24 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



but its white color recommends it, particu- 

 larly when it is placed in contrast with 



darker woods. It is one of the best hard- 

 woods for boxes, and possesses in a high 



degree three requisites: strength, whiteness, 



and freedom from stain and odor; a fourth, 



comparative lightness in weight, may be 



added. Much of the wood is worked into 



veneer packages and containers, for berries 



and small fruits. JTurniture manufacturers 



pick it out for several purposes. It looks 



nice when made into baby carriages, carts 



and children's sleds; and the makers of cer- 

 tain patterns of hall clocks like it. It serves 



well as parts of chairs, piano benches, book 



cases, filing cabinets and kitchen cabinets. 

 Makers of ice boxes and refrigerators give 



it a place because of its clean appearance. 



It is manufactured into broom handles and 



appears to equal hard maple in every way, 



but objection to it is sometimes heard 



from broom makers because it is not heavy 



enough. Brooms are often sold by weight, 

 and if the handle is light, enough broom 

 corn must be put in to make up the differ- 

 ence, and, weight for weight, broom corn costs more than wood. 



It is a standard material for woodenware of certain kinds. 

 Ironing boards and sleeve boards are made of it, also butter bowls, 

 root cutters, potato mashers, rolling pins, washboards, and many 

 similar articles. 



It is manufactured into interior house finish, including balusters, 

 stair railing, newel posts and spindles; parts of musical instru- 

 ments, such as organ pipes, piano and mandolin ribs, rims of 

 guitars, and parts of sounding board equipments. Makers of busi- 

 ness vehicles employ it for shelving in bakers' and butchers' 

 wagons. 



LE.\F I-RI.NT OF SILVER OR SOFT MAPLE; 

 ABOUT ONE-HALF ACTUAL SIZE 



no immediate danger 



Soft maple wood contains multitudes of 

 very minute pores which are visible only 

 under a magnifying glass. The glass further 

 shows that the medullary or silver rays of 

 the wood are exceedingly thin. For that rea- 

 son, quarter-sawed soft maple does not pre- 

 sent the silvery appearance of quarter-sawed 

 sugar maple, in which the medullary rays 

 are much broader, and it is possible to ex- 

 hibit much more of their surface. 



Soft maple sometimes exhibits a highly 

 artistic curly or wavy effect. The old-time 

 hunters jised to search far and wide to find 

 such a tree, and made stocks of it for their 

 long-barreled rifles. The wood was no more 

 serviceable than plain maple, but the curly 

 effect caught the backwoodsman's eye and 

 he exhausted his utmost skill in scraping 

 and polishing it to bring out the artistic 

 figure. Some of those old gunstocks, though 

 soiled by the grime and smoke of a century, 

 are as fine samples of woodwork as can be 

 found anywhere. 



The supply of soft maple has always been 

 sufficient to meet the demand, and there is 

 that scarcity is at hand. It cannot be 

 classed among the so-called indispensable woods, like hickory. 

 A good many can take its place when it runs short. It could 

 be easilj' grown as a forest tree or on wood lots, but no begin- 

 ning seems to have been made in that direction, although large 

 numbers of soft maples have been planted for ornamental pur- ; 

 poses. Few forest species of this country can be more easily 

 planted and made to grow. It is said to cost nurseries as much to 

 raise one sugar maple to size for transplanting as ten soft maples, 

 which is probably one reason why soft maples are planted so much 

 more extensively than others. 



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The kauri pine {Agathis mistrilis) is the finest tree in New Zealand, 

 and produces the most valuable timber. The native name ' ' kauri ' ' 

 is the only common name given to this tree, but in the English and 

 American markets it is sometimes called "cowrie" or "kowdie" 

 piine. It is not a pine at all, but is more closely related to Araucaria 

 than it is to Piiius. It is closely related to and resembles the Nor- 

 folk Island pine, which is familiar in this country as a house plant. 

 Kauri is restricted to the northern part of the North Island, where 

 large forests of it occur and afford one of the most impressive scenes 

 in New Zealand. The tree attains the height of 120 to 160 feet and 

 upward; clean, symmetrical trunks may be seen from 50 to 80 feet 

 or even 100 feet in length, varying from 5 to 12 feet and vpward in 

 diameter. The wood is esteemed above all other New Zealand timber 

 'or njasts, spars and other purposes in naval construction, which first 

 ed to its being exported for use in the British dockyards. 



Formerly its use for general building purposes was confined chiefly 

 • o the North Island, and its durability for this purpose has been thor- 

 lughly proved. Logs that have been cut and left in the forests 

 ifeowed a perfectly sound heart-wood after thirty years. Weather 

 warding is in many cases in use for more than thirty years without 

 ihowing any signs of decay. Some of the oldest houses in the city of 

 Auckland and in other parts of the island are built of this wood and 

 . many of them are in a good state of preservation. Kauri pine has 

 l)een employed, together with totara (Pdocarpvs totara), for the upper 

 beams were in good condition after eighteen years ' use. It has also 

 been used extensively for bridge timbers with the best results. Its su- 

 periority over Tasmanian blue gum (Eucalyptus glohnliis) under heavy 

 wear and tear has been demonstrated by the use of both timbers for 



wharf construction, when the former was found to last twice as long 

 as the latter under severe tests. Crossties after from five to nine 

 years' use were found to be in good condition. 



Kauri is undoubtedly the best timber in New Zealand for general 

 building purposes. It is largely used for crossties, telegraph posts, 

 mine props, masts, and deck planking of ships, for which it has no 

 equal, being even-grained, free from large knots, is of smooth surface 

 and resists a large amount of wear and tear. It is also used exten- 

 sively for the outer and inner planking of coasting boats. Kauri 

 affords a splendid timber for interior finish, as it takes a high polish 

 and is especially adapted to all the purposes of the cabinet maker 

 where light colored wood is required. The common kind of kauri wood 

 is excellent for ordinary grades of furniture. The finest figured wood 

 is equally as valuable as bird's-eye maple and is highly prized' for 

 ornamental work. 



A steady export of kauri pine was formerly cai'ried on, chiefly with 

 Australia, Tasmania, Mauritius, and England; it was, in fact,, the 

 only New Zealand timber exported to any extent. It is significant 

 alike of its intrinsic value and of the abundance in which it originally 

 occurred in the limited area to which it is confined, that the export 

 of kauri timber was so great that it exceeded the total export of all 

 other timber from all parts of New Zealand. About the year 1875 

 the demand for this wood suddenly began to increase and in 1885 the 

 quantity exported amounted to over 30,000,000 board feet. This 

 enormous drain on the kauri pine timber, together with the destruction 

 of the forests by fire, so greatly lessened the available amount of 

 timber that there is little if any of this valuable timber sold for other 

 than home consumption. L. L. D. 



