October 10, Vji: 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



twenty years earlier, so this was probably the one you mention below 

 Wheeling, W. Va. 



Michaux measured another sycamore thirty-six miles from Marietta on 

 the Wheeling road, which was forty-seven feet in girth at four feet, and 

 held this girth tor fifteen or twenty feet, when it forked. Prof. Ridgrway 

 in Proc. U. S. National Museum 1882, p. 288, records the finding of a 

 prostrate tree near Mt. Carmel, 111., which was much larger than those 

 above mentioned. The decayed butt measured sixty-six feet in circumference, 

 and at twenty feet from the base where tlie trunk divided into three large 

 limbs, it was still sixty-two feet round. Each of the limbs was about 

 seventy feet long by five feet in diameter, so that the total contents by 

 quarter-girth measurement (the one commonly used in England) must 

 have been over 8,000 cubic feet, yiouo of these trees were so tall, but 

 much larger in girth than the largest tulip tree (yellow poplar, Lirioden- 

 dron) on record; and I know of no broad-leaved tree in the temperate 

 region of the northern hemisphere which equals the dimensions given. 

 I doubt whether any trees of so great size now exist in the United States, 

 though the late Dr. Schenck who lived at Mt. Carmel, 111., in a region 

 formerly famed for the size and variety of its trees, of which few are left 

 standing, showed me in 1904 a sycamore growing in a cornfield which was 

 150 feet high by 25 feet in girth. 



Your editorial states that in volume the yellow poplar exceeds the 

 sycamore, because it carries its size to a greater height, hut I can find, no 

 records to prove this. When the first volume of our work was published 

 in 1906 the largest record for a yellow poplar that I knew was that of 

 Prof. Ridgway, Notes on Trees of Lower Wabash Valley (Proc. V. S. Nat. 

 Hist. Mus. 18S2, p. 49, and 1894, p. 411) who stated that reliable meas- 

 urements had been taken of a tree 190 feet high. Another, cut eight 

 miles east of Vincennes, was 8 feet across the stump and solid to the 

 center ; the last cut was 63 feet from the first, and the log made 80,000 

 shingles. It is stated in Garden & Forest 1897. p. 408, that at the 

 Nashville Exhibition a log of this tree was shown by the Nashville, Chat- 



tanooga & St, Louis Railroad Company which measured 42 feet long by 

 10 feet 4 inches in diameter at the butt, and 7 feet at the smaller end, 

 contained 1,2G0 cubic feet of timber, and was about 600 years old. Even 

 in England the tulip tree, as we call it, attains a very large size in less 

 than a quarter of this time, though here it is not a long-lived tree as a 

 rule. I measured a dead tree at Stowe, near Buckingham, in 1905, 107 

 feet high with a clean trunk of 30 feet long, 13 feet girth at five feet 

 from the ground, and 21 feet 4 inches at the ground. I am told by Prof. 



C. S. i^argent of Boston that trees now exist in northwestern Louisiana 

 which are perhaps taller than any of those recorded by Prof. Ridgway 

 near Mt. Carmel. and it is much to be desired that any of your readers 

 who are lumbering in this region or elsewhere would record the accurate 

 measurements of any unusually large or tall trees they come across. 



Having spent ten years in collecting accurate measurements of trees in 

 Europe, Asia and America, I know how very difficult it is to get their 

 correct height when standing in forest, or growing on hillsides or in 

 swamps where the base line and the levels are dilficult to measure : and 

 even when trees are felled errors are often made, as in the case quoted 

 by me in my Vol. IV, p. 818 ; of a Douglas fir shown at the St. Louis 

 Exhibition of 1004 in the Washington slate exhibit. This was cut at 

 McCormick in Lewis county, Washington, in the spring of the same year ; 

 and was said by Mr. Baker, who was in charge of the exhibit, to have 

 been 390 feet high ; but as no reliable measurement nearly as great exists 

 to my knowledge, I inquired farther, and found that the same tree had 

 been recorded in a Washington state newspaper as 340 feet high and 42 

 feet in girth, and containing 79,218 feet board measure. Either the tree 

 must have jumped fifty feet from its stump in falling, which I do not think 

 possible, or the extra fifty feet must have been added for the honor of the 

 state; but until it is proved by good evidence I must look on this record 

 as unreliable. I believe that the redwood still holds the record for height 



of any tree in the world. I remain Yours faithfully, 



H. .1. Elwes. 



\ ^ :;;^::;^>aiB^ssy■ji;;o!ffliTO;TOi^^ 



Lumber Market in Greece 



Somewhat more thitii a year ago, soon after the beginning of the 

 war in Europe, Hardwood Kecobd iiublished a series of articles con- 

 cerning the probable changes in the world's lumber market, due to 

 the interruption of existing lines of traffic and the opening of others. 

