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HARDWOOD RECORD 



very promising timber prospect, judged by eastern standards. It 

 might be supposed that the hills were long ago cut over and that 

 fires have practically completed the denudation; but such is not the 

 ease. Those hills are just as nature made them. Thousands of years 

 have not sufficed to develop any more forest than is there novp. It 

 is a typical hardwood stand, such as is characteristic of the California 

 foothills back from the coast. The particular location shown in the 

 picture is in the Sequoia National Park on the western face of the 

 Sierra Nevada mountains; and the nature of the growth indicates that 

 the place lies from two thousand to three thousand feet above sea 

 level. 



A lumberman accustomed to the splendid forests of eastern hard- 

 woods will look on the picture of this California scene with feelings 

 akin to pity for the people who have no better hardwoods. The 

 most of the growth is little more than brush, but now and then a tree 

 is found. That in the foreground is the California blue oak {Quercus 

 doufflasii) which is a fair sample of the oak timber on the hills of 

 that region. In the bottoms of canyons and near the coast some 

 better specimens are found. The average size of the mature blue 

 oak does not exceed eighteen inches in diameter, with a trunk barely 

 long enough for a short sawlog — about like an old apple tree in an 

 eastern orchard. The picture shows a number of lumps or knots on 

 the trunk. These are characteristic of the tree. They do not look 

 very promising from the outside, but that view shows them at their 

 best; for if cut open they are often found in a state of decay within, 

 and filled with a black substance resembling half-burned charcoal. 

 The tree belongs in the white oak group, and Californians point 

 to it with pride as white oak. It is so much better than some of 

 their other oaks that it looks pretty good to them. Botanists prefer 

 to call it blue oak on account of the decidedly blue tinge of the 

 young leaves in early spring before they take on the dull, ashen 

 color due to dust as the dry summer comes on. 



The growth is denser down in the canyon near the water. The 

 picture does not show the trees there with sufficient distinctness to 

 make the identification certain; but among them are probably Cali- 

 fornia sycamores and white alders. The appearance of the sycamore 

 is much like that of its eastern relative, except that it is smaller and 

 has a trunk so forked and distorted that it looks more like the horns 

 of a gigantic deer than like a tree. The white alder might be mis- 

 taken for its eastern cousin, the sweet birch, provided the birch is not 

 more than half grown, for when it is old it loses the grace which 

 remains with the white alder as long as it lives. The alder has some 

 peculiar habits not noticeable in the birch. Its flowers hang and 

 grow for six months, developing into catkins the shape and size of 

 lead pencils. In the hilly regions, similar to that shown in the 

 picture, it is not unusual for alders to be loaded with bloom and 

 with wet winter snow at the same time. 



Although the display of hardwooiis is exceedingly poor in the 

 picture, quite a different scene may be brought to view if imagi- 

 nation is allowed a little play. Just beyond the horizon, on the 

 other side of the farthest hills visible, on the next rise of ground, 

 lie the softwood forests. They are as splendid as the hardwoods in 

 the foreground are poor. In size, the softwoods on the higher ranges 

 as greatly surpass any timber in the East, as the eastern trees ex- 

 ceed the scrub growth displayed in the picture. The gifts are not 

 badly balanced when nature does the giving. California was denied 

 hardwood forests, but the deficiency was made up by a wealth of 

 softwoods which are the envy and wonder of the world. 



Work in the Right Direction 



THAT THE NATIONAL LUMBER MANUFACTURERS' ASSO- 

 CIATION, through its able secretary, J. E. Rhodes, is doing 

 everything possible to foster the interests of the lumber business is 

 seen constantly in innumerable instances. Mr. Rhodes, through the 

 various means which he has at his command is untiringly at work 

 formulating or carrying out some policy which will eventually result 

 to the advantage of the lumbermen of the country as a. whole. One 

 of the latest of these efforts is the successful attempt to enlist the 

 interest of paint manufacturers of the country in an effort to secure 

 a fireproof paint, reasonable in price and easily applied. That this 



endeavor is getting down to a definite basis is seen in the fact that 

 the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association has just been in- 

 vited by the Educational Bureau of the Paint Manufacturers ' Associa- 

 tion of the United States to attend a conference in Chicago on Oct. 

