HARDWOOD RECORD 



27 



The 1909 Lumber Cut 



The total cut of lumber, lath and sliingles 

 in the United States during the year 1909 

 has been determined by the Forest Service 

 and the main facts and figures of the re- 

 port have been sent out from that office. 

 While the total figures for many of 

 the items, such as the total yearly cut, num- 

 ber of mills in operation, etc., show a very 

 decided increase over any previous year, this 

 apparent increase is very likely not actual, as 

 previously the information embodied in the 

 reports has been collected mostly by mail, 

 whereas the report for 1909 is compiled from 

 records collected by agents on personal visits 

 vo the mill points. In this way many mills 

 which otherw'ise could not be reached are now 

 reported, and their output, which in many 

 eases is for purely local consumption and ha-s 

 no effect on the general market, is included in 

 the grand total. 



The records show that the total cut for the 

 calendar year of 1909 was 44,58.5,000,000 feet, 

 which was an increase over 190S of 34.2 per 

 cent and of 10.8 per cent over 1907. The pro- 

 duction of lath and shingles also showed ma- 

 terial increases over both 1907 and 1908 fig- 

 ures. The fact that the increase was not con- 

 fined to any few individual states, but was 

 general all over the country, is especially 

 iioteworth}". 



The reports state that nine-tentlis of the 

 total pine stand in this country is now in the 

 Gulf states from Virginia to Texas, and that 

 the cut in this group has been steadily in- 

 creasing for several years past. Figures for 

 1909 show that here were cut 49.5 per cent 

 of the total number of feet of lumber produced 

 in the entire country. On the other hand the 

 importance of the Lake states as a lumber 

 producing region is gradually but surely de- 

 creasing. Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin 

 produced in 1909 only 12.3 per cent of the 

 total output of lumber, which is about one per 

 cent less than the previous year. While the 

 wood pulp industry cuts heavily into the sup- 

 ply of spruce in the New England states and 

 iS'ew York, this tree, with white pine, is still 

 the dominant species in that region. These 



states produced 7.5 per cent of the total in 

 1909, a considerable falling off from the 

 figures of 1908. 



Going west, the Pacific coast states in- 

 creased their output from 1908 to 1909, 28.3 

 per cent, though the lumber cut in these states 

 during 1909 is proportionately smaller, based 

 on the total, than 1908, it being 15.5 per cent. 

 Douglas fir was far in the lead as a timber 

 tree. 



Various hardwoods of the country contrib- 

 uted twenty-four per cent of the total cut of 

 lumber during 1909, which represents 10,093,- 

 000,000 feet. The rest is of course made up 

 of softwoods, which includes the cut from 

 many sections of the country, as the Pacific 

 coast woods and western cedar, the pine of 

 the Middle West, the yellow pine, long leaf 

 •■ind North Carolina pine of the South, together 

 v.ith the hemlock, spruce and white pine in 

 rlat region, the white pine and hemlock of the 

 Lake states and the spruce and white pine of 

 the New Kngland states and New York. Of 

 the hardwoods the production of oak is far 

 ahead of that of any other one species, it 

 being 4,446,000,000 feet during 1909. This 

 represents ten per cent of the total cut as 

 Egainst S.3 per cent in 1908 and 1909 and 9.2 

 jier cent in 1907. There was a substantial in- 

 crease in the hickory production during this 

 year, the cut aggregating 338,000,000 feet. 



The state of Washington supplied the largest 

 total cut of any one state and is followed in 

 the order of importance by six southern states, 

 Louisiana being first. The first northern 

 state mentioned is Wisconsin, which stands in 

 seventh place with a total cut of 2,025,000,000 

 feet compared with 3,863,000,000 feet for 

 Washington. Kansas is at the foot of the list 

 with 5,000,000 feet. 



