HARDWOOD RECORD 



43 



The next slop was at llissoula, Mont., wliero the students were met by 

 D. S. Mason, assistant district forester of the Forest Service. They were 

 immediately taken to the headquarters of the service, and were given an 

 opportunity of looking into the methods pursued in tlie Missoula district, 

 in the classification of lands and the systematizing of maps. They vis- 

 ited two sawmills while in that town. 



The next stop was at St. Maries. Idaho, where the school visited the 

 Milwaukee Lumber Company, the St. Maries Lumber Company and the 

 Stein Lumber & Shingle Company. From here they went directly to 

 Portland, Ore., where under the guidance of some Biltmore graduates 

 they visited most of the important plants in that territory. 



The students arrived at Mar.<!hfield. Ore., on Aug. 20, where they were 

 warmly greeted by their host, the C. A. Smith Timber Company.' Here 

 they were given their usual opportunities for studying big sawmill opera- 

 tions and the active forestry work being pursued by that big concern. 



Dr. Schenck in connection with the August "Doings" announced that 

 students attending Biltmore Forest School at the present time will not 

 be allowed to participate in the tour through the German woods, and 

 that participation is restricted to fifty members, including graduates of 

 Biltmore. graduates of other forestry schools, national, state and munici- 

 pal officers, and lumber and timberland owners. The curricuhmi includes 

 visits to state, national and private forests of Prussia, Bavaria, Hesse 

 and Eadcn, Among these are included the Black Forest, the Spessarts. 

 the Forest of Frankfort, Heidelberg and Baden. As previously announced 

 the trip will occupy eight consecutive weeks between the departure from 

 and return to New York City, the trip to start in January and to end 

 in March. The total expenses between the time of departure from and 

 arrival at New York City will be .$3.t0. including all necessary outlays. 



Statistics on Growth of Agricultural Implement Manufacture 



An advance summary of a bulletin to be issued by the Department of 

 Commerce on the agricultural implement industry of the United States 

 shows that the industry has made rapid strides in the last few years. 

 Increased acreage and difficulty in securing sufficient farm labor are the 

 two causes suggested for this rapid increase in the use of labor-saving 

 devices. 



In 1S40, 1,33.3 establishments were engaged in the manufacture of 

 agricultural implements. They employed 7,220 employes and sold products 

 to the value of $(>.S42.611. In l.SRO. 1982 concerns employed 14,814 

 hands, and the value of their product was ,$17,597,060. 



In 1009, there were 640 establishments turning out a product valued 

 at $146,320,268. This is compared to records of 1809, when there were 

 276 factories having an output valued at $52,066,87."). 



There was .in increase in value of products for eight censuses from 1S69 

 to 1009, varying from 18.4 per cent to 44.6 per cent, the latter being 

 between 1S99 and 1909. In that decade there was an increase in value 

 of products of .$45,121,840, and of this the increase from 1904 to 1909 

 was $34,321,924, which shows the rapid strides in the industry within 

 the last few .years. 



The export v'nlup of agricultural implements increased from $3,800,000 

 In 1890 to $16,000,000 in 1900, and $25,600,000 in 1909. 



According to the bulletin agricultural implements were manufactured 

 in thirty-nine states, although the six leading states manufactured 82.7 

 per cent of the total. Illinois leads witli 39.1 per cent of the total ; New' 

 York is second : Ohio, third : Indiana, fourth ; Wisconsin, fifth, and 

 Michigan, sixth. These last five states are very close together in their 

 products, and are very much less than Illinois : New York manufacturing 

 $14,971,000 as against $57,268,000 for Illinois. 

 A Large Wooden Pipe 



An enormous hydroelectric plant now in course of construction in Tas- 

 mania will supply pow-er to practically every port of the island. A vertical 

 fall of 1,050 feet will deliver the water from a reservoir on a mountain 

 to the turbines in the valley below. The water is conducted to the reser- 

 voir by a wooden pipe four feet in diameter and a mile long. The pipe 

 is of the built-up pattern, heavy staves and metal bands being used. 

 Where Substitutes Will Pail 



The advocates of substitutes for wood are up against a hard proposition 

 along one line at least. As a shipping container for such food products 

 as may be injured or contaminated by contact with had tastes or odors, 

 wood has no equal, and no real competitor. Wooden casks and barrels for 

 wines and liquors of the highest grades and most delicate qualities hold 

 their place in spite of the persistent campaigns for substitutes. The 

 world has been searched without fincing anything else that will do as 

 well. The situation is much the same in many other lines. Would the 

 forests of the world be ransacked for cigar box wood, if substitutes could 

 be forced in ? Smokers simply will not take their cigars from anything 

 except a wooden box, and they are so particular as to the kind of wood 

 that the maker of the box sends to the interior of Cuba or Mexico to get 

 the right kind. The agent for substitutes gets as cold a shoulder from the 

 cigar box trade as from the tight barrel maker. 



Why does not some one find a substitute for the wood tobacco pipe? At 

 first thought, that seems easy, but in spite of meerschaum, porcelain, and 

 everything else, the hills of Italy and France are searched for bruyere and 

 the mountains of North Carolina for ivy root for pipes. The box for plug 

 tobacco is in the same category. Sycamore was once insisted on for the 

 box, and when that became hard to get, other woods were used — nothing 

 but wood, however. 



