34 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Texture in Lumlier 



The Record is in receipt of tlie following 

 commimication from a prominent concern of 

 Indiana: 



Ciawfordsville, Ind., April 3. — Editor Hakd- 

 wooD Record : Please define in your next issue, 

 if possible, what is meant by "texture" as ap- 

 plied to lumber. 



Lumber Company. 



The common definition for "texture" as 

 given in the dictionary applies to the method 

 of construction of the fibers or filaments of 

 any substance which is built up in this way. 

 As applied to lumber or wood, ' ' texture ' ' will 

 depend upon the concentric annual rings, the 

 size of the pores and their distribution, and 

 the degi-ee of straightness of grain. For 

 instance: A wood which has shown an even 

 and not too rapid growth -nill have even rings, 

 not very widely separated, and if this same 

 wood contains not too large pores and is 

 naturally straight-grained, it will necessarily 

 have what is termed a "fine texture," as for 

 example a piece of straight-grained oak which 

 has not grofln too rapidly. On the other hand, 

 hemlock can be cited. Everybody knows how 



difficult it is to get a suitable surface and 

 high polish on this wood. We believe this 

 answers the question.— Editor. 



Hardwood Kecord Bulletin Service Endorsed 



The following letter from a handle concern 

 of Ohio gives a very fair idea of the sentiment 

 regarding the Hardwood Record Bulletin 

 Service, as it generally prevails among the 

 consumers of hardwood lumber: 



Piqua, Ohio, March 31. — Editor Hahdwood 

 Recokd : We notice your advertisement with 

 reference to listing hardwood users. We are 

 constantly in the marliet for various sizes of 

 dimension stoelc, aiso hardwood lumber, and are 

 anxious to secure 4/4 plump hard maple and 

 birch fir.sts and seconds, and 6/4 hard maple 

 firsts and seconds, preferably 12 foot. We are 

 also constantly in the marliet for clear, sound 

 hardwood, birch, beech and maple dimension 

 stoeli. reasonably straight-grained and thorough- 

 ly seasoned. 



Company. 



This concern has been supplied with a list 

 (if manufacturers of the above stock. Any 

 others can have the address of the inquirer by 

 eominunicating with this office. — Editor. 



'Buffalo Lumbermen in FaVor of 

 Reciprocity 



A Buffalo periodical publishes an editorial 

 from Maurice U. Wall of the Buffalo Hard- 

 wood Lumber Company, and president of the 

 Buffalo Lumber Dealers' Association, which 

 is herewith reproduced. 



Buffalo lumber manufacturers and dealers 

 seem to be a unit in the opinion that they dis- 

 tinctly favor the adoption of the reciprocity 

 measure between Canada and the United 

 States now pending before Cougrcss. 



When the Chamber of Commerce held its 

 membership meeting to consider the Canadian 

 reciprocity agreement, no element in the com- 

 munity was more interested in the determination 

 reached by the membership on this question than 

 those engaged on this side of the Niagara fron- 

 tier in lumber and its allied interests. 



A broad consideration of the question, since 

 that meeting, has proven that the lumbermen, 

 as a whole, in Buffalo and vicinity are heartily 

 in favor of this pact. Isolated cases may exist 

 where a few firms feel that their interests may 

 be jeopardized to some extent by the abrogation 

 of import duties, but the sentiment is best ex- 

 pressed by the following resolution adopted by 

 the Buffalo Lumber Exchange, which includes 

 dealers in ail kinds of lumber, at a meeting held 

 February 11, 1911: 



"Resolved, That we, as members of the Buf- 

 falo Lumber Exchange, favor reciprocity with 

 Canada and we believe that through freer trade 

 relations with this friendly nation, whose busi- 

 ness standards so nearly coincide with those of 

 this country, our Interests will be materially 

 advanced." 



It is felt that the view of Secretary of Agri- 

 culture Wilson, as expressed in his speech In 

 Buffalo recently, is Bound, and that the advan- 

 tages ultimately to be derived from the applica- 

 tion of reciprocity between Canada and the 

 United States will be beneficial to the American 

 dealer, as well as the American consumer. 



The new policy of conservation of national 

 and natural resources In the United States (lum- 

 ber being assuredly one of the latter) has met 

 with the hearty approval of the people at large, 

 and Canadian authorities, in recording the In- 



vestment of American capital in Canadian pulp 

 and lumber areas, state : "This conservation 

 policy in the United States, undoubtedly, will 

 tend to make them conserve their own forests 

 and seek their supplies elsewhere." 



