HARDWOOD RECORD 



25 



mixed spruce and fir among the high ranges of the southern Appa- 

 ■ lachian mountains that the proportion of spruce is much higher in 

 old stands than in young. That is due to the greater age to which 

 spruce lives. Trees of that species continue to stand after the firs 

 have died of old age. On the other hand, fir outnumbers spruce in 

 many young stands. That is because fir reproduces better than 

 spruce, and grows with more vigor at first. In stands of second 

 growth the fir often predominates. It depends to some extent upon 

 the conditions under which the second growth has its start. Fir does 

 not germinate well if the ground has been bared by fire and the 

 humus burned. Censequently, old burns do not readily grow up in 

 fir. The best stands occur where the natural conditions have not been 

 much disturbed further than by removing the growth. Fortunately 

 conditions on the summit and elevated slopes of the southern Appa- 

 lachians do not favor destructive forest fires. Rain is frequent and 

 abundant, and the shade cast by evergreen trees keeps the humus too 

 moist for fire. To this eoudition is due the comparative immunity 

 from fire of the high mountain forests of fir and spruce. Sometimes, 

 however, fires sweep through fine stands with disastrous results. The 

 destruction is more serious because no second forest of evergreens 

 is likely on tracts which have been severely burned. 



A report by the State Geological Survey on forest conditions in 

 western North Carolina, issued in 191], predicted that spruce and 

 fir forests aggregating from 100,000 to 150,000 acres among the high 

 mountain ranges, will become barren tracts, because of the destructive 

 effect of fires stripping the ground of humus. 



The cutters of pulpwood in the southern Appalachian mountains 

 take Fra^ser fir wherever they find it, mix it with spruce, and the 

 two woods go to market as one. Statistics show the annual cut of 

 both, but do not give them separately. The output of spruce, in- 

 eluding fir, south of Pennsylvania, in 1910 was 115,993 cords, equiva- 

 lent to about eighty million feet, board measure. Most of it was 

 red spruce, but some was fir, and in North Carolina probably twenty- 

 five per cent was of that species. The total pulpwood cut in that state 

 was 14,509 cords of the two woods combined, and probably 3,800 

 cords was Fraser fii\ 



The wood of Fraser fir is very light. An air dry sample from 

 Roan Mountain, N. C, weighed 22.22 pounds per cubic foot. That 

 is lighter than balsam fir, which is classed among the very light woods. 

 It is stronger than balsam fir by twenty-five per cent. The wood is 

 soft, compact and the bands of summerwood in the annual rings are 

 rather broad and light colored and are not conspicuous. The 

 medullary rays are thin but numerous. The color is light brown, 

 the sapwood mostly white. 



This wood is not of much commercial value except for pulp. It is 

 not abundant, and it is not suited to many purposes. It is suitable 

 for boxes, being light in weight and moderately strong; but other 

 woods which grow in the same region are as 'good in all respects and 

 are more abundant, and will be used in preference to fir for that 

 purpose. The decrease in area on account of firs, and in quantity 

 because of pulpwood operations, indicate that forest grown Fraser 

 fir has seen its best days. On the other hand, the United States 

 Forest Service has acquired tracts of land on the summits of the 

 mountains where this species has its natural home, and the growth 

 will be protected from fires and from destructive cutting, and there is 

 no danger that the species will be exterminated. 



It is an interesting tree. It contributes to the pleasure of tourists 

 and campers among the southern mountains. The fragrance of its 

 leaves and young branches add a zest to the summer camp. The 

 traveler who is overtaken in the woods by the coming of night, 

 prepares his bed of the boughs of this tree and of red spruce and 

 sleeps soundly beneath an evergreen canopy. Pillows and cushions 

 stuffed with fir needles carry memories of the mountains to distant 

 cities. 



In one respect this tree of the high mountains is like the untamed 

 Indians who once roamed in that region: it refuses to be civilized. 

 The tree has been planted in parks in this country and in Europe, but 

 it does not prosper. Its form loses something of the grace and 

 symmetry which it exhibits in its mountain home, and its life is 

 short. Those who wish to see Fraser fir at its best must see it where 

 nature planted it high on the southern mountains. 



' ' CJ?re^;ai»Ssii*ti;im!j;iaia^^>^a>ig;^^ ^jjywiJgCTsy 



^ Some Problems in Wood Identification ^ 



There never was a time when there was greater need for experts 

 in wood identification. With decrease in the available supply of 

 the standard woods has come much closer utilization of all forest 

 products and while this, on the whole, is highly to be desired, it not 

 infrequently leads to all sorts of complications. The number of 

 woods with which- the trade is thoroughly familiar is very small com- 

 pared with the number that grow and that are now finding their way 

 to the market. 



Building specifications are based upon results of very extensive 

 tests of the standard woods and architect 's plans have to take into 

 consideration the safe working stresses of the materials to be used. 

 If untried woods are substituted there is always the danger that the.v 

 will not meet the requirements and that the resulting structure will 

 prove unsafe. 



A case in point recently came to the writer's attention. A con 

 tractor in Ontario, Canada, bought what he thought was long-leaf 

 pine timber from a southern lumber company. The material was 

 used in the construction of a large warehouse. Eighteen months 

 after the building was completed it collapsed, resulting in a $100,000 

 loss. Inasmuch as the plans had been prepared by competent 

 architects and standard specifications for longleaf pine had been 

 followed, suspicion was at oiice aroused as to the quality of material 

 used. To determine this point samples of the wood were sent to the 

 United States Forest Service and the xylologists of the department 

 found them to be not longleaf pine at all but loblolly, a considerably 

 weaker wood. 



It is not at all improbable that the loblolly pine timber could have 

 been made to serve the builder's purpose fully as well as longleaf 



had the plans been designed for the weaker wood. Having specified 

 longleaf, however, it was extremely important for the contractor 

 to see that material true to name was supplied. The proper time for 

 the wood expert: was' before, net after, th3 building collapsed. 



.Such failures have a farther reaching effect than the immediate 

 loss sustained. It may result in such rigid specifications, so great 

 a margin of safety, that excffssive waste of good material is occa- 

 sioned. Instead of making specifications for longleaf pine, for 

 example, of sufficient latitude to allow the use of weaker wood like 

 loblolly, thereby adding unduly to the cost of a structure and in- 

 creasing the drain on our forest resources, greater care should be 

 exercised that no material goes into a building that is not up to 

 specifications. To determine such things accurately requires expert 

 knowledge of wood. 



Other examples could be cited. For instance the Baldwin Loco- 

 motive Works invited bids for 30,000 window sashes, specifying 

 white pine. One planing mill concern in the Middle West submitted 

 figures .^.ccompanied by spi?cimens of wood which they represented 

 to be the best grade of sugar pine. Now sugar pine belongs to the 

 white pine group and for most purposes is almost if not entirely 

 as satisfactory as eastern white pine. The company was ratlier sus- 

 picious of the samples and enlisted the services of an exptrt for 

 identification. It was then discovered that of the three specimens of 

 so-called sugar pine submitted one was western yellow pine and two 

 were Engelmann spruce. Perhaps they would have served the purpose 

 fully as well, for both arc good woods, but they were not as specified 

 and their use might have i;ivcn the bidders an unfair advantage over 

 others complying strictly "ith the company's demands. 



