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Wood Industries of TSlew Hampshire 



The Forest Service has completed its investigation of the wood- 

 using industries of New Hampshire and the report has been pub- 

 lished by the State Forestry Commission in a bulletin of over one 

 hundred pages. This is one of the series of reports which the 

 Forest Service is compiling and which will ultimately cover the 

 whole country, state by state. The government and the states 

 co-operate to the extent that the government collects the data and 

 prepares the reports and the states print them. 



The New Hampshire bulletin was written by Roger E. Simmons, 

 statistician of the Forest Service. He compiled similar reports for 

 Illinois, Kentucky and North Carolina, which were published some 

 time ago. 



New Hampshire is a large producer and consumer of both hard 

 and soft woods, but softwoods predominate in both output and 

 consumption. The sawmills of the state cut about 443,000,000 feet 

 a year, and the factories consume approximately 423,000,000 feet. 

 The production and consumption of wood are more nearly equal in 

 this than in most states. 



The factories of the state report the use of sixteen softwoods and 

 thirty-nine hardwoods, but more than half of all is white pine. The 

 four soft woods most largely used are white pine, red spruce, hem- 

 lock and Norway pine; and the four leading hardwoods are yellow 

 birch, sugar maple, aspen and beech. The most costly woods are 

 foreign, and are mahogany at $136; rosewood, $206; padouk, $250; 

 lignum-vitffi, $347. This last named wood is not usually as expensive 

 as these figures show, and the explanation of its high cost lies in 

 the fact that extra grades were demanded and a comparatively small 

 quantity was used. 



The following table shows the various woods used by New Hamp- 

 shire manufacturers and the quantity of each per year, as well as 

 the average cost of each per thousand feet: . 



The report is well arranged and edited, and information eoucerning 

 any wood or any industry may be readily found. This feature, 

 which is too often neglected in compiling industrial reports, is of 

 special value. Few people have time to read through a report, but 

 persons are nearly always interested in certain parts and will turn 

 to them when it can be done conveniently and quickly. 



The woodworkers of New Hampshire do not neglect small com- 

 modities, and many instructive details are shown. The state has 

 most of the industries which are commonly found in a woodworking 

 region, and some which are rather unusual. For example, few states 

 support a crutch industry, though it is a commodity widely used. 

 New Hampshire utilizes 590,000 feet in producing that article. The 

 crutches are shipped into nearly every state, to Canada, and to 

 most European countries. About 250,000 pairs are made yearly, 

 and it is not believed that any other state produces as many. About 

 two feet of lumber go into a pair of crutches. Yellow birch leads 

 in quantity, followed by paper birch, sugar maple, hickory, lance- 

 iTOod, rosewood and cherry. About nine-tenths of the wood grows 

 in New Hampshire. 



It is worthy of note that the manufacturing of agricultural imple- 

 ments is a smaller industry in New Hampshire than crutch-making. 

 The principal thing manufactured was hayrakes. The teeth are 

 made of hornbeam and leatherwood. The identity of the latter 

 wood is not clear, but it is probably foreign, though it costs only $24 

 a thousand feet. 



It is worthy of comment that flails, grain cradles and scythe 

 snaths do not seem to be manufactured in New Hampshire. It is a 

 mountainous region with many small, steep and rocky farms, and 

 these old-style but highly useful articles of husbandry were to be 

 expected there. 



' ' Eef rigerators, hames and musical instruments ' ' are grouped as 

 one industry, with the explanation that each is too small to be 

 considered separately. The explanation is satisfactory, particularly 

 when it is observed that hames are used in this instance to hitch 

 together two quite different industries. 



The following table shows the yearly demand for wood 1.5y manu- 

 facturing industries of the state: 



INDUSTRIES. 



Total Quantity used annually. 



Feet b. m. 



Average 

 cost per 

 l.OUO ft. 



Total cost 

 f.o. b. 

 factory. 



Boxes and crates 



Planing mill products .. ..i 



Sash, doors and general milhvork 



Car and boat building 



Wooden ware 



Refrigerators, hames, etc 



Excelsior 



.Shtitties, spools and bobbins 



Chairs 



Fitrnitnre 



Laundry appliances 



W'hicles 



Plumbers' woodwork, insulator pins, etc 



Shoe finding 



Fixtures 



Instruments, professional and scientific 



Kaskets 



Handles 



Hrushes 



Sporting and athletic goods 



Crutches 



Agricultural implements 



Toys 



Miscellaneous 



Totals 



]99,074.,590 



M. 882,862 



31.1,52,300 



19,786,000 



18,940.61-1 



14.3.'i.5,.Wl 



11.912,000 



11.706.000 



6,,51.5,280 



4,599,800 



3.294,000 



2,983.330 



2,566,000 



2,,512,0O0 



l,60O,3'2C 



1,170,700 



1,135,000 



924,000 



641, .TOO 



016,000 



591.1.000 



589,200 



724,032 



632,500 



422,903,561 



* I/es3 than i ol ih ol one per cent. 



It is stated that the manufacture of shuttles requires twenty-two 

 separate operations, not counting what takes place in the forest 

 and at the sawmUl where the squares are prepared. More shuttles 

 are made of persimmon than of any other wood, but much dogwood 

 is employed. These are regarded as the best shuttle woods of the 



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