HARDWOOD RECORD 



i; 



It might give timber to contractors, but the contractors would sim- 

 ply accept the gift, and when they cut the timber, they would sell 

 it at the market price, the sanje as lumbermen are doing now, and 

 there is no reason to believe that the price would come down one cent. 

 The government would be making a present of the timber to the 

 contractors, not to the consumers. 



Some critics of the government's timber policy go so far as to 

 suggest that the United States should go into the lumber business, 

 build mills, saw its own timber, and put it on the market at cost, sell- 

 ing it direct to the consumer when possible, and thereby "break the 



price. 



It is difficult to conceive that such a suggestion could be 



made in seriousness, for it would be revolutionary, destructive, and 

 would inevitably defeat the end sought, which is cheap lumber for the 

 consumer. Suppose, by way of argument, that such a thing were 

 attempted. There is no question that the goverimient could build 

 mills, saw its own lumber, and throw it on the market in quantities 

 and at figures which would drive competitors out of business tem- 

 porarily; but it would be only temporarily. The government has not 

 enough timber in reach of market to last long at that rate. It 

 would quickly cut, deplete, and 

 destroy all available government 

 timber in the forest reserves. 

 Meanwhile the owners of pri- 

 vate timber would close their 

 mills and wait for the era of 

 foolishness to pass — and it 

 would pass quickly. Then the 

 private owners would have a 

 monopoly. The government "s 

 timber would be gone, and com- 

 petition from that source would 

 be impossible. The owners 

 would then have the market in 

 their own hands, and the Forest 

 Service would be powerless to 

 sell timber or lumber at an.y 

 price. There is good ground 

 for suspicion that such is pre- 

 cisely what the critics of the 

 government 's timber policy 

 would like to see — the Forest 

 Service out of the way for all 

 time. 



The government last year 

 sold 800,000,000 feet of timber 

 for all purposes, lumber, mine 

 props, posts, and fuel, at an 

 average price of two dollars a 

 thousand feet on the stump. That was not more than one per 

 cent of the total forest products of the country. The sales were 

 advertised extensively and the highest prices possible were ob- 

 tained. There was no attempt to break or boost the market, but 

 sales were made just as a conservative private owner would have 

 made them. All Forest Service timber is not in reach of market at 

 this time. Some of it could not now be given away, with the stipula- 

 tion that it be cut and marketed, but there is no question that it could 

 be given to speculators who would hold it for rise in value. 



The time wiU come when the people of this country will fully ap- 

 preciate the stand which the Forest Service is now taking to preserve 

 timber for use in the future, as well as for conservative use in the 

 present. 



Weed Trees in the Woodlot 



ALL THE WEEDS which lessen the value of crops are not those 

 growing in gardens, wheatfields, and among the rows of com. 

 The forest has its weeds the same as fields have, but the unprofitable 

 forest weed is not the nettle, lady slipper, spikenard, Indian turnip, 

 snake root, and the hundreds of other animal plants which cover the 

 ground in spring and summer and die in winter. There are trees 

 which are as truly weeds as any that choke the crops which the farmer 



UNSOLICITED TESTIMONIAL 



Company 



iHanufartwpr nf 



Boars nxih Sntprior 3FimsI) 



Columbus, O.. January 7th. 1913. 

 HARbwOOD RECORD, 

 Chicago, 111. 

 Gentlemen: We inclose herewith check for $2.00 to cover 

 subscription as noted in your bill of December 15th, which 

 bill was mislairf on its arrival at the office and came to 

 our notice only today. 



We hope we shall not be compelled to miss any of the 

 numbers of HARDWOOD RECORD, for we can say to you 

 candidly that no periodical that comes to this office is 

 considered of more vaiue than HARDWOOD RECORD. 

 Very truly yours. 

 THE PYRONO PROCESS COMPANY, 

 David C. Meehan, Pres't. 



plants. They are the trees whicli never grow into value, or grow so 

 slowly that they are unprofitable ; yet they demand as much space, as 

 much nourishment, as much light, as the valuable species which in- 

 crease rapidly in size and come to maturity quickly. 



In the wild woods, where nature is the only forester, the weed trees 

 are looked upon as unavoidable. The trees of all sizes, kinds, and con- 

 ditions struggle for mastery, and it is sometimes a survival of the 

 fittest, and sometimes it is not ; but men accept what nature gives. 



A new kind of forest is coming to the front in this country. It is 

 known as the woodlot or "the farmer's woodlot," because it is. 

 usually a part of a farm. In the past forests of that kind have not 

 been of much importance in this country, but they are going to be 

 in the future. The natural forests, in their wild state, are passing, 

 and in many of the older states they have practically ceased to exist; 

 and local supplies of timber must come from woodlots. 



Take Indiana as an example of a woodlot state. Originally that 

 region contained some of the finest hardwood forests in the whole 

 country. Several important species reached their highest development 

 in the southern part of Indiana. Forests are now few and small; 



but in their place are farmers' 

 woodlots aggregating four mil- 

 lion acres in that one state. 

 These lots are growing timber. 

 The people who own them are 

 not keeping them and paying 

 taxes on them for sentimental 

 reasons, but for profit. The men 

 are growing timber for their own 

 use, and also to sell — saw-logs, 

 lumber, posts, and fuel. Similar 

 conditions prevail in nrany of 

 the old states, and will sometime 

 prevail in practically all of the 

 states. 



It is not profitable to grow 

 weed trees. The owners who look 

 after their interests will not per- 

 mit trees to occupy space, unless 

 they promise profit.^ They should 

 be cut out, and their room given 

 to trees which make returns on 

 the investment. More than five 

 hundred kinds of trees grow 

 naturally in the United States; 

 but half of them are useless for 

 timber purposes. The really 

 profitable trees for woodlots 

 scarcely number fifty. There is 

 no profit in growing a dognood where a chestnut, basswood, or yellow 

 poplar will grow, nor in permitting scrub pine to occupy ground where 

 white pine might be growing. 



The thinning of woodlots by removing the small, unpromising 

 trees, and replanting vacant spaces with species which grow rapidly 

 and produce valuable wood, will become the prevailing custom in the 

 old sections of the countr}'. There is no more profit in tree weeds 

 than in the weeds which choke the field crops. The time to harvest 

 the forest crop should be recognized as carefully as the time of 

 corn harvest. Overmature timber is unprofitable, and to that extent, 

 it is no less a weed than is the tree which is never large or fit for 

 anything. Both should be removed to make room for trees which 

 are capable of giving a good account of themselves. 



High Water Mark Passed 



As HABOWOOD EECORD GOES TO PEESS, the high water 

 mark at the lower Mississippi lumber points has just about been 

 reached and in some instances a scarcely perceptible but actual re- 

 cession of the water is noted. At all points along the Ohio the river 

 has gotten down pretty near to normal for this time of the year 

 and no further immediate trouble is anticipated at those points. In 

 Arkansas unceasing rains have kept the country in a flooded condition 



