HARDWOOD RECORD 



ii 



W. I hil'ls, of Sumter, S. ( . At the request of 

 the Hardwood Record, he has supplied the 

 following information on the subject. In 

 reading Mr. Child's analysis, however, it must 

 be borne in mind that he speaks of holly 

 from his local environment, and not from a 

 specific knowledge of its growth in all sec- 

 tions of the United States. The fact that he 

 drops into humor in connection with the 

 valuable facts he presents concerning the tree 



PRINT OF AMERICAN HOLLY LEAF, AC- 

 TUAL SIZE. 



against the statements being authoritative. 

 "Holly is the name by which a number of 

 small trees or shrubs, chiefly of the genus 

 Ilex and family Aquifoliacew are commonly 

 known. There are twelve or fourteen species 

 of Ilex in the United States but most of these 

 and its growth does not in any way militate 

 are small shrubs and therefore unsuitable for 

 the ]nirposes for which the larger species are 



used. White holly, as the name indicates, is, 

 when properly manipulated in manm 

 perfectly white wood. It is of fine texture 

 and when seasoned is quite hard. It is elas- 

 tic and capable of taking on such a beautiful 

 polish as to resemble ivory. Probably ninety- 

 percent of all the holly heretofore used in 

 the United States was employed in the inside 

 work of pianos. It is suitable for many other 

 purposes, however, and it undoubtedly will 

 come more into demand as time passes. 



"The writrr haa been furnishing whit.' 

 holly to firms who manufacture it into lum- 

 ber and veneers for eighteen years, and be 

 knows a great deal more about where it 

 grows best and how to get it out of the 

 swamps than he does about other matters in 

 connection with it. He has been informed, 

 however, that the finest American species is 

 the Ilex optica, whatever that may mean, but 

 he is inclined to believe that a better name 

 than this would be Itollybusque thatibvs 

 growsibns inibus boggybus swampsibus andi- 

 bus isibus costin' tobvst outibus ofibus 

 thoscibus swampsorbust. 



"The white holly grows to perfection as 

 regards size and clearness of timber only in 

 those river swamps of the southern states that 

 are subject to overflow by freshets which 

 bring down from the hill country a clay sedi- 

 ment and deposit it on the lowlands below 

 the Piedmont section and adjacent to the 

 rivers. This is quite evident, for white 

 holly growing on the poorer soils of 

 uplands, is nothing more than a shrub or 

 very small and knotty tree, but on the rich 

 alluvial soil of the river swamp, develops 

 into trees ranging in size from ten to thirty 

 inches across the stump and producing a 

 stick of clear timber six to sixteen feet long. 

 The largest holly-tree ever cut by the writer 

 measured thirty-three inches in diameter at 

 the ' blossom-end, ' but this must have been 

 the grand-daddy of 'em all, as no other tree 

 of this diameter has been since discovered. 

 Holly, as is well known, is an evergreen, and 

 a rather singular fact regarding it is that it. 

 sheds the old leaves in the spring, while put- 

 ting out the young leaves and blossoms. 



"The flowers are white, 'smellish,' and 

 i much honey that bees could have 

 an easv time, were they not so everlastingly 

 industrious and avaricious as never to know 

 what tired means, or when they have ac- 

 cumulated a sull I life's luxuries. 



"Holly-wood contains more or less sap at 

 all times; consequently, in order that the 

 lumber may turn out bright and perfectly 

 white, it is necessary to fell the trees and 

 saw up the timber in the fall and winter 

 months. The colder and clearer the weather 

 at the time the wood is manufactured, the 



FLOWERS, LEAVES AND FRUIT, AMKHI 

 CAN HOLLY. 



more satisfactory the product as regards 

 color. If manufactured during a warm 

 moist period, the wood is apt to mildew and 

 turn blue in drying. The berries, which are 

 green at first, ripen in midwinter, and turn 

 red. All birds are fond of them. Bobins 

 especially devour them greedily, and gather 

 in large numbers in the trees where the ber- 

 ries are ripest. Farmers have sometimes besi- 

 to sell holly-trees because their de- 

 struction might diminish the robin crop. 



"Great quantities of bushes and branches, 

 with the ripe red berries on them, are an- 

 nually shipped north about Christmas time 

 I'm- decorative purposes." 



Planning a Veneer Factory. 



Volumes have been printed in the various 

 trade journals about the veneer industry, but 

 little has been said about planning and 

 equipping a veneer plant. A new catalogue 

 recently published by the Coe Manufacturing 

 Company of Painesville, Ohio, gives some 

 good advice on this subject, shows a number 

 of ground plans to work from, and attempts 

 to show the value of uniformity in planning 

 and equipping veneer plants. Heretofore in- 

 dividual concerns entering the business gath- 

 ered pointers here and there, and then planned 

 their plants to suit their own needs. Of 

 course, considering the great variety in the 

 work to be done, as well as local conditions, 

 this is to some extent necessary. However, it 

 simplifies matters materially to have a gen- 

 eral basic plan to work on, and as a step to 



this end the efforts of the Coe Manufacturing 

 Company deserve commendation. The ground 

 is well covered in a general way in the state- 

 ment made in the Coe catalogue that, "The 

 mill site and other local conditions govern to 

 a large extent the economical placing of the 

 machinery in a veneer plant. It is not 

 to build your mill unless you have a definite 

 plan of the arrangement of your machinery 

 in mind. To produce veneer economically 

 and to realize the greatest profit in your busi- 

 ness you can not exercise too much care in 

 the arrangement. There is only one general 

 rule to follow, and that is, to so place your 

 machines that the stock in process of manu- 

 facture shall pass directly from on 

 to another in the exact order of operation re 

 quired, and at all stages moving ti 



packing room or warehouse." To aid veneer 



manufacturers in attaining these points a few 



simple mill plans are shown. For instance, 

 an examination of the simplest plan, which 

 is herewith reproduced, in rident that 



it was designed to impress thi r tbo 



machinery arrangement is drag saw, boiling 



vats, veneer cutter, clipper and squeezer ar- 



ranged i.i the order of ti ii a drier 



on the side and a knife grinder between. 



The plan .rther, to illustrate the 



point of continuity admirably, but when all 



the working cl there are 



other things to ; ay greatly 



plans. However, this does not af- 



value in illustrating the 



'tinuity. 



The first thing to be thought of in locating 



