32 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



of all sorts, adaptable to the climate, were being 

 constantly planted. 



•In the winter of 190G-07 acacias planted in 

 U)02 and 1003 were cut for the first time. All 

 timber up to D centimeters (1.97 inches) diame- 

 ter was sold to the Shantung Mining Company 

 tor mining timber. This company has made ex- 

 tensive experiments with the wood, and now re- 

 ports that for mining purposes the acacia is as 

 Kood as or better than the pine and cedar va- 

 rieties now being Imported from Japan. The de- 

 mands of the company are growing from year 

 to year, and are now at i;u,000 cubic meters 

 (70G,2SO cubic feet) per annum. With the sat- 

 isfactory results of these tests the German gov- 

 ernment has decided to go heavily into the 

 acacia raising business here, as there are large 

 iracts of land apparently worthless for anything 

 .■Lsc. The acacias also have many other good 

 points. Unlike the pines, they are not subject 

 to disease or ravages by Insects ; furthermore, 

 I lie entire cost of production is covered by the 

 sale of refuse twigs, etc., to the natives for flre- 

 wood, while the mining company has agreed to 

 take all timber offered at about ^7y per cubic 

 motor (35.;J14 cubic feet)." 



A Filing Cabinet for ' 'Record' ' 

 Information. 



Ilic llAKDWcioii l!i;c..i;[, lias had so many rc- 

 ■ liicsts for a suitnlilo riling cabinet in which to 

 limdlo its card indo.v of lumlier buyers that It 

 lias contracted for a supply of handsome four- 

 .Ir.iwer oak .■abini'ls wlilcli will hold nearly 5,000 

 cards. This ^ M.in. i i- ^|,lrn,Iidly built of oak 



The Iti:c'i i;i> ' ii' not only the cabinet 



liMt also till' uhI. \ iii.h revering over 12,000 

 hardwood iiMiulremeiits pasted up with the In- 

 formation, the surphis numbers removed and al- 



ihabetlcally arranged betv 

 it practically cost. 

 L'pon application pn . 



state guide cards 



Building Operations for August. 

 There is a loss of 10 per cent in the aggrognte 

 luillding operations of forty-two leading cities 

 lliroughout the country, as reported by the 

 ,\merlcan Contractor, Chicago, compared with 

 .\iigust, 1907 : the previous months of the year 

 all presented a loss except .Tuly, as follows: 

 .January, 44 per cent ; February, 3S per cent ; 

 .March, 37 per cent ; April, 33 per cent ; May, 1!) 

 per cent ; .June, 1 5 per cent. July sbowcd an 

 increase of 3% per cent. In the report for 

 August Ihlrtoen cities scored a gain from 1 to 

 ■_'24 per cent and twenty-nlnc sjiow a loss from 

 :; 10 X!) per cent. The principal gains are: Chl- 

 "■ago, 25 per cent : Iicnver, 24 ; Indianapolis. 3Z : 

 l.oiilsvllle, 27: Syracuse, 23; Salt I.akc City, 

 3 2S: San Antonio, :!24. 



li^iltiinoi 



2«7,SK>2 

 601,000 

 1,4112.275 



l,S42,00U 

 1)32,533 

 .,2iil,83u 



The Cedar Business of Tennessee. 



Slii'lliyvlUe, the county seat of Bedford county. 



ill tile great cedar belt of middle Tennessee, 



already lias two cedar mills. Now It Is to have 



a third one; Kastuu & Co. of New Orleans arc 



already engaged in establishing a large pencil 



factory. The business Is heavily capitalized and 



those back of It have plenty 



■ 1' money with which to buy 



hf rapidly advancing cedar 



1 that section. The plant 



liil work about 200 men. 



li'U Culberson will be general 



manager of the new Industry. 



riierc are many cedar and 



■ iicll factories In middle 



rnnessce. Davidson county. 



Ti which Nashville Is located; 



t also at Kuthcrtord, Marshall 



and Wilson. Bedford. Smith. 



Williamson, Sumner and two 



or three other counties in 



middle Tennessee comprised 



originally the biggest red 



cedar center in the country. 



Most of tilt be.^t timber has been marketed save a 



few- choice tracts still held by farmers and 



land owners with meaiis enough to live without 



selling them, and who therefore are waiting 



for the further advancement In price of this 



already valuable timber. 



