April 2.-,. 1!I21 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



l('<niti>iuril fiinn tiuyi- 21) 



anil shimld he lUt and niarkclcd. lint the young socnml gniwlli, nn whiili 

 wi- di'i"-nd I'm- our futurr supidy nf lunihcr, slinuld be jealously prcscrvi'd. 

 At present we arc rei-klessly eutting it tor tie timber, poles aud . mining 

 timher, destroying fully thirty per cent of it during the operation. It is 

 eoninum practice to leave twenty to forty feet of good, sound tmtt logs 

 In the woods, because they are too large to hew into ties. The same con- 

 dition applies to operations where mining timber is lieing logged. This 

 should hi' checked, and without waste of time. Ilepletion of o\ir forests 

 in Uritlsh Columbia within twenty years, with a resultant slump in all 

 enterprises tluit dejiend wholly or in part on forest products, can only 

 he averteil it action is taken without further delay. 



The action we would propose is that private timber land owners adopt 

 logging methods that will protect and jireserve young growth, and leave 

 logged-off lands in condition for forest renewal ; then the young trees of 

 today will he of merchantable size when needed. This is dependent on 

 keeping tires out of tlie forests, so that young trees will have an oppor- 

 tunity to grow. 



A Thing of Slow Growth 



It has been shown on examination that unless logging slash is burnt 

 over the reproduction is very poor, the heavy slash shading the young 

 seedlings. It is necessary for a (ire to follow logging operations in order 

 to prepare the ground tor seeding. This should be undertaken by the 

 government, which can take every precaution to avoid disastrous fires. 



It takes approximately SO years to produce trees of commercial size 

 that will make ties and piling for the coast or saw logs for interior mills. 



K\'entually our coast mills will liave to adapt their cutting machinery 

 fctr small logs, for the virgin timber, once gone. <'an never he replaced. 

 It takes from 200 to 400 years to produce our large fir timber, and double 

 that to produce our big cedar. The fortunate owner of a tract of virgin 

 cedar and (ir will, if only he can alTorcl to hold it for a few years, reap a 

 ricli reward. 



The reforestation will have to be undertaken in the main by the gov- 

 ernment. It is not practicable to c'nt'orce the practice of forestry on pri- 

 vate timber lands, for the growing c»f timber of saw l(»g size is an opera- 

 tion too long in time and offering too low a rate of return to attract 

 private' capital, always excepting pulp and paper companies, who can 

 use timber long before it becomes saw log size. In tills connection, Penn- 

 sylvania planted nine million trees in 1910 ; titty million trees since 1900, 

 began in 172S. 



Very shortly we shall see a large* increase in the number of these plants, 

 and it is to be hoped that Canadian and empire capital will be behind them. 



In conclusion let me say that it is vitally necessary that newspaper pub- 

 lishers within the empire should get together anil acquire supplies ot 

 timber against the time when they will be worrying, not about the price 



Editor's Xotf: TIiIk atldrisn is iiriitti'd heir bvciiuKc oj the interesting 

 Willi in which Mr. IJihbcmon shoirs that Cana4ii, while not an intensively 

 rxploited a eiiuiitry as our own, hos its timher eonservation problem just 

 of timber, but about the fact that they cannot ge supplies at any price. 



tlir Nflllir, 



(Continued 

 timbers, whicli it' treated with nntiseptics will give an average life 

 of 12 years. Before foreign woods can comjiete with these it is 

 necessary to know that tlieir annual cost will be no greater. Com- 

 petent tests under actual service conditions must be made, not of 

 single tics but of whole stretches of track. Such tests take time 

 and cost money but they should be under way. And having found 

 suitable woods the next question is to get them out in quantity 

 and up to specifications. Tliis means inspection in the woods, 



from pane 22) 



otherwise a lot of cull stock will lie ]iiiurccl in which may wreck the 

 whole enterprise. 



What is written is not meant in any way to discourage the trop- 

 ical timber trade or to retard the legitimate exploitation of tropical 

 forests. But the business has so many factors which do not enter 

 into our domestic lumber business that a word of caution may not 

 be amiss to those who are looking to that field. There are unques- 

 tionabl.v rich opportunities in the tropical forests, but the rewards 

 are only for those jvho know how to play the game. 



