HARDWO OD RECORD 



29 



practical difficulties in the way of the adoption of this^planl ^e" 

 is the greater amount of stock that would be needed to carry on the 

 business, and to get a carload of any given dimension, and the other is 

 that buyers seldom ask for widths of odd dimensions, usually ordering 

 according to whole numbers. 



The plan which seems to fit in with the needs of the situation 

 most exactly is to keep in mind the probable loss that will be suf- 

 fered and then charge for it. The lumberman realizes thoroughly 

 when he sells a car of selected stock that he has had to put in addi- 

 tional labor to sort out the special widths wanted; he probably has 

 had to do a good deal of careful sales work in order to find buyers for 

 the various widths, and consequently he knows that he must ask a 

 price for the lumber which will take care of the extra expense. 



In the same way he can figure approximately, by reason of experi- 

 ence (and he can make actual tests which will determine the facts), 

 what the loss in measurement is when the 12-foot scale is used as 

 described, compared with ordinary board measurement of random 

 widths, and consequently the proper system is to make an allowance in 

 the price for this factor. Otherwise the result is likely to be a 

 smaller profit per thousand than appeared from a superficial exam- 

 ination of the price at which the lumber was sold, compared with the 

 figures quoted on unsorted material. 



Another point that should be remembered in sorting lumber accord- 

 ing to -width, with the idea of being able to offer special service to the 

 consumer, is that the especially wide stock necessarily must carry 

 a higher margin of profit than the narrower boards. This is for the 

 reason that the wide stuff usually has a considerable premium anyway, 

 and the lumberman could get this without sorting if he were to sell on 

 a basis of a shipment containing a given percentage of wide stock. 

 ks far as these items are concerned the labor of sorting them is more 



or less unnecessary, from a sales standpoint, and is not required in 

 order to get the maximum price for them. It is, however, a big con- 

 venience for the buyer who has been contenting himself with buying 

 random widths, with a guaranteed percentage of wide stock, to be 

 able to buy that class of lumber exclusively if he needs it, and he 

 consequently should pay more in proportion for it than would be 

 indicated by the premium offered for the percentage of extra wide 

 stock included in an ordinary shipment. 



As a matter of fact, many lumbermen who have gone into the 

 question of sorting for widths have found that it is much easier to get 

 the advanced price which they ask for narrow stock than for wide. 

 Consumers who have been using the narrow stuff, but buying random 

 widths and having to do a lot of ripping in order to get the right 

 dimensions, have realized at once what a big saving they are making 

 in securing the dimensions they need, while those who want wide 

 stock have been getting a good deal of it by the payment of a com- 

 paratively small premium for its inclusion in a shipment of random 

 widths. They fail to realize the extent of the service offered them 

 by the lumberman who is prepared to give them exactly the widths 

 they need. 



The lumber dealer who is featuring the sale of special widths ia a 

 good deal like the millman who is cutting up his lumber into dimen- 

 sion stock: he must get a price commensurate with the added value 

 he has given his lumber if he is going to be able to continue handling 

 it in that way. The surest method of coming to grief in this busi- 

 ness, just as in dimension manufacture, is neglecting the cost of 

 performing the various features of the operation and failing to make 

 a proper charge for them. Only by studying aU of the elements 

 involved and determining the proper price with reference to them 

 can a fair profit on every sale be insured. 



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^ Climatic Changes Recorded by Trees '^ 



In regions of well defined seasonal changes the growth of a tree 

 is marked by the formation each year of a layer of new wood in- 

 timately joined to that of the preceding year.* Variations in vridth 

 and composition of the annual rings of growth form a permanent 

 record of the conditions under ivhich the tree grew. The occurrence 

 of a severe fire, an insect infestation, an unseasonable frost, or periods 

 of abundant rain or .Irought may be read from the effects produced 

 upon the wood formation from year to year. 



The forester employs growth rings in determining the age of trees 

 and in calculating the growth and yield of individuals and of forests. 

 It has been only recently that there have been found in them evidences 

 of climatic conditions and changes in times past. For more than 

 two years work of this kind has been conducted under the direction 

 of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Part of the work was 

 concerned with a study of data previously obtained by the United 

 States Forest Service and pnrt from original measurements of the 

 stumps of a large number of the bigtrees of California. 



A few of these trees proved to have started more than thirty cen- 

 turies ago, the oldest being 3,150 years. Careful study of the rate of 

 growth of over three hundred of the giant trees, many of them 

 upward of 2,000 years old, strongly supports the belief of very decided 

 fluctuations in climatic conditions extending over periods of several 

 hundred years. 



From the thousands of measurements or analyses gathered by the 

 Forest Service in its investigation of tree and forest growth, a large 

 number of the records of the oldest trees of certain species have been 

 chosen for special study. Some of the species represented are western 

 yellow pine in the northern and southern limits of its range; Jeffrey 

 pine in southern California; Douglas fir in the Northwest; white oak 

 and yellow poplar in the southern Appalachians; and red spruce in the 

 north woods. It is only by averaging the rates of growth of a great 

 many trees growing in widely different parts of the country and under 

 essentially different local conditions that it is possible to eliminate 



the many local factors affecting the development of individual trees 

 and stands. 



One conclusion fron; the study of western yellow pine in Arizona 

 is that the climate of the Southwest is becoming drier, the snowfall 

 less, the winters shorter, and that it has been doing so for a long 

 time. This finding is corroborated by the presence in that country 

 of irrigation ditches and other ruins of an ancient people, indicating 

 that water was at one time fairly plentiful in places now remote from 

 any signs of springs, streams or other sources of supply. Investiga- 

 tion of the rate of growth of the same species of tree in Idaho indi- 

 cates that the winters there are also shorter and the snowfall less than 

 formerly, but in this case the change in conditions is favorable to 

 tree growth since it is producing a longer growing season. 



In order to study the interior of living trees a form of drill was 

 devised for removing a solid core of wood extending from the center 

 to the bark. With these it is hoped to obtain data from the largest 

 and oldest specimens of the bigtree, which will throw more light on 

 conditions as they existed thirty centuries or more ago. 



According to the Ohio forester a large paper manufacturer in 

 Ohio has leased and purchased nearly 300 acres of land subject to 

 overflow and in low territory and has set out nearly 150,000 Carolina 



poplar trees to grow pulpwood. 



^ * * 



A woman in Summit county. Ohio, has a small pasture of six or 

 seven acres. Several years ago, in cutting out a portion of the trees 

 where the stand was too dense for the good of the pasture, she left 

 the walnut trees. In 1911 she sold from these trees $114 worth 



of nuts. 



« * # 



The cheapest and most efficient method of protecting young fruit 

 trees from the gnawing of rabbits and other rodents is to place 

 around the stem a guard of rotary cut veneer. 



