trSES OF COMMERCIAL WOODS. 5 



principal consideration. Vehicle makers take it for wagon hubs, 

 sand boards, bolsters, fellies, and sometimes for tongues, though for 

 this last use it is not considered equal to hickory or good ash. It 

 endures severe strain, but if it breaks it snaps short, while ash and 

 hickory do not. The chief defect in a beech wagon hub or felly is 

 the tendency of the wood to speedy decay when alternately wet and 

 dry. It is sufficiently hard to hold the spokes in the mortises, though 

 many other woods fail in that respect. 



Fanning-mill frames and parts of windmills, thrashing machines, 

 feed cutters, hay tedders, stackers, ensilage cutters, and many other 

 farm implements are of beech. It is employed for its strength, and 

 sometimes, where it is subjected to friction, because it wears smooth. 

 Garden, lawn, and grain rollers are often of this wood, its weight 

 being one of the properties which fit it for such implements. It is 

 made use of for hayracks and as stanchions in dairy farms. In 

 spite of its weight it is employed for grain shovels and scoops, 

 although lighter woods are often given preference. Beech is one of 

 the best woods for hames because one of the strongest, though metal 

 is largely taking the place of wood for this purpose. 



LAUNDRY APPLIANCES. 



Beech enters largely into nearly all kinds of wooden Laundry ap- 

 pliances, from large stationary tubs down tp clothespins. In some 

 cases it is emploj-ed because it is plentiful and cheap, but in others 

 for its fitness. Naturally, much of the laundry machinery comes in 

 contact with water, and wooden parts must be able to stand it. 

 Beech meets that requirement. Some of the old-style washboards 

 were wholly of wood, the ridges or corrugations, constituting the 

 rubbing surface, being cut in a solid board. When it was made of 

 wood beech was the best material, because it stood the wear. The 

 wood is still employed in washboards, but is not so essential as 

 formerly. The domestic washing machines which have taken the 

 washboard's place in many homes often have a ridged or corrugated 

 surface against which the clothes are rubbed by machinery. This 

 corrugated surface and the dolh^ that does the rubbing are frequently 

 of beech. 



Clothespins are small articles, but the number made is enormous. 

 In some factories beech is the only wood employed, but several other 

 woods contribute to the country's supply. The remarkable cheap- 

 ness of clothespins is possible because of the high development of the 

 machines which make them. Squares of wood of the proper size 

 are fed into automatic lathe machines through a hoi)per, much as 

 grain was passed to the buhrs in an old-time mill. The lathe gives 

 them the required shape, and they are then conveyed to other ma- 

 chines, where the slots are cut bv circular saws. After that tliev are 



