April 10, iU16 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



23 



for lioops are fewer in uumber, and elm 

 bined. Red gum leads in staves and pine 



AXNDAL OUTPUT OP SLACK 



Number 



Wood ot staves 



Red gum 416,570,000 



Pine ■.. 300,621,000 



Beech 268,237,000 



Elm 245,172,000 



Maple 133,255,000 



93,290,000 



78,897,000 



72,537,000 



72,219,000 



71,705,000 



66,675,000 



66,260,000 



23,832,000 



Cypress 25,673,000 



Tupelo 22,500,000 



Sycamore 17,831,000 



Hemlock 10,376,000 



Chestnut . . 

 Birch .... 

 Basswood . 

 Spruce ... 



Ash 



Oak 



Cottonwood 

 Tamarack . 



far exceeds all 

 in heading. 



COOPERAGE 



Number 



of heading (sets) 



16,700,000 



38,926,000 



19,269,000 



6,535,000 



13,663,000 



876,000 



4,328,000 



13,910,000 



1,861,000 



5,245,000 



1,963,000 



6,742,000 



1,280,000 



others eom- 



Number 

 ot hoops 

 9,877,000 

 8,321,000 

 3,560,000 

 339,477,000 

 731,000 



Cedar 



Yellow poplar 

 Balsam fir . . . 

 Douglas fir . . . 



Willow 



All other . . . . 



9,410,000 

 7,871,000 

 6,037,000 

 5,165,000 

 3,287,000 

 1,128,000 



Total 2,029,548,000 



48,000 



1,708,000 



1,679,000 



190,000 



130,000 



18,000 



140,234,000 



5,000 



4,455,000 



375,793,000 



0,051,000 



30.000 



106,000 



2,020,000 



1,160,000 



3,296,000 



661,000 



1,206,000 



It is not possible to state in feet the quantity of woods of all 

 kinds consumed yearly by slack coopers. The output appears in too 

 many sizes and shapes to be accurately measured. The total quantity 

 doubtless exceeds that consumed by chair makers. It is probably 

 twice as much. 



The saving of waste made possible by the activities of these two 

 great industries, chairs and slack cooperage, is of the highest impor- 

 tance in the conservation of the country's forest resources. No other 

 users of wood on a large scale cut so closely and economize so care- 

 fully, though the boxmakcr is entitled to little less credit in that 

 respect. 



W■^ogt^'Sl:>a';>5c;iTOCS^5TOll^^aiC>^^ 



Oil of \V inter green 



Commercial oil of wintergreen is not usually made of winter- 

 green but of sweet birch (BeUila lenta) which is one of the trees 

 furnishing birch lumber. Some oil of wintergrcen is made from 

 the wintergreen plant (Gaultheria recumhens), but this is unusual for 

 the reason that it is much more expensive to make than birch oil 

 and does not sell for a higher price. The oil is valuable for its 

 flavor alone, and the birch and the wintergreen flavors are so 

 much alike that it is difficult to distinguish any difference. The 

 flavoring is used in candy, medicine, and syrup. The oil is the 

 product of a sort of destructive distillation, or rather a roasting 

 j.rocess, to which birch wood is subjected. 



Most birch oil, under the name of wintergreen, is made in 

 Pennsylvania and West Virginia by mountaineers wlio operate in 

 isolated camps and on a very small scale and by primitive methods. 

 A crude still is the chief apparatus. It is of metal, or of wood 

 and metal. "When the still is partly of wood it consists of a strong 

 box with sheet iron bottom that comes in contact with the fire. 

 The mountaineer makes it himself. If he uses a still wholly metal, 

 he may buy it. 



The place selected for operation is a tract of forest land on 

 which plenty of sweet birch grows. Small trees from a couple 

 of inches in diameter up to six inches are preferred. The oil maker 

 often takes his whole family to the camp in the woods and all 

 work. The birch sapplings are cut down and chopped into small 

 bits with axes and hatches. The children who are not big enough 

 to chop are made useful as carriers of the birch chips in baskets 

 to the still. 



The wood is confined in the still and heat is applied sufficiently 

 to roast the juices out and it drains away through an opening into 

 a. vessel set to catch it. The oil has a greenish color as it runs 

 from the still. 



It is usualh' sold by the quart by the mountaineer who makes it. 

 There seem to be no statistics of production, and it is difficult to 

 obtain from the maker any definite information concerning the 

 price he receives, nor is the country storekeeper to whom he sells 

 it more apt to talk on the subject. There is no organization 

 making or handling the product. Every maier acts alone, and he 

 guards his little business secrets with as much jealousy and care 

 as the Diamonil Match Company guards its. 



The oil maker appears to fear that if outsiders should find out 

 what a bonanza he has, they might do something to crowd him out 

 and deprive him of his emoluments. Therefore, he shuts up like 

 a clam when in the presence of strangers, and if he can be induced 

 to answer a question on the subject of prices or profits, he will 

 swear by the twelve apostles that there is not a cent made in 

 the oil business, and he will probably call on his wife and all 



his children to verify the statement. Nevertheless, he keeps 

 religiously at it. 



The work is generally in the hands of the poorest of the moun- 

 taineers; the same class that digs the ginseng and snake root. 

 They seldom cut birch on their own land, nor do they pay rent or 

 royalty to anybody else. They trespass on the lands of others 

 without a pang of conscience. They are independently poor. 

 They know that all the courts in Christendom could not amerce 

 them of damages for trespassing. Among the ranges of the 

 Alleghany mountains the maker of wintergreen oil prefers the 

 old hemlock slashings where the tanbark peelers have operated and 

 passed on; for in those denuded tracts seedling birches are likely 

 to come up by millions, and there is the oil man's harvest, in the 

 sowing of which he took no part but in the reaping he is very 

 active. It is no concern of his who owns the land. 



From information obtained by indirect methods from country 

 storekeepers who buy the oil from the makers and sell it to the 

 wholesale druggists in cities, it appears that the maker of the 

 birch oil scarcely makes enough to pay twenty-five cents a day 

 to himself and each member of his family taking part in the 

 operation; but in his estimation twenty-five cents for each of his 

 tow-headed children, and the like wage for himself and wife, is a 

 bonanza worth guarding with zealous care. The next time you 

 eat wintergreen candy, think of where it came from. 



Polishing Furniture With Charcoal 



The method of poUshing wood with charcoal, now much used by 

 French cabinetmakers, gives furniture a beautiful dead black color 

 and a smooth surface, the wood scenting to have the density of ebony. 

 Compared with furniture rendered black by stain and varnish, the 

 diiference is marked. In charcoal polishing every detail in carving is 

 respected, while paint and varnish will clog up the holes and widen 

 the ridges. 



Only carefully selected woods of a close and compact grain are used, 

 and they are first covered with a coat of camphor dissolved in water, 

 and almost immediately afterward another coat, composed chiefly of 

 sulphate of iron and nutgall. The two compositions in blending pene- 

 trate the wood and give it an indelible tinge. Wlen these two coats 

 are dry, the wood is first rubbed with a very hard brush, and then 

 with charcoal of substance as light and friable as possible, because 

 if a single hard grain remained in the charcoal this alone would scratch 

 the surface. The flat parts are rubbed with natural stick charcoal, 

 the indented portions and crevices with charcoal powder. Alternately 

 with the charcoal the piece of furniture is rubbed with flannel soaked 

 in linseed oil and essence of turpentine. 



