HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 





i*^i ^ 



f '>^j,is1i 



( -. 



A wiKins scKNi; IN i:Asrr:i!\ Kansas 



ri:i; ii:\r n\- thi: ri;i:i:s ai;i: 1:1. mk w ai.ni i 



111' 



liicih 



■;izi; 



Till' cause nf hurls lias never, so tar as I 

 ViiiiH. been fully ileterniined, but it is prob- 

 •ible that they are started by the stiug of an 

 insect, a bruise or some otiii'r mishap befall- 

 ing the tree while it is youUK, by which the 

 flow of the sa]) is )iartially divrrteil from its 

 proiier channels to the burl .iikI tliiis is built 

 op this peculiar abnormal ]i;rowth, sometimes 

 '•alleil a timber wart, but which is more aji- 

 liropriately tenneil a wood tumor. The wal- 

 nut variety is more frequent in localities 

 wlific the timber is of a stunted or ruf^ged 

 iiatiiic and a thin or more scanty stand, and 

 less frequent where the trees are larger, more 

 thrifty and their boles more magnificent in 

 |ini|iortioiis. F'oi- tliis and other reasons I 

 am led to believe the hunter for figured wal 

 lint who extends his explorations to the wood 

 lands near the western terminations of the 

 timber belt between the Mississip]ii and the 

 prairie regions of Kansas and Oklahoma is 

 more handsomely remunerated, both as to 

 <|uantity of wood and strength of figure, than 

 he who prospects only in the more heavily 

 wooded localities farther east. 



The largest one of the nineteen burls ri'p 

 resented in the picture weighed 1,5(10 jiounds 

 and the smallest 27ij pouiuls, and their ag- 

 gregate weight was rj,()H.') pounds. The high- 

 est price received was Iti cents ]ier pound 

 for one piece weighing ttoU pounds or .'til.52, 

 and the lowest price received was SVi cents 

 per pound for two pieces which weighed to- 

 gether 840 pounds and brought $29.40, and 

 thi' average price receivefl for the entire lot 

 was N'j cents per jiound or .■|il,079.07. These 

 burls would have yiidded i-ven lietter returns 

 than this if the majority of them had been 

 (lit ditferently. Two or three feet of the log 

 Just above the burl, even if the tree is not 

 figured, usually partakes more or less of the 

 same figure as the hurl ami should have been 

 left. This would increase the size of the 

 sheet of veneer that could be produced. The 

 <'iitter's experience in getting out this kind 

 of timber, as usual, was quite limiteil. and 

 for this reason they maile the mistake of 

 <utting the logs off close uji to tlr- swell or 

 liiilge of the burl. This reduced the size and 



also the price of the veneer. This lot of 

 figured wood was sold to different parties 

 .iiid at different times. Several of the best 

 pieics were sent to London and possibly may 

 tind their way back to this country under the 

 label of French burl or I'ircassian walnut. 



In this I'ar of wood was represented in 

 good strong outline samples of the complete 

 list of all kinds of figure known to walnut. 

 Some of the logs were from very old trees, 

 and the wood presented a nuittled ajipearance 

 on a glossy dark groundwork ranging from 

 almost .iet black to the lighter shades of 

 brown or clio<Milate color, which gave them an 

 extravagant value. Others disjilayed all the 

 wave and delicate veining from a close fiddle 

 back to the longer and more desirable waves. 

 The blister, the shell figure and the beautiful 

 roll curl were represented. The rare pitted 

 figure, called bird's-eye, and the various 

 forms of stump wrinkle. Kvery .shade and 

 variety and strange ami dainty jiattern and 

 I'oinbination of lines common to this higher 

 class veneer wood was found in this lot. This 

 carload was selected from a liunch of several 

 hundred logs that were cut for export and 

 delivered to Kldorado, the county seat of 

 Butler county, Kansas, and were the jiroduct 

 of the woodlands along the big Walnut river, 

 and the burls were gathered up in the sur- 

 rounding country. Eldorado is situated ]5() 

 miles west of the east line and sixty miles 

 north of the south line of Kansas, and would 

 therefore seem almost out of the timber belt, 

 but such is not the fact. There are large 

 bodies of timber along all of these western 



streams, and it is the walnut that actually 

 preiloininati's. although there is a great deal 

 of ntlier kiii'ls iif liardvvoods t-oiiiiunn to the 

 \\ est. 



Tile stand ol' waliiiil cxliibitcd ill the il- 

 lustration ai'coinpaiiying this article is in 

 Eastern Kansas. About !>.') per. cent of the 

 trees are black walnut, running froni •"> to 7 

 feet in circuinferenc, breast high. This 

 is all straight timber, with jirobalily 4ii 

 or .")0 such trees to the acre and is a fair 

 sample of the walnut of this territory. Some 

 fine figured wood lias been taken from this 

 stand. 



Must of the old veterans, tin' aboriginal 

 growth of walnut, have long sinci' been cut 

 out by the early settlers of the country and 

 later by jiarties dealing in export walnut 

 logs. Trees of smaller sizes have been left 

 from year to year, and there is now a vast 

 crop of this .second growth walnut all over 

 the western country' that has grown up from 

 saplings within the la.st fifty or sixty years, 

 and th<'y are now about ready to harvest. 

 This timber has attained a size that will pro- 

 duce logs running from ten to twenty-four 

 inches in diameter, clean, straight and thin 

 .sap for young trees. In many places all the 

 timber has been removed except the walnut, 

 and in some cases it has been triinnu'd and 

 thinned out and the little sttinted trees cut 

 down, leaving a solid grove of beautiful wal; 

 nuts, sometimes containing as many as 

 seventy-five or eighty trees to the acre larger 

 enough to be profitably converted into lumber. 

 — .1. \'. Hamii.ixin. 



Hardwood InsecUVroof Chests. 



Unless one takes the time to investigate 

 carefully one can hardly realize what strenu- 

 ous efforts are being constantly made by 

 chest manufacturers to design and construct 

 a chest which shall be proof against all in 

 sects. In the Philippine islands moth-proof 

 chest makers simply use the liiinl camjihor 

 woods. The' odor of camphor alone drives 

 moths, and in fact nearly all other pests 

 a«av. Jn t uba they turn out so-called moth 

 proof hardwood chests by a certain system 



of dovetailing the corners of tlie boxes. In 

 other countries they adopt other ways. 



The hardwood chest makers of the United 

 States have made a study of this work, with 

 ilie result that those of the present time are 

 ol superior iiuality, as well as effective 

 against the inroads of pests. In the matter 

 of avoiding the moth there is no better way 

 thiiii to use perfectly constructed chests i,.s .1 

 base. There are an abundance of cainpl") 

 balls and other kinds of insect killing |.ow- 