Pertinent Information 



South Opens Lower Rate Fight 



The governing lioarii of the Southern Hardwood Traffic .Association, at 

 a meeting at Memphis, Tenn., .\pril 19, attended by representatives from 

 all parts of the hardwood producing territory,. agreed that a complaint 

 should lie filed before the Interstate Commerce Commission seeking a 

 reduction of not less than 'iS\ii per cent in rates on forest products to 

 consuming centers, as well as a like reduc-tion in the rates on raw 

 materials, such as logs, to milling pfdnts. 



It was the unanimous opinion of those attending that the present level 

 of freight rates is retarding the movement ot forest products, and that 

 return to "normalcy" must be prec-ected by a recUiction in existing rates. 



Box Demands of Pineapple Industry 

 The rapidly increasing pineapple industry in the Hawaiian Islands 

 destined to be the largest in the world, is a matter of great interest to the 

 wooden box manufacturers of this country. 



One of the large box companies of the state of Washington, received 

 its first order for boxes from the islands in 1906, that year making total 

 shipments of 75,000 cases. In 1920. its shipments will aggregate close to 

 3,000,000 cases, of which about 2,000,000 will go to the Hawaiian Pine- 

 apple Co., of Honolulu, from which the box concern received its first order 

 fourteen years ago. The total pack of 1920 Is estimated at 6,000.000 cases, 

 as compared with 5,000,000 cases last year, which was considered a record. 

 The Hawaiian Pineapple Company now packs 780,000 pineapples or about 

 1,000 tons of the fruit every day during the season and employs 3,000. 



Cutting Olive Trees for Fuel 



In parts ot Palestine the olive orchards were practically destroyed by 

 the Turks during the war. A report by Consul Otis A. Glazebrook at 

 Jerusalem says : 



With the allied blockade of Turkish ports, coal for the railroads had to 

 be substituted by wood, and In Palestine the olive trees were required to 

 bear the greater part ot this substitution. The trees were cut down In 

 the districts through which the railways ran, and It Is estimated that 



half the olive trees were destroyed in this manner. Again, while retreat- 

 ing, the Turks mutilated the small branches of the olive trees for quick 

 fuel. The destruction was further increased by the fact that most of th« 

 battles on this front took place in the olive grove districts, and conte- 

 quentl.v the land around the trees could not be plowed at the proper tlm« 

 and win not yield advantageously, unless they are properly cultivated for 

 at least two "consecutive years. In addition to this war devastation, th« 

 locust plague of 1915 materially injured the trees. 



Better Showing for Pecan 



In a report showing the strength and elasticity of American voods, com- 

 piled for the census of 1880 by Charles S. Sargent, pecan was rated very 

 low. Many other hardwoods were listed above it, and among the hickories 

 It was not only the poorest, but in strength hardly came up to half of the 

 strength ot most of the commercial hickories. During more than thirty 

 years these figures were regarded as ofDclal, and persons who accepted 

 Sargent's values as correct, had a very poor opinion of pecan as a vehicle 

 wood or for any other purpose that required elasticity or strength. Uany 

 persons who had actually tried the wood had a better opinion of It ; bnt 

 the old official figures stood constantly against It. 



A few years ago the Forest Service laboratory at Madison, Wii., began 

 a new set of tests. Intended to include all commercial woods of the United 

 States, and the publication of the result of these tests, appearing In 

 Bulletin 556 of the Forest Service, puts pecan In a much more favorable 

 light. The following comparison will show this : Sargent's figures glT« 

 the strength at 8,000 pounds per square Inch ; elasticity, 915,000 pounds. 

 The Forest Products Laboratory's figures, strength 10,200 ; elasticity, 

 1,940,000. The latter values are twice as great as those of Sargent. 



The latest figures may be assumed to be more ne.irly correct than thoM 

 made thirty odd years ago : because the Madison laboratory has much 

 better facilities for making tests. The difference between the two sets 

 of figures Is so remarkable that It Is dIfBcuIt to understand how they could 

 have been reached. The samples used by Sargent grew near Greenville, 

 Miss., and Dallas, Texas ; the Forest Service's samples came from 

 Missouri. 



Pecan Is perhaps the most abundant of all the hickories, though It wonld 

 not be easy to quote statistics showing such to be the case, because 

 accurate cruises and surveys have not been made ; but In size, the pecan 

 tree exceeds that of any other hickory. It belongs In the class of smooth- 

 bark hickories. Its nuts have always been valuable and most people ar« 

 accustomed to think of pecan as a producer of nuts rather than as a 

 source of wood. 



