HARDWOOD RECORD 



BSON McILVAIX, JR. 



Junior Members of 



trip, which was very successful, as they got 

 a number of fine specimens of deer, antelope 

 and bear. In 1899 he and his two sons, 

 Gibson and Walter, accompanied by two 

 friends, made another extended trip into 

 Wyoming. As a result of this one they suc- 

 ceeded in bagging five handsome elk and a 

 mountain sheep. 



In 1900 Mr. Mcllvain suffered from a pro- 

 longed illness, due to overwork ; J. Gibson 

 Mcllvain, Jr., then turned his attention to 

 the lumber business and was admitted to 

 the firm the first of the year 1903. The same 

 year Walter M. Mcllvain entered Princeton, 

 from which institution he graduated a little 

 over a year ago, and was admitted to the 

 firm the first of the present year. 



The younger generation are very active, 

 hard workers, and unquestionably the busi- 

 ness will continue to grow and be prosperous 

 for many years to come. Hugh Mcllvain 

 is still in the prime of life and turns his 

 attention very closely to the affairs of the 

 firm, having charge particularly of the pur- 

 chases and the financial end of the business. 



It is remarkable that this firm has been 

 handed down from father to son for nearly 

 four generations, and has continued to grow 

 and prosper during the entire time. It has 

 never been incorporated and they do not 

 know that they have ever renewed a note 

 outside of bank. 



It is needless to say that it is a pleasure 

 to deal with men of this character. It has 

 been their motto never to have an enemy, nor 

 break up people who owed them money, and 

 to adjust all differences on grading of lum- 

 ber amicably, even if they have to pay in 

 full and discontinue future dealings. 



For over three years the firm has pub- 

 lished a monthly bulletin known as "Mcll- 

 vain Lumber News, ' ' which is sent free of 

 charge to their many customers and pros- 

 pective patrons; it contains a list of their 

 stock and comments on the market condi- 



the House of J. Gibson Mcllt/ ain & Co. Philadelphia. 



tions, together with some timely articles to 

 give it a little life. 



The firm has been able to withstand the 

 many panics which have occurred during its 

 existence and have always met the occasion 

 with considerable foresight. It went into 

 the recent panic with a much smaller stock 

 of lumber than is usually carried, and as its 

 members take the optimistic side of these 

 questions, they immediately added more men 



to their force, covered a larger territory, and 

 today we find them doing a large business in 

 the Middle West. They believe this country 

 is bound to be prosperous the greater por- 

 tion of the time and they are confident that 

 good times will be with us shortly and are 

 preparing to offer to the trade larger blocks 

 of lumber to better advantage than ever be- 

 fore. 



A Possible NeW Industry. 



As is well known, Sweden is a country of 

 remarkably extensive forests in comparison with 

 its size, but instead of taking advantage of this 

 to deplete tliem unnecessarily, it takes all sorts 

 of measures to "save at the spigot" and make 

 use of every possible substitute for wood. For 

 instance it has found reed laths to be not only 

 a good substitute for wood laths in the plaster- 

 ing of ceilings and wooden walls of buildings, 

 but they are also much cheaper. 



The reeds employed for these purposes are of 

 the ordinary variety known botanically as Phrag- 

 mites commMnis, and they grow wild all through- 

 out southern and middle Sweden, particularly 

 along the banks of all bodies of water, and in 

 marshes. The United States consul at Gothen- 

 burg suggests that builders and farmers of this 

 country might do well to look into the proposi- 

 tion with a view to seeing whether these reeds, 

 or similar varieties which grow wild here, could 

 not be utilized for the same purpose, in which 

 case their growth could be cultivated and ex- 

 tended. If such a scheme proved practicable it 

 would give rise not only to a cheaper building 

 material, but to an industry including the grow- 

 ing and harvesting of the reeds or manufacturing 

 them into a kind of matting, where this would 

 be preferable to using them in the raw state in 

 building operations. 



In Sweden they are employed in both these 

 ways, and the consul suggests that American 

 machinery and ingenuity would doubtless make 

 the development of the entire proposition quite 

 feasible and profitable. The matting form is 

 more easily handled and nailed to walls or ceil- 

 ings than the single reeds. The mats are of two 

 kinds, one closely woven and at iMarier reeds ; 

 the other more open and thtnoer, usually used 

 double. The warp is at annealed iron wire, and 

 the matting is dellrered In rolls. 



The reeds are the largest of the wild grasses 

 In Sweden ; the tops are often used by the farm- 

 ers for fodder and the remainder for stuffing 

 mattresses. The full grown reeds grow seven 

 or eight feet above the water, and are cut in 

 winter after their leaves have fallen and the 

 water frozen over, making them easy to reach. 

 The reeds are often bought in stocks of twenty 

 bundles, each bundle about two feet in circum- 

 ference, and cost delivered about $1.07. The 

 mats usually contain about twenty square meters 

 and sell at the factory (or about 50.9 cents per 

 mat, or 2.7 cents per 10.76 square feet. Sweden 

 has a much larger supply of these reeds than it 

 can use, but it is a question whether it would 

 be profitable to export such cheap and bulky 

 stutf. A manufacturer writes : 



"Keed laths are probably just as durable as 

 wood laths. The writer has seen houses torn 

 down whicii were at least seventy-five years old 

 and found the reeds nailed to the walls just as 

 sound as when they were put there. All de- 

 pends, however, upon the manner in which the 

 reeds are harvested and kept, because they are 

 easily damaged it the bundles are kept wet or 

 covered with ice. Wood revetting mats are 

 scarcely manufactured any more in Sweden, be- 

 cause they are too expensive. Besides that, 

 till' r.i'd iiiat^ are considered better and more 



|.riiii.:il 1 auso when such are used the sur- 



la.' of ilic plastering does not crack, which was 

 oiteii the (a-.,' when unseasoned wood laths were 

 nsed. So-called loose reeding is used a great 

 deal ; that is, the loose reeds are nailed to the 

 walls and ceilings by hand. If skilled workmen 

 are avail.able, such reeding can be just as good 

 and practical as the mats. Whether one or the 

 other of the two systems is used depends a great 

 deal upon the custom of the respective building 



