HARDWOOD RECORD 



31 



good a salesman for that; and, bj- looking at his man he can tell 

 without asking that lie is feeling blue and is not going to admit that 

 he needs any lumber. 



' ' Just i-ame from Springlield, nliere I saw the Wolf Furniture 

 Company, ' ' he begins. ' ' They are certainly doing business over 

 there. They've put on some new lines this year that are taking 

 mighty well, and they are beginning to feel that Kaiser Bill can't 

 jjut a crimp in their trade this fall." 



' ' Uhhuh, ' ' replies the furniture man. refusing to bite, though the 

 Wolf Lumber Company is his dearest business eneniy, and the house 

 whose exhibit he always tries to "skin" at the shows. 



"Yes," continues Smith, declining to be discouraged, "they told 

 me that the dealers in the corn belt are falling over themselves get- 

 ting in line for number Twenty-seven, that new colonial writing- 

 table of theii-s — ■" 



"Quit your kidding. Smith," interrupts the furniture man. 

 ' ' Those people won 't be able to sell that table. It looks like a 

 cross between an old-fashioned spinet and a typewriter desk. Why, 

 we've got a table that beats theirs all hollow, and I'd like to bet 

 some real money that we have more orders for our number forty- 

 three than they '11 handle on that colonial misfit all season. ' ' 



Smith nods in agreement as though to say, "No doubt, no doubt." 

 Then he continues, without permitting the discussion to even begin 

 to look like an argument. ' ' They 're pretty well stocked up, as I 

 noticed in going through the warehouse, but they are beginning to 

 ship some carload lots to the West and say that they haven't any 

 surplus to go on." 



' ' Oh, the West is in good shape all- right, ' ' conceded the furniture 

 man. ' ' Our Seattle branch has already reported that they will be 

 able to sell twenty-five carloads more tlum they did last season, 

 unless something happens. ' ' 



' ' Gad, I 'm glad to hear it, ' ' exclaims Smith. ' * Charley Williams 

 is out there for you now, isn't he? How's Charley?" 



' ' Getting along all right. He 's been making good for us on the 

 coast, and I think in another year or two we'll have to give him the 

 job of general sales manager and call him back home." 



By this time the furniture man has quit thinking about the dark 

 side of the situation, and is realizing that business is looking pretty 

 good, after all. And, of course, with Smith, who knows the furni- 

 ture business thoroughly, there is no use of putting up a calamity 

 howl just to keep from buying any lumber; if he needed any, though, 

 Smith would get his share. 



"Let's see," the lumberman breaks in. "The last lot of No. 1 

 common plain oak you got was delivered here at .$35, wasn't it?" 



"Ye-es, I believe it was," says the buyer. 



' ' Well, this little flurry in the lumber business, which is going to 

 be over in thirty days, judging from the way general business is 

 picking up, has caused our office to put plain oak on the list at a 

 price which will enable me to deliver it to you here at $33, inspec- 

 tion guaranteed. I haven 't been pushing that particularly, because, 

 personally, I think the price is low. In my opinion, conditions are 

 going to be so much better this fall, when our manufacturers get 

 the benefit of the reduction on imported goods, that lumber and all 

 other raw materials are going to go 'way up. Doesn't $33 look 

 good to you?" 



"Yes, it would, if I seeded any lumber," replies the furniture 

 man. "But the fact is — " 



"The fact is," smiles Smith, pulling his coup de grace, "you 

 haven 't more than three weeks ' supply ahead. I was talking to Bill, 

 the superintendent, as I came in, and he says the way you 're cutting 

 up stock now you '11 have to buy before long. ' ' 



"Why, you rascal," laughs the furniture manufacturer, forgetting 

 to be angry at this exposure of his situation, ' ' what do you mean 

 by corrupting my employes? I guess I'll have to take a couple of 

 cars, if that's the case. But don't think I'd take it from you unless 

 the price was right." 



