28 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



inclusive of G8,194,095,46T foot or lumber and 

 36,500,508,037 shingles. Can one comprehend 

 these llRures In their forest consumptive enormi- 

 ty? I <loiibt it. 



Gentlemen. It Is with no scldsh or mercenary 

 purposes that jou are here : no thought of in- 

 ilivliliial Kain has prompted yon to undertake 

 this pioneer work, for well you know that the 

 reward to be is for the gain of generations to 

 come. Your work and purpose is that of your 

 country's future need .lud good. I am Indeed 

 h.onored to have this opportunity to say to you 

 the people of Saginaw most heartily welcome 

 your coming. 



Kelley Lumber & Shingle Company. 

 Waiter N. Kelloy <if Traverse Cily, Mich., 

 chief stockholder and manager of the Kellcy 

 Lumber and Shingle Company, has called a 

 meeting of its creditors, to be held shortly, at 

 which time he will present a statement of af- 

 fairs. The slight tinauclal difficulty In which 

 the company finds itself just at this time is un- 

 doul)tedly a reflection of the flurry that has just 

 passed over the country. Mr. Kellcy has been 

 for years a large and successful hardwood op- 

 erator, and has marketed about 70,000,000 

 feet a year. He is known as an astute business 

 man, so that he no doubt, will soon weather 

 the present disarrangement of his companv's af- 

 fairs. 



Cooperative Study of Kentucky Forests. 



The first season's field work in the co-oper- 

 ative investigation of the forest resources of 

 Kentucky undertaken by the United States 

 Forest Service and the State Board of .\gricul- 

 ture has just been completed. Very satisfactory 

 progress was made in the work during the 

 summer, and all the territory drained by the 

 Big Sandy and Little Sandy rivers was covered, 

 eniliracing in all eleven counties. 



The object of the study has been to deter- 

 mine the present timber supply, the rate of 

 consumption, and other facts which may serve 

 as a basis for suggestions and recommendations 

 to be embodied in the report which is to be 

 submitted to the Kentucky legislature. 



The investigation so far conducted has shown 

 that within reasonable distance of railroads and 

 floating streams there is little good timber left, 

 and yellow poplar is getting scarce all through 

 the region. Ten years ago this tree was the 

 most important one of the region, but now the 

 cut of white oak exceeds it both in quantity 

 and value. Many watersheds are practically 

 devoid of merchantable timber and many others 

 are rapidly approaching this condition." Jluch 

 of the land has been cleared for farming pur- 

 poses, but owing to the steepness of the bills 

 which in many sections wash badly, and to the 

 natural poverty of the soil, a large proportion 

 of the cleared land has been abandoned after 

 raising a few crops of corn, and it Is now 

 growing up in briars and bushes, slowly revert- 

 ing to forest again. 



This part of the state is fairly thickly set- 

 tied, and the people depend to a large extent on 

 the marketing and manufacture of timber for a 

 livelihood. It is therefore highly important, not 

 so much that the timber itself should be pre- 

 served, but that the forest lands should be 

 handled in such a way that a perpetual supply 

 of timber may reasonably be expected. 



The work will be taken up again next spring 

 and carried on as far as funds will permit. 

 The expense is borne jointly by the government 

 and by the state, each appropriating $2,000. 



Kuthless 'Waste. 

 Often less than fifty per cent of the average 

 tree as it stands in the woods comes Into the 

 market in the form of merchantable products, 

 according to the statistics of government ex- 

 perts. The remainder is too frequently allowed 

 to go to waste. Some trees supposed to be of 

 little value have been habitually neglected alto- 



gether and left In the woods to fall and decay. 



The seriousness of this waste quest ion made 

 little impression on lumbermen and the users 

 of lumber until forests began to fail and prices 

 reached a point where building operations were 

 handicapped. Lumbermen have too often gone 

 into the richest forests of the country and 

 merely "skimmed the cream," taking only choke 

 parts of the trees, and wasting the remainder. 

 Scarcity has now called a halt, and made it 

 necessary to put the whole tree to its best use. 



The Forest Service early realized the need 

 of turning to account what was thrown away, 

 and it began investigations with that end in 

 view. Because of lack of facilities in Washing- 

 ton, laboratories were established in oilier cities, 

 the location of which seemed to be most advan- 

 tageous for the particular study concerned. The 

 first of these was at New Haven, Conn., In 

 the old chemical laboratory of the Sheffield Sci- 

 entific School of Yale University. Experimental 

 and analytical work was carried on. such as the 

 analyzing of preserved timbers, the determina- 

 tion of the quantity of tanning material and 

 cellulose in various woods and bark, experiments 

 to discover the quantity of material leached out 

 by allowing logs to stand in water for varying 

 periods, and studies to establish standards and 

 values of commercial creosotes. 



Work progressed even with a limited force, 

 and shortly a laboratory was established in Bos- 

 ton to investigate the value for pulp purposes 

 of various abundant woods, and to save the 

 valuable spruce and poplar forests for lumber. 

 The results of this work were most encourag- 

 ing. Many wood fibres were shown to be val- 

 uable raw material for paper. Some of these 

 were, so far as color, strength and various 

 other qualities are concerned, better for certain 

 purposes than spruce. 



