14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



coffins themselves. Th„ best -wooden roof 

 covering is cedar shingles. It is also an 

 excellent flooring, but neither shingles nor 

 flooring arc now made in eommeif.isl quan- 

 tities. 



Almost every southe'-u family has * red 

 cedar wafer bucket somewhere upon the 

 premises, while churns made of it seem to 

 turn out better buttermilk than any other 

 kind. At Nashville, in the heart of thb 

 red cedar country, is found the only red 

 cedar woodenware factory in the world, 

 that of the Prewitt-Spurr Manufacturing 

 Company. This concern was established in 

 1866 and its owners and managers are per- 

 haps the best posted people on this wood, 

 and the largest distributors of its products. 

 The biggest and likewise the smallest cedar 

 buckets in the world are on exhibition at 

 their plant. The large one, exhibited at 

 the World's Fair and pictured herewith, is 

 six feet tall, measures eight feet across the 

 top and stands on a bottom six feet wide. 

 It holds 1,27.'5 gallons and is perfectly 

 shaped. The brass hoops measUre six 

 inches in width and the handle is twenty-six 

 inches long by eight in diameter. The 

 staves are six inches thick. Every part 

 was carefully selected from the choicest 

 timber. 



JIany years ago it was possible to se- 

 cure a cedar log that would cut out six 

 pieces of timber eighteen inches wide, an 

 inch and a half thick and sixteen feet 

 long, each plank absolutely perfect. This 

 has been done out of forty-inch logs. Now, 

 however, dealers are satisfied with logs 

 fourteen and even nine inches in diam- 

 eter. It seems only a question of a few 

 years when the supply of red cedar will 

 practically be exhausted. At present dealers 

 are hauling logs a distance of twenty miles 



to railroad and river. So expensive has 

 cedar become that other woods are being 

 substituted. Black locust is used for posts 

 and chestnut for poles, the ends that go 

 in the ground being creosoted. So-called 

 red cedar shingles are being shipped from 

 the Pacific Coast. They are made of an- 

 other and inferior species, and are not gen- 

 uine red cedar. 



Red cedar is now selling for from thirty 

 to forty cents a cubic foot and the price is 

 constantly advancing. Near the center of 

 Wilson county, Tennessee, is the little city 

 of Lebanon, so named years ago, on ac- 

 count of .the immense quantity of red cedar 

 found about the place. In 1900 from two 

 to three million feet of the timber were 

 rafted down the Cumberland river, but no 

 large amount of it since. 



Concerning the pictures which accompany 

 this article, the large one appearing on the 

 first page illustrates the general appear- 

 ance of red cedar in open field growth un- 

 der its best conditions, and is employed 

 owing to the fact that a forest growth 

 photograph was not available. The two 

 rows of stately cedars along one of the 

 most famous drives in Tennessee, shown in 

 another picture, are those along the road- 

 way leading to the Hermitage, the home of 

 President Andrew Jackson. It is twelve 

 miles from Nashville, on the Lebanon road. 

 At the end of the row of trees can be seen 

 the former residence of "Old Hickory." 

 Another picture is of the largest cedar 

 bucket in the world, the dimensions and 

 history of which are fully given in an 

 earlier paragraph. The other illustration 

 .shows with fidelity the ordinary type of 

 red cedar field growth, as it is found in the 

 middle South, and the sketch is of a bit 

 of red cedar foliage. 



Hardwood Record JMail Bag. 



[In this department It Is proposed to reply 

 to such Inquiries as reach this office from the 

 Uabdwood Record clientage as will be of enough 

 general Interest to wari*aDt publication. Every 

 patron of the paper 's invited to use this de- 

 partment to the fuik-st extfnt. and an attempt 

 will be made to answer queries pertaining to all 

 matters of Interest to the hardwood trade, In 

 a succinct and Intelllisent manner.! 



The Pittsburg Fuel Company. 

 Several cUents of tlie Hakdwood Kecord 

 have made inquiries during the past few days 

 concerning the Pittsburg Fuel Company, with 

 offices at 612 and 614 Bijou building, Pitts- 

 burg. One of these inquiries was published 

 in the last issue of the Hardwood Record. 

 From information that has been received 

 from Pittsburg and from other sources there 

 is nothing very definite known about the per- 

 gonal character or responsibility of this con- 

 cern or its members. Its stationery does not 

 show any individual or individuals who are 

 responsible for it, nor docs it indicate 

 whether it is a stock company or a partner- 

 ship. One authority states that Louis N. 