Ited cedar has become so valuable that rail- 

 road, telegraph and telephone companies are 

 substilutlng locust and other cheaper and smaller 

 liol's. No longer is cedar flooring made. Cedar 

 ilinsts are so very expensive that they arc prac- 

 tically luxuries. Cedar shingles arc a thing of 

 the past except on houses where they were put 

 many years ago. In fact, most all the cedar 

 now cut is being used for pencil wood. It Is not 

 .icing measured, bought and sold as other woods, 

 but Is being taken by the pencil factories and 

 paid for hy the pound. Not only this, but the 

 factories are sending representatives through all 

 the rural communHles of middle Tennessee, 

 scouring the country In the effort to buy the 

 celebrated old rail fences that have long been In 

 place on 'I'ennessec farms, many of them since 

 before the civil war. The representative of the 

 1 1.uiDwfjoti IJECono made a trip through the cedar 

 li?lt last week and found that farmer after 



farmer had sold his rail fence to the pencil fac- 

 tories, receiving in return a new wire fence and 

 some money to boot. Not only do the pencil 

 factories give the new fence, together with the 

 necessary posts, but they actually put it up and 

 stretch the wire on it. paying the farmer some 

 money besides. 



This shows how much cedar is worth. Some 

 of the farmers are refusing to sell their fences 

 just yet, and are either holding them for slili 

 better prices or else do not choose to sell at all. 

 Most of the poorer class, however, have alread.v 

 parted with their ralKs. In many places ulouji 

 the turnpikes one can see the rails piled up and 

 stacked ready to be hauled to town to the pencil 

 factory, and at the same time the new substitute 

 — wire fence — is on the ground in th<- course of 

 erection. The factories cut the timber to proper 

 pencil lengths and turn the two halves of the 

 pencil ; do everything, in fact, save insert the 

 graphite or lead, which is done in the Kasi and 



New Treatment of Lumber. 



A novel method for larv-.t-w- n ■! . i nin.ss 

 of lumber has been perfect e.i ; i i Ihc 



method consists, in brief, in i i tu ;:i. air 

 In wood with a solution of i . i -i.ii ui.l re- 

 moving the excess of water by a siiliseijueiit 

 drying. The inventor of the process, Mr. I'owell. 

 attains his object by using a large boiler in 

 which the timber to be treated is placed and 

 the beet-sugar solution pumped In. After the 

 air has all been replaced by the solution the 

 wood fs klln-drled. Kxamluatlon of the wood 

 seems to show that the sugar Is absorbed into 

 the fiber of the woody tissue and Is not slmpl\ 

 held in the Intercellular spaces. 



It Is claimed that timljcr treated In this way 

 is no longer porous, will not shrink or warp. 

 nod Is stronger, heavier and more durable. 

 Moreover, it Is said that this wood Is not liable 

 to dry rot ; It is hoped that by mixing the proper 

 poisons with the sugar hath the wood will be 

 made resistant to the attacks of fungi and in 

 sects. 



World's Lumber Trade. 



ing la 



take 



sul James I.. A. Bnrrell of Magdeburg, from a, 

 urocbure by Dr. Ernst Krcidrlch of the German 

 Commei-cial High School at Leipzig: 



The world's lumber trade amounts to ?2.So,- 

 000,000 annually, of which the United States 

 furnishes about 20 per cent, Austria-Hungary 

 19 per cent, Kussla 10 per cent. Canada i:j per 

 cent. Sweden IS per cent. KInland 10 per cent, 

 Norway 4 per cent, and lioumanla also a small 

 (luantlty. 



The countries importing wood are those on 

 the highest economical plane, which were them- 

 selves In earlier times densely wooded, but whose 

 forests have been denuded to a greater or less 

 extent to make room for agriculture. Industry, 

 etc. Only 4 per cent of the territory of Great 

 Brlialn Is covered with forests, and during the 

 year lUOO that country Imported lumber to the 



cent, France and Switzerland, with a small per- 

 centage of forest land, arc compelled to Import 

 lumber. 



Besides these countries, those lands lying on 

 Ihc dry western side of the subtropical zone 

 lacking forests are forced to Import wood. 

 Kgypt Imports wood and coni to the value of 

 about *1«,060,000 annually; Algeria. Tunis, 

 Spain, Portugal (3 per cent forest land). Italy, 

 Greece (with 9 per cent forest land), the east- 

 ern part of Asia, British South .Vfrlca. the west- 

 ern parts of Chile and IVrn, thi' .\rgenllne Its- 

 public, and Australia, all poor In wood, arc de- 

 jiciuli'iit upon Import. 



