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THE HARDWOOD RECORD. 



Hardwood Record Mail 'Bag, 



[In this department It Is proposed to reply 

 to such inquiries as reach this office from the 

 Hardwood Kecoed clientage as will be of euough 

 general interest to warrant publication. Every 

 patron of the paper is invited to use this de- 

 partment to the fullest extent ,and an attempt 

 will be made to answer queries pertaining to all 

 matters of interest to the hardwood trade, in 

 a succinct and intelligent manner.] 



About Creosoting Wood. 



Cincinnati, Dec. 12. — Editor Hardwood Rec- 

 ord : One of our Ohio River boat builders de- 

 sires information relative to creosoting timbers 

 as a means of preserving them in water. We 

 understand there is considerable of this being 

 done on government contracts, and if you can 

 give us the names and locations of any plants 

 in operation in this portion of the country It 

 will be a favor. 



Farrin KOBN Lumber Compani. 



The nearest well equipped creosoting 

 plant to Cincinnati is that of the Norfolk 

 Creosoting Company, of Norfolk, Va., of 

 •which Edmund Christian is general man- 

 ager. Mr. Christian is thoroughly posted 

 on both the theory and practice of creosot- 

 ing timber. 



Incident to the observation in our corre- 

 spondent's letter, would say to him that 

 there is no better means of preserving wood 

 than by keeping it constantly immersed in 

 water, unless it is immersed in salt water, 

 where it may become infected with the 

 teredo, which is very destructive to wood. 

 "What contributes most largely to the decay 

 of wood is alternate dampness and dryness. 

 It may be inferred therefore that the creo- 

 soting proposed by our correspondent is for 

 the purpose of preserving wood that is sub- 

 jected to immersion in water only at times. 



The process of commercial creosoting is a 

 very simple one, and consists of super-heat- 

 ing the wood with steam in a closed cylin- 

 der, then pumping out the water, sap, resin, 

 albumen and other substances that contrib- 

 ute to the tree 's growth, and then pumping 

 back into the pores of the wood the dead 

 oil of coal tar. The result of this treat- 

 ment is the filling up of the pores of the 

 wood with a wood preservative. Wood thus 

 treated will last for an indefinite period, 

 when exposed to alternate dampness and 

 dryness. — Editor. 



Constantine Inspection. 



New ORLEAN.S, La.. .Ian. 2. — Editor Hardwood 

 Record : Kindly inform me what is meant by 

 Constantine inspection or measurement, as ap- 

 plied to foreign logs shipped to this country. 



The Constantine system of log measure- 

 ment is one that has been applied largely 

 to mahogany and cedar logs reaching the 

 United States by the way of the port of 

 New York for many years. The larger 

 number of logs of these kinds arriving in 

 the United States are square hewn sticks. 

 In brief, the measurement consists of de- 

 ducting from first-class hewn timber two 

 inches across the entire length of one face, 

 and one inch from the second face at right 

 angles to it. This deduction is made to 

 provide for suitable allowance to straighten 

 the log and to render it free from the hew- 

 er's ax marks. If the log is of what is 

 known as No. 1 quality, this deduction is 

 made and the remainder of the log is count- 

 ed by actual contents. In the event that 

 the log is defective, by reason of a heart 

 hollow, no matter how small it may be, or 

 serious knot defects or splits, the entire 

 contents is measured as one-half. 



The exact modus operandi of this meas- 

 urement is supposed to be a trade secret, 

 owned by the inspection firm of Nesmith & 



Constantine, Seventh and Lewis streets. 

 New York City, who inspect practically all 

 the hewn foreign wood that reaches the 

 New York market. The same firm also 

 stores the logs for various New York con- 

 cerns and foreign wood handlers in other 

 parts of the country. The inspection fees 

 charged are one dollar a thousand feet gross, 

 but there are usually other charges attached 

 by the inspection firm. Hauling to yard is 

 charged for at one dollar a thousand; piling 

 seventy-five cents a thousand; first month's 

 storage one dollar a thouSi.nd; second and 

 subsequent month's storage fifty cents a 

 thousand. 



Shippers of foreign logs to the New York 

 market regard the inspection as compara- 

 tively fair as applied to first quality logs, 

 but there is a good deal of complaint over 

 the deduction of 50 per centum when applied 

 to logs showing little defects. In many 

 cases log measurement is cut straight in 

 halves when the total defect constitutes a 

 very small heart hollow. 



Bound logs reaching the New York mar- 

 ket are inspected on the basis of the Doyle- 

 Scribner rule. — Editor. 



Interior Staining of Maple Plank. 

 Buffalo, N. Y., .Tan. ii.— Editor Hardwood 

 Record : By current mail I am sending you a 

 specimen of hard maple cut out of the center 

 of a three-Inch plauk. You will observe that 

 while the exposed surface of the original plank 

 would Indicate that the wood was perfect In 

 every particular, showing a bright yellow tinge 

 indicative of the best possible handling and sea- 

 soning, that where the fresh crosscut has been 

 made there are bluish stains which would seem 

 to classify the lumber away below what It In- 

 spected on the surface, 1. e., first and seconds. 

