September 25, 1915. 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



35 



clay available. The straw is raked up in the woods and hauled to the 

 road where it is spread to a depth of about a foot, though it soon gets 

 compressed. The work is usually done in early spring and costs about 

 forty dollars a mile. One strawing lasts for a year or two unless it is 

 destroyed by fire. 



Speaking of curious road materials, there is a short stretch of road on 

 South Manitou Island, M-ichigau, made out of scrap leatlier which the 

 residents salvaged from a ship wreck near the shore. 



Effectiveness of Wood Preservatives 



The Forest Service has issued a resume of tests instituted for the 

 purpose of establishing the relative effectiveness of different methods 

 of preserving woods, the fnll report being contained in Bulletin No. 227. 

 The investigators found that in general the common molds among the 

 fungi are more resistant to poisons than the true wood destroying fungi, 

 and that even among the latter group the different species showed a 

 great difference in susceptibility. 



The tests were made by the Petri-dlsh method and the results with 

 eighteen wood preservatives used in connection with Fames annosus 

 and Fames pinicola are given. Those interested in this question can 

 secure the bulletin by addressing the Forest Service, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, Washington, I). C. 



Sawmilling in Singapore 



That there are thirty well equipped steam sawmills in operation the year 

 around at Singapore in spite of the fact that the island has only a few 

 small Jungles producing scarcely enough timber for domestic consumption 

 will possibly be surprising information. 'IMiat this is so, however, is 

 vouched for by Vice-Consul C. L. Dreicr. The mills, chiefly constructed 

 with brick,- planks and corrugated roofs, are nearly all in Kallang, a 

 suburb of Singapore, and along the small Kallang river. This stream is 

 navigable to some distance by native craft, which transport the logs to the 

 mills. Some of the mills have head offices in town. 



The logs for the mills are purchased from timber cutters in the neighbor- 

 ing Dutch islands off the cast coast of Sumatra, and include half a dozen 

 local species, all hardwoods. These woods all have about the same yellow 

 shade and it is hardly possible for an inexperienced judge to differentiate 

 between them. All are used for building purposes and for window and 

 door frames, planks, pillars and rafters for ceilings of houses. The kapore 

 or camphor wood, which is of a white color, is not subject to the ravages 

 of white ants and other destructive insects common in the tropics, and 

 hence is used for flooring planks. Teak ,is extensively used for making 

 European and Chinese furniture of all descriptions, the logs being brought 

 from Siam in the square. 



The sawmills pay from ?4 to .$6 per timber carrier a month, while those 

 working in the machine shop get from $11 to $17. It is estimated that the 

 average annual output of the mills ligun tl in money is if82,UU0. 

 Manzanita for Spinning Tops 



A large manufacturer in Kentucky has taken steps to secure manzanita 

 wood from which to make spinning tops. As far as records show, this 

 Is the first call for this beautiful wood outside of its immediate range. 

 It reaches its best development among the western foothills of the 

 Sierra Nevada mountains In California. Botanists call it Arctostaphylos 

 manzanita, but the ordinary person shortens the name to manzanita, 

 which is a Spanish word meaning "little apple." The first part of 

 the name is a compound Greek term meaning "bear-grape," evidently an 

 allusion to its fruit, which is about the size of a huckleberry and tastes 

 much like a thorn apple. Indians make cider of the fruit, and when 

 pressed by necessity they can manage to get pretty drunk on it. 



The wood is the part in which manufacturers are interested. Few 

 tree books give any account of it, because dendrologists have generally 

 refused to call it a tree, because of its small size. The fact cannot bo 

 denied that it is often ridiculously small. On some of the high, wind-swept 

 slopes of California mountains as many as 50,000 mature trees (if they 

 may be called trees) grow on an acre. The trees 

 are fully branched, and of standard form, with 

 fruit in season, and in height they range from 

 four inches to a foot. The mass — or the man- 

 zanita forest, so to speak — looks like a meadow 

 of red grass. The bark is dark chocolate red or 

 brown. 



That is an extreme size under adverse cir- 

 cumstances. At its best, manzanita trunks at- 

 tain a diameter up to one foot. A fair average 

 is three or four inches. A tree more crooked 

 and branched never grew out of the earth. A 

 straight stick three feet long of any diameter 

 was probably never seen by mortal man. 



