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Woods Used for Walking Sticks 



Walking canes have for many years formed a distinct trade, and 

 the stock exhibited by retail dealers is often very attractive, not 

 only because of tlie variety of the canes, l)ut also because of the 

 beautiful finish and artistic styles. Hundreds of tons of sticks are 

 cut not only in this country, but are imported from all parts of the 

 world, solely for use as walking canes. Immense quantities are 

 constantly being brought from the East and West Indies, South 

 America, Africa, China, Java, and Singapore. From the latter eountri.' 

 ■come all the varieties of bamboo known in the trade by distinct 

 names, such as the "dog-head" 

 cane, so called because a portion 

 of the root is left attached to 

 the stiik, which, having two pro- 

 tuberances like ears, gives it a 

 striking- resemblance to a dog's 

 head. These trade names are not 

 familiar to botanists; they are 

 usually more adapted to convey 

 to the popular mind the appear- 

 ance of the cane than to indicate 

 the botanical nomenclature. 

 Though so many varieties of 

 bamboo are constantly imported 

 from China and Japan and very 

 largely used, nothing definite is 

 known as to the species producing 

 them. About fifty years ago a 

 very beautiful stick was intro- 

 duced from Borneo under the 

 name of Eajah cane, the hard- 

 ness of this stick, together with 

 its beautiful markings of dark 

 lines, caused it at once to become 

 very popular. The name Eajah 

 is said to be derived from the 

 fact of the export duty which the 

 Eajah of Borneo claimed. While 

 ■enormous quantities of this ma- 

 terial were and still are being 

 imported, nothing is known as to 

 its botanical origin further than 

 that it is the stem of a palm. 



A favorite cane is made of 

 pimento wood, or allspice (Pi- 

 mento vulgaris). This is more 

 particularly adapted for umbrella 

 handles owing to its extreme 

 rigidity and strength and its non- 

 liability to warp. This wood is 

 imported from the West Indies 

 ■often in rather large billets and 

 with a crook, from which a knob 

 or hook is formed. Many of the 

 canes made of orange and lemon 

 wood are also derived from the 

 West Indies and they are among 



the most highly esteemed of all woods used with the bark on. These 

 are valued on account of the white lines seen so abundantly on the 

 highly polished bark. They are also employed for umbrella handles, 

 the bark being removed and the stick smoothed for this purpose. 

 The orange canes may be easily recognized by the beautiful green 

 bark, with fine white longitudinal markings, and the lemon can be 

 detected by its symmetrical proportions and the regularity and 

 prominence of its knots. 



The well-known Malacca cane (Calamus scipionum) also makes 

 a very beautiful walking cane. It does not come from Malacca, as its 



CANE .\ND UMBRELLA HANDLES 



name would indicate, but is imported from Siak in Sumatra. These 

 canes are valued according to the length of their internodcs; a 

 perfect stick of the required length taken from between the nodes 

 often brings a very fancy price. A genuine Malacca cane should be 

 finished in the natural wood and have the proper taper. Many of 

 those in the market have had their nodes worked down and after they 

 are stained, painted, and polished, they are extremely difficult, except 

 to a practiced eye, to detect from a natural Malacca cane. 

 A great many sticks are imported into the United States, either 



directly or indirectly, from Al- 

 geria, where these kinds are 

 grown for commercial purposes. 

 The kinds derived from Algeria 

 are the pomegranate, olive, 

 myrtle, and the leafstalks of the 

 date palm. All these, especially 

 the olive and myrtle, have been 

 and are still in great demand. 

 In addition to these a nimiber 

 of English-grown sticks are 

 shipped into the United States. 

 The principal ones are ash, oak, 

 elm, holly, hornbeam, blackthorn, 

 cherry, maple, hazel, crab, aspen, 

 box, and the common furze. The 

 medlarwood and chestnut are 

 occasionally imported into this 

 country. Guelder rose (Fibum- 

 um opulus) a native of Europe, 

 is sometimes imported under the 

 name of teazle or Balkan Eose. 

 The young saplings of the ash, 

 whether of native or foreign 

 growth prepared with the bark 

 on, often require very little treat- 

 ment at the hands of the work- 

 men except in forming the heads. 

 After they are cleaned and 

 polished they make excellent 

 canes. Very few of the foreign 

 ash saplings are in their natural 

 condition sufficiently straight for 

 use as walking canes, and require 

 straightening. The Carob 

 (Ceratonia siliqua), quantities of 

 which are imported from Algeria, 

 must be straightened by me- 

 chanical means. The method of 

 straightening has been described 

 as follows: 



' ' The canes are buried in hot 

 sand over a stove until they be- 

 come quite pliable. In front of 

 tlie heap of sand in which the 

 rough sticks are plunged is placed 

 a stout board, five or six feet 

 from the workman; in the edge 

 When the stick has become suffi- 



long, fixed at an angle inclined 

 of this board are square notches, 

 eiently pliable by being buried in the hot sand, the workman places it 

 in one of the notches, and strains and bends it till he has succeeded 

 in producing a perfectly straight stick. In this way the most crooked, 

 and, to all appearance, worthless sticks, are made so straight that 

 the result appears almost impossible, more especially when it is 

 borne in mind that the workman has no other guide but his well- 

 trained eve to help him. When straightened to his satisfaction the 

 sticks are" placed on one side and as they cool they become perfectly 



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