 How do you account for this defect and has the 

 quality of the wood been impaired by It? 



This specimen of hard maple is evidently 

 from a tree that was felled somewhat late 

 in the spring, and allowed to lie out in the 

 woods before reaching the saw mill for a 

 longer time than it should. It is apparent 

 that the sap had commenced to sour and 

 that chemical action of the tree-growing 

 qualities of the wood had taken place, which 

 resulted in a slight stain. When this wood 

 was sawed and piled, the chemical action of 

 the sun and the dryness of the atmosphere 

 completely eradicated the defect on the 

 surface, but within the wood there remained 

 more or less stain. In this particular case 

 the stain is so slight that by no possible 

 chance has disintegration of the wood taken 

 place, and therefore the quality has not been 

 impaired for strength. If the three-inch 

 thicknesses are intended for machinery 

 frames or such purposes, there is no prac- 

 tical deterioration in the value, but if it 

 was intended to re-saw the stock for some 

 finer uses, the defect would certainly make 

 it obligatory to pass it to a lower grade. — 

 Editor. 



Hackberry. 



New York, Dec. 26. — Editor Hardwood Rec- 

 ord : I submit to you specimen of foliage, bark 

 and wood of a tree that grows to a considerable 

 size along the Roanoke river in North Carolina. 

 It is known locally as hackberry. What can you 

 tell me about this wood? 



John W. HossEr. 



Botanically, this wood is known as Celtis 

 iccidentalis, Linn. It is of the elm family. 

 In shape it is round topped with spreading 

 branches. It ranges in height from twentv 

 feet to as great as one hundred and forty 



feet. Its range of growth is from the St. 

 Lawrence river westward through Massa- 

 chusetts to northwestern Nebraska, South 

 Dakota, eastern Washington and Oregon, 

 western New Mexico, and south along the 

 Atlantic coast to Florida. In incidental 

 growth it is found in middle Tennessee, 

 northeastern Kansas, Indian Territory, 

 Oklahoma and eastern Texas. It is usually 

 known as the hackberry. In New York 

 and some contiguous sections it is known 

 as sugar berry. In New England and Mich- 

 igan it is called the nettle tree, and in some 

 instances it is referred to as a bastard elm. 



The tree reaches its highest development 

 in the section the correspondent names, — 

 in the Albemarle and Pamlico Sound dis- 

 trict of North Carolina. Its appearance is 

 suggestive of a very old elm. It grows 

 rapidly and displays very great endurance 

 against dry weather. The leaves in autumn 

 turn a light yellow. Its wood is coarsely 

 and rather handsomely grained and rather 

 soft. It is sometimes employed in furniture 

 making, but as it never grows in a compre- 

 hensive forest, and large quantities of it 

 are unavailable, it has never gained any 

 great commercial importance. The wood 

 has a really beautiful grain and resembles 

 somewhat the markings of sycamore, al- 

 though it is not nearly as dense a wood. 



Mr. Hussey also submits a specimen of 

 another wood which from the small piece it 

 is hard to identify, but undeniably it is one 

 of the gums, very likely the tupelo gum, 

 which has come into considerable commer- 

 cial importance during the past year or two. 

 —Editor. 



What Has Become of the Cottonwood Asso- 

 ciation? 

 CuicAQO, Dec. 31. — Editor Hardwood Record : 

 Do you know who is the secretary of the Cot- 

 tonwood Manufacturers' Association, and can 

 you give me any information as to whether It 

 will take in concerns like ours? I have an Idea 

 it would be a good thing for us to join this 

 association if It Is possible for us to do so. Any 

 information you can give us will be appreciated. 



The Cottonwood Manufacturers' Associa- 

 tion, so far as is known, is out of existence. 

 It is reported to have naturally disappeared 

 some years ago. There was an attempt to 

 revive it last summer, but so far as can be 

 learned, no prominent Cottonwood produc- 

 ers know anything about this having been 

 accomplished. — Editor. 



The Hotel Wlalton. 

 As will bo seen by an advertisement in 

 this issue of the Habdwood Record, the 

 Hotel Walton is making a bid for a share 

 of the convention business at the annual 

 meeting of the National Wholesale Lumber 

 Dealers' Association, which takes place at 

 Philadelphia on Thursday and Friday, March 

 2 and 3. The Hotel Walton, ever since it 

 was erected, nine years ago, has been a ver- 

 itable Mecca for all lumbermen visiting the 

 Quaker City. The hotel is one of the finest 

 in the country, and the management is most 

 excellent, cuisine exceptionally good, and the 

 attention marked with extreme courtesy. The 

 building is fire-proof, and stands diagonally 

 across south Broad St., from the Bellevue- 

 Stratford, in which the meetings of the con- 

 vention will be held. 



