September 25, 1915. 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



33 



the finest plantations in Issaquena county, on wliich a very fine crop was 

 l>ri>(iucod tills year. The Issaquena Lumber Company is one of tbe few 

 large concerns which farm with latest improved farm machinery. 



The sawmill is equipped with all; inch band saw and resaw,, and will cut 

 approximately 75,000 feet a day. 



Howard Mitchell and Weaver Haas will he the only two stockholders who 

 are actively engaged in the management of the company, and one or the 

 other will be at the mill all the time, and both most of the time. All 

 business will be handled direct from Issaquena. 



New Flooring Factory 

 Through the completion of the new building being erected for the 

 Langeland Manufacturing Company at the foot of East Webster avenue, 

 Muslcegon. Midi., the company will throw open a new harciwood flooring 

 department. The new building is 64 fi et wide and 140 feet long, and has 

 12,000 square feet of floor space. The main floor of the building is equipped 

 with four Morton dry Itilns made by the Morton Dry Kiln Company. 

 Chicago. The remainder of the building is to be used tor storage and 

 has a capacity of 200,000 feet of flooring daily. The machinery will be 

 on tbe second floor. 



, Pennsylvania Timberland Sold 



Announcement has been made that Grant McClellan of Altoona, Pa., 

 has sold his holdings in the Beaver Dams, Catherine and Frankstown 

 townships in that county to the McNltt-Huyett Lumber Company. The 

 tract embraces a large area of virgin timber which the new purchasers 

 will cut off at once, after building a side track out from tlie Pennsylvania 

 railroad. 



Pertinent Information 



Arkansas Soft Pine Bureau Moves 

 The headquarters of the Arkansas Soft Pine Bureau, which were 

 formerly located in Chicago, have been moved to Little Rock, Ark., where 

 the advertising and other work will be under the direction of Robert 

 L. Brooks, who for the past four years has been the southern represen- 

 tative of a number of trade papers. The purpose of vigorously pushing 

 a campaign of advertising has been announced. 



Advance in Rates Delayed 



Advices from Memphis, Tenn., say that tlie Soutliern Hardwood Traflic 

 Association has been informed from Washington that the advances in 

 lumber rates from various parts of the South to the Ohio river crossing as 

 permitted by the Interstate Commerce Commission in I. & S. Docket 520, 

 will not go into effect until about October 1. Originally it was intended 

 by the carriers that the new tariffs would be ready for application Sep- 

 tember 1, but it was found that there was not sufficient time between 

 the rendering of the decision by the commission and September 1 to have 

 the tariffs published. 



Unique Case Before Wisconsin Supreme Court 



One of the most unique and at the same time mo<t important cases 

 ever broijght before the Supreme Court of Wisconsin was given a hearing 

 last week, when arguments were heard on the case of the New Dells 

 Lumber Company of Eau Claire, Wis., versus the estate of Gerhard 

 Vennen. Gerhardt was a workman for the New Dells company. It is 

 alleged he contracted typhoid fever from contaminated water while at 

 work. His widow is suing for $10,000 for the illness incurred and 

 .$10,000 for the result of his death. The case was non-suited in the 

 lower court. 



The lumber company contends that this action properly comes under 

 the workmen's compensation act and that compensation, according to 

 the regular schedule, should be paid. The plaintiff's plea is tliat there 

 was nothing accidental construed in the terms of the compensation act. 

 about the case. The argument opens an entirely new field. There is 

 no case in the history of American or English law that covers the action. 

 A decision In favor of the lumber company may mean that in the future 

 cases of illness contracted by employes during the performance of their 

 duty will come under the compensation act. A decision for the plaintiff 

 will mean that all such actions are foreign to the act and that damages 

 can be asked In any amount. The maximum damages that can be ob- 

 tained under the compensation act is .$.3,000. Daniel H. Grey, Portage, 

 appeared for the plaintiff, and former .\ttorney General Sturdevant, 

 Eau Claire, for the defendant. 



Investigating Wood Preservatives 



The United States Department of Agriculture has published bulletin 

 227, which was prepared by C. J. Humphrey and Ruth M. Fleming, of 

 the Bureau of Plant Industry. It Is a study of wood preservatives, 

 and because of its technical nature it is of more value to the timber 

 engineer than to the ordinary reader. Its purpose is to ascertain the 

 best materials for preserving wood from decay. An idea of the technical 

 nature of the work may be judged from the following list of words, all 

 of which are found on a single page, and there are thirty-eight similar 

 pages in the pamphlet : Anion, ortho, alkyl, cresol, ionic, phenol, methyl, 

 orcinol, halogen, carboxyl, hydroxyl, toxicity, agaragar, salicylic, isopro- 



p.vl electrolytic, nyrocatichol, nitrophenol, nonionized, dinitrophenol, 

 hydroqulnone, mononitrophenol, and pentabromphenol. Those who wish 

 to pursue the subject further than the bulletin takes them are referred 

 to sources of information, from which the following words are selected 

 at random and without guaranteeing whether they mean authors, topics, 

 plants, or chemicals : Bokorney, gueguen, malenkovie, netzsch, seiden- 

 schnur, ceratostomella, widerstandfahigkelt, holzzerstorender, hauss- 

 chwammforschungen. Engineers and chemists will find the work val- 

 uable, but it will scarcely become popular as light vacation reading. 



