April 3 0, 1917 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



31 



Forestry in Pennsylvania 



The report of the Pennsylvania state forest service for Wl*15>15 has 

 been published in book form, 244 pages. Much of the report is devoted to 

 the personnel of the service and the management of the property. That 

 state is a leader among the states in forestry work. It owns large tracts 

 of land and is planting young trees in large numbers, besides taking care 

 of those which nature planted. The legislatures of Pennsylvania have 

 been liberal and broad-minded in supporting the forest service of the 

 state. The waste tracts in the lumbering and mining districts are being 

 put to work growing timber for the people who will need it in years 

 to come. 



Unique Forestry School 

 The Lincoln Memorial University at Cumberland Gap, Tenn., has in- 

 augurated a unique forestry school for the benefit of the young men of 

 that region who intend to follow lumbering in any of its branches. It 

 is a one-year course, divided in four terms of three months each, so 

 arranged that each term is measureably complete in itself. The object 

 of that arrangement is to give something to each pupil, though he may not 

 attend the whole year. Each term will round out some particular course 

 of instruction which will equip the student for work along that line. It 

 is not intended to turn out technical foresters, but rather men who want 

 to prepare themselves for better work than the untrained man is able 

 to do. The plan was worked out after consulting with the United States 

 Forest Service. 



Lumber Aid Offered in Ship Building 



"The lumber industry of America will do anything in its power to help 

 the government in the international crisis, and that utmost will not be 

 small. I personally will give my services to this board, if I can be used, 

 for any purpose whatsoever, if nothing more than going to mills and in- 

 specting lumber, needed by this government." 



This was the announcement to the federal shipping board by R. H. 

 Downman of New Orleans, president of the National Lumber Manufac- 

 turers' Association, and also executive head of the cypress manufacturers 

 with their great interests in the South. Mr. Downman strongly urged the 

 immediate expansion of the wooden shipbuilding industry, because of the 

 speed with which wooden ships could be turfled out to fill any void caused 

 by submarine activities. Mr. Downman told the members of the shipping 

 board that there is plenty of lumber in sight, and the board was inclined to 

 go deeply into the suggestion that by adopting a standardized design of 

 wooden ship, the mills of the entire nation can rapidly cut ship timbers of 

 the uniform specifications, and thus greatly speed up the building of 

 ships. 



Estimates by the shipping board of the cost of wooden ships were that 

 they could be constructed for from $75 to $100 per capacity ton, as com- 

 pared with $200 for the steel ships. The best estimates made at the con- 

 ference were that 1,000 large wooden ships could be built tor $200,000,- 

 000. Canada already has contracts for $200,000,000 worth of wooden 

 ships, nearly all of wood, and the United States has infinitely greater 

 manufacturing capacity. The ships as a rule will be schooner rigged, with 

 auxiliary power. Maine can build 50 at a time, and if Canadian contracts 

 under war conditions are a good criterion these ships can be completed in 

 two months. The Pacific coast yards are already, with no speeding-up 

 campaign started, building 6S vessels. The gulf coast capacity was not 

 stated in figures, but will be large. The great lakes can also aid in this 

 construction. 



Fiji Islands Have Timber 



Consul A. A. Winslow, Aukland, New Zealand, says that according to 

 recent published reports, the Fiji Islands contain extensive and valuable 

 forests that are available for development. They are said to contain 

 woods equal to Mexican mahogany, Circassian walnut, kauri, etc., and in 

 large quantities. 



One firm is reported to have obtained a concession covering about 

 .300,000 acres on one island that iS estimated to contain 700,000,000 feet 

 of high-grade lumber, with an annual local consumption of abijut 11,- 

 500,000 feet, of which about 4,000,000 feet go into shocks for banana 

 shipments. 



It is stated that logging operations are rather difficult but not insur- 

 mountable, but capital 'is necessary to bring about the best results. It is 

 estimated that the average landed cost of imported lumber is $3.5 per 

 thousand feet, which could be supplied in the country if the proper mills 

 were installed. There is plenty of cheap labor to develop the industry. 



Departure in Rattan Furniture 



A recent trade report by Consul George E. Anderson, Hongkong, China, 

 says that the successful manufacture and shipment to the United States 

 of knocked down or semi-manufactured rattan furniture has been com- 

 menced in Hongkong and exporters expect a Ing^ehange in the course of 

 the rattan furniture trade in consequence. It has been found imprac- 

 ticable to make and ship all models of such furniture, but in a general 

 way furniture composed of rectangular parts may be made in parts here 

 and shipped to be fully constructed in the United States. Inasmuch as 

 most of present-day American style models of such furniture, both in 

 the way of chairs, settees, tables, and various other pieces of furniture 

 are made upon such lines, this necessity of the exporter fits in with the 

 needs of the importer. Whereas about four pieces of ordinary rattan 

 furniture average a ship's ton, 10 pieces of knocked-down furniture can 

 be packed in the same space and be shipped for the same freight. Since 



freight is the largest single item in the cost of such goods in the United 

 — Sfates, usually being equal to the original cost in Hongkong, the effect 

 of this saving on such goods is evident. 



