HARDWOOD RECORD 



25 



The making of molding is a practicable means of turning loss into 

 profit at some planing mills and factories. Molding is of mimerous 

 sizes and shapes, and there are few woods which are not fit for 

 some kind. Edgings at sawmills, cut from wane-edged material or 

 from i)ieces wider at one end than the other, are sometimes run 

 through machines which convert them into salable commodities. 



Toy makers and the manufacturers of games for children have 

 learned how to make a profit out of the scraps which others throw 

 away. Toy tenj^ins, mallet handles, and innumerable things which 

 constitute the toy industry, can be worked from small pieces. 



Sawdust and shavings were tormerl}- absolutely worthless, except 

 as fuel under the boilers, and there is still large waste along that 

 line; but occasionally some of it is sold as fuel, or the baled shavings 

 go to filtration plants, or for stable bedding. 



Bobbins are of man^' sizes, and in some instances furniture and 

 other factories can make bobbins at a profit by utilizing waste. 



The manufacture of lath for plastering uses up large quantities 

 of slabs and defective logs at sawmills. This commodity is usually 

 made of softwoods because of the ease with which the lath may be 

 nailed. 



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Naturalized Trees 



Although the United States has more than five hundred trees that 

 grow naturally here, and v,eve in the forests when white men first 

 visited these shores, a few have been brought to this country and 

 have felt so much at home that they have run wild and appear to be 

 fully able to take care of themselves. Some of these trees «ere im- 

 ported and planted with the expectation that they would become 

 useful, others were not intended to be other than ornamental. It 

 should be borne in mind that comparatively few foreign trees have 

 shown a disposition or developed an ability to run wild, no matter 

 what chance they have had. The number does not much exceed a 

 dozen, though hundreds of foreign species have been i)!anted in the 

 United States,, in yards, gardens, orchards, and parks. The few which 

 have escaped from cultivation and have been able to maintain them- 

 selves had had some peculiar advantage in possessing means of dis- 

 persing their seeds. In nearly all cases — perhaps in every case — 

 where a foreign tree has become naturalized and has maintained its 

 foothold without direct and intentional help from man, it has been 

 fortunate in its ability to disperse its seeds widely and in abundance. 

 To this must, of course, be added an ability to endure climatic con- 

 ditions, and compete successfully with native species for room. 



One important fact impresses the investigator who examines the 

 matter of naturalized trees. They are, without a single exception, 

 practically worthless for lumber. The wood of a few of them is 

 good for a number of things, but the trees have never amounted to 

 nmch in a practical way. They produce few sawlogs, and what they 

 do produce are nearly always of poor form and inferior quality. A 

 list of the most important naturalized trees will show this to be so. 



Ailanthus (Ailanthus glandulosa) was introduced from China and 

 has become widely naturalized in the eastern part of the United 

 States, growing generally on the margins of cleared lands, particularly 

 on abandoned farms. Except a little inferior box lumber there is no 

 account that the wood has been used for anything. 



White willow (Salix alba) came from Europe, and grows very 

 rapidly, but it sticks so carefully to open ground that trunks are too 

 short to be worth much for limiber, and if logs ever find their way 

 to sawmills, it is the exception and n'ot the rule. It is a common 

 park tree and is generally found where the climate is too cold for 

 the weejiing willow to grow. The weeping willow (Salix babyloiika) 

 is also foreign, and is very abundant in the warm parts of this 

 country, provided its roots receive all the water they need; but it has 

 no value except as an ornament. 



White poplar (Populus alba) came from Europe. It grows rapidly, 

 and the wood is white, but the tree's form is usually poor, the trunk 

 is apt to be diseased, and the branches are so brittle and weak that 

 a brisk wind or a moderate sleet breaks them, and the way is opened 

 for speedy decay. The wood has no commercial value. The tree may 

 be known by the green, smooth bark on large trunks, and the small, 

 woolly leave? which are white on the under side, to which the tree's 

 name is due. The leaves collect and hold dirt to a shocking extent. 



Black poplar (Fopulus nigra), represented in this country generally 

 by a variety known as Lombardy poplar (Fopulus nigra italica) is a 

 foreign tree, supposed to have come originally from Persia. It is 

 too well known to need description. It is exceedingly limby, and the 



limls lie close against the trunk, rising at a sharp angle. The trunks 

 are so exceedingly knotty that lumber sawed from them resembles 

 a crazy quilt. The growing trees are often considered a nuisance 

 because of the multitude of sprouts which come up from roots, and 

 because the roots clog sewers?, wells, drains, and break through cellar 

 walls. 



The eucalyptus is an example of a foreign tree which grows rapidly 

 but is of small value tor lumber. The eucalyptus was brought to 

 the Pacific coast from Australia. It is thoroughly naturalized in 

 California. 



The China tree (Mclia a:eclarach) came from Persia and is well 

 known in the southern states and on the Pacific coast. A variety, 

 commonly called the umbrella China-tree, is well known on account 

 of its round crown and short trunk, which resemble an open umbrella. 

 The tree is running wild in the South and is becoming an inhabitant 

 of the forest; but practically no use is made of the wood. 



A numbei of foreign fruit trees are running wild in this country; 

 but in their wild state they produce fruit of small value, and prac- 

 tically no lumber is made from the trunks. The peach is an example. 

 It came to this country very early, and in the South it quickly ran 

 wild. Some people have supposed that the peach was in America 

 before the coming of white men. Early travelers frequently men- 

 tioned "Indian peaches." The fruit referred to by them was really 

 the wild plum, and not the peach. 



The mulberry is another foreign tree running wild in this country. 

 In fact, there are two mulberries, the white and the jjaper mulberry, 

 both from Asia. The fruit is poor and the wood of little value. 

 Neither is comparable with the native mulberry, either for fruit 

 or wood.. 



There has been little gained by naturalizing foreign trees in the 

 United States. They have added nothing to the country 's capacity to 

 produce timber. Not one is equal to any one of scores of native 

 trees. Even as ornaments little has been gained. Trees from the 

 forests of this country are as handsome as any of those introduced, 

 and possess most of the virtues and few of the faults of the foreign 

 trees. Take for example sugar maple, yellow poplar, white pine, 

 arbor-vitae, evergreen magnolia, red cedar, and many more of the 

 trees which are perfectly fitted to this country's soil and climate, and 

 compare them with Lombardy poplar, ginkgo, ailanthus, China-tree, 

 eucalyptus, Scotch pine, and the other common trees which have been 

 introduced, and every point is in favor of the home product. Of 

 course, if one is looking for freak trees, foreign specimens may score 

 a few points, but for beauty, utility, vigor, strength, and reliability, 

 evervthing is in favor of the native species of the United States. 



One of the noticeably good things about the new President is 

 that he is not given to talking too much, nor to running his 

 business through the columns of the daily papers. He seems to be 

 bent on sawing wood, and here's hoping he makes a good job of it. 



The railroads are getting a lot of good money for freight that 

 the lumbermen might just as well have a part of by making more 

 dimension stock and eliminating the shipment of unnecessary 

 waste. 