The working of this wood into spinning tops 

 seems a sensible suggestion. The crookedness 

 of trunk and branches does not disqualify the 

 wood for that use. Ample supplies can be had, 

 for thousands of acres at a stretch produce man- 

 zanita. Cutting the stock in the woods would 

 be comparatively expensive because of the tree'.s 

 small size and awful shape. Stumpage ought 

 to cost little or nothing. Most landowners — 

 particularly those who range sheep — will be 



glad to be rid of the thickets. Sheep ranging through manzanita leave 

 most of their wool as mementos sticking to the branches. 



The wood is beautiful. It is a rich red or deep wine color, exceedingly 

 fine grained, and is susceptible of a fine polish. It may split too easily 

 to make perfect top material ; tor it is as brittle as spicewood. Bend a 

 small green branch sharply and It is liable to fly into splinters. Season- 

 ing may remedy that weakness. Tourists returning from California nearly 

 all bring with them manzanita souvenirs of some kind — canes, paper 

 weights, paper knives, rulers, spoons, napkin rings, cuff buttons, dominos, 

 manicure sticks, match safes, pin trays, and the like. Novelty stores 

 that sell them usually tell the tourist they are mountain mahogany, as 

 they sell better under that name. 



Why Not American Walnut? 



The warring nations of Europe are sacrificing their walnut trees for 

 gunstocks. Practically all walnut cut there is from planted trees of a 

 species commonly called English, French, or Italian walnut, the name 

 depending upon the country where the tree happens to grow. A recent 

 issue of the London Timber Kews says that for the manufacture of gun 

 and rifle stocks walnut timber is at present in great demand, and prices 

 are higher than has been the case for a very long time back. Though 

 able occasionally to offer a few logs of home-grown walnut timber, the 

 bulk of that used in England is of foreign origin, hailing principally from 

 the continent, hut the Mediterranean coast lands produce that of finest 

 texture and quality. The price of good walnut timber, that is, clean 

 and thoroughly matured, varies from eighty-seven cents per cubic foot 

 upwards, but there is little of first-class quality and size to be found In 

 England, only occasional trees by field and hedgerow, and more so in the 

 vicinity of old buildings, being included under timber. It is often difficult 

 to get odd trees of the walnut disposed of, the small quantity offered 

 being considered beneath the notice of the average timber merchant. The 

 walnut being tender in a young state and requiring good agricultural 

 land to grow to perfection are rather serious drawbacks to the cultivation 

 of the tree. Experimental planting of the walnut in various parts of 

 England have not turned out very satisfactorily. 



AYith the scarcity of walnut the question has several times been asked 

 of late why other timbers will not serve as well, at least in the case of 

 gun and rifle stocks. The superiority lies In this, that walnut does not 

 warp and can he cut cleanly even at cross grain, thus closely fitting the 

 complicated mechanism of the lock and other parts of the magazine rifle. 

 Then the timber is but little affected by becoming wet and so does not 

 interfere and cause jamming of the parts, while it is light and of an 

 enticing color and by no means apt to splinter. There are several kinds 

 of walnut on the market, including American and European, the latter 

 being preferred for the work of the gunsmith, though, as far as the 

 question of veneers is concerned, the American holds the market, some 

 of the old walnut roots having for furniture-making been sold at their 

 own weight in copper. There have been felled and sold in England and 

 Wales quite as good walnut timber as has ever been exported from 

 abroad, and much preferable to that of Circassian origin, which has been 

 found too weighty for gun and rifle stocks. Home grown walnut timber is, 

 as before stated, offered in too small quantities to be valuable or worth 

 while bothering about' by the merchant and it is hardly likely, from 

 experiments that have been conducted, that the growth of the tree will be 

 encouraged. 



Too Many Broom Handles 



It is said that if all the broom handles manufactured in the United 

 States in one year were laid side by side they would form a carpet of 

 handles for the entire state of Wisconsin and Michigan. There are most 

 too many broom handles involved in this estimate. The fact is, there 

 are not enough to carpet one square mile. The average handle is forty- 

 three inches long, and the yearly output is between 50,000,000 and 

 60,000.000 handles. 



ARRIVAL AT NEW ORLEANS FROM i:i;l.I/.l:. lUJITISlI 

 TOR" WITH JIAIIOGANY LOGS, BELONGING TO THE 

 MANUFACTURING COMPANY, NEW ORLEANS, LA. 



l"Mi| HAS, OF THE S. S. "MERCA- 



mauogant: fleet of the otis 



