14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Fi'bruary 10. 1017 



can. They co-operate only to the extent of exchanging information 

 of what is past, and each does the best he can to improve his oppor- 

 tunities. No man hides from his competitors what he has already 

 done, and every man is free to judge the future by the past. 



This is association work of the highest order, based on general and 

 precise information, and on a -nillingness to deal openly and fairly 

 with competitors. What helps or hurts one member of such an asso- 

 ciation, helps or hurts the whole association, because all members are 

 sailing in the same boat. The manufacturers ' association has fathered 

 one of the most vital functions open to association activity. In adopt- 

 ing this plan, even if there were not a solitary additional purpose 

 behind the organization, it deserves to thrive. 



Beginning at Jerusalem 



THE GUM MANUFACTURERS BELIEVE IN THE POLICY 

 of beginning at Jerusalem. The meaning of that proverb is that 

 it is best to secure all results attainable near at hand before going 

 far away to look for others. When the European war began, the 

 glim people were exporting 80,000,000 feet of lumber yearly. That 

 disappeared at once. 



Already the home market was over-supplied, as was supposed, and 

 the prospect looked slim for finding buyers in this country to take up 

 what could no longer be sent abroad. However, that was the only 

 chance, and a campaign was undertaken for the purpose of increasing 

 sales at home. 



Secretary Pricliard 's report, read at the annual gum meeting at 

 Memphis last month, stated that during the year 1916 the sales of gum 

 lumber increased in the United States more than 100,000,000 feet. 

 That made good what was lost abroad with twenty million to spare. 

 It paid in this case to ' ' begin at Jerusalem. ' ' The market was right 

 at hand, and all that was necessary was to go out to take it. It would 

 have required a long time and a great effort to have developed so 

 large a market for gum in any or all of the foreign lands of the world. 

 It is interesting to note that this is not the first experience gum 

 has had in finding home markets to offset markets lost abroad. Years 

 ago when wood paving blocks were beginning to come into use on a 

 large scale, gum rose to sudden popularity abroad, chiefly in London. 

 Large orders were sold, and in anticipation of other large orders, 

 operators in this country girdled trees to have them season while 

 standing by the time the orders should come. The orders never came. 

 An Australian wood beat gum in the foreign paving block market, 

 and the American dealers were left with thick lumber or deadened trees 

 on hand. 



At that time there was little demand for gimi in the United States ; 

 but the men who had this wood for sale went out and created a market 

 that sufficed to absorb the stock on hand. That relieved them of their 

 immediate burden, but it did more. It was the real beginning of 

 gum's popularity in this country. From that beginning the demand 

 has grown to its present dimensions. 



The lesson might be studied with profit by manufacturers of other 

 kinds of lumber. There may be room in the home market to increase 

 their business more than they think. 



Poisoning the Food Supply 



THE AMERICAN WOOD PRESERVERS' ASSOCIATION has 

 published its handbook for the year 1916. It contains a history 

 of wood preservation and a description of many methods of combating 

 decay in timbers. ExpiTts and specialists in the past have had much 

 to say of conservation and reforestation ; of planting trees, discourag- 

 ing the poor kinds and encouraging only the best, in order that the 

 supply of timber may not fail. That is all very weO ; but the real 

 timber conservationist at the present time is the wood preserver. We 

 need not wait a century for his results; for he has a method by which 

 the service of our present timber supply can be increased a hundred 

 per cent. He does not make two trees grow where one grew before, 

 but he makes one tree go as far as two went before. 



This remarkable result is brought about by the judicious use of 

 poison. It is accomplished by poisoning the food supply of certain 

 low orders of plants that grow within the wood and cause its decay. 



Poison injected into the wood enters the starches and sugar on which 

 the decay-producing fungus feeds, and death of the fungus results, 

 and decay is checked or prevented from starting. 



Vaccination of hmnan beings to prevent smallpox is a similar 

 process. Wood is "vaccinated" to prevent the disease known as 

 decay. Before the discovery of vaccination, smallpox raged un- 

 checked and caused enormous loss of life. It is now under control in 

 all civilized countries. In the same way can decay in timber be 

 cheeked, though wood exposed under conditions favorable to decay 

 cannot be rendered perpetually immune. That is because the poison 

 which is forced into the wood cells and other cavities where the food 

 of the fungus is stored, does not remain always. It finally washes 

 out and disappears, and when that happens decay can make hea<lway, 

 but not till then. 



It would be difficult to overestimate the money value of wood pres- 

 ervation when applied to timbers in situations where decay is liable 

 to become active, that is, in damp places, such as are occupied by rail- 

 way ties, poles, posts, piling, wharfs, platforms, roofs, and paving 

 blocks. By injecting this poison, the period of service of such timbers 

 as are commonly used for these purposes is doubled. That increased 

 service is worth a great deal in dollars and cents. It is important from 

 the standpoint of conservation; for the same service may be had by 

 using only half as much timber as would be called for if used in its 

 natural condition. 



Fortunately, the woods which need preservative treatment most, 

 receive it most readily. This holds for sapwood of all species. It is 

 subject to quick decay if untreated; but it lasts a long time if sub- 

 jected to a good process. Many woods which last only a short time 

 in damp situations, in their natural state, have their ser\'ice doubled 

 or trebled if injected with proper poison. 



It is fortunate that the plants known as fungi, which are respon- 

 sible for decay ot wood, are so susceptible to poison that they cannot 

 grow in its presence or thrive on food tainted vrith it. The knowledge 

 of that fact is worth millions to the wood users of this country. It 

 nearly doubles the quantity of timlier available, by rendering fit many 

 species formerly of no value, and it doubles the period of service of 



nianv others. 



Exploiting the White Ant 



MANUFACTURERS OF METAL FURNITURE ARE using the 

 white ant as an argument for their product. They advertise their 

 furniture as being proof against the gnawing proclivities of these 

 terrible termites. The propaganda is spread through tropical coun- 

 tries where ants are destructive of everything wooden, and the point 

 of the argument is seen at once by the prospective purchaser of 

 furniture. 



The report by Roger E. Simmons on the ravages of white ants in 

 parts of South America is used as a text by the sellers of metal fur- 

 niture in those and similar countries. It is an argument which will 

 be pretty hard to answer by the manufacturers of wooden furniture 

 who attempt to do business in the ant-infested countries. No eflScient 

 and practicable method has yet been discovered for proofing furniture 

 and interior finish against the white ant. Preservative treatment of 

 the wood with creosote or some similar poison will help. The termite 

 has no palate for the poison; but it is diflicult or impossible to give 

 preservative treatment to furniture without lowering the value of the 

 article on account of discoloration or disagreeable odor. 



A few woods are reputed to be naturally ant proof. Lignum vitae 

 is said to be so; but this is a rather expensive wood and otherwise is 

 not very desirable for furniture. Its hardness alone puts it out of 

 consideration in most instances. There are several woods in the Phil- 

 ippines which are reputed to be proof against the white ant, and some 

 of the eucalypti of Australia have the same reputation. The western 

 coast of the United States has one wood for which the claim is made 

 that ants will not touch it when it is used in regions infested by these 

 insects. This is the Port Orford cedar which is found in great al)un- 

 dance on the shores of Coos bay, Oregon. It is not a figured wood, 

 nor is it highly colored; but it is valuable for boatbuilding, interior 

 finish, house siding, flooring, and for several otlier purposes. Possibly 

 it would fill a place in certain lines of furniture that would sell in th& 

 termite regions of the tropics. 