Western Lumber Methods 



Swift Berry of the United States Forest Service is the author of 

 Bulletin 440 with the title : "Lumbering in the Sugar and Yellow Pine 

 Region of California." It is a pamphlet of 100 pages, well written and 

 handsomely illustrated, and for persons interested in the subject, it 

 should prove of great value. It will interest the general reader as a 

 contribution to current industrial history, for that is really what the 

 bulletin is. It enters into details of timber supply, logging, and sawing 

 of the two principal pines of the Pacific coast. The lumber from those 

 pines is finding its way in large amounts into markets a long distance 

 east of the Rocky Mountains. 



High Rates Hurt American Lumber 

 Consul G. E. Anderson, reporting trade conditions at Hong Kong, China, 

 says that on account of excessive sea rates on lumber from the United 

 States, the sales of Douglas fir in that part of the Orient are decreasing, 

 and the deficiency is being made up by Philippine woods and a little from 

 Indo China and Japan. He says that it is uncertain whether the 

 American product can win back what it has lost when freight rates again 

 fall to normal. The mills in the forest are improving their methods of 

 saW'ing and conditioning lumber in order to compete with the American 

 product, and it is not known whether they will be able to hold the 

 markets or not, but they are preparing to hold them. 



Our Lumber Shipments to Belligerents 



Our lumber trade with the belligerent nations has not wholly disap- 

 peared, according to the latest government report, which was for .Tauuar.v 

 of this year. Following are the values of lumber shipments for January : 



France $ 7S,20G 



Italv 65,724 



United Kingdom 334,703 



Canada 230,180 



Total $708,813 



In addition to the foregoing, round and square timber was shipped in 

 the following values to these belligerents. 



France $ 9,658 



Italy 40.473 



United Kingdom 58,673 



10,.""" 



Canada 



1,382 



Wood in its manufactured form, not Including lumber, was shipped as 

 below : 



United Kingdom $ 896 



Canada 40,396 



January Lumber Exports 

 The export of forest products from the United States to foreign countries 

 during January, 1917, is summarized in the list which follows : 



Value Value 



Round logs $ 42,436 Doors, sash, and blinds. . 24,562 



Firewood 19,255 Furniture 333.303 



Square timber 185,291 Empty barrels 80,368 



Sawed lumber 1.873,705 Incubators 10.338 



Railroad ties 221,746 House fillings 32,340 



Shingles 9,541 Woodenware 23.746 



Box shooks 164,564 Woodpulp 187,129 



Barrel shooks 135,891 All other 679,217 



Staves 3.50,340 



Heading 12,389 Total $4,.->98,867 



All other lumber $ 212,778 Total in January, 1916. .$4,640,060 



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-< MISCELLANEOUS > 



Paul P. Rover, Fred A. Day, John C. Robinson, Jr., and Stanley E. 

 Bowdie recently organized the Bay Wood Heel Company at Cincinnati, O. 

 The company is capitalized at $10,000. 



The Wabash Cabinet Company, Wabash, Ind., has increased its capital 

 from $150,000 to $325,000. 



At Grand Rapids, Mich., the London Manufacturing Company has been 

 incorporated with $20,000 capital to manufacture show cases. The in- 

 corporators are A. T. Moore, Claude P. Wukes and Ray W. Harris. 



Lee Wilson & Co. (Inc.), Wilson, Ark., have surrendered their charter, 

 but the business will be carried on as heretofore. 



The Newman Lumber and Supply Company of Detroit, Mich., has be- 

 come bankrupt, as has the Cairns Woodworking Company of East Hart- 

 ford, Conn. 



At Vevay, Ind., the Union Furniture Company has gone out of busi- 

 ness. 



The entire plant of the Kahler Company at New .\lbany, Ind., was re- 

 cently destroyed by a tornado. 



The Baker-Matthews Lumber Company has been incorporated under the 

 same name at Slkeston, Mo., with $30,000 capital. 



Walter L. Dewitt, who carried on a wholesale and commission business 

 at Traverse City, Mich., has removed to Oconto, Wis. 



The Abingdon Column and Lumber Company of Abingdon, Va., has been 



