24 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



supplies of black walnut logs have been light and large, prime wood 

 is actively inquired for; ii iilack walnut lumber the demand has been 

 moderate and the market is firm. It notes that there is an improved 

 demand for prime, clean hickory butt logs; in oak boards the market 

 is very dull in all departments; there is a slightly increased inquiry, 

 but values are not on a remunerative basis for cabinet oak planks; 

 the market for oak coffin planks continues quiet, but the prospective 

 demand for first-class shipments is better. In oak wagon planks the 

 prospects arc more encouraging in view of slightly improved demand. 

 The market in poplar logs remains dull, and the trade in poplar 

 lumber is quiet and too n.uoli pressure made to sell. The market in 

 red gum remains imchanged. 



There is apparently nothing in the English situation to warrant 

 additional shipments of any variety of American logs or lumber at 

 the present time, and consignments are especially to be deprecated 



New Schools of Forestry 



Growing interest in not only forestry pursuits but in the training 

 of young men for various lines of work in connection with the 

 forest and with lumbering operations is manifest by the constantly 

 increasing number of forest schools of various types. 



In addition to the famous Biltmore Forest School, of which Dr. 

 C. A. Schenck is conductor, Tale University has a very complete 

 school of forestry, as has the University of Michigan; and a large 

 number of state agricultural colleges throughout the country 

 maintain forest schools. 



Among the more recent additions to forest schools is "Wyman's 

 School of the Woods" at Munising, Mich., which is conducted by 

 Thomas B. Wyman, a Biltmore Forest School graduate. This school 

 was organized two years ago and its work is carried on in the 

 forest surrounding Munising in all directions. There certainly is 

 a good opportunity to study northern timber and lumber operations 

 and manufacture in that region. Mr. Wyman has had considerable 

 practical experience as forester for the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Com- 

 pany, and he believes that a thorough knowledge of forestry work 

 comes only through a practical, everyday contact with woods 

 life. Mr. Wyman already has enrolled a considerable number of 

 students in his new enterprise, and just now is attempting to put 

 the school on a good financial basis by selling stock in his 

 enterprise. 



Hakdwood Record is in receipt of a letter from Frank Ci. Miller, 

 dean of the University of Washington, at Seattle, in which he 

 announces a new course in connection with that university of log- 

 ging engineering and forestry, which this year is being offered for 

 the first time. It is proposed to put this department of the uni- 

 versity on a practical basis. 



There is also received at this office a letter from P. T. Coolidge, 

 director of Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Col., announcing 

 a Ranger Course offered by the O rado School of Forestry. 



Meeting of the Implement and Vehicle Men 



It is to be regretted that nianj- lumbermen interested in asso- 

 ciation work were not p'resent at the eighteenth annual convention 

 of the National Implement & Vehicle Association, which covered 

 several days in Chicago last week. 



This meeting was marked by features the desirability of which 

 should appeal to lumber associations, and notably to the leading 

 hardwood lumber associations of the country, in the respect that 

 there were present as participants in the conference all divisions 

 of th(r trade. The retailers were taken into the confidence of the 

 manufacturiTS and in turn the uiauufacturers were taken into the 

 confidence of the retailers. All discussions were of a heart-to-heart 

 nature. Each division told the other its troubles, and throughout 

 the meeting was manifested a spirit of friendliness and mutual 

 support that could not fail to result in much good. 



It was discovered that in common with the lumber trade, of 

 which the implement and vehicle man forms an integral part, 

 these people also have their commercial troubles. The spirit 

 of the entire meeting was marked by the expressed necessity of 

 thorough and close co-operation and of mutual support. 



Perhaps the one distinguishing feature of the meeting was the 



expressed conviction that the competition of the future would not 

 be based on inferior qualities and low prices, but on the basis of 

 high quality and fair values. Every session of the meeting was 

 marked by the discussion of broad-gaged policies, and the meeting 

 constituted the basis of a liberal business education, not only for 

 the implement and vehicle men but for lumbermen and all other 

 manufacturers. 



The Uses of Lumber 



Unfortun;itcly for the lumber industry, and equally unfortunate 

 for the extended uses of forest products, this country as a whole 

 is very deficient in expert knowledge of the particular uses to which 

 different varieties of lumber may justly be placed. It is thorouglily 

 believable that every kind of wood that grows has a logical use 

 in commercial economies, and that every one has a variety of merits 

 that makes it particularly desirable for specific purposes. With 

 the paucity of knowledge of the qualities of wood in the United 

 States, there is also such a misconception of true value that many 

 kinds are employed for purposes for which they are illy adapted, 

 and for which there are other kinds much better suited. 



The Englishman, the German and the Frenchman know a good 

 deal more about the physics of American woods than the majority of 

 the people who produce and use them in this country. What Amer- 

 ican lumberman ever resorted to the practice of studying the specific 

 gravity of a piece of oak to determine its value for a specific pur- 

 pose? With great frequency specimens of American oak, and other 

 woods are returned from Great Britain with criticism of their value 

 based on their specific gravity. 



The Forest Service of the United States has made sundry tenta- 

 tive efforts to establish certain important facts about American 

 woods, and perhaps the incomplete work of making tests to demon- 

 strate toughness, breaking strength, end-wise bending strength, 

 density, etc., are of more importance than anything else that it 

 has done. The Forest Service should have credit for a great deal 

 of good work, although it is involved with a vast amount of expense 

 in producing alleged statistics, price lists and a hundred-and-one 

 matters that are of little or no value to the industry or to anyone 

 else. The Service undeniably indulges in altogether too much "ex- 

 pert advice by amateurs," and can be criticised for undertaking 

 many things in illumination of woods and the lumber industry that 

 it does not finish. 



There are more than three hundred varieties of American com- 

 mercial woods, and it is high time that some plan were elaborated 

 and carried into effect whereby a definite understanding can be 

 reached as to the desirable qualities of all these varieties which 

 would involve a separate analysis of their varying qualities depend- 

 ing on soil, latitude of growth or compensating altitudes, rainfalls, 

 etc., etc. With these facts concerning wood in logical array, it 

 would be comparatively easy to promote an exploitation campaign 

 for the use of specific kinds for specific purposes, with the advance 

 assurance that they are being commended for purposes that would 

 insure the complete satisfaction of the u.ser. It is foolish for the 

 lumber trade to exploit any variety of wood as eminently desirable 

 for all purposes. This kind of exploitation is very akin to the 

 cure-all medicine advertisement and bears on the very face of the 

 announcement that the claims are specious and fraudulent. 



Right now lumbermen are deeply interested in working out a 

 comprehensive exploitation campaign to insure to each wood a just 

 recognition for sane and logical use, in places where alleged wood 

 substitutes are making such deep inroads. To the mind of every 

 lumberman it is certain that sundry materials are now being em- 

 ployed in lieu of wood where wood is much the better material. The 

 lumber trade must first fully establish unassailable facts to demon- 

 strate the special and true value of certain woods for sundry uses 

 before it can intelligently start its campaign. While today there 

 are thousands of well known and well substantiated facts concern- 

 ing the value of wood for certain purposes, there is still a greater 

 number that are undemonstratcd and unknown. These facts should 

 be established, and then, and not until then, can a comprehensive 

 campaign of exploitation of all kinds of woods be carried on to n 

 successful consummation. 



