14 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



The Mountain Path 



THE PICTURE ON THE I'UONr COVEK uf lliis miiiilier of 

 Habdwood Eecorii shows :i jKitli through the woods. Tlie path 

 IS evidently new, and that is the interesting part. It is on the west 

 side of Massanutteu mountain, Roekinghani county, Virginia, and was 

 recently constructed by the United States Forest Service at a cost 

 of thirty-five dollars a mile. It is part of the improvements which 

 the government is making on the lands lately bought to form the 

 system of Appalaeliian National Forests. This particular tract lies 

 within two hours' ride hy vail of the city of Washington. 



It may \ie a matter of surprise that waste land in sutiicient tracts 

 to form a government forest could be found so near the nation's 

 capital; but the land was there, and was purchased at a low price. 

 It is cut over and partly denuded, with small, worn-out and abandoned 

 clearings interspersed. The particular tract shown in the jjicture 

 contains a promising stand of young hardwood, but no old timber is 

 visible. Many thousands of acres of such land have been bought by 

 the government among the eastern mountains. For the most part, 

 they are tracts which the owners were unwilling to imjjrove or pro- 

 tect, and they were deteriorating from periodic fires and by the 

 ceaseless erosion caused by storms. 



In most instances, the only measure needed to bring back the 

 forests is to keep iires out. The small trees will then grow; seeds 

 wUl be planted in nature's various ways; the annual fall of leaves 

 and the decay of weeds will slowly renew the soil's fertility; and in 

 time the timber will become valuable, and under the care which the 

 forests will receive, they will perpetually remain valuable. 



One of the first improvements which the Forest Service undertakes 

 when it purchases these unpromising lands, is to construct traUs in 

 various directions through them. These paths become strategic lines 

 in fighting fire. The men can move more quickly to the threatened 

 areas, and can generally head off' the fires before they gain much 

 headway. 



In addition to furnishing facilities for rapid movement and con- 

 centration of forces in fire fighting, the paths are valuable in the 

 transaction of the business of the region, both by those in ehai-ge of 

 forest work and by citizens who have occasion to pass to and fro 

 on business or pleasure. Many an old resident has expressed sur- 

 prise at the easy grades which forest engineers have found for the 

 trails among the mountains. The pioneers made their paths up and 

 down steep ridges and narrow backbones because brush was thinner 

 and less troublesome there ; and some such trails have been in use 

 ever since, and not infrequently they have been widened and have 

 become highways — following up and down hills as the path did a 

 century before. The Forest Service's easy grades round hills instead 

 of the unspeakable grades over them have opened the eyes of many 

 a mountaineer who did not know that a potbail is no shorter standing 

 up than lying down. 



The buying of the land by the government to establish forests in 

 the East is about at an end unless Congress makes another appropri- 

 ation for that purpose. It is understood that the fund provided some 

 years ago for purchasing such land is nearly exhausted. Purchases 

 are said to approximate 1,000,000 acres, and the average price has 

 not exceeded six dollars an acre, including considerable bodies of 

 land containing a fair amount of timber. Friends of the Forest 

 Service in Congress are proud of the excellent showing made in the 

 purchase and improvement of lands in New England and in the 

 southern Appalachians, and there is little doubt tliat means will be 

 provided to continue the good work. It is coming to be better under- 

 stood that the Forest Service is not a purely wosteiu affair, but is 

 national in its scope. 



Annual Wood Manufactures 



AN ARTICLE IN THIS ISSUE of Habdwood Record gives 

 government statistics on the annual use of wood for manufactur- 

 ing purposes in the United States. No similar figures were ever be- 

 fore available, and for that reason the statistics are of exceptional 

 interest and value. The yearly cut of lumber has been published 

 regularly for many years, but the information went no further. No 

 one knew how much of the lumber was used in the rough and how- 

 much was further manufactured before it reached the ultimate con- 



sumer. It luis lieen known for sunu^ time tluit the I'orest Service 

 was at work on tlie problem of determining how much of the annual 

 cut of wood reaches factories to be converted into finished products. 