The wood distillation industry was also given 

 careful study with most satisfactory results. An 

 expert made an extended tour of investigation 

 through the South, and furnished an exhaustive 

 report on the condition of the industry of that 

 section. Later experimental studies resulted in 

 a method of chemical examination which not 

 only demonstrates the relative value of turpen- 

 tine obtained from the pine trees by various 

 methods, but also shows that it is possible by 

 steam distillation processes to obtain from ref- 

 use southern pine a grade of turpentine equal 

 for all practical purposes to gum spirits, which 

 is the product obtained by scarifying the trunks 

 of liviug trees. Circulars setting forth the re- 

 sults in detail are now in preparation by the 

 Forest Service. 



The investigations of the government to dis- 

 cover uses for waste material were from the 

 first carried on under something of a disadvan- 

 tage because of laboratories being in different 

 cities. Consolidation of forces and close co- 

 operation were almost impossible. This was 

 remedied last July by a transfer of headquarters 

 to Washington. A building suited to the spe- 

 cial requirements of the work was erected, in 

 which the apparatus previously used elsewhere 

 has been installed. Here the field of Inquiry 

 will be extended to cover additional phases of 

 the waste problem as It affects the timber sup- 

 ply. 



Hearing Mershon's Band. 

 [The following verses were received by the 

 Recced from an enthusiastic user of Mershon 

 band resaws, and reflect not only his own opin- 

 ion but that of many others on the worth of 

 these modern sawmill and planing mill ma- 

 chines.] 



Yep, I've been to Saginaw ! 



Come, have a drink on me. 

 For I'm about the happiest jay 



That ever you did see I 



Of course, I knew the lumber boys. 



But I kep' my wits until 

 I'd bought some belts and fixin's 



For the saw and plauin' mill. 



But always Bomeone would pipe up. 

 When givin' me the hand, 

 • An" say, "I'm glad to see ye, Jim ; 

 Have you seen the .Mershon Band"'" 



"Gol darn the Band !" I says to 'em, 



"I'm here on business. 

 An' music ain't mv latitude. 



But milliu' fixin's Is !" 



They'd laugh and pass the word along 



Till every livin' man 

 Would say, "Now, Jim, don't fail to call 



An' Bee that Mershon Band !" 



An' then I met Mershon himself ; 



Says he, "Come, Jim, an' listen 

 To the music of the Mershon Band : 



You don't know what you're missin' I" 



I went an' saw an' listened — well. 



To cut the story short, 

 I've bought the whole darn bloomln' hand 



An' shipped it to this port : 



An' purty soon you'll hear It go. 

 An' you'll make up your mind 



The old man wa'n't so crazy 

 When he left his wad behind, 



Fer I've calkerlated everything. 



An' I'm satisfied to "thaw" 

 There's a heap o' easy money 



In that Mershon Band Resaw ! 



Beech for Ties. 



Experts in wood preservation in this and other 

 countries have discovered that the beech makes 

 a most lasting and durable cr*jss-tie when prop- 

 erly treated, says a recent bulletin of the For- 

 est Service. In the search for railroad tie tim- 

 ber to fill the wide gaps made by the dwindling 

 supply of white oak, lumber manufacturers have 

 been compelled to turn to many woods which 

 were once considered inferior, but which under 

 creosote or other chemical treatment have been 

 found to furnish excellent substitutes for oak. 



Railroad builders have rejected beech here- 

 tofore because it decays quickly in damp places. 

 When oak could not be had they took other 

 decay-resisting woods, but did not consider 

 beech except as a temporary makeshift. Yet it 

 has been proved by actual tests of long duration 

 that a beech tie may be given a preservative 

 ■treatment which will make it outlast white oak. 

 It is possible to turn this knowledge to great 

 practical use in relieving the enormous demand 

 upon the limited supply of good tie timber. 



Beech is found widely distributed throughout 

 the eastern portion of the United States, and 

 grows to an average height of seventy to eighty 

 feet or more. Trees are often three or four 

 feet in diameter. In the forest the beech forms 

 a comparatively slender stem clear of branches 

 for more than half its length. The wood Is 

 hard, strong, tough and very close-grained. 



The ideal timber used for cross-ties Is un- 

 doubtedly white oak, but on account of its ex- 

 tensive use the supply has been greatly reduced, 

 and a great many railroads are now forced to 

 pay almost prohibitive prices for white oak ties 

 or to substitute other and cheaper woods. Michi- 

 gan cedar or arborvita; has been extensively 

 used to take the place of white oak. This is 

 very durable, but under heavy traflic necessi- 

 tates the use of tie plates and other protective 

 devices. The available supply of cedar is now 

 running short, so that beech suggests Itself. It 

 has naturally all the good qualities except dura- 

 bility. When laid In the track decay quickly 

 destroys beech timber unless rendered Immune 

 by preservative treatment. It receives such treat- 

 ment readily — much more readily than oak, 

 which needs it less. 



There is a reason why beech is more suscept- 

 ible to treatment than oak. Very early in the 

 life of a white oak tree it begins to form heart- 

 wood, and when large enough for ties it con- 

 tains sapwood only through the width of a tew 

 outer annular rings. Sapwood lends itself read- 

 ily to impregnation with preservative substances, 

 but heartwood of oak Is very resistant. Heart- 

 wood is naturally more durable on account of 

 its structure and the preservative substances 



