HAR DWOOD RECORD 



45 



Wood Exports and Imports for September 



The moutlily summary of this country's .xports 

 and imports for September, 1912. issued by the 

 Department of Commerce and Laljor, makes the 

 following showing for wood and manufactures 

 of wood : 



Exports of American woods. September. 1911. 

 S7.112.470: September, 1912. SS.00S.104: re- 

 export of foreign woods, Including reeds and rat- 

 tans, September, 1911, $58,268 : September, 1912, 

 $108,833 : shipments to Alaska. September. 1911. 

 $30.7.54 : September, 1912, $48,846 ; shipments to 

 Hawaii, September, 1911. $133,756 ; September. 

 1912. $206,492 : shipments to Porto Rico. Sep- 

 tember. 1911, $124.559 : September, 1912. $143.- 

 664 : shipments to the Philippines, September. 

 1911. $1,638,024: September. 1912. $2,006,963: 

 shipments to Tutuila and Guam. Septembfr. 1911. 

 $4 : September. 1912. $470. 



Death of John K. Sowers 

 During the past week a gloom was cast over 

 lumber circles when John K. Sowers, president of 

 the Sowers-Leach Lumber Company, of Columbus. 

 Ohio, was found dead in bed at his home, 33 

 S. Ohio avenue, with a bullet wound in his bead. 

 It was first surmised that Mr. Sowers had com- 

 mitted suicide, but the conditions of his life 

 both financially and domestically would not war- 

 rant the committing of such an act. 



Mr. Sowers was in Columbus practically all of 

 his life, having come here from Champaign 

 county. He entered the employ of the Cross 

 Lumber Compan.v in the capacity as bookkeeper 

 when quite a young man. He continued in this 

 for a short time and then decided to branch out 

 for himself. He became associated with W. Smith 

 in the lumber business under the name of the 

 Sowers-Smith Lumber Company. He later became 

 a partner with B. F. Leach, who w^as his partner 

 at his death. Ho was fort.v-one years of age, and 

 was widely known and well thought of in lum- 

 ber circles. 



Mr. Sowers is survived by a wife and a son. 

 .Joseph, and two brothers. Daniel and Emory, of 

 this city. The funeral was held from the resi- 

 dence Nov.. IS. and burial was made at New 

 Philadelphia, the former home of his wife. 



Will Obtain Credit Information 

 The board of managers of the Bureau of In- 

 formation of the National Wholesale Lumber 

 Dealers' Association, with headquarters at 66 

 Broadway, New York City, has just sent out a 

 circular letter to the membership of that asso- 

 ciation with the object of providing a means 

 whereby all the members of the credit department 

 may be immediately advised of any accounts in 

 which the members of the association should 

 know they are interested. With this end in 

 view, the members are requested to file with the 

 managers a confidential list of their customers. 

 The managers pledge themselves that this list 

 will be seen by no one but themselves. The letter 

 states that each day a large amount of informa- 

 tion of various degrees of importance comes to 

 the bureau covering slowness in making settle- 

 ment, complaints of various causes, notices of 

 removals and similar information which may not 

 be of so general a character as to warrant its 

 being sent out in the weekly report sheet, but 

 which might very properly be submitted specially 

 to all those members whom the bureau is ad- 

 vised may be interested. An instance in which 

 information of the kind solicited would be of 

 use is seen in the event that a single complaint 

 comes in from one member only, while other 

 members selling might be interested to get in 

 touch with the complaining member and thus 

 cooperate and keep fully advised as to the condi- 

 tions of each Individual case. 



Few American Pianos in England 



In 1911 the United Kingdom imported 18,508 

 pianos, valued at $2,733,712. The point of inter- 

 est to Americans is that few of the pianos were 

 made in this country. Germany supplied most 

 of the instruments. The manufacturers in that 



country seem to have a firm hold upon lovers of 

 music in Great Britain. It might naturally be 

 asked why England does not make its own pianos, 

 since it is a highly developed manufacturing 

 country. To make 18,508 pianos in England 

 would require 3.000 workmen one year. Their 

 wages at $9.73 a week would amount to $1,459,- 

 950, or more than half of the total value of the 

 finished product, and to compete with Germany 

 is impossible. It would be interesting to know 

 what the labor bill would be if those instruments 

 were made in the United States. 



A Big New England Hardwood Operation 



The Ray Lumber Company of Brownville Junc- 

 tion. Me., has been busy for the last five months 

 constructing a modern hardwood plant at that 

 place. It is expected that the company will be 

 ready to operate by the first of January. -The 

 plant will be the largest hardwood mill in New 

 England. The Ray Lumber Company owns In 

 fee about 80.000 acres of timberlands in the state 

 of Maine. The company will manufacture bob- 

 bins, spool wood and squares, and any other 

 product of hardwood for which it can contract 

 in large quantities. 