 Greece and the Balkan states were among the countries so considered, 

 and it was pointed out that the lumber purchased in those countries, 

 particularly that bought in Greece, was imported from Russia, Aus- 

 tria and the Danube provinces. It was then anticipated that most 

 of those supplies would be cut off through the vicissitudes of war, and 

 that the markets of southeastern Europe would be under the neces- 

 sity of looking for supplies elsewhere. 



That prediction was fulfilled to the letter. The usual supplies failed 

 for want of transportation and on account of the disturbed political 

 condition of the region. A recent report to this government by A. B. 

 Cooke, consul at Patras, Greece, was published September 23, in which 

 the lumber market in that country was fully described, and the oppor- 

 tunities for .\meriean lumber there were explained. 



According to Consul Cooke, importers have alread.y placed con- 

 siderable orders in the United States, and some of the first orders have 

 arrived. The American woods have proved so satisfactory, so far as 

 they have reached that market, that there is every reason to believe 

 they will be able to take and hold the market even after the return 

 of normal conditions. It has presented an opportunity which might 

 not have come to Americans in time of peace, at least not for many 

 years, and yet Greece was not seriously threatened with war until a 

 few days ago. 



A serious handicap to the promotion of American woods just now, 

 however, is the almost complete ignorance of these woods on the part 

 of the local markets. Until the recent importations, American woods 

 were absolutely unknown there. American exporters, writing in re- 

 sponse to reports from the United States consulate, quote to importers 

 ' ' gum, " " red gum, " " hardwood. " " oak, ' ' highland spruce, ' ' and 

 similar terms. These terms mean nothing definite to importers in 

 Greece ; and they are consequently in great uncertainty often as to 

 whether the wood quoted will actually meet the needs of the trade in 

 its various lines. No person is apt to obtain a correct idea of the qual- 

 ities of a wood by simply reading about it or hearing it described. 

 Actual examination is necessary. People learn the names of woods 



rather slowly, and a name conveys a poor idea of what a w'ood is like. 



The import trade of Greece in woods is important enough to justify 

 American firms in taking careful steps to secure and hold it. It is 

 suggested that interested firms send to the consulate at Patras samples 

 of their several woods as indicated below, each sample clearly marked 

 with the commercial name of the wood. Samples should be of suffi- 

 cient size to show the nature of the wood ; say, 2 inches wide, 12 inches 

 long, and 1-; inch thick. The samples can be sent by parcel post at 

 the rate of 12 cents per pound, the parcels limited to 11 pounds each. 

 The woods in chief demand here are: 



For currant cases: Spruce, white pine. 



For building materials: Spruce, pitch, pine. 



For currant barrels: Beech, white oak, probably gums. 



For olives, oil, and wine barrels: White oak. 



For furniture making: Walnut, oaks, maples, pitch pine. 



By far the greatest part of the consumption is for currant cases, 

 building, and currant barrels. A very small part is for furniture 

 making. The money-making crop of Greece is the currant. This is 

 a small, seedless grape, which is prepared for market by drying in the 

 sun. These currants are unfortunately named, for they are raisins. 

 Their chief use is in mince meat, and they have a large sale in America 

 in direct competition with the ' ' seedless sultanas ' ' and ' ' Thompson 

 seedless" raisins of California. Large quantities of boxes and barrel 

 staves are needed in marketing the crop. 



The American consul guarantees that all samples of wood received 

 wiU be placed on exhibition in the rooms of the Patras American 

 Chamber of Commerce, where they can be freely examined at all times. 

 They may bear the addresses of the American firms submitting them. 

 In this way local importers will be able to determine in any case 

 just what sort of American wood they wish to order. The import trade 

 of "the Patras district in woods involves annually $600,000 to $800,000. 



Let us hold production in check enough that it may not over- 

 run the needs; but push business along with full speed ahead. 

 Pushing business is a different thing from pushing mill capacity, 

 and a stuilv of this difference may help the trade along some just 