If fiber could be made strong enough or metal cheap enough for all 



kinds of boxes, many food products would continue to go in wood because 

 they go uncontaminated and arrive in good order. Contact with or prox- 

 imity to other materials is liable to taint or soil the contents, but the 

 touch of wood— the right wood — is frequently so decidedly an advantage 

 that no substitute, counterfeit, or makeshift has any chance to win or 

 hold the place. 



New Use for Charcoal 



A new method of curing fish has been discovered in Nova Scotia, 

 according to a recent consular report from Halifax. It is claimed that 

 fish can be shipped thousands of miles and arrive in as good condition as 

 when first caught. An important agent in the preservation is willow 

 charcoal. It is not directly applied, but is used as a filter for ordinary 

 sea water which is one of the preserving agents. The charcoal takes out 

 the impurities from the water — even the gases. Brown sugar, salt, and a 

 low temperature for a short time complete the process. The ingredients 

 in the sea water, including the sugar and salt added, form a thin film 

 over the surface of the fish, effectually sealing them up in a way to 

 prevent the entrance of bacteria. The fish have been suoressfully shipped 

 to Cuba and South America. 



High Price for White Willow 

 White willow logs recently sold in London at the rate of about eighty 

 dollars a thousand feet, board measure. They were bought by a manufac- 

 turer of cricket bats. This led an English trade journal to comment on 

 the scarcity of the wood and the rapidity of its growth. Merchantable 

 trees grow in thirty-five years. The wood is valuable for many purposes. 

 The white willow iSalU allxi) is not a native of the United States, but it 

 has been thoroughly naturalized here, and grows even more rapidly than 

 in England. It is one of the common willows planted for shade in this 

 country, the weeping willow is the other. The white willow is the one 

 usually planted in regions where the climate is a little too cold for the 

 weeping willow. Some white willow, logs, cut from trees no longer needed 

 for shade, are finding their way to sawmills, where the lumber enters a 

 ready market. This is one of the trees which may be depended on to 

 attain importance in the future lumber supply of the United States. The 

 wood is not quite so white as Cottonwood, but in most other respects it 

 resembles it. and is its equal for most purposes. 



Split Hoops Still Manufactured 



Although metal and machine-cut elm hoops have very largely displaced 

 the split hoop, nevertheless the industry still thrives in a small way in 

 various parts of the country, particularly in the mountains of New York 

 and Pennsylvania. Of the same nature as the hoop is the wooden strap 

 used in placing on boxes to reinforce them. The biggest demand for 

 the split hoops comes from the South for use around rosin barrels. 



Although the manufacture of a hoop or strap is simple it vi.,,i,ires a 

 certain amount of skill to turn out good work rapidly. In the fall and 

 winter when the bark is tight and will not peel, hoop poles an inch or 

 so in diameter are cut and hauled in. Hickory is by all means the best 

 wood, but soft maple, white oak, birch and a few others will do more 

 or less satisfactorily. The first operation after the removal of all branches 

 is the starting of a split through the middle of the butt end of the pole. 

 This is made large enough for the insertion of the foot which holds one- 

 half of the stick to the ground, advancing along as the split proceeds. 

 The chances are that the split will not proceed uniformly but will begin 

 to run out at the upper side. As soon as the operator sees this he turns 

 his pole over and continues as before. This turning causes the split to 

 run up always and away from the portion held fiat. If you are not 

 familiar with this action take a small, green shoot and demonstrate it. 



After splitting into halves the pieces are passed to a boy or man with 

 a draw knife who shaves them down evenly and gives the proper finish 

 to the ends. 



A Eeal Profit 



Everyone who is familiar with the hardwood situation realizes the 

 great rise in values of hardwood timberlands within the last few years. 

 A single instance of this is afforded by the case of a lumberman who about 

 six years ago bought a tract of some 2.500 acres of land in the Adiron- 

 dacks. It had been logged once but there was enough spruce left to 

 make him think that it was a good buy at ten dollars an acre. There was 

 quite a good stand of mixed hardwoods on it too, but they were not even 

 considered in making the deal. Last year, however, he began logging his 

 hardwoods. He cut over about 500 acres and secured an average yield 

 of 5,000 board feet per acre. It cost him seven dollars to get his logs 

 to the railroad and he received fifteen dollars a thousand feet for them, 

 or a profit of forty dollars an acre. He thinks he can do about as well 

 on the rest of the tract, and at the same time he is taking care to leave 

 his woods in such condition that they will have a permanent value. 



The Cohune Palm of Honduras 



Honduras, which is one of the Republics of Central America, has an 

 area of approximately 37,500 square miles and it has been estimated that 

 full.v two-fifths of this area is covered with cohune forests. Honduras 

 consists principally of two kinds of land : the one known as pine ridge 

 and the other as cohune ridge. The pine ridge constitutes the more 

 elevated portions and is, generally speaking, seemingly very barren and 

 sandy, though densely covered with pines which compare favorably with 

 even-aged pine stands of the southern United States. The cohune ridge 

 differs materially from the pine ridge. The soil of the latter is generally 

 rich and loamy and possesses great agricultural possibilities. On these 



