Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist:' 
the uses of wood. 
By Filibert Koth, 
Expert in Timber Physics, Division of Forestry, 
U.S, Dejiartment of Ayriculture. 
GENERAL REMARKS- 
Wood liFe soil, air and water, lias until lecen*' 
times been one of those materials which man 
could obtain without effort beyond the mere 
taking Hence, although it has become one oi 
the most important, most generally used and to 
our civilization most indispensable products of 
•u.tur- o 'r attitude toward its production has 
heen one oi mdilfeieuce. Wood has been used 
so geuerullv .liaL a large amount of empirical 
knowled^^e regarding its properties has accumu 
lated This knowledge has sufficed for immediate 
purposes, and the need of a more intimate know- 
ledge gained by investigation and experiment in 
retrard to the properties mid characteristics 
of° wood has never become very ajiparerit. 
Abundance and cheapness, together with ignor- 
ance of its true merits, have led to a most 
extravagant and often erroneous use of this 
Deduct? We have witnessed with indifference, 
a Iso, the useless destruction of enormous quanti- 
ties of timber in the vague belief, characteristic 
of the times, that when the -supply is gone some 
«iU be foubd. Tb.t U.ie belief ,3 
poorly founded is quite apparent, for winle 
sTh Lbstitution as, for instance, that of iron iii 
shiu bridiie, and track construction has taken 
p a?’e, and^l^.doubtedly will continue and even 
mcreasein a any directions it has not prevented, 
fiven in countries like England, wnere wood is 
near an increased consumption per capita of 
population, while Germany, with all its well-man- 
LSd forests, imports great quantities of large- 
fzed timber. Moreover, as we learn to know 
S, ™p"de;oiU.i»m«t..«l, wefl„d that .1 ,3 
Spable of many U303 for »f..cb .t w.^ supposed 
f he metals alone were fit ; wood is today displac- 
ing the best qualities of steel even in such deli- 
cately balanced structures as the bicycle. That 
this return to wood in many of our manufactures 
will continue, in spite of the cheapness of iron 
mid steel, there is not the slightest reason for 
doubt, and the importance of ivood as a mateiial 
of construction, to say nothing of its use as pulp, 
cellulose, and its derivatives, and its growing 
?alue as a fuel, will steadily increase and not 
decrease, as is so commonly assumed and taugln. 
° Before entering into the discussion of the uses 
of different kinds of wood, and the reasons foi 
their selection, it may be well to review the 
principal useful qualities of this material, and to 
S extent compare it with its most natural 
substitutes. 
WOOD AS COMPARED W'lTH IRON. 
1 Wood is a natural product ; iron the product 
of a costly, complicated manufacture. Wood 
may be grown wnerever, man wishes to use it , 
X manufaetu.e of iron is pract.ca ly confined to 
particular localiiies. The mines of both iron and 
coal are e.xhaustible ; the forest, under proper 
managmejd ,^prod^^^^^^ dear. Even in the 
form of lumber, and with the cost of long-distance 
traS^Bportation added, wood costs the consumer in 
[May 2, 189S. 
this country rarely more than 2.5 cents per cubic 
foot, while iron in bars and sheets is worth at 
W'holesale from §o to §10 per cubic foot. 
3, VV'ood is soft ; simple tools and small effort 
suffice to shai'C it. iron is hard, any change of 
form, whether by casting, rolling, sawing, cutting, 
planing, turning, filing, boring or grinding, 
requires much labor, or else complicated aud costly 
processes and equipments. In the ease and rapi- 
dity with which wood can be shaped, reshaped, 
and combined in structures it excels all other 
materials. 
4. Wood cleaves or splits; metals do not. 
While this property has its disadviintages, it is 
one that in some directions determines the useful- 
ness of wood. It permits ready preparation for 
fencing and firewood, which latter use exceeds in 
bulk ten times the amount of iron and steel used 
in this country. 
o. Wood is^stronger than is usually supposed. 
In tensile strength (pull lengthwise or with the 
grain of the woodj a bar of hickory exceeds a 
similar bar of wrought iron of the same length 
and weight, and it even surpasses steel under the 
same conditions. 
Similarly, a select block of hickory or of long- 
leaf pine sustains a greater weight in compres- 
sion endwise (parallel to the grain of the wood) 
than a block of wrought iron of the same height 
and weight, and nearly approaches cast iron in 
this respect. 
6. Wood is very eh;stic and resists bending to a 
marked degree; and though the modulus of 
elasticity of iron as ordinarily stated appears 10 
to 15 times as great as that of good ash or long- 
leaf pine, yet a square 10- foot bar of the latter 
wood requires 6 to 8 times as great a load to bend 
it by one inch as a similar bar of iron of the same 
length and weight. Moreover, wood endures a 
far greater distortion than the metals without 
receiving a “ set " or permanent injury. It does 
not rust nor crystallize, but retains its quality, 
and being light, and therefore used in solid pieces, 
may be selected with perfect assurance of avoid- 
ing “flaws” which are so dangerous in all metals 
when used in smsll pieces combined to make a 
larger structure. 
7. Wood is light ; iron and steel are heavy. The 
average weight of all w'ood used in this country 
does lU/t exceed 31 pounds per cubic foct ; that 
of iron and steel is from 430 to 450 pounds pel 
cubic foot. This quality effects ease of handling 
and transportation ; it permits the floating of most 
woods when green and of all when dry, and with 
its superior strength and stiffness results in a 
saving of more than 75 per cent in the weight of 
structures, frames, floors furniture, etc, 
[To he continued.) 
PERFUME MAKING. 
In answer to a correspondent enquiring as to 
the method of extrnciiug scent from flowers, we 
give tiie following description of the two processes 
generally adopted 
(1.) THE COLD PROCESS. 
Procure trays with glass bottoms, spread clari- 
fied fat a quarter of an inch thick upon each side 
of the glass ; gather the flowers early in the 
