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HARDWOOD RECORD 



hickory stunipage, therefore, this is the man who probably outbids his 

 competitors and secures the tract, but he rarely employs all the 

 timber, and sells the uncut trees and inferior logs to manufacturers 

 of short-length product. Leaving unnecessarily-high stumps is found 

 to be an important item of waste, since much of the best hickory wood 

 is near the ground. 



Hickory trees left standing in remote situation are not wholly 

 waste, since hickory is little susceptible to injury from wind after the 

 surrounding timber is cut away, and can wait a long time for its 

 market. Again, the remaining trees serve as seed trees, and with the 

 aid of wind, water, birds and rodents, often stock much open ground 

 with seedlings for the country's future hickory supply. 



Often it is found that hickory logs are cut several inches longer 

 than is necessary, and thus considerable wood is wasted. Other 

 waste consists of splitting stock instead of sawing it, and much wood 

 is lost because of small defects which a saw would remove, but 

 which cannot be split out without sacrificing more or less good timber. 

 Hickory is a wood often damaged by insects, of which there are 

 more than one hundred and fifty varieties that prey upon it, 

 some upon the green trees, some on the logs after they are cut, and 

 some on seasoned lumber or hickory products. Preferably, timber 

 should be felled in the winter time and promptly transferred to the 

 sawmill or factory for utilization. It often happens that after hick- 

 ory has passed through the mill and goes to the yard or shed and is 

 seasoned, it becomes subject to insect injuries, including damage 

 by powder-post beetles. The losses in hickory production also are 

 considerable from checking, warping and staining. Powder-post 

 beetle damage is particularly manifest, and occurs after the stock 

 has become infested. Nearby material which has not yet been attacked 

 should, it is alleged, be sprinkled with kerosene oil. However, hick- 

 ory stock should not be kept on hand longer than necessary, because 

 the powder-post insect is very likely to attack hickory which has 

 been seasoned for a year or more. Hickory logs that cannot be 

 promptly handled through the mill or factory should be submerged 

 in water. 



Hickory is marketed unlike any other wood. Sawmills cut other 

 hardwoods for the general market, through which they are distributed 

 to the user. Little hickory goes to the market through distributing 

 yards. It is cut chiefly for a special industry and sold directly to 

 it. Each industry has its own mUls in the hickory-producing terri- 

 tory and comes into direct contact with the mUlman cutting its raw 

 material. The little hickory that goes to the wholesaler is cut chiefly 

 one and one-quarter inches and thicker, suitable for remanufacture 

 into stock required by the vehicle man or some other special user. 

 Inch stock is cut only to square the log and to prevent heavy slab- 

 bing. 



A considerable amount of hickory is disposed of to exporters. 

 This is true chiefly in the Gulf region. This practice has been com- 

 iilained of by manufacturers in this country, who look with little 

 favor upon the shipment of hickory to foreign countries when it is 

 needed at home. While it is true that all good hickory is needed by 

 American manufacturers, the man who has it for sale will sell where 

 prices are best; nor is it practicable or desirable that trade should 

 be restrained by laying an embargo upon the export of this wood, 

 which would be contrary to the constitution of the United States. 



The report states that one leading manufacturer of long and short- 

 length hickory products has in successful operation a plan by which 

 chance and accident are largely dispensed with in cutting and mar- 

 keting hickory, and waste is reduced to a minimum. This company 

 owns or controls a number of mills and also a number of factories, 

 where the sawmill products are worked up, thus controlling both 

 supply and demand so far as its own mills and factories are con- 

 cerned. A yard has been established at a convenient freight-break- 

 ing point between its southern mills and its northern manufacturing 

 plants, and all inspection is done at the yard. The mills ship their 

 rough stock to this point. It is there separated by sizes and grades, 

 and piled under cover. Each mill sends all it saws, and can make 

 frequent shipments without waiting to accumulate certain quantities 

 of specified sizes and grades. The yard sees to it that all the fac- 

 tories are furnished with the sizes and grades needed, and is in a 



position to notify mills where certain sizes are short. It thus antici- 

 pates future wants of the factories. The successful operation of this 

 plan by a single concern suggests its adoption by an organization 

 of all hickory factories. 



