i6 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



June 10, 1017 



They are found iu the majority of states, and most of them are yet 

 small. In general appearance the young Circassian walnut resembles 

 pecan or one of the smooth-bark hickories; but in old age the trunk 

 becomes of irregular shape. 



An examination of the wood-using reports of various states fails 

 to discover a record that any home grown Circassian walnut has ever 

 been used in the United States. It does not seem to be known whether 

 the figure developed in the wood of this species produced in this 

 country is satisfactory or not. A fair chance to produce the best 

 figure has not yet been had, because the oldest of the trees have not 

 reached full maturity. There is reason to hope that the soil and 

 climate of some portions of the United States wUl be favorable to 

 the development of the fine figures which characterize the walnut of 

 the Caspian shores. 



The wild black walnut will be sufficient to meet the demand for 

 figured walnut wood in the immediate future. The species has a wide 

 range, and walnut trees are coming on throughout the whole of it, 

 which includes one-third of the United States. Though the stand is 

 scattered, and trees are usuaUy far apart, the aggregate supply is 

 pretty large. Much of the walnut timber is growing in the open, 

 instead of in forests, and trees in the open grow rapidly. They must 

 have age before the wood is at its best in color and figure ; but planted 



walnuts of large size and excellent wood are being cut all the time. 

 This may be accejjted as proof that when wild trees can no longer 

 meet the demand, the trees about farms will be sufficient. 



Black walnut trees are being planted every year in large numbers, 

 in many parts of the country. Those' now growing in orchards are 

 known to number about two million trees. They are being planted 

 chiefly for their nuts, but while they are producing nuts, they are 

 growing wood, and in future years the mature trunks will be sliced 

 into veneers, and the figured wood will doubtless be as eagerly sought 

 after then as it is now. The red gum supply is adequate for genera- 

 tions to come. 



Wheke Figured Wood Is Used 



The manufacturers of furniture, interior finish, and musical in- 

 struments are the largest users of figured walnut and gum. It is 

 reduced to thin veneer by either the rotary or the slicing process, and 

 the figures are so nicely matched iu panels that large rooms or halls 

 may be finished with as perfect harmony as could be done with wall 

 paper or the paint brush. Figures of this class should show to the 

 best advantage in panels and tops of considerable size, though by 

 careful selection of figures, smaller surfaces, curved as well as flat, 

 may be artistically covered. 



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The Car Situation at Memphis 



J. H. Towushend, secretary-manager of the Southern Hardwood 

 Traflie Association, reports that lumber interests are securing now 

 about 50 to 60 per cent of their requirements as compared with 25 to 

 30 per cent a short time ago. Some are doing even better than this 

 but others are not doing quite so well but the foregoing figures are 

 regarded as representing a fair average. A great many box cars 

 have been sent to southern lines during the past few days and this 

 fact, coupled with the increased loading and the more prompt loading 

 and unloading, as well as the more prompt switching of cars by the 

 carriers, is largely, responsible for the rather better showing. The 

 foregoing applies to ears for the handling of outbound shipments 

 of lumber and lumber products. 



There is still quite a pronounced shortage of flat cars for the han- 

 dling of log shipments and most of the millmen at Memphis are com- 

 plaining over the enforced curtailment of production resulting from 

 this condition. The order of the car service commission and the car 

 committee of the National Council of Defense giving preference to 

 coal and iron ores threatened at one time to paralyze the movement 

 of logs but some modification of the application of this order is 

 noted. Some of the mills here are still having to run intermittently. 

 They start up and work their machinery until there are no more 

 logs to be had. They then close down awaiting further receipts of 

 logs. This condition has obtained for some time and considerable 

 improvement will have to be shown before permanent operations may 

 be counted upon. Some of the biggest mills here are down at the 

 moment and when they start up others will go down, with the result 

 that full production is out of the question under present conditions. 

 Some of the outside mills are likewise handicapped but, taken as a 

 whole, there is improvement over a fortnight ago. 



The car service commission recently organized here is holding meet- 

 ings with shippers of lumber and other commodities with a view to 

 improving transportation conditions and there appears to be more 

 effort in the direction of intelligent co-operation than at any time in 

 the history of the so-called car shortage. Somebody has made the 

 discovery that there is no shortage of equipment and that the whole 

 trouble in the car situation lies in the slow switcliing, in the slow load- 

 ing and unloading, iu the slow movement of freight trains and in the 

 failure of shippers to load to capacity. Efforts are now being made 

 to speed up switching and handling of cars on the part of the car- 

 riers and more prompt and more full loading on the part of shippers. 

 It is believed by thr inrripro that the foregoing defects are funda- 



mental and that their removal will enable shippers to secure all the 

 cars they want and at the same time insure reasonably rapid move- 

 ment to destination. Memphis lumbermen and other interests are 

 co-ojieratiug and the view is expressed here that, if the movement 

 looking to correction of these fundamental defects assumes nation- 

 wide proportions, there is prospect of a real solution of the so-called 

 car shortage at an early date. The railroads are cheeking up on 

 various classes of shippers and they are preparing to refuse cars 

 to those who fail to load promptly as well as to those whose jiractice is 

 to load cars only partially. 



Southern Shippers Put Up TeUing Fight 



J. H. Townshend, secretary-manager of the Southern Hardwood 

 Trafiic Association, James E. Stark, president of that organization, 

 George Land and W. B. Burke, traffic manager and general manager, 

 respectively, of tlie Lamb-Fish Lumber Company at C'liarleston, Miss., 

 and Walker L. Wellford, general manager of the Chickasaw Cooperage 

 Company, have returned from Washington where they |)resonted 

 testimony before the Interstate Commerce Commission in ojiposition 

 to the proposed advance of 15 per cent in hardwood lumber rates and 

 in favor of suspension of this advance until the case can be thoroughly 

 heard on its merits. Mr. Townshend will return to Washington June 7 

 and will remain there until June 13. The decision of the commission 

 will be handed down sometime between that date and July 1. 



Mr. Townshend is rather optimistic regarding the outcome because 

 of the very strong arguments he and other members of the association 

 were able to present in o|)position to the higher rates. Sjicaking of 

 this recently, Mr. Townshend said that the strongest ))oints tlicy were 

 able to make may be summed up as follows: 



1 — Tliat there are more than 7,500 cars of linnlur awaitins; shipment 

 in the South which cannot be shipped before Juiy 1. If the railroads 

 are given the higher rates, lumbermen, who have sold on the basis 

 of present rates, will lose a ver.v large sum of mone.v anil the carriers 

 will be the beneficiaries of their own failure to furnish equipment fur the 

 handlins of these shipments. .\11 of this lumber, it was stated, would 

 have lieeu, or would be, shipped prior to .Tut.v 1 but for thi' lack of 

 facilities on the part of the carriers. 



2 — That the southern roads are in more prosperotis eonditiim thjui t'le.v 

 have ever beeu and are not able to suceessfull.v plead that an.v i'niergenc.v 

 exists so far as they are concerned, 



3 — That lumber Is now pa.vlng more than its Just share of Inmsportatiou 

 cost as a result of the heavy advances saddbul on the lumber industry 

 during the past two to five years, ranging from 7 to loo per leut and 

 averaging something like ,'!.s to 40 per rent. 



