HARDWOOD RECORD 



31 



checking and end splitting, and, even with reasonable ventilation, 

 obviates all stain and fungus growth. The process will not eliminate 

 log splits, log stain or shake any more than it will knots and rot, 

 but no additional seasoning defects obtain after the wood is once 

 properly steamed under pressure. 



The color and general tone of woods that are rich in t:uinic acid 

 are somewhat deepened but are rendered uniform. This refers to 

 such woods as red oak, mahogany, sycamore and red gum. The color 

 of light-toned woods remains unchanged, while the beauty of the 

 flake and figure in quarter-sawed stock is materially enhanced. Again, 

 the texture of the wood is vastly improved, as is its milling qualities. 

 Lumber steamed under an approved formula for pressure and time 

 will dry out absolutely straight and flat. This is true even of the 

 most refractory drying woods. 



Wood steamed and subsequently seasoned dries out to materially 

 less weight than unsteamed wood, the reductions varying from two 

 hundred to five hundred pounds per thousand feet. In all varieties 

 of lumber, this process materially reduces the shrinkage. Woods 

 that show a shrinkage in drying under ordinary practice of from 

 eight to ten per cent show a shrinkage of only approximately two 

 per cent, and in some instances less than this. Another singular 

 feature is the fact that after wood steamed under pressure is thor- 

 oughly dried, there is practically no swelling when exposed to damp- 

 ness, and likewise there is no subsequent shrinkage. Even the grain 

 does not rise when water stains are employed on it for finishing 

 purposes. 



Repeated tests have been made on steam-treated wood to ascertain 

 if there is any impairment in strength, and it has been demonstrated 

 that steaming under moderate pressure and time in nowise impairs 

 the strength or quality. 



Users of this apparatus find they are enabled to carry on their 

 usual volume of business on a third or less stock than is usually 



held in pile, on account of speedier drying, and in sundry cases 

 manufacturers have been enabled to make sales of lumber which was 

 still in the tree, and deliver it shipping dry within thirty days or 

 less time. Hence it goes without saying there is a manifest economy 

 in interest on investment and in insurance cost. Beyond all that, 

 there is no inconsiderable economy in labor cost, for when the system 

 is operated to its logical conclusion the lumber yard per se, with 

 its roof boards, trams and planking, is entirely eliminated. 



The lumber, after being piled on an equivalent to dry kiln trucks, 

 is steamed, and then shoved out on to storage tracks, tilted side- 

 wise, with a slope of one inch to one and a half inches to the foot, 

 and the trucks removed for using over and over again. 



An illustration employed in this connection shows a corner of the 

 storage yard of the Lamb-Fish Lumber Company at Charleston, 

 Miss., which employs this system. The lumber piles in the back- 

 ground are gradually being taken down and the foundations re- 

 moved to give place for additional storage tracks. Other illustrations 

 show the truck pUing system employed by the Lamb-Fish Lumber 

 Company. The counterbalanced gates in the rear of the loads are 

 employed as guides for the accurate placing of piling sticks. An- 

 other picture shows a section of the rear of the truck loading spaces, 

 and a portion of the transfer track leading to the preparator. Still 

 another picture is of the preparator itself, in which a truck-load 

 of lumber is being steamed ; with another load on the cross-over track 

 ready to go into the cylinder as soon as the load is discharged. At 

 the right of this picture is the transfer track leading down to the 

 storage yard. 



In order to properly trade mark lumber steamed under pressure, 

 and make a satisfying appellation for it, it has been decided to call 

 it ' ' Kraetzer-Cured Lumber, ' ' following the name of the inventor 

 of the patented apparatus through which lumber is handled for rapid 

 and accurate drying. 



' OTSJiB5;:>Mda^^c>MMmv''W.^i» m^itmiJ6^^H^ ':>^?tiKjy3 5»r 



German East African Cedar 



The East African cedar {Juniperus /jrocrra-Hochst) is a beautiful 

 large tree from seventy-five to one hundred and twentj--five feet in 

 height with a short, clear trunk, often measuring from two to five 

 feet in diameter four feet above the ground. One writer states that 

 in British East Africa the tree frequently attains a height of two 

 hundred feet*and a diameter of six feet. The tree is distributed 

 througiiout the mountainous districts of Abyssinia and tropical East 

 Africa. It is very abundant, especially in Usambara, in German East 

 Africa, where it forms the extensive Shume forests. It attains its 

 best development at the base of Mt. Kilmandseharo and Mt. Kenia 

 and up to an elevation of between 4,500 and 9,000 feet. On the north 

 side of Kilmandseharo the tree ascends only about 7,500 feet, but it 

 is very abundant. It is less common around Mt. Kenia, but grows to 

 large sizes up to 7,000 feet. In parts of Usambara, where the tree is 



• ailed ' ' muangati, ' ' it grows at lower elevations, often forming 



• lense isolated forests. 



That the- wood is of great economical value is best known from 

 what Sclimper says ic his '•' Plants of Abyssinia": "It is the most 

 valuable wood in East Africa for a good many purposes; it is used 

 especially for construction material, and contains also an agreeable 

 smelling resin." The wood is fragrant and light, but not strong. 

 Its heart-wood when in contact with the moist earth is ahnost imperish- 

 able, and is much used for water troughs aurl for walls of houses. A 

 noted traveler and explorer in German East Africa informs us that 

 it is an excellent soft, light wood used for house and bridge build- 

 ing, and since the introduction of steam railroads it is the chief 

 wood sought for erossties. It is used also for cabinet purposes be- 

 cause of its strong fragrant odor, which is said to repel insects. 



It has recently been announced that . the extensive Shume forests 

 of cedar in German East Africa are now being exploited. This cedar 

 is said to furnish a wood equal in quality to the average grades of the 

 American cedars for making lead pencils, and occurs in sufficiently 



large quantities to satisfy the needs of the German factories tor a 

 good many years to come, and their dependence on the American 

 product is therefore now almost at an end. The German government 

 had an investigation made of these cedar forests with a view to develop 

 them and to render the timber supply available for use. It did not 

 lose an opportunity to make known this large supply of cedar wood, 

 and a concession has recently been granted to a company for the 

 exploitation of this valuable timber. The company has constructed 

 a cable-tram line at a cost of nearly .$400,000 for the purpose of 

 bringing llie cedar logs to the mills. This tram line is now being 

 successfully operated and the cedar logs are converted into lumbisr 

 and transported by rail to the port of Tanga, in Usambara. From 

 this point it is shipped by the steamers of the East African Line to 

 Hamburg, which is the principal distributing center. 



'Many government oflScers have tested the lead pencils made from 

 this East African cedar and have approved them; the Prussian min- 

 istries of Finance, and of the Interior both have recommended that 

 pencils made from this wood should be given preference. Practically 

 all the leading German lead-pencil factories are now using some 

 African cedar, and the pencils made from it are pronounced to be 

 equal to those made from the American cedar. A few of the manu- 

 facturers qualify such a claim in some particulars, .as, for instance, 

 that pencils made of American cedar arc sharpened more easily. 



How long the supply of red or pencil cedar of this country will 

 last at its present rate of consumption is difficult to say, but it is 

 certain that unless some of the substitutes that have recently been 

 tested will prove satisfactory a few of the mills now in operation 

 \vill be obliged to import the wood from Africa. Pencil makers in 

 this country have long since been searching for a suitable wood and 

 as soon as the commercial value of this African cedar can be fully 

 established they will doubtless avail themselves of this new source 

 of supply of raw material. !'• T- !>• 