.McGARVEY CLIXE. ItETIRlXG DIRECTOR 

 FOREST PRODUCTS LABOR.VTORY 



A Loss to the Forest Service 

 The Forest Service will lose one of its most 

 valuable and valued members on Dec. 1, at which 

 time McGarvey Cline, director of the Forest 

 Products Laboratory at Madison. Wis., will sever 

 his connection with that institution to go into 

 consulting work. Mr. Cline has been head of 

 the laboratory since its construction about three 

 years ago. and the success with which he has 

 handled the affairs of that institution, working 

 under the difficulties with which he has had to 

 put up. has made his value to the lumber trade 

 and to the Forest Service exceptional. 



Under a recent change in the policy of the 

 Service, the branch of products will be eliminated 

 and the laboratory will be put under the branch 

 of silviculture. 



Mr. Cline will be succeeded b.v H. F. Weiss. 

 who has been assistant director and who has had 

 charge of the branch of timber preservation. In 

 this line Mr. Weiss is probably without an equal 

 in the country, having made this work an ex- 

 clusive study. Mr. M'eiss comes in well equipped 

 to handle the affairs of the institution, and un- 

 doubtedly win continue its successful operation 



Biltmore Doings for October 



The monthly bulletin showing the doings of 

 the Biltmore Forest School, issued at present 

 from Darmstadt, Germany, has arrived. The 



school had a successful voyage, leaving Hoboken, 

 N. J., on the Holland-American Line. The usual 

 lectures were carried on during the voyage. 



The school first went to the Odenwald, a hill 

 country situated between Rhine, Main and 

 Neckar. The students stayed at Dr. Schenck's old 

 home at Lindenfels, where they became acquainted 

 with the different types of forests there prevail- 

 ing, known as the state forests, communal forests, 

 and the private or family forests. The students 

 enjoyed a surprise in the general adoption of 

 American white pine for afforestation on lands 

 where other native species would not grow. The 

 wonder arose as to whether the time would ever 

 come when America would have to go to Ger- 

 many for American white pine. 



In studying the interesting operations around 

 Lindenfels. the school was surprised to note that 

 destructive methods of lumbering were employed 

 entirel.v. However, within a year or two after 

 cutting the areas are entirely replanted. A clean 

 cut in this territory yields about $300 net per 

 acre, while $15 per acre will cover the expense of 

 complete reforestation. 



It is distinctive of German forestry that while 

 there is plenty of timber, not more than a lim- 

 ited quantity is cut annually, consequently the 

 market is never overstocked and the price of 

 timber is maintained at a high level. Stumpage 

 in the woods fetches about the same price in 

 Germany that the manufactured lumber brings in 

 -America delivered to the consumer. 



Contrary to the prevalent idea, there is no one 

 type of forestry employed in German forests. 

 Each forester, whether employed by state, family, 

 or municipality, has to face conditions of his 

 own and must solve the problem placed upon 

 him. 



Since Oct. 1 the students have been estab- 

 lished at Darmstadt, which will be their address 

 during the entire winter. 



Tests of California Eedwood 

 The Forest Service has issued circular 193, 

 dealing with the mechanical properties of Cali- 

 fornia redwood. The bulletin is the work of A. 

 L. Heim, engineer in forest products, at the 

 Madison, Wis., laboratory. A summary of 

 strength tests shows that in bending and com- 

 pression at right angles to the grain, redwood 

 is about four-fifths as strong as Douglas fir or 

 southern longleaf pine, while in shearing strength 

 and compression parallel with the grain, for clear, 

 small specimens Douglas fir and redwood are 

 practically equal. In some instances redwood 

 rated above Douglas fir on specimens four Inches 

 square and sixteen inches long. 



Convict Help in the Woods 



A new method of solving the labor question 

 and at the same time clear off considerable valu- 

 able land which otherwise would remain as cut- • 

 over land was introduced by the state authori- 

 ties in the Adirondacks recently. Eighteen 

 thousand acres of land adjacent to the state 

 prison at Clinton. N. Y., will be cleared by con- 

 vict help. The work will be started immediately. 

 It is planned to first cut 2.000.000 feet of timber 

 burned over in 1908 and in addition, to market ' 

 about 8,700 cords of poplar pulp-wood. There 

 are on this tract some 12.470.000 feet of stand- 

 ing live timber. 7,030.000 feet of green hardwood 

 and considerable pulp and fuel wood. The tract 

 will be re-forested along the lines already started. 

 There have been 180.000 trees of white and 

 Scotch pine set out already. 



Acctuittal for Louisiana Disturbers 

 A. L. Emerson, president, and seven members 

 of the Brotherhood of Timber Workers, who had 

 been on trial at Lake Charles, La., on a charge 

 ■ tf uiurder in connection with the riots at Gra- 

 bnw. have been acquitted. The jury took but 

 an hour to arrive at a . decision. Immediately 

 after the acquittal. Emerson resumed his work 

 for the strengthening of the whole of the union 

 in that territory. He has announced that he 



