May 2.',. ittiri. 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



15 



resoun-o wliicli is not for use is a poor asset; and it is equrdly true 

 that a resource given over to abuse is a poor asset. The riylit thin;; 

 is to " eat the cake and have it, ' ' which, fortunately, is wholly 

 practicable in dealing with timber and water power. Unreasoning 

 enthusiasts fail to perceive the line between the different classes of 

 resources and would lock up those which ought to be used. Such 

 peojile hinder rather than helj). 



Important if True 



IF HKI'OKTS OF A NEW I'KOCESS of seasoning lumber in a 

 few hours are true, it is a most important discovery; but the 

 meager descriptions of the proces.s and the results thus far received 

 on this side of the Atlantic are not sufficient, at this stage, to con- 

 vince the ordinary Missourian that the claim is wholly worthy of 

 belief. 



The process is described as French, an<l it is the work of elec- 

 tricity and certain chemicals. News items have gone round the trade 

 papers before concerning jirocesses of seasoning wood by electricity, 

 but no practical results seem to have followed. The present inven- 

 tion is said to be different from the others. Lead plate electrodes 

 are placed on each side of the lumber and it is immersed in a solu- 

 tion containing ten per cent of borax, five per cent of resin, and a 

 little soda. It is claimed that application of the current expels the 

 sap and fills the wood cells with borax and resin. 



Violent indeed must be the force that will exjjel the water from 

 green lumber in one night, if the lumber has any substantial thick- 

 ness. It has never yet been done by heat alone, without destroying 

 the structure of the wood. The wood cells are like so many minute 

 tubes, filled with water and corked at both ends. By a slow process 

 the water can work its way through the walls of the cells and escape ; 

 but it takes time. Application of steam under pressure until the 

 water in the wood has been heated to the boiling point, or slightly 

 above, and then the sudden pulling of a partial vacuum, have been 

 found sufficient to take part of the water out of wood in a short 

 time, by causing it to boil under the reduced pressure and force its 

 way as steam through the cell walls. But the boiling quickly extracts 

 the heat from the wood, and the boiling ceases, and the rapid evapora- 

 tion stops long before the wood is seasoned. 



The claims made for the French "electro-curing" process is that it 

 is different. The inference is that in some mysterious way the elec- 

 tricity drives the water out and replaces it in the wood cells with 

 borax, soda and resin. The statement that this takes place falls 

 much short of a scientific exjalanation of how it is done. However, 

 from a practical standpoint, the why does not make much difference, 

 provided the timber is really seasoned without being damaged, and 

 that the process is cheap enough to be used in a business way. 



Probably the conclusions thus far reached have resulted from 

 laboratory experiments with thin sheets of veneer. Such might be 

 <lried in a few hours without injuring the wood ; and it can be done 

 without any patented or mysterious application of electricity and 

 chemicals ; but the quick seasoning of lumber and heavy timbers is a 

 •different matter. One is not warranted in saying that it cannot be 

 done in the manner set forth, but is justified in waiting for further 

 proof of it. 



Man and Nature as Tree Planters 



AN ITEM relating to the planting of forest trees has been going 

 the rounds of the press, to the effect that during the year 191-i 

 the United States Forest Service planted Ifili acres of trees, and 

 during 1915 proposes to plant 2,700 acres. Some of this area is 

 to be planted with young nursery-grown stock, and some by sowing 

 seed broadcast. 



The United States Forest Service is, by all odds, the largest 

 organization in this country, having for its purpose the protection 

 and i^erpetuation of the forest. Consequently, it is interesting to 

 compare its work in tree planting with that of Nature in her own 

 way. Supposing that the Forest Service should continue to plant 

 trees at the rate contemplated for the present year. Not until the 

 lapse of 56,000 years would the vacant land in this country, that 

 ought to be in forest, be planted once. In other words, the progress 



by actual hand planting is so slow, the area so large, and the neeil 

 so great, that the result is almost negligible. 



Fortunately, the forces of the Forest Service are attacking the 

 problem from a different quarter. They are undertaking to make 

 the trees do their own planting. The trees have always done this, 

 and always wUl, if they are permitted to do so; but many agencies, 

 due to man, hamper them in this work, and man must help the 

 forests overcome the obstacles. Otherwise, natural planting will 

 come to a stop, and that virtually means the end of forests, be- 

 cause what little can be done by men with their hands in an area 

 so vast as our, will amount to nothing. Man's principal assistance 

 is rendered in sui)|)ressing forest fires. 



Nature has jirovided every forest tree with means for planting its 

 seeds. Some seeds have wings, as maples, ashes, and most pines 

 and other soft woods; some with keels for sailing, as elms and 

 birches; some with bracts or parachutes, as basswood; some with 

 balloons, as cottonwood and sycamore; others, as mangrove, are 

 equipped for traveling over water that has no current, while the 

 seed of the California sassafras is largely dependent upon running 

 streams for planting; walnuts and hickory nuts are planted by 

 rodents, whUe the bluejay is an industrious chestnut scatterer. 



Man does many wonderful things, but as a planter of forests, 

 he is weak, unless he can call to his aid forces other than his own 

 individual power. That is really where his strength lies. He 

 makes Nature do her own work, but he sees to it that it remains 

 done, by preventing the destruction of seedlings by fire. 



Forestry methods assist trees to plant seeds by leaving a few seed 

 trees where lumbering is carried on. If everything is cut clean, 

 the vacant ground remains vacant, but a tree here and there scatters 

 seeds over the vacant spaces. Formerly many lumbering opera- 

 tions, and the fires which followed, left no trees ; consequently, no 

 means of reseeding the ground were at hand. That policy has been 

 responsible for much forest destruction. Ordinarily, a tree can 

 be depended upon to scatter seeds from fifty to one himdred feet 

 from its base; but some light seeds with exceptional means of 

 flight may drift miles before the wind, while others may be carried 

 that distance on water, or birds may transport them much farther. 

 Trees are so abundantly supplied with seeds that if one seed in a 

 thousand finds a suitable place for growing, the future forests 

 will be provided for. 



In some of the countries of Europe, where land is scarcer than in 

 America and foresters more plentiful, hand-planted trees have 

 largely taken the place of those formerly planted by Nature. 



Not until landowners in this country take it upon themselves to 

 plant trees on their own vacant acres, will hand-planting make 

 much headway. When every farmer provides for his own wood lot 

 and grows as much timber as he needs, and a little to sell, then 

 hand-planted timber will really amount to something in the United 

 States. 



A Promising Indication 



AN ADVERTISEMENT for two thousand laborers in one bunch 

 is an occurrence so unusual of late that it may be accepted as 

 a promising indication. The call has come from a mining district 

 in West Virginia where a large operator has made his wants known to 

 the United States Department of Labor at Washington. The proper 

 authorities are handling the matter in a way calculated to avoid a 

 rush and congestion of laborers in that district. There is no ques- 

 tion that the call for two thousand miners would be responded to by 

 many times that number, if no system were followed in meeting the 

 demand. The wages to be paid range from $2 to $2.55 a day, depend- 

 ing upon the work to be done. 



The coal business has been stimulated directly by the war. The 

 m ines in England have all they can do to meet the home demand and 

 a part of the demand of England's allies. Markets which heretofore 

 were supplied by English mines must now buy elsewhere, and the 

 demand upon America has greatly increased. The effect will be felt 

 in other lines of industry, though not to as great an extent as if the 

 coal now being mined were for home consumption instead of export. 



