HARDWOOD RECORD 



27 



The character of the lumber being manufactured of course has 

 a great deal to do with it. Quartered oak shrinks more on the 

 heart side, of course, than on the other, if it is inclined to be 

 porous, and this would require a greater allowance than would 

 otherwise be needed. Such a condition may affect the quartering 

 of such woods as red oak grown in the lowlands of the South. 

 Manufacturers of oak farther north have no trouble owing to 

 undue shrinkage on the heart side of quartered stock, but this 

 consideration may be one applying to the proposition of quartering 

 isouthern red oak, and ma}' exjilaiu to some extent why not a great 

 deal of red oak in that territory is being quartered. 



Conversely with the shrinking of quartered oak in thickness, 

 plain oak shrinks chiefly in width; and consequently the allowance 

 for plain oak need not; be so great as for quartered. In practice, 

 however, most manufacturers in the central hardwood belt allow 

 I'g-inch for both plain and quartered oak, finding that this applies 

 to plain equally with quartered, as far as taking care of the shrink- 

 age is concerned; but it is reasonable to believe in a case of this 

 kind that the quartered oak might occasionally be a trifle scant 

 and that the plain oak boards would come closer to measuring a 

 full inch every time. 



Apparently, though, there is no good reason in favor of allowing 

 as much as %-ineh for oak; even that made in the territory farther 

 south; and judging from the recent decision of the manufacturer 

 referred to above, who believes that he is going to save a good 

 many dollars ' worth of valuable lumber by sawing it at least 1/32- 

 inch thinner than he has been doing, it might be worth while for 

 others who are making a similarly liberal allowance to make a few 

 experiments and determine the results. This particular mill is 

 cutting practically all plain oak, too; so that while cutting quar- 

 tered IVs-inch thick might be a debatable proposition, there hardly 

 seems to be any good reason in favor of manufacturing plain oak 

 as thick as that. 



A mahogany mill which cuts up a lot of lumber has recently 

 changed its practice in this connection. It seems that it has been 

 in the habit of allowing ^-inch for shrinkage; but experiments 

 have been made and have shown that the actual shrinkage is not 

 over 1/32-inch, and consequently the allowance hereafter will be 

 exactly half that heretofore in vogue. In the case of a high-priced 

 wood like mahogany, which is so valuable that it is sold by the 

 foot, the necessity of extreme care is even more certain than 

 where oak is concerned, although with timber prices rising steadily 

 on the domestic wood there are plenty of good arguments in favor 

 of a similar amount of discretion at the saw when cutting up 

 oak logs. 



It is said that another well-known mahogany concern has re- 

 cently been experimenting to determine the amount of shrinkage 

 to which the boards are subjected as to width, with the idea of 

 developing a plan whereby the number of odd widths may be 

 reduced to a minimum. The plan has not yet been worked out to 

 a final conclusion, and to a man up a tree the exact method to be 

 followed does not appear to be plain. However, the fact that 

 efforts are being bent to this end simply goes to show that 

 progressive lumber manufacturers are overlooking no opportunity 

 to cut their stock along scientific, accurate lines, so as to avoid 

 whatever waste can be eliminated. 



The thing to remember in studying the shrinkage problem is 

 that it does nobody any good to send out lumber that is thicker 

 than necessary. On the other hand, it is a positive disadvantage 

 in a large number of cases. For example, a concern which is work- 

 ing up oak, and wants it to finish %-inch, would buy 1-inch lumber, 

 knowing that the additional ^4-inch would take care of the loss 

 in working; but if the lumber actually delivered were Ifs-inch in 

 thickness, it would require just that much more effort and expense, 

 as well as wear and tear on the planer, to dress it down to the 

 , required thickness, and to that extent would be undesirable. 



The error can probably be more safely made on the side of 

 scantiness, in view of the fact that the standard cabinet thickness 

 is il-inch, and hence a furniture manufacturer would probably not 

 object to getting i|-inch lumber for inch. The export trade will 



often receive Vs-ineh or even Ij-inch lumber for inch, though its 

 requirements as to accurate manufacture are strict, so that there 

 are plenty of opportunities to work off stock which has dried a 

 little thinner than the rules and regulations provide, but of course 

 if one is selling inch lumber it is better to have inch lumber to 

 deliver, as by this policy there is no opportunity for misunder- 

 standings to happen. 



Showing the variety of practice on this subject, a recent con- 

 versation participated in by three well-known lumbermen developed 

 the fact that one allowed 3/32-inch for his inch quartered oak and 

 T^-inch for his plain; the second cut all of his oak, both quartered 

 and plain, -["g-inch full, and the third allowed %-inch for oak, poplar 

 and chestnut that he expected to leave on sticks for six months. 



Which had the right idea? G. D. C, Jr. 



A Remedy for Chestnut Blight 



The Pennsylvania Blight Commission, which was appointed to 

 combat the disease which is killing the chestnut in large areas of 

 the East, announces that it has found a cure and a preventative. 

 Up to the present, however, the remedy seems to have been tried 

 only on isolated trees, valuable for shade and ornament, and not 

 on forest-grown chestnut such as exists where this species is lum- 

 bered. The remedy found for park and yard trees will doubtless 

 do the work as well in the forest, provided it is applied in the 

 same way; but the item of cost is a very important matter and it 

 may stand in the way of securing practical results. Nevertheless, 

 any step in the direction of control of the blight will be welcome. 

 If it is effective on a small scale it may be found practicable to 

 apply it under less favorable conditions. 



The spray used is the ordinary Bordeaux mixture, which is lime 

 and copper-sulphate. The blight is due to a fungus which ramifies 

 under the bark and girdles the tree. The spores of the fungus are 

 carried by wind, on the wings and feet of birds, by insects, and 

 doubtless in other ways. It is apparent, therefore, that the fungus 

 will continue to spread as long as the spores are accessible to the 

 agents which carry it, and as long as living chestnut trees are 

 within reach. The proposed remedy aims to destroy the supply, 

 to cure the trees already affected and by that means stop the spread 

 to new grounds. The cure is accomplished by spraying contami- 

 nated trees, and by practicing tree surgery to the extent of re- 

 moving diseased parts which act as centers for the spread of 

 spores. 



The Pennsylvania legislature appropriated $275,000 to meet the 

 expenses of the commission, and about $250,000 of it has been ex- 

 pended in reaching the announced results. The experiments were 

 made in Chester county, Pennsylvania, on trees from sixty-five to 

 one hundred feet high, and it was found necessary to spray from 

 the tops of other trees. The work began in the fall of 1911. Badly 

 diseased branches were removed, and infections on trunks and limbs 

 were removed whenever they were discovered. Mallets and gouges 

 were used to cut awaj' the diseased bark and wood, and the wounds 

 were washed with bichloride of mercury to kill any spores or 

 threads of fungus that might remain on the surface. The wounds 

 were then covered with a weather-proofing consisting of pine tar, 

 lampblack, and creosote, and occasionally rosin was added. Spray- 

 ing began in April, 1912, and continued until November, the same 

 trees being sprayed ten or fifteen times. It was claimed in De- 

 cember, 1912, that fully seventy per cent of the surgical operations 

 had proved successful to the extent that no spores had spread from 

 them; and the tops of the trees showed little or no signs of 

 disease. 



To that extent the remedy appears to have been successful. It 

 is believed by the men in charge that several sprayings in tho 

 course of a season will be found necessary to render a tree im- 

 mune from attack if diseased timber is in the vicinity. It is, of 

 course, not practicable to do this under ordinary forest conditions, 

 but if one step has been successfully taken, it should not be con- 

 sidered impossible to find means of going farther. 