The total number of mills reporting for 

 1909 was 48,322, an increase of about 17,000 

 over the 1908 figures. There were in the pine 

 producing Gulf states 23,255 mills, an in- 

 crease over 1908, which is accounted for pri- 

 marily, as stated above, by a more complete 

 census. 



Some Phases of Handle Production 



BY H. B. ALEXANDER 



COST OF SMALL BROOM HANDLES 



Wliilp I have visited quite a number of 

 handle plants and have heard many others 

 described in detail, I have never }-et seen 

 or heard of what I would call a model 

 handle plant. I have spent considerable 

 time thinking over this matter and have 

 drawn more than one set of plans, and I 

 hope sojne tim.e to be able to put the actual 

 facts together in such a way that they 

 will be of some value to the handle in- 

 dustry of the country-. 



Nearly all handle plants have some mod- 

 ern machinery, but none have up-to-date 

 equipment throughout, as most of the con- 



oeiiis liave been running for a number of 

 .years and they do not replace machines 

 until the old ones are no longer fit for 

 service. The plants that have been started 

 recently are alm.ost all operated by men 

 who know but little of the handle trade 

 and who fancy that any old thing will do 

 for a handle factory. I had a letter from 

 such an experimenter a short time ago. He 

 r.ow realizes his inefficiency and is looking 

 around for a good handle man to undertake 

 to teach him what he thought he know 

 when he started in business. 

 * * tt 



It has often been said in my hearing that 



a good broom man would be a valuable fac- 

 tor in the average handle plant. Not long 

 ;igo the foreman of a local broom shop 

 visited our factory and I decided to try 

 out the truth of this statement. I asked 

 this man to show me how he thought han- 

 dles ought to be sorted. At first he de- 

 murred, but after some arguing he con- 

 sented. Now, he is an expert at broom 

 making and it would naturally seem that 

 he ought to be able to sort hamiles well, 

 but the first thing he did was to throw No. 

 1 handles into the Extra bin, and No. 2's 

 into the bin for the No. I's. He said that 

 a small defect on the lower end of the 

 handle where it would be covered by the 

 corn and the label would not be objection- 

 yble, which is correct so long as the defect 

 does not injure the strength of the handle. 

 The fact is, however, this man is very par- 

 ticular about his handles, and if we were 

 to send him a few bundles of handles sorted 

 as he indicated, we would lose his trade 

 at once. 



Broom men seem to think that the Extra 

 No. 1 grade of handles ought to be without 

 a defect of any kind, w'hich would be all 

 right if they did not insist that the other 

 two grades be just as good. When they 

 use the handles they put the first two 

 grades into the same grade of brooms, and 

 if they buy No. 2 handles they sort them 

 out and use the best of them for their best 

 brooms, and then often kick because there 

 are not more in the shipment that can be 

 used in this same waj". It is quite the 

 I'sual thing for handle manufacturers to 

 sweeten the No. 2 grade somev,-hat, but it 

 seems to me that in some cases this is car- 

 ried too far. 



A most dangerous thing to be found in 

 any factory are the common set screws 

 which are left with a head projecting out 

 from shaft or collar two or three inches 

 or even one inch. The ones that aie used 

 in the old style iron pulleys are bad 

 enough, but in most eases they set back 

 in the hub so that there is but little chance 

 of anyone being caught on them. More 

 people have been killed or badly injured 

 I'V being caught on such screws thali by 

 tdmost any other accident. Almost all the 

 states have laws against this sort of thing, 

 but I have never yet had a factory in- 

 spector even refer to them. The liability 

 companies, however, always watch out for 

 them, and they will not carry insurance on 

 a plant that has very many in sight. 



There are several types of set screws on 

 the market, to which the term safety can 

 be rightly applied, but most of them have 

 some fault or other that causes the average 

 millnian to condemn them and to continue 

 using the old style, w-hich has the virtue of 

 staying set. There is the kind that has to 

 be tightened up with a screw driver so 

 that the head is below the surface of the 

 collar, and there are others that must be 



