AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



amounts are required for athletic goods, meat smoking, and various 

 miscellaneous purposes. The total amount used yearly in this country, 

 and exported to foreign countries, is not accurately known, but it 

 probably exceeds 500,000,000 feet, board measure. About half of this 

 passes through sawmills in the usual manner, and the other half goes 

 directly from the forest to the factory or to the consumer. 



The superiority of American buggies, sulkies, and other light 

 vehicles is due to the hickory in their construction. No other wood 

 equals this in combination of desirable physical properties. Though 

 heavy, it is so strong, tough, and resilient that small amounts suffice, and 

 the weight of the vehicle can be reduced to a lower point, without 

 sacrificing efficiency, than when any other wood is employed. It is 

 preeminently a wood for light vehicles. Oak, ash, maple, and elm 

 answer well enough for heavy wagons where strength is more essential 

 than toughness and elasticity. Hickory is suitable for practically all 

 wooden parts of light vehicles except the body. The slender spokes 

 look like frail dowels, and seem unable to maintain the load, but appear- 

 ances are deceptive. The bent rims are likewise very slender, but they 

 last better than steel. The shafts and poles with which carriages and 

 carts are equipped will stand severe strains and twists without starting 

 a splinter. The manufacturing of the stock is little less than a fine art. 

 In scarcely any other wood-using industry probably excepting the 

 making of handles is the grain so closely watched. Hickory users 

 generally speak of the annual growth rings as the grain. The grain 

 must run straight in spokes, rims, shafts, and poles. If the grain crosses 

 the stick, a break may occur by the simple process of splitting, and the 

 hickory in that case is no more dependable than many other woods. 



Handle makers observe the same rule, and must have straight 

 grain. The more slender the handle, the more strictly the rule must be 

 followed. A cross grained golf club handle would fail at the first stroke. 

 An ax handle, if it has cross grain, will last a little longer, but it will 

 speedily split. Many of the best slender handles are of split hickory. 

 The line of cleavage follows the grain, but a saw does not always do so. 

 Heavy handles, like those for picks and sledges, are not so strictly 

 straight grained, because they are made strong enough to stand much 

 more strain than is ever likely to be put on them. Red heartwood is 

 frequently used in handles of that kind. Peavey and canthook handles 

 are generally split from billets, because the grain must be straight. 

 Though they are among the largest and heaviest of handles, breakage 

 must be guarded against with extra care, for the snap of a peavey handle 

 at a critical moment might cost the operator his life by precipitating 

 a skid way of logs upon him. 



