Februnry 10. lOlS 



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Hardwooil mills iii Mompliis, in Mi9sissij)pi, iu Teiiiiossce uiul in 

 Louisiana were running on February 4, and propose to continue to 

 run (luring the remaining lieatless Momlays, on whioh most plants 

 are foroej to elose down. There has been almost unending con- 

 fusion over this question of hardwood mill operation on heatlcss 

 Mondays, but the hardwood lumbermen are proceeding on the theory 

 that they are rendering a service to the government by continuing 

 to run, and that the.v are likew-ise greatly helping the fuel situation 

 by the very large quantity of fuel they produce in addition to that 

 of their own making which they consume. This appears to be the 

 situation iu a nutshell. There is much conflict of authority and 

 much lack of definiteness regarding what can be legally done, but 

 the lumbermen are ai>parently sure of their ground and they are 

 acting as indicated. 



Still, even with the mUls running on Monday, there is much 

 irregularit.v about hardwood manufacture throughout the southern 

 hardwood field, because there is a very great scarcit.v of cars for 

 handling logs to the mills and because there is a great shortage of 

 log supplies at these plants, as a general rule. There is likewise 

 a continuance of ice and snow and of very low temperatures, which 

 handicap labor and cut down output materially. It is estimated by 

 the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association that the railroads are not 

 furnishing the mills more than 50 per cent of the cars they received 

 in December when they did not receive more than 50 per cent of 

 their requirements. This means that log supplies are being fur- 

 nished to the mills dependent on the railroads at the rate of about 

 25 per cent of their requirements, a ratio which prevailed through- 

 out January. Production is perhaps somewhat larger than this, 

 but it is admittedly very small as compared with normal. 



Just now the lumbermen are more concerned about probable flood 

 conditions in the Mississippi and its tributaries than about any 

 other factor. They believe that flood conditions will soon prevail 

 and that they will be extremely serious. As a result the biggest 

 effort put forth by the Southern Hardwood Traffic Association dur- 

 ing the past few da.ys has been to get ears delivered to its mem- 

 bers for handling logs from territory fthere overflow would injure 

 them or cause their loss. Many cars of logs have been removed 

 recently from the territory tributary to Arkansas Cit)', Ark., and 

 from points on the Riverside division of the Yazoo & Mississippi 

 Valley road. There are 1,500,000 feet of logs between the yards 

 of the Illinois Central System at Xonconnah, Miss., a few miles 

 south of Memphis, and Lake View, Miss., on the Yazoo & Mississippi 

 Valley road, which would be seriously damaged if not actually car- 

 ried away by flood conditions. Pressure is being brought to bear 

 for the moving of these and other endangered logs, while consider- 

 able lumber is also being removed to places of safety. The theory 

 of high water is based on the abnormal quantity of ice and snow 

 in the upper valleys of the Mississippi and its tributaries, some of 

 which, notably the Tennessee river, are already at flood stage. 



The Valley Log Loading Company reports that it loaded during 

 January 860 cars of logs for mills on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley 

 line of the Illinois Central System and branch roads in the delta 

 and on the Mcmphi.s-Marianna cutoff on the St. Louis, Iron Moun- 

 tain & Southern, but the proportion on the latter was extremely 

 small, only thirty-nine cars. These figures compare with about 1,400 

 cars during January last year. J. W. Dickson, president of the com- 

 pany, says that there are at least 25,000,000 feet of logs in the 

 delta awaiting delivery to the mills, as against 5,000,000 at this time 

 a year ago, and gives this disproportion between actual loading 

 and the quantities to be loaded to show how little is being accom- 

 plished with the quantity of logs in sight. In this connection he 

 points out that it will be possible to load almost unlimited quan- 

 tities of logs if cars are available this year, whereas loading was 

 very much restricted last year during February, March and April 

 because of the very small quantity of logs awaiting loading. 



There is ai)parent conflict between the figures of J. H. Townshend 

 and tho.se of Mr. Dickson, but this is reconcilable on the ground 

 that the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley road is better supjilied with 

 cars than any other road in this part of the country. The other 

 roads aie handling logs on a limited scale, just as is the Mimphis- 

 Marianna cut-off on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern, and 

 it is for this reason that Mr. Townshend estimates that all the roads 

 are, when taken together, not furnishing more than 25 per cent 

 of the cars and logs necessary. 



There is no shipping on the Mississippi. The ice in this stream 

 is still very thick and all boats, barges and other crafts, instead of 

 trying to handle freight, are seeking protection from ice gorges, 

 which are headed down stream at this writing and which have 

 wrought tremendous havoc among boats and other craft further 

 north. Companies which have their own equipment for handling 

 logs on the Mississippi and its tributaries are l.ving very close to 

 shore because they believe that, by protecting this now, they may 

 be able to use it later to good advantage. Receipts of logs by water 

 at Memphis for the past six weeks have been almost nil. 



There is little work being done in the woods and the reason is 

 not far to seek. lee, sleet, snow and rain have prevailed to an 

 unusual degree, and labor has been difiicult to control and able to 

 accomplish little when kept in harness. At the same time it may 

 be noted that inability to get cars for handling the present cut 

 of logs, figures covering which have already been given, takes away 

 the incentive for active logging. Last year the big problem was 

 to get logs cut and prepared for delivery. Xow the proposition 

 is reversed and there are millions of feet which can not be moved 

 because of lack of transportation facilities. 



Mr. Townshend says he believes the car situation will shortl.v 

 improve and that the mills will be getting considerably more logs 

 than they are now receiving. He has faith iij government opera- 

 tion of the roads provided the railroad men give Director-General 

 McAdoo the support absolutely essential to succes.s. 



A New Dyewood from Jamaica 



Borewood is the local and trade name given to a little-known 

 wood recently shipped into the New York markets from Jamaica as 

 a substitute for fustic, which it resembles in many respects. In 

 Jamaica it is variously called sumach, hog doctor, poison wood and 

 boar wood. The botanical name is Metopium brownei Urb., a tree 

 very closely related to such well-known plants as the mango, bread 

 fruit and the ubiquitous jobo of tropic'al America. Practically all 

 the trees of this large group (Anacardiaceae) contain coloring prin- 

 ciples of greater or less value. The jack fruit tree, which is the 

 most common of the anacards, is used commercially in India as a 

 source of dye, and we are, therefore, not surprised to see the closely 

 related borewood come into the American markets as a dyewood. 



The material is now being tested by a few dye experts, but the 

 preliminary tests do not appear to show very encouraging results; 

 however, further investigation may yield a dye of great merit. The 

 color extracted by the ordinary method of boiling in water was 

 used for staining silk a beautiful canary yellow. It will probably 

 never be used as a substitute for fustic; moreover, the wood is not 

 very plentiful, being confined almost exclusively to Jamaica. There 

 is probably not enough of this wood to be had to make it an at- 

 tractive proposition, cither for the dealer here or for the consumer. 



The borewood tree grows to the height of fifteen to forty feet and 

 upwards to two feet through at the base. The trunks are usually 

 short and straight and the crown rather open with dark green 

 leaves. The tree is easily recognized in the forest after it has once 

 been pointed out. It is confined to the southern limestone hills in 

 Jamaica, where it yields a timber that is locally esteemed for a 

 great variety of purposes. The sapwood, which is white and rather 

 tliin in mature trees. 



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