HARDWOOD RECORD 



10 



although but little has been done toward 

 marketing the latter. The teak industry is 

 flourishing, however, and in addition to the 

 immencj amount of woods work done in the 

 forests in getting out rough hewn timbers 

 for sleepers and other purposes which do 

 not require sawmill work, many mills have 

 been built and are now operated success- 

 fully. The government intends not only to 

 derive immediate recompense from teak lum- 

 ber operations, But to put them on a per- 

 manent basis. This it is doing by means of 

 strict laws regarding reforestry and felling, 

 which are positively enforced by a forestry 

 department. This policy is in marked con- 

 trast to that of Siam, and ■;^ill insure the 

 continuance of Java as an innortant teak 



:eak log. 



market indetiniteiy. In 1905 the Dutch gov- 

 ernment showed a net profit of approxi- 

 mately $700,000 on the year's work. The 

 bulk of export stock finds a market in Ger- 

 many, Austria, British India, Holland and 

 England, and a considerable amount is used 

 on South African railroads. 



In cultivating new forests the ground is 

 first thoroughly cleared, the seeds sown in 

 groups of three about eight inches apart, 

 and over three feet between groups. Ger- 

 mination occurs about the fortieth day under 

 good conditions. After ten years the trees 

 ordinarily show a diameter of eight or more 

 inches, and are then thinned out, which 

 process is repeated every ten years, nntil the 

 remaining ones are of mature size. The trees 



are felled from platforms at a distance of 

 two to four feet above the ground, on ac- 

 count of the spreading of trunks near the 

 roots and the fact that the butts of Java teak 

 are frequently rotten inside. In the forests 

 few saws are used, the axe being the favored 

 instrument, and in the hands of the natives 

 it turns out wonderfully neat work. The 

 hewn stock is usually hauled from the forests 

 to railways or streams by Java buffaloes, 

 thence delivered to mills or ports. The logs 

 felled by the government are usually auc- 

 tioned off at some point convenient to trans- 

 portation. The concessions for lumbering 

 often embraces 1,000 acres, and are auctioned 

 off to the highest bidder, who must leave the 

 land in good shape for replanting when he 

 is through with it, and must make a report 

 on the number of trees felled annually. Usu- 

 ally he is taxed a certain roj-alty per number 

 of cubic feet taken out. 



There is said to be some prejudice regard- 

 ing Java teak in foreign' markets, and while 

 undoubtedly inferior to some other varieties, 

 this is due to the fact that formerly little 

 discrimination was used in the selection of 

 logs— those which were decidedly imperfect 

 or of very small size being shipped along 

 with the most desirable ones — which tended 

 to prejudice buyers against the wood in 

 general, for European markets are notori- 

 ously insistent upon having only the best 

 grades and largest dimensions of imported 

 stock. With the revival of the massive 

 styles of furniture and hand-carving, the 

 demand for fine specimens of the so-called 

 "fancy" woods, among which teak may 

 be numbered, is increasing. Nowadays 

 none but fine logs are sent out of Java, 

 the rest being converted into domestic uses. 



The accompanying illustrations are from 

 the Timber Trades Journal of London and 

 Snow's book on "The Principal Species of 

 Wood. ' ' 



BUILDERS OF LUMBER HISTORY. 



C. A. Schenck, Ph. D. 



I Sec Portrait Hui>iiUment.\ 

 The subject of this sketch and of the ac- 

 companying portrait, C. A. Schenck, Ph. D., 

 of Biltmore, N. C, was born in Germany 

 forty years ago in March last. He is a tall, 

 youthful-appearing, athletic chap who has de- 

 voted his early manhood to an analysis of the 

 timber growth of the United States, to a 

 logical and practical means of reforestry, to 

 scientific lumbering, and to imparting a 

 knowledge of forestry pursuits based on 

 world-wide experience to young men whom 

 he has gathered about him in the Biltmore 

 Forest School. 



Personally Dr. C. A. Schenck is one of the 

 most charming of men. He is cordial; he is 

 frank; he is enthusiastic over his work, and 

 full of the very joy of living. He is thor- 

 oughly lovable, and his boy students fairly 

 adore him. But above aU, he is practical. He 



NUMBER LXIX. 



has never allowed old-world theories to inter- 

 fere with practical forestry sense as applied 

 to the handling of timber problems which 

 have developed in the United States. 



Without in any wise disparaging the tal- 

 ents of any other individual or cult of for- 

 estry. Dr. Schenck undeniably stands as the 

 foremost figure and authority on this sub- 

 ject in this country. He was graduated from 

 the College of Darmstadt, and later studied 

 at polytechnic schools and at the Tlniversi- 

 ties of .Tubingen and Giessen from 1886 to 

 1890. At Giessen, following his father 's wish, 

 he passed the government examinations in law 

 and soon after in forestry. By dint of innate 

 ability and hard work he pa.ssed with the 

 highest marks that had ever been given to 

 any forestry student at Giessen. In conse- 

 quence he immediately secured a position with 

 Sir Dietrich Brandis, famous as "the father 

 of English and Indian forestry." As his as- 

 gistaut, and later as the assistant of Dr. Wil- 



liam Schlich, author of Schlich's "Manual," 

 and late inspector general of forests in In- 

 dia, Dr. Schenck traversed the European 

 woods from end to end repeatedly, gaining 

 a most thorough practical knowledge of them. 

 In this great school of nature he acquired a 

 knowledge absolutely unobtainable in college 

 or university. 



In 1903 Dr. Schenck was appointed a for- 

 est assessor for the German government, after 

 passing another very trying examination, and 

 upon the basis of a thesis entitled "The 

 Financial Issue Involved in Raising Oak For- 

 ests," the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 

 was conferred upon him. This work has be- 

 come a standard textbook and is found in 

 every leading library. 



In 189.5, on the recommendation of Sir Die- 

 trich Brandis, Dr. Schenck came to this coun- 

 try to take charge of the Pisgah mountain 

 forest estate of George W. Vanderbilt, near 

 Asheville, N. C. At that time this partially 