 20, wherein there wOl be discussed the common interest which the 

 paint manufacturers and lumber manufacturers have in meeting the 

 issue of the inflammability of wood, which issue is being raised by 

 the manufacturers of wood substitutes. 



Arrangements are being made to discuss the matter fully with the 

 paint manufacturers. This, coupled with the fact that the Institute 

 of Industrial Research at Washington, D. C, is studying methods for 

 the protection of wooden surfaces and has already spent much time 

 and effort in that direction, augurs well for the future of such wooden 

 products as shingles, siding, etc. The Institute of Industrial Research 

 is now working on methods of fireproofing and decorating shingle 

 structures. This experiment for the fireproofing of wood will also 

 deal with other methods than paint. 



The timber testing department of the Forest Products Laboratory 

 at Madison, Wis., is also, on the suggestion of the association, actively 

 at work experimenting along the same line. Results of these efforts 

 wUl be announced later, and all of this shows that the lumbermen of 

 the country are not so negligent concerning their own interests as 

 might be supposed. 



Further proof of the activity of the National Association is seen 

 in the comment it makes upon the National Fire Prevention Con- 

 ference, which will be held at Philadelphia, Oct. 13-18, when an effort 

 will be made to establish a National fire prevention enterprise embrac- 

 ing all the fire prevention associations of the country. 



The National Lumber Manufacturers' Association in a bulletin 

 states that lumbermen are thoroughly in accord with the idea, but 

 that it is feared that an effort will be made by the manufacturers of 

 lumber substitutes to put the convention on record as against wooden 

 construction in certain forms. The association will be represented at 

 the conference for the purpose of seeing that lumber is not unjustly- 

 discriminated against. 



An Inexcusable Assertion 



SOME EXCUSE CAN BE SEEN by the advocates of the wooden 

 car in the news stories pumped into the daily press through the' 

 agencies behind the steel car movements. The gross error and injus- 

 tice of most of these stories and editorial comments is too well 

 known by the lumbermen to require further comment here. Lumber- 

 men are willing to fight their battle for the continuance of the 

 employment of products of the forests in the various places for 

 which they are unquestionably better ad r ted than the substitutes- 

 being urged, but they arc not willing to wage such a fight against 

 a substitution of various materials of wood when such substitution 

 has the open and unearned support of someone whose high office g'ves 

 his word considerable weight, and who indulges in comments on this- 

 score with no possible evidence of proof for his statements. 



Vice-president Marshall is quoted as advocating the passage of the- 

 steel car bill by giving his personal endorsement to the steel car. He- 

 said in an interview that steel cars are one of the greatest safety 

 devices, and further: "If I stick a knife into a man I am charged 

 with murder, but we let railroad directors use wooden cars and cause- 

 great loss of lives because steel cars cost so much money. 



The injustice of this statement is appalling, and it is especially 

 hard to realize that the vice-president of the United States would' 

 deliver such an utterance without having investigated the matter very 

 thoroughly and without being positive in his own mind, because of 

 the preponderance of proof in behalf of the steel car, that the wooden 

 car really constitutes a menace. 



The very fact that Mr. Marshall made this statement is proof suffi- 

 cient that he did not investigate the matter thoroughly; that he did not 

 go to the bottom of the question, simply because as an actual fact 

 there never has existed and does not now exist any proof in any form 

 that demonstrates conclusively the superiority of the steel ear. 



Hardwood Record will not take upon itself to endeavor to correct 

 the habits of the officers of the United States government, but believesi. 

 that this statement should at least have publicity. 



