March 25, 1917 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



^7 



shipments of spruce increased from 194,000 to .'ilD.OOO-J^et. — H— witt-be" 

 noted, moreover, that an advance in the value of the shipments is taking 

 place. Thus the declared value of 48,000 feet of white pine shipped in 

 February, 1916, was only $1,259. against $1,447 for 32,000 feet shipped 

 last month. Now that the British government has decided to keep out all 

 shipments except those tor which special licenses are issued, and which 

 may be regarded as absolutely necessary for certain purposes, a further con- 

 traction in the exports may be looked for. 



Important Arkansas Court Decision 



A decision of far reaching importance to lumber manufacturers of this 

 state was handed down by the supreme court of .\rkansas on Monday, 

 March 12. It was in the case of State vs. Bodcaw Lumber Company, 

 •which come up on appeal from Lafayette circuit court, and was for the 

 collection of back taxes alleged to be due the state by the corporation. 

 The contejQtion of the state was that only the tangible property belonging 

 to the corporation and situated in Arkansas had been assessed by it. 

 ■whereas, the values of the shares of the capital stock should also have 

 been assessed. The state sued for $2.50,000. The lumber company con- 

 tended that to tax its capital stock, the value of which was represented 

 largely by property located outside of the state, would be double taxa- 

 tion. The supreme court held that the stock of a domestic corporation 

 should be taxed in this state, and that for the purpose of determining 

 the value of the capital stock, as embracing all the shares of stock, all the 

 assets of the company, including its investments in real estate in other 

 states, should be Included, omitting, however, the value of the tangible 

 property of the corporation situated within this state, which is assessed 

 and taxed separately. The court said that there was no double taxation 

 in this method as the tax is levied against the corporation and not against 

 the share holders, who are not required to list the shares of stock held 

 by them for assessment. 



This case is of importance to all of the lumber manufacturing corpora- 

 tions as well as all other corporations in this state. It is probable that 

 a number of other suits will be filed in the near future to recover back 

 taxes alleged to be due from them. 



Supplemental Lumber Cut Report 



The Forest Service has sent out a supplemental estimate concerning the 

 lumber production in 1916. A former estimate placed the Increase at 11.2 

 per cent above that of 1915 ; but the later estimate, based on additional 

 data, cuts that estimate down to 9 per cent above the 1915 cut. The larg- 

 est increase is shown on the Pacific Coast where it is placed at 14.1 per 

 cent. On the basis of the estimate, the total lumber output of the coun- 

 try in 1916 was 41,750,000,000 feet. Decrease is shown in Michigan and 

 Missouri. 



Russia in the Lumber Business 



There is no question that the Russians are in earnest about entering the 

 lumber business on an enormous scale. A particular department of that 

 business will have to do with supplying material for rebuilding the de- 

 vastated acres in Europe after the war. To that extent, the Russian tim- 

 ber will become a direct competitor of the .\merican ; for it is well known 

 that the lumbermen of this country are counting on selling large bills of 

 material over there. 



The Russians are taking steps to open up a forest region of approxi- 

 mately 400,000 square miles which has scarcely been touched by the ax. 

 The competition will not be timid. Russia needs money and needs a bal- 

 ance of trade, and the sale of that enormous resource will bring money. It 

 belongs to the government, and every dollar of revenue that can come by 

 that means will lighten by that much the burden of taxation. 



They need mills and lumbering equipment, and that ought to provide a 

 market for what Americans have for sale along that line. The Russians 

 do not intend to export their timber in the form of logs, but will manufac- 

 ture the lumber ready for use. American manufacturers of sawmill sup- 

 plies ought to make the most of this opportunity. 



Douglas Fir for Norwegian Hills l 



Douglas fir is recommended by -Anton E. Smith, chief forester at Stavan- 

 ger, for the reforestation of western Norway, whose former wealth of oak 

 forest was exhausted hundreds of years ago. Mr. Smith is just returning to 

 Norway after a year's study of American softwoods for the Norwegian Gov- 

 ernment. He spent most of his time in Oregon, Washington, British Colum- 

 bia, and Alaska. The climate of western Norway is very similar to that of 

 the states of the Pacific Northwest. Accordingly, Mr. Smith recommends 

 Douglas fir, which, he believes, if planted in Norway, will attain merchant- 

 able size in about eighty years. 



Norway has been cutting very heavily during the last decade, and the 

 Government has taken effective steps to safeguard the nation's timber sup- 

 ply, both by encouraging reforestation and by limiting the cutting to trees 

 above six and three-quarters inches in diameter, measured five feet from the 

 ground. Both pine and spruce are employed for paper making, the principal 

 use to which timber is put. 



Douglas fir is no new thing in Europe. It has teen planted there for 

 timber purposes for generations and has prospered in most places. How- 

 ever, differences in the quality of the wood result there the same as among 

 the fir of natural growth in the United States. 



