CHAPTER XIL 



THE USES OF WOOD. 



Wood Serves [so Many Purposes and enters so largely 

 into human activities that it may indeed claim to be the most 

 useful of all natural products, excepting only food. Iron is 

 looked upon as the most useful of metals. Wood is not a metal, 

 but in its usefulness it may be, placed above iron, which it is 

 replacing in many cases where the latter was formerly used 

 exclusively. Iron and wood have displaced and replaced each 

 other in public favor time and time again, so that their respective 

 claims to supremacy have not yet been decided. For instance, 

 in the manufacture of bicycles, wood rims were first used, and 

 then gave way to iron and steel on account of their lighter 

 appearance and strength. Now, with better methods of con- 

 struction, wood is again in use, and giving general satisfaction. 

 However, each has its place, and the two often work to better 

 advantage in combination. Experiments have shown that in 

 tensile strength hickory exceeds iron and steel of the same 

 length and weight, and hickory and long-leaf pine resist greater 

 endwise compression than wrought iron. The elasticity of wood 

 enables it to yield to greater stress than metals without receiving 

 permanent distortion, and in like manner it will resist high tem- 

 peratures without warping, holding its shape until consumed or 

 broken down by mere weight. 



In Comparison with Iron, Wood is lighter, easier to 

 work and handle, at present cheaper, and in many cases stronger 

 and more durable. These facts, coupled with its abundance and 

 ready adaptability, have brought it into such extensive use that 

 the future depletion of the supply has become a matter of some 

 concern to thoughtful people. Even now, in many parts, tin- 

 local supply has already been exhausted (due much to extrava- 

 gance and carelessness), and the inhabitants are dependent upon 

 other regions to furnish their wood material, at an increased 

 cost. Treeless regions, formerly uninhabited, are now teeming 



