30 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



detailed information concerning the channels of use into which the 

 wood may be directed is being disseminated. Actual tests are 

 also being made to show the lack of foundation for certain preju- 

 dices which exist against the blight-killed timber in some sections. 

 Similar studies have been made where large areas of timber have 

 been killed by fires in the West. 



Large quantities of low-grade lumber are used in the form of 

 both outside and inside scaffolding in the construction of buildings 

 or interior decoration. Recently several forms of patented scaf- 

 folding have been placed on the market, some of which offer so 

 many advantages, including greatly reduced cost over present 

 forms of lumber scaffolding, that their growing use is certain. These 

 patented forms are used repeatedly. The Forest Service has under 

 way an investigation from which it is planned to estimate the 

 amount of lumber used in scaffolding and to study the different 

 patented substitutes. Lumbermen themselves can offer one substi- 

 tute which can be used more cheaply than the present forms. I 

 refer to the poles scaffolding used almost exclusively in European 

 countries. Instead ox dimension timbers fastened by nails for this 

 temporary work, long, light poles are readily put up and fastened 

 by various simple devices other than nails or spikes. This pole 

 framework carries the same plank floors used with the present 

 dimension timber scaffolding. The material is used repeatedly and 

 if generally introduced would furnish a brisk market for long, 

 light poles with a butt diameter not exceeding from four to seven 



inches. European building contractors carry a large stock of 

 these poles. 



The Forest Products Laboratory has a large corps of experts and 

 is working upon the very problems which the preceding discussion 

 has shown to be vital to a rapidly increasing utilization of waste 

 by chemical industries. New woods are being tried out under the 

 different processes such as in the production of paper pulp for 

 wood distillation, alcohol, etc. Timber strength tests to show the 

 comparative value of every commercial wood in the United States 

 are being made. 



An expensive equipment was installed last summer to investi- 

 gate fully the production of alcohol from sawdust by the most im- 

 proved processes. An improved type of dry kiln has been invented 

 and tried out with most satisfactory results, and exact data on 

 the relative durability of different woods and the value of different 

 preserving chemicals is being determined by actual tests of the 

 material in railway track, pole lines, wharves, etc. 



A French process for the cheap preservation of poles has been 

 successfully introduced into the national forests and will be tried 

 out in the South. It is believed that loblolly pine poles can 'be 

 made decay resistant ten or twelve years at small expense by thia 

 process. 



The Forest Service hopes that lumbermen will follow these in- 

 vestigations closely, aid with their advice, and take full advantage 

 of the results. 



X:roiiaiiaiK>yiKiro^6Witi>5W6ii^^ 



Forest Products of Canada 



The Department of the Interior of Canada, through its forestry 

 branch, has published bulletins 34 and 35, the former giving sta- 

 tistics of the output of lumber, lath, and shingles, for 1911, and 

 the latter the production of erossties and poles for the same period. 

 The reports were compiled by E. H. Campbell, director of forestry. 



The figures for lumber are taken from the reports of 2,871 firms 

 operating sawmills in Canada. That was an increase of 108 firms 

 over 1910, the increase occurring in every province except Alberta 

 and Quebec. It was greatest in Nova Scotia. The total value of 

 lumber, lath and shingles produced in 1911 was $82,321,664, the 

 items being, lumber $75,830,954, square timber $766,406, shingles 

 $3,512,078, and lath $2,212,226. 



The lumber cut was largest in Ontario, second in British Colum- 

 bia, and decreased in the other provinces in the order named: 

 Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, 

 Alberta, Prince Edward Island. The total in Canada was 4,918,- 

 202,000 feet, which was an increase of 466,550,000 feet over 1910. 

 The average mill in 1911 cut 1,713,000 feet, against 1,611,000 feet 

 for 1910. The mill price of lumber, averaged for all kinds and in all 

 proviuces, was thirty-nine cents per thousand less than in 1910. 

 The following table gives the average value at the mill of the 

 twenty-six kinds of wood lumbered in Canada. They are named 

 in the order of their rank in production beginning with the 

 highest: 



Spruce $13.65 



White pine 20.01 



Douglas fir 13.94 



Hemlock 12.65 



Cedar 14.86 



Red or Norway pine 17.68 



Birch (cliiefly yellow birch) 17.04 



Tamarack 13.95 



Western yellow pine 15.22 



Balsam fir 12.16 



Maple 19.33 



Basswood 19.69 



Jack pine 13.80 



Elm 19.26 



Ash 18.74 



Cottonwood and Aspen 15.24 



Beech 14.47 



Oak 28.57 



Chestnut 22.7S 



Hickory 29.4S 



Walnut 20.45 



Butternut 21.22 



Cherry 28.6S 



Yellow poplar 19.43 



Sycamore 20.26 



Sassafras 12.00 



There was a decrease from 1910 to 1911 of almost fifty per cent in 

 the cut of beech, basswood, and balsam fir. Eight other woods 

 showed a decrease, while hickory, walnut, and cherry increased. 

 There was considerable decline in the average price of white pine 

 and Douglas fir, but an increase in quantity for both of these. 

 White X)ine decreased in mill price 40 cents and Douglas fir, $1.51. 

 A somewhat remarkable falling off in mill prices occurred with 

 three common hardwoods, hickory, walnut and yellow poplar. The 

 first was $10.31 cheaper in 1911 than in 1910; the second, $18.81 

 cheaper; the third, $10.57 cheaper. 



The annual cut of spruce in Canada is less than 200,000,000 feet 

 below the cut in the United States, and Canada's output of balsam 

 fir is 74,580,000 feet greater than that of the United States. 



The cut of softwoods exceeds the hardwood output fifteen fold. 

 In the United States the hardwood output is one-fifth that of soft- 

 wood. The hardwood which is cut in largest quantity in Canada 

 is birch, principally yellow birch, followed in the order named by 

 maple, basswood, elm, ash, aspen and Cottonwood, yellow poplar, 

 beech, oak and chestnut. The output of oak lumber in Canada is 

 less than 8,000,000 feet. This is not two per cent of the cut of oak 

 in Tennessee or in West Virginia. Any one of twenty-seven states 

 in this country exceeds the cut of oak in the whole of Canada. 

 The annual production of ash in the United States is seven times 

 that of Canada. Hickory and bla,ck walnut are almost extinct 

 in that country. A little yellow poplar is sawed on the north shore 

 of Lake Erie, and some cherry is found in Ontario and Quebec, 

 but the whole Canadian output of cherry is only one-eighteenth 

 that of the United States. All the sassafras reported was cut by a 

 single mill north of Lake Erie. 



During the year 1911, Canada exported the equivalent of about 

 14,000,000 feet, board measure, of square timber, chiefly birch, 

 white pine, and elm. The trade in square logs has been declining 



