USES OF WOOD 



577 



The Datives, hardy and vigorous in the hills, were but feebly repulsed. 

 Carthage demanded tribute, and Rome took it, and changed the city's name 

 from Poseidonia to Paestum. After Rome grew weak, Saracen corsairs 

 came in by sea and grasped the slackly defended riches, and the little 

 winged poisoners of the night struck again and again, until grass grew in 

 the streets, and the wharves crumbled where they stood. Finally, the 

 wretched remnant of a great people wandered away into the more whole- 

 some hills, the marshes rotted in the heat and grew up in coarse reeds where 

 corn and vine had flourished, and the city melted back into the wasted 

 earth." — Elizabeth Bisland and Anne Hoyt, Seekers in Sicily. John 

 Lane Company. 



Uses of wood. Even though we have many materials for build- 

 ing and fuel, wood is still the one most used. Practically all build- 

 ings use wood some place in their construction. Wood outlasts 

 iron under water, and also is lighter. It is cheap and, with proper 

 care of the forests, the supply is practically inexhaustible. When 

 wood is burned without air, wood alcohol is given off. Partly 

 burned wood is charcoal, the best of which, used in medicine, comes 

 from the willow trees. Much of the soft wood (the coniferous trees, 

 spruce, balsam, hemlock, and pine) and poplars, aspens, with some 

 other species, of our forests are used for making paper pulp. The 

 daily newspapers and cheap books are responsible for inroads on our 

 forests. Since it is not necessary to take the largest trees to make 

 pulp, many young trees of not more than six inches in diam- 



Figure A shows the method used when sawing a log for trim. Figure B shows the common 

 method of sawing a log. A is known as quarter saw and B as plain saw. 



eter are being sacrificed. Of the hundreds of species of trees in 

 our forests, the conifers are probably most sought after for lumber. 



