HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



witnessed or has seen results on, he never has encountered in com- 

 mercial quantities any variety of this wood that possesses any high 

 value. This publication would therefore repeat its warnings against 

 making investments in eucalyptus planting with expectations of se- 

 curing any profit therefrom. 



Mr. Hall's letter follows: 



Washington, D. C, Nov. 4, lOli. 



Editor Hakdwood Eecokd: I have obtained from the branch of 

 silviculture in the Forest Service, a memorandum which shows the 

 work which has been done by the Service upon eucalypts and the 

 publications issued during the last few years. In order that you 

 may be fully advised on what has been done I include a large part of 

 the memorandum below: 



In January, 1907. Circular 59, Forest Planting Leaflet 

 on Eucalypts. This circular in addition to suggestions 

 in regard to planting speaks ot yields which probably 

 may be secured from plantations of blue gum. A com- 

 fiarison of these predictions with actual measurements 

 made subsequently and published in other bulletins shows 

 that they are not excessive. Because of the predictions 

 of excessive yield made by eucalyptus companies in order 

 to induce people to buy stock in eucalyptus companies 

 and to invest in lands to be planted to eucalypts, the 

 Forest Service during the summer of 1910 made a series 

 of measurements covering a large number of older groves 

 in the state of California. The results of these measure- 

 ments were published in the fall of 1910, as Bulletin No. 1 

 of the California State Board of Forestry, which men- 

 tions on its title page the co-operation with the Forest 

 Service. A comparison of some of the yields determined 

 under this co-operation and published in the bulletin with 

 the statement of yields for the same groves in a privately 

 published circular of the fall of 1910, may be of interest: 



Yield Yield 



given by given by 



private co-operative 



circular bulletin 



Feet, B. M. Feet, B. M. 



Grove Xo. 1 64.360 1,2S0 



Grove Xo. 2 33,170 1,510 



The maximum yield stated in the private circular is 

 213,796 feet, B. M.. for a grove twenty-four years old. 

 The maximum yield given in the co-operative bulletin is 

 57,820 feet, B. M., for a grove thirty-two years old. 



In December, 1910, Circular No. 179, "Utilization of 

 California Eucalypts," was published. A considerable 

 part of this bulletin is devoted to a statement of result.s 

 obtained in strength tests which were made in Forest 

 Service laboratories. This circular calls particular atten- 

 tion to the fact that information furnished by the Forest 

 Service has been quoted in such a way as to convey 

 misleading impressions and sometimes even to falsify 

 the original meaning. 



Forest Service Bulletin X*o. S7, "Eucalypts in Florida," 

 was issued April 29, 1911. Pages 31-33 of this bulletin call 

 particular attention to the uncertainty of large returns 

 from commercial planta,tions. 



Circular 210, "Yield and Returns of Blue Gum (euca- 

 lyptus) in California," is now in page proof and will be 

 issued within a comparatively short time. The object 

 of this circular is to interpret and make even more clear 

 the meaning of the statements of yield made in Bulletin 

 No. 1 of the California State Service. 



In reply to inquiries regarding the future of ecalyptus 

 plantations the Forest Service has always stated that 

 our present knowledge of the timber produced by planta- 

 tions in this country does not justify a too sanguine esti- 

 mate of returns where it is proposed to produce materia! 

 other than fuel w'oods. which require a much longer 

 period to reach marketable size. Our belief has been 

 stated that a eucalyptus plantation will yield under 

 favorable conditions a revenue equal to any forest plan- 

 tation. 



The Service does not rake the position that eucalypts are without 

 value. Neither so far as I know do any of our men who have in- 

 timate knowledge of eucalyptus growing and eucalyptus wood hold 

 that opinion individually. We are in fact confident that several of 

 the species of this tree will prove valuable additions to the forest 

 growth in cert.ain sections of the United States. Practically every 

 recent publication of the Service on eucalypts has, however, carried 

 a warning against the over-claims as to yield. Circular 210 soon 

 to be published undoubtedly contains the strongest statements of 

 warning regarding investments in eucalypts yet given to the public. 



Very sincerely yours, 



Wm. L. Hall, 

 Assistant Forester. 