An Advocate of Wood 

 General Nathan Goff. United States Senator from West Virginia, and 

 former Secretary of the Navy, has long been known as an enthusiastic 

 advocate of tlie use of wood. Recently when the question of paving the 

 street in front of his hotel at Clarksburg, W. Va.. was before the city 

 council he offered to pay the difference in cost between brick and wood 

 if the council would pave with wood blocks. He expressed his prefer- 

 ence for wood because it Is less noisy than brick. When General Goff 

 built his fine residence at Clarksburg, some thirty years ago, he en- 

 deavored to make use of every kind of commercial wood growing In 

 , West Virginia, and about sixty kinds found place as frame or finish. 



Selling the Container 

 When meats, anil doubtless many other commodities, arc packed in 

 fiber containers, the containers and all are sold at the same price as 

 the article packed within ; but when such articles are packed in wooden 

 boxes, the box Is not weighed and sold. Purchasers, therefore, get more 

 for their money when they buy their meat in wooden boxes, for then 

 they pay only for tlie meat. These facts were recently brought out by a 

 suit in New York styled the People vs. Armour & Co. It was alleged 

 in that suit that all meat products shipped in paper boxes and other 

 substitute packages were sold to dealers without deductions for the weight 

 of the containers. 



Wood Fiber Substituted for Absorbent Cotton 



Consul Gcncial .lulius G. Lay, in a recent report from Berlin, Ger- 

 many, says that fiber from pine wood has l)een found to be a fairly satis- 

 factory substitute in that country for absorbent cotton in dressing 

 wounds. It is not the equal of cotton for all purposes, but it Is val- 

 uable In certain ways. It is prepared by a secret process. It costs 

 between eight and nine cents a pound, and is cheaper than cotton. It is 

 sold In rolls or sheets. A similar article is manufactured from wood in 

 Sweden, and in England wound dressing is made from bog moss. 



The "Dancing Flea" Guitar 



A new musical instrument has made its appearance on the western coast 

 of the United States. It is a small guitar made in the Hawaiian Islands 

 of koa wood or Hawaiian mahogany. However, the instrument is said 

 to have originated ifl Portugal. It was found to be so well adapted to 

 the native music of the islands that it became very popular there, where 

 it was called "ukulele." which means "dancing flea." The popularity 

 spread to California within the past few months, and the instruments are 

 being imported into San Francisco by hundreds, and the Hawaiian manu- 

 facturers have found a sudden expansion of their business. It Is reported 

 that Instruments have been manufactured in California, and the islanders 

 fear they will lose the trade, which has been so rapidly built up. The 

 koa wood of which they are made is beautiful, scarce and costly. Instru- 

 ments in Honolulu sell for $4.50 to ?15. 



Cypress Knees in Demand 



The uncanny protruberanci-s called cypress knees, which are familiar 

 sights in swamps where the southern cypress grow's, are going to market 

 just now in numbers larger than ever before. The uncouth growths are 

 the lungs of the cypress tree that stands in water. The knees rise above 

 the surface into the air and furnish breath for the roots which lie deep 

 below. If the knees are cut off the tree will drown. Conversely, if 

 the water is drained away, the knees are no longer needed, and they 

 will decay. Nearly two hundred years ago the negroes in the South 

 found out that cypress knees made good bee hives and that was about 

 the only use found for them until recently. The hollow capacity of 

 the knees ranges from a gallon to two or three bushels. They are con- 

 nical in form and very fall for this diameter. The present demand for 

 them is said to come from the makers of jardiniers and bird houses. 

 If one of the knees is polished and decorated and finished with doors 

 and windows, it makes a novel and artistic bird house, and its popularity 

 seems assured. Some of the railroads have been quick to see promise 

 of business in this new industry and have made rates on cypress knees 

 the same as on cypress lumber. The principal supply may be expected 

 to come from Louisiana, where vast cypress forests stand in water from 

 one to ten feet deep. A resource heretofore wasted seems now in a fair 

 way to be utilized. It is presumed that the knees will not be cut until 

 after the trees have been felled, or probably lumbering and knee cutting 

 will go on at the same time. The best time for cutting the knees Is in 

 the early autumn when the swamp water Is at its lowest. 



Building Operations for August 



The building operations of 6S cities for the montli oi .august make the 

 most favorable comparison for the year to date. They show, as compared 

 with August last year, a gain of 14 per cent. The building permits issued 

 in these cities, as officially repotted to The American Contractor, New 



