SCOTCH LUMBER CUT BY NEW ENGLAND MILLS 



The report of the operations in Scotland of the New England Saw Mill Units has been pub- 

 lished by E. C. Hirst, State Forester of New Hampshire, who was in charge of the particularly 

 interesting operations. 



A 



BOUT a month after the United States entered the 

 war the Massachusetts Committee on Public Safety 

 learned that Great Britain was in distress for lack 

 of skilled lumbermen and foresters to cut her timber. It 

 was at once proposed that New England should raise, 

 equip and send to England ten portable saw mill and 

 logging units. The British gratefully accepted the offer, 

 it was unofficially approved by Secretary of War Baker 

 and receive the enthusiastic support of the Governors 

 of the New England States. 



To work out the details of the undertaking and to make 

 its operation effective the Massachusetts Committee on 

 Public Safety appointed a committee of which the chair- 

 man was W. R. Brown, of Berlin, New Hampshire, a 

 director of the American Forestry Association and a mem- 

 ber of the Lumber Committee of the Council of National 

 Defense. The other members of the committee were : 

 James J. Phelan, Vice-Chairman, Massachusetts Com- 

 mittee on Public Safety ; Harold G. Philbrook, Treasurer, 

 Vice-President, Connecticut Valley Lumber Company; 

 F. W. Rane, Secretary, State Forester of Massachusetts ; 

 George S. Lewis, Treasurer, Connecticut Valley Lumber 

 Company; Philip T. Dodge, International Paper Com- 

 pany ; H. W. Blanchard, H. W. Blanchard Lumber Com- 

 pany ; Garrett Schenck, Great Northern Paper Company ; 

 Hon. Herbert B. Moulton, Parker and Young Company : 

 I. B. Hosford, St. Croix Paper Company; Martin i\. 

 Brown. Woodstock Lumber Company ; George E. Henry, 

 T. E. Henry and Sons ; Samuel H. Boardman, President 

 Eastern Shook and Wooden Box Association; J. M. 

 Parker, St. John Lumber Company ; Marshall T. Wood, 

 Lande Manufacturing Company; H. B. Stebbins, H. B. 

 Stebbins Lumber Company; Chester C. Whitney, Perry 

 Whitney Lumber Company ; J. H. Hustis, Receiver, Bos- 

 ton and Maine Railroad; L. S. Tainter, Conway Lumber 

 Company ; E. C. Hirst, New Hampshire State Forester : 

 Forest H. Colby, Maine State Forester; W. O. Filley, 

 Connecticut State Forester; J. B. Mowry, Rhode Island 

 State Forester. 



It is significant of the scope and influence of the Amer- 

 ican Forestry Association that of the 23 members of this 

 committee twelve are members of the Association. This 

 representation includes, in addition to Chairman Brown. 

 Messrs. Philbrook, Rane, Dodge, Blanchard, Martin .\. 

 Brown, Henry, Tainter, Hirst, Colby, Filley and Mowry. 

 To send ten units for saw mill and logging operations 

 in England involved the raising of a fund of $120,000. 

 The cost of each unit is placed at $12,000. This money 

 was provided over night. Through its Governor and its 



connnittee on public safety each of the New England 

 States subscribed the sum required for a single unit. 

 With six units thus provided for, there was no difficulty 

 in raising funds for the four remaining units by private 

 subscription among the paper manufacturers, lumbermen 

 and timberland owners of New England. 



The following report on the work of the units is made 

 by Manager Hirst : 



The commercial timber in Scotland is in plantations 

 on large estates. There is practically no natural growth. 

 The plantations were set out partly to afford game cover 

 and partly on account of the land owners interest in 

 timber growing. For many decades prior to the present 

 war there was little commercial incentive for planting 

 anywhere in the United Kingdom. Cheap transporta- 

 tion permitted duty free lumber from Russia, Sweden, 

 Norway, Germany and even America to be delivered to 

 consuming centers in England and Scotland at such low 

 prices that investments in home grown timber yielded a 

 small and uncertain return. National emergencies have 

 from time to time stimulated felling and planting. Thus, 

 on a considerable part of the woodland operated by the 

 New England Saw Mill Units the previous clear cutting 

 furnished lumber for the Napoleonic Wars, and the trees 

 planted soon after were of splendid size to furnish high 

 grade dimension lumber during the last year. 



The most important commercial trees in Scotland are 

 Scotch pine, larch and Norway spruce. The first named 

 is that planted in largest amount, the trade name for the 

 lumber being "Scots Fir." In quality the lumber is about 

 half way between our white pine and Norway pine. The 

 larch is a native of the Austrian Tyrol and although 

 planted for centuries in Britain, seed is still obtained from 

 the native home of the tree on the continent. The larch 

 furnishes excellent structural timbers, but is springy and 

 more difficult to saw to accurate dimensions than the 

 others. The Norway spruce is a rapid grower and much 

 like our white spruce. It is planted only on moist grotmd. 

 The war found Great Britain in a serious situation in 

 regard to timber for military purposes. Much greater 

 supplies of timber were needed for war than had been 

 anticipated and enemy submarine activities soon became 

 a serious hindrance to securing timber from over seas on 

 w hich the country had become accustomed to depend. It 

 was necessary for the Government to organize a Timber- 

 land Sup])lics Department, and then innuediately to requi- 

 sition and purchase timber from private estates for the 

 war industries of Britain as well as the large amounts 

 which it became necessary to ship across the Channel for 