 That information has now been made public, and doubtless many 

 persons will be surprised that sixty per cent of the rough lumber 

 is not used until after it has been converted into manufactured 

 articles. Different states play a very unequal part in this manufactur- 

 ing. The largest producers of rough lumber are not usually the most 

 important in further manufacture. The close relationship between 

 utilization and diversifieil markets is shown. The race for supremacy 

 in quantity of material used in wood-manufacturing, with Illinois, 

 New York and Pennsylvania far in the lead of all other competitors, 

 has apparently been settled in favor of Pennsylvania. Illinois stands 

 second, New York third; but Illinois leads in the number of wood- 

 using industries, New York is second, and Pennsylvania third. These 

 three states do more than one-fifth of all the wood manufacturing in 

 the United States. 



A Boost for Hardwood 



THE USE OK 11AI{1)\V001)^-; in modeni mantel construction lias 

 not been any too prominent of recent years. Hence, the action 

 taken at a recent meeting of mantel and tile dealers at New Orleans 

 will be particularly giatifyingto those in a position to supply mantel 

 manufacturers with their raw material. An open discussion on th6 

 question of hardwood mantels was a feature of this meeting, and it 

 seems that as a result hardwood mantels will be brovight back to their 

 proper position as an important part of the modern home. 



It is interesting to note that in the discussion, the consensus of 

 opinion was developed indicating that the hardwood trade has not 

 been alive to its opportunities or to the necessity for creating new 

 designs and new ideas in mantel furniture. On the other hand, manu- 

 facturing concerns of competing materials have kept abreast of the 

 times and as a consequence have taken a large proportion of the mar- 

 ket. However, it seems that the hardwood industry has a strong ally 

 in this association which went on record as favoring the sponsoring 

 of the cause of the hardwood mantel, and is making every effort to 

 leintroduee it as an essential feature of the modern home. 



Wliile the lumber trade cannot take credit for any favorable re- 

 sults which might he felt, it has just reason tn be extremely glnd of 

 its occurrence. 



Delivery of Lumber Shipments 



CERTAIN LEGAL PRINCIPLES which are applicalile to every 

 shipment of lumber or other freight were recently applied by the 

 Supreme Court of Georgia. The rules laid down by the court, being 

 in accordance with the decisions of the appellate courts of other states, 

 will prove of interest to lumber shippers throughout tlie country. 



The first point decided is that when lumber is shipped in carload 

 lots and the consignee is given notice of the arrival of the freight 

 at its destination, his failure to receive and unload it within a 

 reasonable time, the strict liability of the carrying railway com- 

 pany as common carrier ends, and its less strict responsibility as 

 warehouseman arises. The importance of this point lies in the fact 

 that a carrier is virtually insurer of the safety of freight while in 

 its hands, being liable even for loss through accidental fires not 

 attributable to any active negligence on its part, and for anj' loss 

 or damage not resulting from fault of the shipper or unavoidable 

 calamity, such as an unprecedented storm. On the other hand, a 

 warehouseman is liable only for losses which are traceable to 

 negligence on his part. Thus, if a shipment of lumber is acci- 

 dentally destroyed while in the delivering railway company 's hands, 

 but before the consignee has been notified of its arrival, and has 

 had time to receive it, the loss falls on the railway company, 

 unless it can show that the loss resulted from what is termed in 

 law an "act of God." That the fire was caused by an incendiary 

 or by fault of a third person is no defense. On the other hand, if 

 the consignee has been notified of the arrival of the shipment and 

 the loss occurs after he has omitted to unload it promptly, he cannot 

 recover without showing negligence on the part of the railway com- 

 pany. The case stands precisely as it would against one who under- 

 takes to store a quantity of lumber, without insurance. 