An Old Sawmill Rebuilt 

 What Is claimed to be the oldest steam sawmill in Mississippi has Just 

 been rebuilt at Natchez by R. F. Learned. The mill performed its work for 



nearly a century, but the local historians down there doubtless mixed their 

 dates when they traced the records back to ISOO and took the boiler and 

 engine from a wrecked steamboat on the Mississippi river. It was not until 

 eleven years after that date that the first steamboat made its-appearance on 

 the Mississippi. It was the year of the earthquake, and the country people 

 attributed the earthquake to the presence of the steamboat. So, the date 

 1800 seems a little early for the Natchez steam mill built from the wreck 

 of a steamboat. 



Ant-Proof Spools Wanted 



Consul Benjamin F. Chase writes from Costa Rico that the manufacturers 

 of wooden spools for use in weaving mills for export to tfopical countries 

 should use some kind of wood that will not be a prey to the ants or other 

 insects. One such wood is bitter cedar. Perhaps there are many other 

 kinds, such as cinchona, or known locally as quinal. Information has been 

 given to the consulate that the spools from the United States are destroyed 

 by ants that eat through the wood and destroy the inner layers of the 

 thread as well. The form of the spool seems all right, but the kind of wood 

 is of apparent importance. 



It might be worth while to try Port Orford cedar, of Oregon, for such 

 spools. The wood is reputed to be proof against the attack of ants. It is 

 a rather fine-grained wood and it might make excellent spools. 



Drying Wood by Steam 



A recent number of the London Timber Trades Journal had an interesting 

 account of drying wood in steam. .\ Frenchman, M. Violette, made the ex- 

 periments. The woods treated were oak, ash, elm, walnut and fir, specimens 

 of which he submitted to the action of a current of steam at a temperature 

 of 100 deg. Centigrade, gradually raising it to the different points of 125 

 deg., 150 deg., 175 deg.. 200 deg., 225 deg., 250 deg., without the addition 

 of any water, so that the vapor was no longer saturated, but was rendered 

 capable of extracting the moisture contained in the wood. Portions of the 

 various woods were weighed and exposed to these 'temperatures for two 

 hours, in closed chambers, and again weighed when cool, in order to find 

 the amount of loss of weight by desiccation. 



This loss was found to increase in a constant ratio, according to the tem- 

 perature ; but great variations were experienced with different woods. At 

 the temperature of 175 deg. elm and oak lost one-third of their weight, 

 and at 250 deg., one-half ; ash and walnut lost one-fifth at "175 deg., and 

 two-fifths at 250 deg. ; and fir, one-sixth and one-third at the same' tem- 

 peratures. Until the heat reached 175 deg. they each preserved their 

 primitive colors, but from that point to 200 deg. a slight change took place. 

 Above 200 deg. the color gradually deepened, and at 250 deg. oak became 

 black. This change of tint indicates the formation of tar in the wood, 

 which seems to be necessary tor its due preservation. 



The particular result of these trials to which we would direct the atten- 

 tion of the worker in wood is the great increase in strength which this 

 treatment causes ; this has been accurately determined at the different de- 

 grees of temperature, showing the remarkable fact that timber may be thus 

 improved in tensile strength to an immense extent. Elm obtains "its maxi- 

 mum point of strength at a temperature between 150 deg. and 175 deg., 

 while that for the other woods varied from 125 deg. to 150 deg. Ash 

 receives an accession of two-thirds its original strength ; oak, five-ninths ; 

 walnut, nearly one-half ; fir, two-fifths, and elm more than one-third. The 

 order of classification here given is according to that of the temperatures. 

 It appears that t^lfe process condenses the fibres, and gives to the wood the 

 properties of solidity and firmness, equalling an amount of outdoor season- 

 ing of a number of years. 



Wood for Automobiles 



So areat is the call for wood tor automobiles, that there is a national 

 organization of lumber buyers in the automobile field, and from this work 

 has grown up a well standardized series of grades of lumber for this use, 

 recognized by the automobile trade though not specifically in the grading 

 rules of manufacturers' associations. The wooden wheel makers have 

 attained remarkable success, both labor and material problems having 

 been handled in such ways that all difficulties have been satisfactorily 

 met. Not only have materials been obtained in abundance to satisfy the 

 present huge demand, but provision has been made for the future. The 

 larger makers of wheels, have reached back from factory to forest. Not 

 only do they own or control vast tracts of standing timber, matured and 

 available as immediate supply, but protection has been given to stands of 

 young timber that will afford adequate supplies a few years hence. 



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Hardwood I^eivs ISfotes 



--<, MISCELLANEOUS >= 



The Key City Furniture Company, Dubuque, Iowa, has sold out. 

 The Ballman Cabinet Company, Cincinnati, 0., lias moved to Coving- 

 ton, Ky. 



The death is announced of J. M. Studebaker, Jr., of the Studebaker 

 Corporation, South Bend, Ind. 