Most of the hickory-using factories are in the North, although 

 a number of them are in the South, and the output of hickory lumber 

 and billets is largely in the South. Thus it would seem that the 

 establishing of an assembling and distributing yard midway between 

 the South and North would assist in a better utilization of this 

 important forest product. 



Owing to the wide distribution of hickory, it seems almost a waste 

 of energy to attempt to organize the production of this wood into 

 usable form without great sacrifice in material, and almost equally 

 futile to attempt to organize the business into one of profit to 

 hickory stumpage owners and producers. The hickory business in all 

 its phases is essentially one distinct and apart from the general run 

 of lumber production. Many stumpage owners who have consider- 

 able quantities of hickory do not attempt to market it in the form 

 of lumber or dimension, as experience has demonstrated that it was 

 very unprofitable business save for the expert. Other operators, 

 having gained wisdom by experience, sell their hickory logs outright 

 to hickory users. This really seems to be the most satisfactory way 

 of marketing the wood. It is undeniably true that a good deal of 

 education and experience is required to negotiate the hickory proposi- 

 tion on a profitable basis. It requires a very close study of the 

 manufacturers' wants so that the wood may reach the market in 

 exactly the form desired. Every piece of miscut hickory is usually 

 a total waste, besides involving the expense attached to its pro- 

 duction and freightage. 



Undeniably the present output of hickory is too limited, due to the 

 conditions which have been described and the low price which the 

 wood commands. High cost of production and low values have 

 never yet contributed to economical utilization of any wood. At the 

 present time hickory for many purposes, the highest type of hard- 

 wood grown in the United States for certain named specific purposes, 

 it a good deal of a "Jonah" in hardwood manufacturing history. 



Incident to this subject perhaps it may be well to recite the 

 recommendations made by Mr. Hatch in connection with the manu- 

 facture and utilization of hickory. He recommends: 



First : Improved cutting and marketing of stock now cut for "wrong 

 uses," such as bridges, barn floors, grain doors, fences, piling, culverts, 

 cross-ties, ear stoeli, mine props, rails, cribs and lagging. 



Second : A wider use of pecan trees and of mill and f.Totory waste for 

 smoking meats. 



Third: Retter protection for green trees, logs, and seasoned products 

 from Insect enemies. 



Fourth: A wider use of dimension mill waste for the manutarlure of 

 small products which must be of hickory. At the present time many mills 

 and factories use the rejects of their larger products for the manufacture 

 of smaller ones. The closer utilization of the offals for llielr own small 

 products, or the shipment of such rejects to other concerns, Is not now 

 profitable because of the lack of proper machinery and the high cost of 

 labor against the low cost of stumpage. For example, skewers range from 

 four and one-half Inches In length and five thirty-seconds of an inch In 

 diameter to sixteen Inches In length and three-eighths of an Inch In 

 diameter. The raw material for these products is hickory bolts In lengths 

 of five feet and multiples of five feet. The manufacturers of the longer 

 length products point to this ns needless waste and hold that their offals 

 would supply a large part of the raw material needed for skewers. The 

 skewer manufacturer. Iiowever, has proved that It Is more protitahle to 

 bu.v bolts and logs that can easily be fed to the machines than to buy 

 ciieap reject stock that requires much labor In handling and sorting. 



The value of hickory stumpage is now based on the value of the cleared 

 land to the owner. A rise In the price of stumpage caused by basing its 

 value properly on supply and demand will force the manufacturer of small 

 products to buy material now wasted by the manufacturers of large 

 products. It will also bring about the Invention of machinery for working 

 up the small pieces. 



I'liTH : That the hickory users take steps to secure the hickory left 

 standing by the large pine and hardwood companies operating In the lower 

 MlHslssippi vaili'y. This report has discussed the reasons which cause 

 these concerns to leave tlwir hickory stumpage uncut at the time lliey log 

 the rest of their timber, and has snimilttcd three propostlious by which 

 the hickory users may secure this aildlllonal material. The sale of this 

 timber would be of mutual benefit to the pine and hardwood companies 

 now getting no returns on It and to the hickory users who are in constant 

 need of new supply. 



