12 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



June 25, 1917 



office and is oceupieii by a eoucern widely known in the lumber busi- 

 ness, George W. Hartzell. The mention of that name will at once 

 call up a picture of walnut lumber of as fine a class as the American 

 forests have yieldeil. The exceptional fertility of the land in that 

 part of the country resulted in the growth of immense walnut trees 

 wliich plagued the first settlers whose chief concern was to get riil 

 of them in order to raise corn and cattle; but the trunks which escaped 

 the burning log heaps and rail splitters of the early days, later became 

 of great value. However, the original trees of that immediate vicinity 

 are few and far apart now, but other regions supply the deficiency 

 by sending their walnut to Piqua. 



The old building, strange as it may seem, was not constructed of 

 walnut. At the time it was erected, there must have been an abundance 

 of this wood in that neighborhood which could have been had for little 

 more than the expense of sawing and hauling, and the builder of tlie 

 house must have had some reason for not constructing it of walnut. 

 Perhaps the very abundance and cheapness of the wood at that time 

 was his reason for not using it. He may have wanted a material which 

 he fancied was more aristocratic — something which was not being 

 used by farmers for fence rails — and so he built of stone. Ideals 

 have changed since then. What man would buibl of stone today if he 

 could afford to build of black walnut of as high a class as that wliich 

 grew about Pi<|ua in pioneer days? 



The old building is only part of the ]iicture,.the commercial part of 

 it, maybe. In front of it stands the lojjsided pine, which may or may 

 not have a story of its own. The probability is that the pine was not 

 planted by nature; for nature never planted many pines in that 

 corner of Ohio. It is remarkable that of the two dozen species of 

 pine native to the United St^ites, a single one, and j)robably the 

 poorest of the whole lot, grows naturally in that corner of Ohio. When 

 nature's bountiful hand distributed pines over the United States, she 

 missed Kansas slick and clean, not planting a single jiine in the limits 

 of the state, and almost missed the southwestern corner of Ohio. One 

 scrub pine, a straggling, woe begone species, had a sort of a foothold 

 in that corner of Ohio, but not another one was there. This native tree 

 is what botanists call Piivus virginiaiia, a cov*ardly weakling that 

 creeps around and gets a foothold on grcninil which no other tree wants. 

 It is unexplicable why that pine, of all pines, should be the only one 

 to have a footing in the fertile lands of southwestern Ohio beside the 

 walnuts, oaks, and hickories which pre-empted for themselves the 

 richest lands. The unfortunate pine was a sort of Lazarus contented 

 to feed on the crumbs which fill from the table of the splendid hard- 

 woods — the poor patches of soil in this case being the crumbs. Other 

 pines have been planted in that region, and some of them are running 

 wild and might pass for old natives, lint they are not. 



Veneer Comes to the Front 



THK MOST KE.MAKKAHLK feature of the tremendous develop- 

 ment in the use of veneers and veneered panels in recent years is 

 the fact that this progress has been mailc in the face of utter chaos 

 in the industry — of absolute lack of coordinated effort to establish 

 the product and to see that it was marketed and utilized to the liest 

 possible advantage for everyboily concerned. Unquestionably, with 

 mounting costs on all factors entering in the utilization of hardwood 

 forests, veneers and veneered panels will ultimately play an enor- 

 mously greater part in the woodnsing industries. The adaptability 

 of veneered goods is just beginning to be recognized, and there is now 

 a gleam of hope that the projier utilization of veneers may be 

 accomplished. 



At the recent meeting of the National Veneer and Panel Manu- 

 facturers' Association, an organization which has not made anywhere 

 near the mark which the importance of the industries it represents 

 should warrant, definite plans were laid looking toward the unifica- 

 tion of the veneer and jianel industries, having definitely in mind 

 greater co-operation in the manufacturing and marketing of these 

 products and a more thorough understanding with the buyer and 

 prospective user, to the end that the field of consumption might be 

 broadened and the jiossibilities of the industries turned to conijilete 

 account. 