 Sturnman is proprietor and that .1. C. Harris 

 is manager. It is further alleged that tlie 



basiness was established by D. P. Evans, of 

 Jeanette, Pa., and that he disposed of the 

 business to Sturnman. Sturnman is said to 

 lie a young man formerly engaged as a travel- 

 ing salesman, and there has been no evi- 

 (U'nce tliiis far presented that he owns any 

 [iropcrty or from what source, if any, his 

 concern is capitalized. 



In some quarters it has been hinted that 

 the too-well-known C. J. Imel may be in some 

 way associated with this enterprise. It is 

 known that the concern has been sending out 

 letters piomiscuously soliciting stocks of 

 lumber without giving any commercial refer- 

 ences. One letter of this sort in the posses- 

 sion of the n.\RDW00D Record is signed with 

 a rubber stamp, "Pittsburg Fuel Company," 

 aud initialed with the letters "J. AV." 



The J. C. Harris mentioned is believed to 

 be identical with the J. C, Harris who at one 

 time was a partner in the firm of S. S. Spiro, 

 alleged wholesale lumber dealers at Columbus, 

 O., which ended in disaster, at least to people 

 who sold it lumber. 



From even the above information it wiU 

 not bo necessary to warn the readers of the 

 Hardwood Record against any transactions 

 with the Pittsburg Fuel Company unless fur- 

 ther investigation demonstrates that it has 

 more responsibility than is known at the 

 present time. 



Hardwood Lumber Going into Export. 

 Chicago, Feb. 15. — Editor Harliwuod Uecuiid : 

 Can you give me statistics of the quantity of 

 li.irdwood lumber going into export in this coun- 

 try for a number of years? 



The only source of information showing 

 the quantity of hardwood lumber going into 

 export from this country is the bureau of sta- 

 tistics of the United States Department of 

 Commerce and Labor. This bureau does not 

 separate the various kinds of wood in its 

 tables. The following figures show the total 

 quantities of lumber, timber and logs that 

 were exported during the years 1903, 1904 

 and 1905, with their values. It may be esti- 

 mated that the hardwood exports constituted 

 about fifty per cent of the quantity of lum- 

 ber shown, perhaps twenty per cent of the 

 hewn timber, and twenty-five per cent of the 

 round logs. The larger proportion of wood 

 exports from this country is made up of 

 long and short leaf yellow pine with a com- 

 paratively small proportion of white pine 

 luinljer and white pine waney board timber. 

 1003. 



Sawed lumber. 367,351,000 ft. iJS.SlO.iTi 



Hewn timber In 



cubic feet... 4,003.581 070,701 



Logs, etc 4.850,000 



1004. 



Siiwed lumber. 506,607,000 ft. .'57.705,386 



852,716 

 3,452,375 



Hewn timber in 



cubic feet... 3,632,817 



Logs, etc 



1005. 

 Sawed lumber. 403,787,000 ft. .$7,021,017 

 Hewn timber in 



cubic feet... 3,381,663 771,301 



I;cigs, etc 3,160.012 



Persimmon Shuttle Blocks. 



The Hardwood Record is iu receipt of the 

 following letter, in response to a request for 

 information regarding the manufacture of 

 shuttle blocks and other articles out of persim- 

 mon, which appeared in the issue of Jan. 25 : 



Nkw York. Feb. 15. — Editor Hardwoiii> 

 ItECOKD : In reply to your hKiiiiiy for Infonnn 

 tion on the subject of persimmon cuttings, wovibl 

 say that this wood is used largely for shoe lasts 

 and shuttle blocks. There are probably from i 

 (Itty to a hundred different dimensions used for ' 

 shuttle biocl<s, but tlie few sizes following will 

 give an Idea of the dimensions required : IS and 

 20 Inch X 2 Inch x 2Vj Inch; 21 Inch x 2', 

 Incli X 2% inch; 24 inch x 2Vi Inch x 3 inch. 

 Tlie sizes wanted vary from time to time aiirl 

 have to be cut specially to order. These plen 

 must be without black heart, absolutely fr. , 

 from all defects, and thoroughly dry. Trusting 

 this Information Is what you want, 



- — ■ • Company. 



The Hardest of Hardwood. 



318 St. I'AUL St., Uai.timori:, Mn., Feb. 1!). — 

 Editor Hardwood Kkcord : Can you give me any 

 liifiirniatlon as to the hardest of hardwoods, or 

 advise inc where such Information can be ob- 

 tiilned? — Francis G. IlKRirroBO. 



Tho hardest hardwood used commercially 

 is popularly supposed to be lignum vittc; 

 however, an authority on this subject is the 

 Mnrtin-Bariss Company of Cleveland, O., 

 which is a large handler of this class of ma- 

 terial. This company, it is presumed, will be 

 glad to supply any necessary additional in- 

 formation. — Editor. 



