CHAPTER XII. 
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, the 
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 
