HARDWOOD RECORD 



the form of round logs 14, to 2S inches in 

 diameter by 12 to IS feet iu length. Some 

 other varieties of hickory also masquerade in 



13 



FOLIAGE AND FRUIT OF SHAGBARK HICK- 

 ORY. 



the foreign market as shagbark, including the 

 pecan, water hickory, and often pignut hick- 

 ory. Foreigners are entirely dependent on 

 America for a wood that has the qualities 

 possesed by this one — great elasticity, com- 

 bined with strength and toughness. 



In " A Guide to the Trees, ' ' Alice Louns- 

 berry says : 



"After the beautiful buds have burst their 

 bright, petal-like scales, the shagbark equips 

 itself for the summer with a green sunshade 

 of fresh and fragrant leaves. And it is also 

 a sunshade that is picturesque and exquisite 

 in outline. There is besides no need of put- 

 ting on one's spectacles before bowing to the 

 tree. Its strange, shaggy bark at once pro- 

 claims its identity, and formality is forgot- 

 ten. With tranquil steadiness it produces ev- 

 ery year it? fruit — a dainty gift to mankind. 



Were it only for its own purposes 

 duction, there would be no need of its having 

 so fine and sweet a flavor. It is the well- 

 known hickory nut of the market. Thos. 

 wander much in the woods know well that a 

 bit of self-restraint is necessary in the early 

 autumn ; lor these nuts will not be hurried in 

 their ripening, and no more pleasure is to be 

 had from gathering them too soon than there 

 is from trying to unfold for one's self the 

 petals of a rose. ' ' 



No higher type of shagbark hickory than is 

 found in Kentucky and Tennessee, exists, and 

 the specimen of the bole of a magnificent 

 hickory with which this article is illustrated 

 was photographed by the editor of the Hard- 

 wood Record in Blount county, Tennessee, on 

 the property of the Little Eiver Lumber Com- 

 pany. This specimen is typical of hickory 

 trees growing in that section of the Great 



PRINT OF SHAGBARK HICKORY LEAF, 

 ONE-FOURTH ACTUAL SIZE. 



Smoky mountains, and is forty-six inches in 

 diameter at breast height, and a clean seventy 

 feet to the first limb. 



'Builders of Lumber History. 



George C. Ehemann. 



Among the older lumbermen who have risen 

 from the ranks to become captains of indus- 

 try, it is well sometimes to cite the young 

 man who has just won his spurs. It may 

 serve to rouse to honorable effort some young 

 man who is wasting his time and energies 

 through indifference to life's prizes — to stim- 

 ulate and inspire with enthusiasm someone 

 who distrusts his own abilities, and help re- 

 veal the path to usefulness, and discover the 

 art of reaching the goal of success. Having 

 this in view, the Hardwood Record takes 

 pleasure in printing the portrait and a brief 

 sketch of George C. Ehemann of Memphis, 

 Tenn., in the current issue. 



Mr. Ehemann was born in Cincinnati in 

 I876j consequently on the second day of this 



NUMBER XIII. 



month he was twenty-nine years old. To be 

 still under thirty and a member of a great 

 commercial enterprise is not the fortune of 

 many young men of today, unless the position 

 has fallen to them by inheritance. Mr. Ehe- 

 manu, however, has earned his laurels on the 

 battlefield of business activity, where en. 

 honesty and "everlastingly keeping at it" 

 are the real sinews of war. 



After leaving the public schools of Cincin- 

 nati, where his education was acquired, .Mr. 

 Sheraann entered the well known dry goods 

 house of the Alms & Doepke Company as 

 man. He soon after went to the George W. 

 McAlpin Company in the same capacity. 

 Evidently the young man had not struck his 

 gait, for in May. 1899, Mr. Ehemann obtained 

 ;, position with Bennett & Witte, manufae- 



wholesale li mber dealers of Cin- 



cinnati, and started in 10 learn the inspec- 

 tion of lumber at Gunnison. Miss., where the 

 firm operated a sawmill. In January, 1900 

 he was called to the Cincinnati office as book- 

 er, and in January of the next year he 

 became manager of Bennett & Witte 's south- 

 ern business, [n 1902 Mr. Ehemann was ad- 

 mitted to the firm, and has remained in the 

 South ever since. 



The business methods of Bennett & Witt.-, 

 under whirl, Ila me the company still stands' 

 although Mr. Witte is dead, are unique in 

 their way. About twenty percent of the busi- 

 ness of the firm is in foreign markets in all 

 parts of the civilized world. This trade has 

 been built up directly with the foreign manu- 

 facturers through the bona fide excellence of 

 the goods sold. No member of the firm has 

 ever been abroad, nor have they sent a rep- 

 resentative, and they do not deal through 

 brokers. 



"We give a man what he buys," said W. 

 A. Bennett, when speaking of the success of 

 the company iu the foreign market, "and 

 deal in the same straight out way we do in 

 the United States. In return we ask, when a 

 customer is unknown to us, that a deposit be 

 made with some first-class bank in the United 

 States, advising it to pay our draft with docu- 

 ments attached. Our terms are invariably one 

 day sight draft, bill of lading attached. We 

 draw on ocean bill of lading only, and our 

 customers receive their lumber about as soon 

 as they get our draft." 



Mr. Ehemann has full charge of Bennett 

 A: Witte 's foreign business. He quotes the 

 trade that can be geographically reached from 

 Memphis, and does all the purchasing that 

 is made in his territory. The Cincinnati office, 

 of which Mr. Bennett has charge, cares for 

 the middle west and eastern territory, as 

 well as the financial and credit ends of the 

 entire business. When asked for the "fads, 

 foibles and follies" of his partner, Mr. Ben- 

 nett said: 



"When Mr. Ehemann first came to us, I 

 found his main characteristics were hoi 

 of purpose, unwavering truthfulness, careful 

 judgment and au ever-present desire to work 

 and to succeed in everything he attempted. 

 His fad seems to be to keep everlastingly at 

 it. Had he been of different stamp, he never 

 would have reached his present position as 

 member of the company.'' 



Mr. Ehemann has li it in 



.Memphis, at the Gayoso Hotel. He is a mem- 



rhe Business Men's Club and secretary 



of the Lumbermen's Club of that city. 



Although a comparative newcomer it is 



doubtful if any business man has more friends 



among the conservative southerners than he. 



iid "what a man does is a 



true test, .if what a man is." George C. 



Ehemann has not only done much of worth in 



commercial life which he elected to fol- 



iiut he continues to do things which stamp 



him as a man who is content to do and I 



-- which is sure to follow to take 

 care of itself. 



