THE USES OF WOOD 



537 



BOXES STRAPPED WITH IRON 



Many shipping boxes are bound with strap iron or with 

 wire to give additional strength. Boxes containing heavy 

 articles are so bound because the nails might not stand the 

 strain alone; and other boxes of thin lumber have the 

 same bands as a precaution against the breaking of 

 the wood. 



A REDWOOD CIGAR BOX 

 Most cigar boxes are of Spanish cedar which wood is not native of the 

 United States; but many attempts have been made, and with some suc- 

 cess, in substituting our own woods for this use. Among those so used 

 are southern red cedar, yellow poplar, tupela, and red gum. The box 

 shown in the above picture is of California Redwood. 



long, up to three or four 

 times those dimensions. In 

 California where summer 

 and early autumn rain is 

 not expected, the trays with 

 their fruit are spread upon 

 the ground, perhaps cover- 

 ing acres, with the fruit ex- 

 posed ready for the sun to 

 finish the work. 



Occasionally an unex- 

 pected shower does great 

 damage to the half-dry 

 crop ; but the working force 

 is drilled in the art of pro- 

 tecting the fruit by piling 

 the trays one on another, in 

 ricks six or seven feet high. 

 A native rhymster drew the 

 picture with local color thus: 



There's not a cloud comes o'er the sun 

 In these ambiguous autumn days 



But that the raisin growers run 

 And scally-whoop to stack their trays. 



The fruit trays in the fore- 

 going category are made of sugar 

 pine, western yellow pine, fir and 

 incense cedar, and many millions 

 of feet of lumber are consumed 

 in manufacturing the annual out- 

 put. 



Many two-piece boxes are pro- 

 duced. They are quite small and 

 consist of a body and a lid, each 

 bored from a solid block of wood 

 and fitted to the other ready for 

 service. They are used as con- 

 tainers for drugs, pills, tablets, 

 capsules; and hardware dealers 

 employ them as containers for 



tacks, 



brads, 



screws, 



little 



hinges or 



other 



kinds of 



small 



hardware. 



Containers 



of this 



kind are 



often call- 

 ed wooden 



novelties 



or woodenware. They are produced in enormous numbers 



and carry numerous articles to market. The boxes vary in 



size from those little larger than a thimble to others holding 



a quart or even more. They 

 are strong and they carry 

 with safety what is placed 

 in them, whether it be brass 

 screws, ivory buttons, hair- 

 pins, bottles of ink, pow- 

 dered paint, pills, plasters, 

 corn medicine, or other small 

 articles or commodities. 

 These containers are of 

 many woods, but more are 

 of paper birch, yellow birch, 

 and white pine than of any 

 other woods. 



Artistic finish is given to 

 certain kinds of small boxes 

 intended for jewelry, hand- 

 kerchiefs and toilet articles. 

 The boxes are meant to be 



SMALL TWO PIECE BOXES 

 These consist of a body and a lid and they are the product of a lathe. 

 Druggists and packers of small hardware like tacks, brads, screws, and 

 hinges are the largest users. Birch, maple, and pine are the common 

 woods for these boxes. They are produced in various sizes and by the 

 million. 



RED CEDAR SHIRT WAIST BOX 



This article may be classed either as a box or as a piece of furniture, for it is both. The box shown in 

 the cut is of red cedar, but similar boxes are made of the incense cedar of California and of Port Orford 

 cedar of Oregon. The odor is reputed to drive away or kill moths and other injurious insects. 



