Wood the growth of the young timber in open stands after the old trees have been removed is more rapid than in trees in a closed forest, and in the manufacture of articles where strength is an important consideration such "second-growth" hardwood material is preferred. This is particularly the case in the choice of hickory for handles and spokes. Here not only strength, but toughness and resilience are important. The results of a series of tests on hickory by the U.S. Forest Service show that: The effect of rate of growth on the qualities of chestnut wood is summarized by the
Field hockey stick development, probably in materials, possibly because of changes to the rules. In roughly chronological order this is what has happened so far. For the purposes of this article the ball will be assumed to be 73 mm in diameter. Ball size does play a significant part in stickwork and ball control (as does the weight and hardness of the ball) but an investigation of these is outside the scope of this article. The width of stick handles does vary (as does the horizontal length of stick heads) but for clarity and convenience the shaft of the handle just above the