Thus, it will be seen that there are two valu- 

 able viewpoints on the question, or bugbear, it 



M. M. « Ai^lj, BUl'l'.VLO, N. X. 



we may so term it, that the reciprocity agree- 

 ment would provide too much Canadian competi- 

 tion with American lumber. It is a commodity 

 which cannot be grown in crops every year, or 

 in ten years, and in view of the entire absence 

 of a defined reforestation system in the United 

 States, either on the part of individuals or of 

 the national government, the supply of this 

 country cannot hold out for many more years. 



The Canada Lumberman and Woodworker, In 

 its issue of February, 1911, reports that "west- 

 ern Canada imported 65,000,000 feet of Ameri- 



can lumber, in addition to the tremendous local 

 production. In ports of entry on Lalie Superior 

 and east thereof, a fair assumption would be 

 that 200,000,000 feet or more was imported t)y 

 eastern Canada from the United States. 



.\ feature of the Reciprocity Agreement most 

 important is that affecting the wood pulp and 

 pulp wood industry. It will be recalled that 

 the American Newspaper Publishers' Association 

 exerted most strenuous efforts before Congress 

 last year, demanding the elimination of duties 

 on these articles, in order that the American 

 newspapers might be supplied with their "neces- 

 sity of life" at a moderate cost. They were 

 not able to secure revision in this respect and 

 the present agreement will be of great advan- 

 tage to them. 



The following paragraph from the Canadian 

 paper above quoted is of interest : 



"The manufacture of the 91.5.633 cords of 

 wood exported in 1909 Ijept 69 of the 251 pulp 

 mills in the United States running at full ca- 

 pacity for the year. If this pulp wood had been 

 reduced to pulp in Canada, it would have sup- 

 plied for the year 73 pulp mills of the average 

 size of those already in Canada. The greater 

 part of the pulp wood exported was cut in 

 Quebec." 



From this will be seen the great advantage 

 to accrue to the .\merican mechanic in the pa- 

 per mills and to the American manufacturer of 

 paper and the American user of their product, 

 if the raw material may be had in so much 

 larger quantities without duty. 



In 1909 the vast total of 44,585,000,000 feet 

 of lumber was consumed in this country. This 

 necessarily means a devastation of American 

 forests that will leave but comparatively few 

 years' supply ahead, and while some lumbermen 

 in certain lines may be affected for a short time, 

 .vet they, as a class, I am satisfied, approve of 

 this new agreement, not because of its 111 or 

 good effect on their own particular business, but 

 on account of the greater good that will accrue 

 to the greater proportion of American citizens. 



The Chamber of Commerce of Buffalo has led 

 the way in urging ratification, and the lumber- 

 men cannot perform any more patriotic and 

 broad-minded duty than to further this advance 

 in the relations of two nations, which are geo- 

 graphically, physically and racially so much like 

 one. The imaginary boundary line should be 

 more and more regarded as such and the stone 

 wall of restrictive tariff duties between them 

 gradually removed. 



Tanbark Statistics 



Statistics of the consumption of vegetable 

 tanning material for the year 1909 have been 

 published and issued by the Forest Service. 

 These figures have been collected by correspond- 

 ence annually since 1905 and are now supple- 

 mented by the returns from the schedules of the 

 regular decennial census in the first-mentioned 

 year. 



The reported consumption of vegetable tanning 

 materials in 1909, according to the government 

 booklet, amounted to 1,078,910 tons of bark, 

 wood, etc., valued at $11,125,750. and 386,817,895 

 pounds of extract costing $10,779,177. The 

 total cost, $21,904,927, reported by 592 estab- 

 lishments, was an increase of $543,208 over that 

 reported by 622 establishments in 1908 and of 

 even more over that reported by 583 establish- 

 ments In 1907. 



The 1909 figures are as follows : 

 Quantity, 



Kind — tons. Cost.' 



Hemlock bark 698,365 $ 6,434,848 



Oak bark 324,070 3,533,862 



Mangrove bark 18,925 514,189 



Chestnut wood 18,527 65,152 



Myrohalan nuts 18,000 534,727 



Ail other 1,023 42,992 



Total 1,078,910 $11,125,750 



