Lumber Uses 



By Warren B. Bullock 



THE greatest development for public information of 

 the need for conserving American forests has 

 been seen since the tenth of July at Chicago, in the 

 lumber classification hearing conducted by the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission, in which all freight traffic con- 

 ditions involving the lumber industry are being exhaus- 

 tively studied, both from the standpoint of the lumber- 

 man and the carrier. The public, however, is being shown 

 the great need for nation-wide steps for the conserving of 

 the forests by the testimony of the lumbermen of the 

 great waste in the industry, owing to the inability of the 

 lumbermen, because of traffic and general trade conditions, 

 to utilize the bulk of their wood supply. It was shown 

 that nearly 65 per cent of the nation's forests is wasted, 

 and never reaches the consumer in any foruL Some of 

 the manufacturers have testified that they are able to 

 utilize part of the waste of their mills in converting smaller 

 products of the log into box lumber, but in many cases 

 they are too far from the market to make this utilization 

 of their timber profitable. 



THE hearing was scheduled to take up the problems 

 of classification of lumber products, but soon be- 

 came a general study of the entire lumber busi- 

 ness in its shipping relation to the public. Better ship- 

 ping conditions, it was testified, would greatly aid the 

 lumber manufacturers in utilizing the portions of the 

 tree which are now wasted. Some interesting testimony 

 was given on the relation of mills to their timber supply, 

 and the need for the cheap transportation of logs to the 

 mills, and the necessity for the mills moving to the timber 

 supply when freight rates become too high, owing to the 

 increasing distance from the forest to the mill. There is a 

 point, it was testified, when the mill can not aft'ord to ship 

 the log to the mill, because of the distance to be traversed, 

 and when such time comes it is necessary to move the 

 mill to the source of supply. The need for favorable 

 freight rates to allow the shipment of portions of the log 

 which would otherwise be wasted was thus emphasized. 

 If suitable shipping conditions can be assured, the lumber 

 manufacturer can find a market for portions of the prod- 

 uct which do not produce at present sufficient revenue 

 to pay for shipment to the market. 



THE World's Salesmanship Congress at Detroit pro- 

 vided another phase of the need for economv in 

 wood products, and the preservation of the sources 

 of future wood supply, in the forcing home of the realiza- 

 tion of the part efficient salesmanship may provide in 

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saving the lumber supply. Proper salesmanship, it was 

 shown by several speakers, will, by efficient disposal of 

 the product of the mills, prevent an economic waste, by 

 raising the standards of wood using to the point where 

 profits for the manufacturer will be high enough to enable 

 him to turn his attention to the utilization of waste. At 

 present the lumber manufacturer is so closely pressed 

 that he can only afiiord to market the cream of the forest, 

 where the national need is for a market condition that 

 will force him to utilize every portion of the tree. If the 

 market for the cream of the forest is sustained to a point 

 where the manufacturer is actually making a profit on his 

 entire investment, the nation can require him to manufac- 

 ture and sell the " skim milk " that is now thrown away. 



OF ALL the woods used in the manufacture of 

 tobacco pipes, French briar is undoubtedly pre- 

 ferred by the majority of smokers. This is the 

 root of the white heath {Erica arborea), or " bruyere," 

 which grows extensively in southern France and in 

 Corsica. The white heath is a shrub which sometimes 

 grows to a considerable size. The roots are gathered in 

 large quantities, cleaned and sawed into pipe blanks or 

 blocks of various sizes and shapes, after which they are 

 placed in a vat of hot water and simmered for 12 hours 

 or more. This gives them the rich yellowish-brown hue 

 for which the best pipes are noted. 



The value of the French briar pipe blanks imported 

 into the LTnited States for the year 1915 was almost 

 $300,000. In addition to this, there were miported, also, 

 a large number of finished pipes. 



The present scarcity and high price of French briar 

 has led a number of pipe manufacturers in this country to 

 look for a substitute, and quite a good deal of mountain 

 laurel root is now used. This root is quite similar in 

 appearance to the French briar root, but is softer and 

 burns out more readily. Uncle Sam's Forest Products 

 Laboratory is making some experiments in the hope of 

 finding a satisfactory method of hardening this wood, so • 

 that it will not burn out. Several pieces have already 

 been hardened to a very appreciable extent, but the 

 process has not yet been perfected. 



The laboratory has also been seeking substitute woods 

 which will not need to be treated. At least one of these 

 woods gives good promise of meeting the requirements 

 of that class of pipes which are now made of applewood, 

 though it does not have the figure typical of briar. It 

 is of interest to note that the State of Pennsylvania alone 

 uses over 120,000 feet of applewood yearly in the manu- 

 facture of pipes, and this is more than half of the total 

 consumption. Other species, in the order of importance. 



