 



The pieces are then steamed and bent on simple frames, 

 and tied into bundles of 10 to 15 pieces for sale. Wooden 

 rings are made wider than the frames, but only Jrd of their 

 height. The bottoms of the sieves are fixed between the 

 frame and the ring. 



The sides of measures for fruit or dry goods, and of drums, 

 and other round articles, are split radially from billets of beech, 

 sallow or oak, from which all defective heartwood and the 

 younger zones of sapwood have been excluded. They are 

 split with the divider, worked smooth on the cooper's bench, 

 steamed and bent around frames. They are then sorted, and 

 sold in assortments like sieve-frames. Young stems of ash 

 also are used for this purpose, as well as for making tennis 

 racquets. 



The band-box maker uses chiefly spruce and silver-fir wood, 

 less frequently larch, sycamore, and sallow wood. Wood for 

 drums and for boxes shaped like drums to contain fruit, etc., 

 are made of oak and beech, cut radially out of blocks. They 

 are fastened by rings of split wood. Butts of straight-grained 

 wood are cut into the proper lengths, and split into from 4 to 

 6 billets ; after these are thoroughly dried, they are split 

 gradually by successive bisection into pieces of the required 

 dimensions. 



Then the pieces are planed carefully, softened in boiling 

 water, fastened over frames, and when thoroughly dried are 

 fastened together by wooden bands. The bottoms and lids for 

 each box are made in a similar manner. 



Oblong lucifer match-boxes are made chiefly at Jonkoping 

 of aspen-wood by means of machines, which cut out a piece 

 large enough for a box, and press dents into the wood wherever 

 a side has to be bent inwards. In the absence of aspen-wood, 

 wood of lime or poplar is used in Germany for these boxes. 



Strainers for beer and vinegar are made of hazel, and in its 

 absence of hornbeam and beech. The wood is steeped in water 

 till it has lost its colour. 



