HARDWOOD RECORD 



34G 



doercasod 31). 4 \<or cent and ;i,>s.7 per cent, 

 respectively, in tlie same period. 



The total lumber production reported by 

 the censuses of 1880, 1890, 1900 and 1906 is 

 shown in figure 6. The cut has more than 

 doubled since 1880 and it is probably siife to 

 say that, could wholly complete statistics be 

 obtainoil. at least forty bilhon feet would be 

 shown at present. The many substitutes for 

 wood that have been proposed, and to some 

 extent used, have not lessened the demand for 

 lumber, as is shown by the fact that the per 

 capita consumption was 360 board feet in 

 1880 and 440 board feet in 1906. However, 

 the rate of increase in lumber production has 

 been very small in recent years, wliiili indi- 

 cates that the maximum cut for the country 

 as a whole has been nearly if not quite 

 reached. 



Xo satisfactory data have ever been col- 

 lected upon the quantity of wood used annu- 

 ally for posts, fuel and donu'stic purposes. 

 The few statistics available indicate a cut of 

 about 20,000.000 cedar posts in tlie lake states 

 in 1906. and of course many millions of posts 

 were cut elsewhere. 



23.9-<853 :)0 



>i.760,5l3.0OO feet 



^^^■^^^^^^^^■■■^^^^^^^^^H 1906 



37.550.736 00 teet. 

 Fig. (J — LI.MBEU I>RODI CXKJN OF THE 

 rXlTKU STATICS. 1S80, 1890. 1900, 1906. 



The census of 1880 estimated that the an- 

 nual consumption of fuel wood was practically 

 three cords per capita. There has unques- 

 tionably been a relative decrease in the use of 

 wood for fuel since that time, yet in the ab- 

 sence of further information it would seem 

 hardly reasonable to say that the per wipita 

 consumption has been reduced more than one- 

 half. If this be true, we are now using some 

 120 million cords of firewood annually. In 

 order to be more conservative, however, the 

 amount was estimated at 100 million cords by 

 the Forest Service. The latter quantity is 

 equivalent to some !50 billion board feet. 



Much timber is also destroyed or damaged 

 by fires and storms. For example, in the 

 year 1891 it was estimated that twelve million 

 acres of forest land were burned over; and in 

 the fall of 1906 a great deal of timber was 

 thrown down by wind in the Gulf states. 



Therefore it will be seen that all statistics 

 and conser\ative estimates indicate that our 



present consuni|>tion of wood in all forms is 

 equivalent to at least 100 billion board feet 

 annually, and possibly much more. Indeed, 

 one leading authority has estimated that the 

 total annual use of wood in the United States 

 is equivalent to I.jO billion board feet. 



Considering all the drains upon the forests, 

 the annual consumption of wood is probably 

 three times the annual growth. Figure T 

 shows graphically the excess of the annual 

 cut over the annual growth, based upon this 

 assumption. 



The estimates of standing timber in the 

 United States are by no means satisfactory. 

 The most detailed ones range roughly from 

 1,400 to 2,000 billion feet. 



At present only about 22 per cent of our 

 total forest s^rea is in state or national for- 

 ests, assuming a forest area of 700,000,000 

 acres, the remainder being on unreserved pub- 

 lic lands or in private hands. The forest area 

 of the United States is amply sufficient, if 

 rightly managed, to produce eventually 

 enough timber to supply all our needs. Yet 

 private owners, as well as the state and na- 

 tional governments, must use their forest 

 lands in a right way if we are to maintain 

 our tinil)er supply. 



Fig 



-KXCKSS OF ANMAL CUT 

 ANNUAL FOREST GROWTH. 



OVKIt 



The wide divergence in the estimates upon 

 both our wood consumption and our timber 

 supply emphasizes strongly the importance of 

 ascertaining accurately and with the least pos- 

 sible delay the quantity of wood annually 

 consumed for every purpose, how much stand- 

 ing timber we have and where it is, and the 

 rate of growth of all important species. With- 

 out this fundamental knowledge, it is clearly 

 impossible to make right and permanent plans 

 for the perpetuation and utilization of our 

 forest resources. 



I>t;e Woods. 



Logwood is one of the many products of 

 the semi-tropical forests that deserve con- 

 sideration and is of fully as much commercial 

 importance, and even more than some, and 

 yet it is rarely mentioned in the journals de- 

 voted to the hardwood interests. A brief de 

 scription of this valuable wood, which in con- 

 nection with fustic, brazil wood, mangrove 



and a few others of less importance consti- 

 tute the principal commercial dye woods, all 

 of which are more or loss of an astringent na- 

 ture, should prove of wide interest. Logwood, 

 the chief factor in thi.s line, is so called from 

 being originally imported only in the log, but 

 now ]ilants are being established at points 

 where the raw material is found in abundance 



for the purpose of extracling (he coloring 

 matter from the wood and shipping the liquid 

 in ciisks. This tree rarely grows over forty 

 feet in height and ten or twelve inches in 

 diameter at the base. It lias a very small, 

 round or slightly oval shaped leaf, which is 

 about one-half by three-quarters of an inch 

 in size with smooth edges. Several of these 

 are attached to the main stem supporting each 

 fluster of leaflets. The wood is of a reddish 

 cast when first cut, but soon turns black from 

 the coloring substance which exudes from the 

 pores, and when dried on the surface stains 

 the wood a jet black. It was originally used 

 only as a coloring material and for many 

 years principally as a textile dye, but of late 

 years a growing demand for it has been de- 

 veloped in the leather industry and this has 

 been a great stimulus to bringing it out of 

 the forests and it is being brought distances 

 that heretofore were thought impossible. 



It is a very heavy, dense wood and does 

 not seem to lighten much by seasoning. The 

 heart wood is the only part of the trunk of 

 the tree that is merchantable, the sap wood 

 is hewn off and discarded as worthless. The 

 larger roots are more valuable, as to the 

 amount of coloring matter they contain, than 

 the wood of the trunk of the tree, and for 

 this reason are taken out of the ground and 

 shipped with the wood of the body of the ' 

 tree. It is cut into billets from twenty to 

 thirty inches long, or in suitable lengths for 

 convenient storage, and appears to be more 

 or less haggled off at the ends, which is due 

 to the fact that the cutting is mostly done 

 with the machete, an extremely heavy knife 

 shaped much like a corn cutter. The sap or 

 white wood is from one-half to three-quarters 

 of an inch thick and is skelped oflf in a very 

 crude manner. Most of the body wood is 

 crooked and full of grooves and ridges, the 

 surface being very irregular, and the roots 

 are twisted and lapped over each other in an 

 unshapely manner. 



The logwood tree is most prolific and 

 thrives best on wet land or what is called the 

 acacha or logwood swamps. In these locali- 

 ties conditions seem most favorable for its 

 rapid growth and it attains the full size re- 

 (piircd for cutting in from ton to twelve 

 years. The larger roots of the trees do not 

 go down into the ground much but are spread 

 out over the surface and can be gotten at 

 without any grubbing or removing of dirt. 

 This makes it possible to get vast quantities 

 of the root wood with a comparatively small 

 amount of labor, although it is quite a task 

 to remove the growth of vines and other 

 vegetation that grows over and among them. 

 The principal, and, in fact, the only tools 

 used in getting out logwood is the machete 

 and ax, the former being used nunh more 

 than the latter, the ax being oidy brought in 

 play in felling and cutting up some of the 

 larger trees, but the machete is used for all 

 purposes imaginable in the bush, and I bavo 

 often wondered why saws, some patterns of 

 which would be very handy, are not more in 

 use. Owing to the weight of this wood, and 



