1026 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



SUGAR MAPLE MUCH USED FOR WHEEL RIMS 

 Bicycle and sulky wlieel rims made of sugar maple. Ninety per cent of the wood used for this purpose is of this species. 



of this instrument considers the stick of curly or smoky 

 maple, which reaches his hands as raw material, the fittest 

 medium for the display of his genius and for the inter- 

 pretation of his ideas. 



WOODEN WARE 



The term woodenware is very broad, and its boundaries 

 are vaguely defined. It includes most everything made 

 of wood which does not specifically belong somewhere 

 else. It is commonly understood to include wooden sup- 

 plies and apparatus used by beekeepers, poultry raisers 

 and dairymen, and also nearly all sorts of wooden novel- 

 ties. More than 38,000,000 feet of maple reaches its final 

 use yearly as woodenware in the United States. It is 

 impracticable to name even by classes, the articles which 

 owe their existence to this remarkable wood; but one of 

 the smallest, and at the same time the most ephemeral, 

 is doubtless the most important. 



This is the picnic i)latter. It is a thin, wooden plate 

 with which nearly every one is familiar. Its uses are 

 many, but all arc temporary. It is expected to serve 

 only once, and for that once the grocer may sell butter 

 in it, the butcher may wraji sausage in it, the baker's 

 pie is carried in it to the customer, the picnicker may 

 serve his forest-cooked dinner on it by some mountain 

 stream. It is then thrown aside, and a new one takes its 

 place next day. 



There are no statistics showing the number of such 

 plates manufactured, but they are numbered by mil- 

 lions, and maple furnishes a large part of the material. 



Beech and birch supply nearly all the rest. Maple log.i 

 of the finest quality pass through machines and come 

 out ready for the user. The first step in the process is 

 to peel the log in long, broad ribbons of veneer, by the 

 same method as the veneer is cut that goes to the furni- 

 ture maker. The veneer is steamed, cut in discs and 

 pressed in shape; and the work is done. 



Maple contributes largely to kitchen and pantry ware, 

 like vegetable cutters, stompers, pastry boards, rolling 

 pins and carved trays and dishes. It is a choice wood 

 for such wares because of its sanitary qualities. It is 

 easily kept clean. The surface remains smooth because 

 it is so hard that it will not readly dent or bruise. 



MISCELLANEOUS 



The principal places filled by maple in vehicle making 

 are as axles for heavy wagons, runners and frames for 

 sleds and sleighs and frames for bodies of buggies, car- 

 riages and automobiles. As an axle wood it is stronger 

 than oak and compares favorably with hickory; but if 

 subjected to pressure beyond its ability to sustain, or 

 if caught by a sudden jolt or jar, it is liable to snap 

 much more suddenly than oak or hickory. It is more 

 brittle than they, and if it breaks, it breaks suddenly and 

 without warning in the way of preliminary bending. 

 Forty-nine woods are reported in the vehicle industry, 

 and only four in larger amounts than maple. They are 

 hickory, oak, yellow poplar and ash. 



The employment of maple in making fixtures for 



