HARDWOOD RECORD 



31 



through an automat- 

 i c a 1 1 y - f e d thin 

 stamping knife that 

 cuts the thickness 

 of the match all 

 one way. The sec- 

 ond time it is fed 

 at right angles to 

 these cuts, and is a 

 lilook of matches, 

 all but the igniting 

 end. 



The blocks are 

 separated into 

 pieces of a suitable 

 size to be grasped 

 in the hand, and are 

 lai(. top end down 

 on a hot plate, so 

 that the action of 

 the heat separates 

 each match from 

 every other one. 

 Then Chinese labor 

 is engaged to dip 

 them for about a 



quarter of an inch into a bowl of hot sulphur. As soon as they are 

 sufficiently dried, the tips are dipped into a pan of heated phos- 



STU-HUR CORNER IN A PORT ORFORD BLOCK MATCH FACTORY 



nearly as valuable on the West Coast as 

 wich Islands. 



phorus, either red 

 or blue colored as 

 may be desired, and 

 the matches when 

 dried are broken 

 into squares and 

 packed about 1,200 

 in a box which is 

 sold at retail for 

 five cents. 



The western lum- 

 ber jack would be 

 lost without h i s 

 block matches 

 which are his in- 

 separable compan- 

 ions everywhere. 

 The rainy season 

 there never means a 

 lost supply of 

 ruined matches as is 

 the case elsewhere 

 when other kinds of 

 matches are used. 

 Thus we see that 

 Port Orford cedar is 

 the cocoanut is to the Sand- 



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Red gum is a plain wood and a figured wood. Much of it 

 has no figure, as the term is commonly used, and some that is 

 figured is used for ordinary purposes where the figure adds noth- 

 ing to its value. The total annual cut of red gum, including 

 lumber and veneer, is not far short of 750,000,000 feet, board 

 measure. There is no way of determining exactly how much of 

 this is used in a manner to display the figure and how much is 

 used without any purpose of such display; but it is a safe guess 

 that ninety per cent of it either has little figure or that no 

 attempt is made to turn such figure to account. 



The annual cut, as given above, is in board feet. That is, the 

 measurements are taken on the basis of boards one inch thick. 

 But about 130,000,000 feet are veneers. If this were stated in 

 surface feet the measurement would be nearer 1,000,000,000 feet, 

 because the sheets of veneer are thin, and several of them must 

 be laid one upon another to equal the thickness of an inch board. 



Much of the figured gum is used in the form of veneer, and 

 though it may not amount to ten per cent of the whole cut, it 

 covers a great deal of surface. Figured wood, therefore, is 

 much more in evidence than is indicated when its total quantity 

 is expressed in board measure. One board foot, when converted 

 into veneer, may cover eight or ten surface feet of furniture or 

 interior finish. 



Red gum's figure is not primarily due to contrast of annual 

 rings, as is the case with most of the pines, and with such hard- 

 woods as ash and chestnut; nor is it secured by exposing medul- 

 lary rays, as in quarter-sawed oak, though a certain variety of 

 appearance is secured by quarter-sawing red gum. Its figure is 

 peculiar. It is due to the deposit of chocolate-colored and light 

 red material in the wood. To a certain extent these deposits 

 run at haphazard; that is, they do not follow annual rings or 

 medullary rays, but are dispersed irregularly. On the other hand, 

 certain patterns reoccur at intervals, so that when a large sur- 

 face of figured wood is examined, it is found that certain pleasing 

 features are repeated in a way to suggest a sort of rule or law. 



The name red gum is due to the color of the heartwood. This 



color is due to minute grains of pigment in the medullary rays 

 chiefly, though the grains are found in the vertical fibers also. 

 When the sapwood changes to heartwood as the tree advances in 

 age, the coloring matter finds lodgment in the dead material con- 

 stituting the interior of the tree. This process is common with 

 most woods. The dark color of the interior is caused by deposits 

 of pigment in and among the cells. It does not lodge in the sap- 

 wood, for the supposed reason that the circulation of water 

 there is active and washes the substance out; but activities 

 practically cease in the heartwood, and such solid substances as 

 find their way there will remain. 



The stains which produce the figure in red gum seem to be 

 different from the coloring matter spoken of, since figure occurs' 

 in the sapwood as well as heartwood, while the red which gives 

 the wood its name is in the heartwood only. 



In addition to the coloring matter of the heartwood, and the 

 stains which produce the figure, there is a gum present in minute 

 globules in the vertical pores and the medullary rays; but since 

 this gum appears to have little to do with the color or figure, its 

 functions need not be considered here. 



There is great difference in the amount of heartwood in differ- 

 ent trees. Some have little, others a large proportion. Soil and 

 situation appear to be influential factors. Trees on low, wet 

 ground often contain much more sapwood, in proportion to size 

 of trunk, than trees on dry ground; but this rule is not universal. 

 Old trees have more sapwood than young. This law rules most 

 tree species. It was once believed that if red gum trees were 

 girdled and killed and were left standing a year or more, the 

 quantity of heartwood increased; but that opinion was not well 

 founded and it is no longer held. 



Red gum is remarkably free from disease while the tree is alive. 

 Its remarkable immunity has been attributed to the great period 

 that it has been on earth. It flourished on the Pacific coast in 

 Tertiary time — nobod.v knows how many million years ago. Its 

 survival during such immense periods is attributed to its ability 

 to resist disease, by which process it gradually became immune. 



