30 OUR VANISHING FORESTS 



all sorts of miscellaneous articles such as rulers, 

 squares, spirit levels, thermometer backs, cameras, 

 tripods, and various drafting instruments. In the 

 manufacture of large cameras nothing has been 

 found to equal the lightness and workability of 

 wood. Each scientific instrument, however, requires 

 different and special characteristics. The wooden 

 back of a thermometer, for example, must be made 

 from a wood that will not shrink or warp in such 

 a way as to result in the breaking of the glass tube, 

 while a carpenter's level must be hard and not easily 

 sprung out of shape. For these uses black walnut 

 and cherry respectively are the favorites. 



Through the use of wood we obtain pleasure in 

 many ways. The manufacture of musical instru- 

 ments mentioned in another chapter is one example, 

 but we should not forget the children's toys, or the 

 part played by wood in our games and sports. 

 From basswood, beech, birch, maple and pine are 

 made the blocks that delight our earliest days, fit- 

 together toys and tool chests for boys, toy furniture 

 and dolls' houses for girls, and all sorts of toy 

 animals from rocking horses to the fearfully and 

 wonderfully shaped birds and animals that amuse 

 even the grown-ups. Where would we be without 

 baseball bats and golf clubs, tennis racquets and 

 hockey sticks ; without skis and snow shoes, bowling 



