HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



cut was 1,500,000,000 feet, and in 1912, 1,000,000,000 feet, and tliat 

 on Jamiary 1, 1913, there were 818,000,000 feet of northern pine 

 himber on hand, but that this was 160,000,000 feet less tliaii cml 

 January 1, 1912. 



In speaking of the cut and shipments of northern liemlciik and 

 hardwood, the speaker said that the total hemlock and har<lwoud cut 

 was nine per cent less in 1912 than 1911 and the shipments twenty- 

 eight per cent more. 



In referring to the Inland Empire, where mills are manufacturing 

 white pine, Mr. Rhodes stated tliat cut and shipments had both 

 increased satisfactorily, but that shipments have increased at 

 double the rate of cut. He stated that the pine of the Inland 

 Empire will be an increasing factor in the eastern markets, and 

 that stock at present is very scarce. 



In speaking of conditions in the hardwood field, Mr. Rho.les 

 stated that the open winter in the North has militated seriously 

 against getting in a satisfactory amount of logs, and that while 

 operators had anticipated a large cut this year, they will actually 

 manufacture a decreased amount of lumber. 



Mr. Rhodes said that the increasing population and the decreas- 

 ing timber supply have a constant tendency toward raising prices, 

 and said further that increased values are more or less periodic, 

 the trade now experiencing one of these periods. 



The speaker maintained that lumber prices would never be as 

 low as they had been in the past. This increased value has a future 

 significance in that with the greater value of forest products 

 more attention must be directed toward perpetuating the supply. 

 He said that we are merely repeating history as is shown in forest 

 conditions in Germany. The growing worth of the product of 

 the forest, and hence their growing economic importance to the 

 nation, will necessarily result in a strengthening sentiment on 

 the part of the public demanding some voice in the administration 

 of the lumber industry. He said that this sentiment will take 

 the form of a demand for government supervision of manufactuie 

 of privately owned timber, of the timber tax question, forestr.y, 

 forest fires, etc. He said that while the question is not immedi- 

 ately imminent, it is commanding increased attention constantly. 



He said that the present excellent condition of the lumber busi- 

 ness is but a step in the development of this ultimate condition, 

 and that eventually cut will be regulated by forest growth, and 

 prices will be extremely high. The larger lumber interests of the 

 country having a long time investment in forest lands are treating 

 this question broadly, and are already considering the practica- 

 bility of administration along more advanced lines. 



Mr. Rhodes made the startling statement that in twenty-five 

 3'ear's yellow pine manufacture as a national industry will be no 

 more, and that at the end of that time it will have been reduced 

 entirely to a local status, but that it will always be maintained as 

 an industry treating of local interests. 



Mr. Rhodes closed his remarks with the assertion that never 

 before in the history of the lumber lousiness have conditions been 

 so generally good as now. In all sections of the country, where 

 is manufactured every kind of forest product included in American 

 lumbering, the demand is actually in excess of supply. 



Following Mr. Rhodes' talk, in answering a question as to the 

 effect government owned timber will have on the lumber business 

 when marketed, he said that one-third of the standing timber is 

 owned by the government, but that it has thus far been sold in 

 small lots at prevailing market prices. He said that restrictions 

 in logging, which must be recognized by those purchasing govern- 

 ment timber, make it difficult to compete with operators in pri- 

 vately owned stock on the part of those cutting and sawing govern- 

 ment stumpage. He said that the policy of the Government has 

 always been against the creation of large operations in government 

 timber, and that government lauds will never be thrown wide open. 



In speaking of the possible effect on shipments of lumber from 

 the Canadian Northwest with the removal of the lumber tariff, 

 Mr. Rhodes said that at present the British Columbian forests have 

 no great amount of lumber which would find a logical market in 

 the United States. He said further that the astounding develop- 



ment taking place in Canada will create a market for practically 

 all of the products of the Canadian mills, but the speaker eon- 

 tended that present marine laws in effect in this country, which 

 restrict shipments of products in coastwise trade to vessels of 

 American register and manned by American seamen, is an unjust 

 burden on Anu'rican manufacture. He said that if these laws are 

 not radically changed, Canadian lumber will on the opening of 

 the Panama canal be marketed extensively in the eastern cities. 

 George J. Pope then told of the work of the special committee 

 appointed to consider the question of the erection of a building 

 for the housing of lumber concerns and allied industries, which 

 will house also the Lumbermen's Association ami the Lunil>ermen'3 

 Club. 



E. A. Thornton told of the recent decision on the part of the 

 Interstate Commerce Commission at Washington regarding milling- 

 in-transit tariffs, stating that the creation of milling-in-transit 

 tariffs are now left entirely in the hands of the carriers, who are, 

 however, to be governed entirely by present statutes on this 

 question. He said that shippers should request a voice in the 

 formation of any such tariffs with the idea of insuring their being 

 just to the shipper. 



F. L. Brown moved that a resolution be adopted thanking Mr. 

 Rhodes for his able talk. 



The meeting then adjourned. 



White Cedar from British Guiana 



Those who have studied the tree flora of British Guiana are well 

 acquainted with the tree locally called white cedar. It is not one of 

 the cedars so common in the United States, nor is it the Spanish cedar 

 (Cedrela odorata), but belongs to the Bignonia family of plants and 

 is known botanically as Tabebuia longipes-Baker. The Indians 

 in British Guiana call this tree warikuri or waracoori. It is found 

 here and there over the less wet parts of the savannas, and w-herever 

 the forests are found on drier gro\ind it is more or less abundant. 

 Along the banks of the rivers that intersect the drier regions it is 

 plentiful. White cedar grows most abundantly up the Lamaha canal 

 that leads into Georgetown. The largest trees usually attain a height 

 of from fifty to seventy feet, and from fifteen to eighteen or twenty- 

 one inches in diameter. The logs generally square about ten inches. 

 With the exception of its bark it bears no resemblance in any of its 

 parts to the red cedar, which is the local name for the Spanish or 

 cigar-box cedar. 



White cedar when full grown is a dark brown, hard, heavy, and 

 close-grained wood with a white sap, very durable, especially under 

 ground, but splits on exposure to the sun. It is probably the best 

 wood procurable in British Guiana for foundations. The wood is as 

 easily worked as white pine, and is serviceable for all kinds of indoor 

 work in building. It is also useful as a furniture wood, and where 

 lightness of material is required might be largely used. The grain is 

 straight and fine and the wood takes an excellent polish. Inquiries 

 have been made for the timber for export, to be employed as match 

 wood, for which purpose its lightness and straight grain particularly 

 adapt it. Residents on the rivers use it in house building and for 

 many other purposes. Those who are well acquainted with its quali- 

 ties and merits say that for interior finish one of its principal recom- 

 mendations is that it is never attacked by wood ants. This is a -very 

 great merit in a tropical country where the white ants are so destruc- 

 tive to wood. 



The leaves are simple, about six inches long; the flowers white, of 

 the size and form of the catalpa tree so common in the Uniteil States. 

 The flowers are succeeded by elongated pods that are filled with flaky 

 membranous-winged seeds. The white cedar v,as first descriiied in 

 1888 and named by Mr. Baker, which proves another of the many 

 instances of very common and useful trees that have awaited so late 

 o'f Tabebuia in British Guiana. These trees resemble prima vera 

 which is considered one of the most beautiful trees in tropical 

 America. The white cedar is also highly esteemed for shade anti 

 ornament, and recently has been introduccil into (ienrgetov.n, British 

 Guiana, where it is easily cultivated. L. 1j. D. 