Advanced Lumbering 



A new thought in lumber methods applied to this continent is 

 suggested by F. L. Barledt, a British capitalist holding large interests 

 in forestry and wood manufacturing enterprises in Germany and 

 Russia. This gentleman recently obtained a concession of a large 

 area of forest lands in northern Ontario. He has familiarized him- 

 self with the timber resources of that section, and has established a 

 location for a system of forest industries. The area when operated 

 will be managed on principals of modern forestry, under which the 



lM)or timber and dead trees will be cleaned out first, and every part 

 of the tree from the roots up utilized in the manufacture of vari- 

 ous wood products. 



A system of reforestration will be pursued and the standing tim- 

 ber protected from diseases, and cared for by experts. If a sufBciently 

 large area can be obtained, a corps of trained foresters and experts in 

 woodworking industries from Europe will be imported and will have 

 steady employment in the new enterprise. 



"Kraetzer Kured" Lumber 



The apparatus known as the Kraetzer preparator, a steam cylinder 

 of large capacity in which lumber is treated with steam under pres- 

 sure immediately after being manufactured, and which has been 

 installed in connection with several sawmiUs in various parts of 

 the United States during the last year, is accomplishing almost 

 marvelous results in the prompt and accurate seasoning of lumber. 



Among the more recent installations of this equipment are those 

 at the Bennett Hardwood Lumber Company, Memphis, Tenn. ; the 

 Lamb-Fish Lumber Company, at Charleston, Miss., and the Forman- 

 Earle Company, Heidelberg, Ky. Another installation is being made 

 at the present time at the big lumber and veneer plant of C. L. 

 Willey, Chicago, for the handling of mahogany, black walnut and 

 other high-class hardwoods. 



E. T. Bennett of the Bennett Hardwood Lumber Company, re- 

 ports the unqualified success of the apparatus at his plant. With- 

 out in any wise injuring the strength and texture of the wood, he 

 has succeeded in reducing the weight of green one-inch gum two 

 thousand pounds within two hours, and has shipped this stock nine 

 days from the saw, reduced to a weight within two hundred pounds 

 as light as he has ever achieved with stock in the yard on sticks for 

 twelve months. He holds he is able to blow out three-eighths gum 

 and oak to good shipping condition in twenty-four hours, although 

 the common practice of other users is to employ about five days 

 on thin stock; ten to fifteen days on inch lumber, and about thirty 

 days on two-inch stock. 



One of the remarkable features of the results of this steam- 

 treated wood is the fact that there are practically no seasoning 

 defects developed in the process, a shrinkage so slight as to be almost 

 nil, and a uniforming of color that makes every board look as 

 though it came from the same log. This last feature is notably 

 true in gum and red oak product. The color of white oak, maple, 

 birch and other woods that are not rich in tannic acid, remains un- 

 changed. 



The Ijamb-Fish Lumber Company at Charleston is treating all 

 its red and sap gum and oak in this apparatus, and is then kiln- 

 drying the resultant product. This company expects to fuUy treble 

 the output of its kilns, through which it formerly has been handling 

 600,000 feet of lumber monthly. 



The employment of the Ki'aetzer process, tinder luindling in its 

 highest eflSciency in connection with sawmill operations, contemplates 

 the abandonment of the lumber yard per se. The lumber is stuck on 

 an equivalent to a dry-kiln truck at the sawmill chains, and by means 

 of transfer tracks is moved forward to the steam cylinder, shoved 

 therein, steamed, pulled out, and on the same trucks shoved out onto 

 a series of storage tracks, at the extremity of which it is loaded onto 

 cars when diy, or transferred to dead piling storage sheds. 



This system constitutes simplicity itself, and spells an economy, it 

 is alleged, between the mill and the loaded car of between three and 

 four dollars a thousand feet. This economy is made up of less labor 

 cost, eliminating lumber yard planking, foundation timbers and 

 roof boards; less investment in stickers; saving in interest on large 

 investment; less insurance cost; minimizing seasoning defects and 

 shrinkage; and altogether securing both higher efSeiency and better 

 seasoned lumber in a short space of time. 



Undeniably the Kraetzer process spells a most remarkable evolu- 

 tion in lumber seasoning methods, and it is suggested to those who 

 wish to secure a manifest economy, much higher efficiency and in- 

 finitely better results in lumber seasoning, that they visit one of the 

 plants where the equipment is employed, and witness the results 

 obtained. 



