16 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



AusUHt 2ri, lOlS. 



The piotum tiliown on the eovcr is a good exnniiile of a tnpliiio 

 railroad. The .siirrouiidiiiijs nro likewise typical; but xiirli riiilrunds 

 tio into all sorts of i>lai-es nnd meet ninny conilitiuns. Tlio timber 

 growing alond this river eould not be easily floated out, beeause 

 of the small si/e and rough channel of the stream. .-Vttempts to 

 ilrive Utpa ilown ehaniiels of that kind usually entail large expense, 

 and mueh time is uonsumod in waiting for freshets. The latter 

 iliflieulty may in part be overeomc by buililing splashilnnis to im- 

 pound the water and produre artilii-ial Hoods when wanted. Kxpe- 

 rienoc has shown, however, that where large numbers of logs are 

 to bo moved, it is often cheaper in the long run to build a rail- 

 road than to bring the logs out by water. Logs are jieiierally 

 floated nuire satisfaetorily^on sluggish streams than on those with 

 rapid currents, because in a sluggish stream less water snllices to 

 carry the log. Though the logs niovo more slowly, they keep on 

 the go better than in a turbulent stream which drives them on 

 shore and wedges them into jams. 



The forest shown in the picture is exclusively hardwood. Not 

 a free or twig of pine, hemlock, or of any other soft wood is visible. 



Is Your Mill Foreman a Salesman? 



F TUK SUPERINTENDENT of your sawmill and various fore- 

 men in your plant and yard are not conversant with the sales- 

 man's problems .ind the peculiar requirements of the consuming 

 trade as to character and quality of stock, service, etc.. they should 

 be. The lumber business has long since been recognized as having 

 gone through a period of readjustment. Lumber was formerly man- 

 ufactured to be bought. Now it is manufactured to be sold, and 

 just as a housekeeper places her trade with the retail merchant who 

 gives her the best goods, who offers the goods which will meet the 

 peculiarities of her taste for any purpose, and wh.o gives courteous, 

 consistent service at all times, so in this era of competition based 

 on value and service will the purchaser of lumber give his continu- 

 ous attention and trade to that lumber organization wliieli shows 

 itself to be most closeh' abreast with modern business tactics and 

 which is in the best position to sell its lumber. 



A plan which has been in effect at a large northern operation for 

 the past couple of years should recommend itself to every lumber 

 operator no ;nattcr where he is located. 



' This particular operation is so extensive that its various depart- 

 ments are scattered throughout a town of considerable size, making 

 it impossible for the heads of the different departments to become 

 even acquainted with each other under normal circumstances. To 

 overcome this condition tlie general manager of the operation insti- 

 tuted a series of informal get-together dinners at which the heads 

 of all departments are required to be present in order tliat they 

 might become tiioroughly familiar with each other and eacii familiar 

 with the fact that the other was but a normal human being bent on 

 discharging his own duties in the most effective way possible. An 

 understanding and sympathy among the department heads has re- 

 sulted which has had a remnrkablc effect in the way of stimu!;itiug 

 the desire for scrnce in that it has created an ambition for the 

 welfare of the whole organizatioi\ rather than for the welfare of 

 each department alone. Through this means the department heads 

 in charge of the operation are given a thorough insight into the 

 idiosyncrasies of the various types of the consuming trades and of 

 the personal and peculiar requirements of the individual consumer 

 in each trade to the end that all depaitments will woik together 

 with the selling department to give each man exactly wh.'il iie wants 

 and to have on tap at all times exactly the variety and cliaraetcr of 

 stock which will meet any peculiarity of demand from wliatc\er 

 source it might come. 



All this means simply that each man responsible for any ]ihase 

 of the manufacturing and selling end, or in fact who is at all inter- 

 ested in an administrative way in any of the many departmesits of 

 this vast organization, is really a direct or indirect salesman. Inas- 

 much as any business depends upon the maintenance of trade rather 

 than upon the expensive substitution of one customer for a former 

 dissatisfied customer, the effort has been directed at showing those 

 men in charge of different departments who arc not brought in di- 



rect contact with the couHumers' peculiarities just what the -ales 

 department is up against in meeting the demands of its trade. 



On top of all tliis the company has the tremendouH advantage of 

 putting men out on the road who know absolutidy that their stock 

 and their service can be counted upon in every particular. They 

 are not simply hazarding recommendations of their goods, taking a 

 chance of their claims getting by, but they know without any doubt 

 whatsoever that any assertion they nnike can bo backed up nt the 

 manufacturing end. In these days of keen competition such a fi-el- 

 ing goes a long way toward giving a salesman just that ad<lition:d 

 snaji and vim which pulls over the order. It is significant that this 

 company has been operating on n normal basis continuously witliovit 

 letup, that it is constantly in the mood for the install.ition of ad- 

 vanced ideas and that it has not had to lease a<lditional yanl room 

 to pile its green stock. 



The Silent Partner 



THE AGETCri/rUKAL COLLKliK lias been the lumberman's 

 best friend. It has done an enormous work in enlarging the 

 use of lumber, and it has accomplished that end in a manner so 

 quiet that its activities have seldom attracted attention to that 

 feature of its work. Besults have been brought about indirectly; 

 for the agricultural colleges increased the use of lumber without 

 having that end in view, but it resulted from plans Ijiid with 

 another purpose. Those colleges have worked to increase the pro- 

 ductiveness of farms, and it has turned out that the more the farm 

 is improved, and the more productive it becomes, the larger has 

 been the <lemand for lumber. This has been going on during many 

 years and it will continue. 



When timber was so plentiful that it was in the way, the farmer 

 was a small user of lumber. He mauled large numbers of fence 

 rails and burnt much wood as fuel, but his farm buildings were 

 few, and the few- were generally of logs. But when agriculture 

 got out of the rut in which it had dragged along for thousands 

 of years, and colleges began to teach scientific farming, the farm- 

 er's lumber bill began to increase as his profits rose, and this has 

 continued to the present time. 



The agriculture college teaches many things which the old fash- 

 ioned farmer did not know; but three of the most important are 

 these: 



Farm products, including live stock, should be sheltered from 

 rain, snow, and wind. 



Tools, implements, and machines should be kept in a dry place 

 and in the shade when not in use. 



I'aint should be used wisely but unsparingly on all farm buildings. 



These three axioms have been drilled and hammered into Amer- 

 ican farmers until they have grasped the idea and have acted on 

 it, and it has been done by agricultural schools, either in their class 

 rooms or by lecturer, sent abroad to address farmers' meetings and 

 other public gatherings. Slowly and widely results were reached 

 and some of the results have been as follows: 



Poultry houses now shelter chickens which formerly roosted 

 in apple trees. 



Swine which once nested in fence corners and in hollow logs 

 now sleep comfortably under roof. 



The cows have warm stables whereas thej- once sought shelter 

 in time of storm on the leeward side of a rail fence. 



The horses which formerly had little more than a pole pent 

 house for shelter, and some not that much, now enjoy the luxury 

 of a warm, dry barn. 



The hay which once stood in conical stacks in the field until 

 forked down on the snowy ground to feed the shivering cattle, is 

 now stored in capacious barns where a drop of rain never touches it. 



In former days the scythe, sickle, and cradle, the farmer's prin- 

 cipal tools, were brought in after harvest and were hung for a 

 year's rest, rust, and rot on the liranches of a convenient tree; 

 but now the agricultural im](lements which have revolutionized 

 field work are housed under :implc roots where rain and sunshine 

 never come. 



The list of changes which the advanced methods of farming have 