Just one thing is necessary to the perfecting and adoption of the 

 plan, namely, its support by the veneer and panel trades as a whole. 

 Manufacturers of veneers and panels have never earned the right to 

 consideration as thoroughly modern merchants. Possibly this has 

 been in a measure due to the absence of any centralized influence 

 that would lead them to get together and modernize their methods. 

 However, the nucleus of such iniluenee exists in the plan adojited at 

 the meeting in Chicago, and now that the industry is faced with the 

 opportunity, it is up to the individual members to demonstrate that 

 they realize what an opportunity lies ahead of them and that they 

 are men big enough and broad enough to be willing to do their part 

 individually to make the most of this opportunity. 



The Secondhand Shipping Box 



TS IT PEACTUABLE TO USE SHIPPING BOXES more than 

 A once? No one questions the desirability of doing so, but is it 

 practicable? 



Professor C. B. Breed, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 

 in a recent article which has been widely published, seems to assume 

 that there is nothing in the way of kec|)ing the secondhand box on 

 the go, arfd that because we fail to do so, we are guilty of wasting 

 $120,000,000 a year. That sum he considers is the cost per year of 

 the lumber needed to make new boxes, and if we would continue the 

 old ones in service, we could shut the box factories and save scores of 

 millions of dollars a year by keeping the box lumber in the forests. 

 At least, this seems to be his line of argument, judged by extracts 

 and comments uliich have been going the rounds of the press. His 

 original article, in toto, has not come to the attention of Hakdwood 

 Rec'OKD. 



A court of law wovdd rule that his testimony is "incompetent, irrele- 

 vant, and immaterial," in that it does not apjily. He discusses a 

 theory and never touches the practical |)roblem of finding a way to 

 >ise secondh.and boxes. The assumption seems to be that they can be 

 used and that becau.se they are not used, somebody is guilty of the 

 waste of box lumber worth .$120,000,000 a year. 



To start with, the value of the yearly bill of box lumber in the 

 United States is nearer $60,000,000 than $120,000,000, and may be 

 under the smaller figure. If the average cost is $l.'i.33 per thousand, 

 the total is about $60,000,000 a year. Thus fifty per cent of the alleged 

 waste of lumlier is saved by revising the figures. 



The crux of the question is, however, can shipping boxes be used 

 over and overf If they can be, it shouM be done. Perfectly good 

 boxes ought not be thrown away if they can be of further service. 

 I'rofessor Breed has not made any new discovery. It is well known, 

 and has long been known, that millions of boxes go to the waste heap 

 or the woodshed after one journey; and many a business man has 

 thought long and hard in an effort to find a way to use secomlhand 

 boxes. All solutions of this problem thus far have been what in algebra 

 they call ''negative solutions," that means "less than nothing." 

 In some localities and under peculiar conditions, secondhand boxes can 

 be profitably used. It can be done in large cities where suitable sizes 

 can be assendjied by shijijiers who need those sizes. In Chicago, Mar- 

 shall Field collects secondhand boxes, removes the marks and stencil- 

 ings with sand belts, and recoopers and resteueils the boxes for his 

 own use. He needs so many sizes that most boxes can be jdaced. Other 

 large users do the same. 



The plan is not practicable, taken the country over. The iirosjiective 

 user cannot get enough of the sizes he needs. It costs too much to 

 collect empty boxes from long distances, in order to secure the sizes 

 wanted. Packing boxes are made to fix ]iarticular comnioilities and 

 arc made on orders from certain shippers. When these boxes are once 

 filled and ship])ed far and wide, it is impossible to have them returned 

 empty to the original shipper, and they do not suit any one else. That 

 is why the use of secondhand boxes is limited and will probably con- 

 tinue to be limited. They are predestined to a single trip an<l then to 

 disajipear, like certain ephemeral insects which fly once and die. 



There is lots of beauty buried in some of our oak stumps. Also, 

 they're lots of work to dig out, ami that is |iriili;ilily the main reason 

 why we don 't work up more of them. 