"Of course not," says Smith, letting his customer sign on the 

 dotted line. "But my prices, to you, are always right." 



And that 's how Smith manages to keep the Bungtown Lumber 

 Company on the map when business is dull. 



Commercial Uses of Sabicu 



Sabicu (Filhecolobium aiborevm (L.) Urb.) is a West Indian tree 

 of the pea family (Leguminoscw), the wood of which possesses con- 

 siderable merit as a mahogany substitute. Thus far very little effort 

 has been made to give it a thorough trial in the United States. It is 

 reported that in 1904 about twenty-live carloads of this wood were 

 used by one concern in this country, and since then small consign- 

 ments were shipped from Cuba to the New York market and sold as a 

 furniture wood. Sabicu was first introduced into the London and 

 Liverpool markets in 1878, when 167 tons were consumed, largely for 

 the manufacture of shuttles and bobbins for cotton mills. A year 

 later 101 tons were used in England, largely for shuttles, but it soon 

 became too expensive and is now imported into the United States and 

 England in a small way, ehielly for making furniture. The wood is 

 now highly esteemed by a good many furniture and cabinet makers. 



The tree is a native of all the islands of the West Indies, but it is 

 most abundant iu Cuba, where it is confined chiefly to the valleys, 

 canyons and moister slopes. It occurs also in Trinidad and along the 

 east coast of Central America and southern Mexico. There are no 

 records which show that this tree has been exploited except in Cuba, 

 and only for local use in Jaman-a and Porto Rico. It is said to be 

 very abundant in the interior of Haiti and Santo Domijigo, where the 

 forests are virgin and sabicu is available in considerable quantities. 



Sabicu is closelj' related to the famous sanian or Peruvian rain tree 

 {Pithecolobium saman (Jacq.) Benth.), so common throughout trop- 

 ical America. The sabicu here referred to must not be confused with 

 jiqua (Lysiluma sabicu, Benth.), which is also known as sabicu in 

 the West Indies. The latter is more commonly called Bahama sabicu, 

 but is botanically related to the Cuban sabicu, which develops into a 

 nmeh larger tree and the wood of which can be procured in greater 

 abundance. It is said to be almost as common as the Spanish cedar. 

 The Cuban sabicu is a very fast-growing tree and often attains the 

 height of 1.50 feet and a diameter of over six feet. Similar to the 

 wide-spreading saman tree the sabicu has a very branchy, open crown 

 and a comparatively short bole, so that even the largest trees yield 

 only between 2,000 and 3,000 board feet of lumber. 



The wood of sabicu closely resembles the true mahogany in grain 

 and quality, but it is somewhat harder and is of a reddish color. It is 

 ]ierhaps slightly coarser-grained than mahogany and exhibits more 

 pronounced annual rings of growth, owing to the single row of pores 

 that are developed during the early part of the growing season. It 

 is often very beautifully figureil and in this condition is sometimes 

 I)ref erred to mahogany for special purposes. It is hard, heavy (about 

 forty-three pounds per cubic foot), strong, rather tough .and dark 

 chestnut-brown, tinged with red. Sabicu is susceptible of a high 

 polish, very durable when exposed to alternations of air and water 

 and is usually free from shakes. It seasons slowly but does not check 

 in the process. 



Sabicu is used extensively for building purposes and general car- 

 pentry work. Since the wood is durable it is employed for boat 

 and house construction in Cuba and Jamaica. Its great strength 

 renders it a good wood for use by the wheelwright, especially for the 

 hubs of wheels. Hub billets, 10 to 18 inches in diameter and three 

 feet long, sell for from $3 to $4 apiece. The wood is used both 

 locally and abroad for making furniture and selected material sells 

 for from $50 to $200 per thousand board feet in the Havana markets. 

 In England it is used for shuttles and bobbins for use in cotton mills. 



The better wood engravings are made almost exclusively of box- 

 wood, and the large blocks are made of small pieces glued together. 

 The engraving is done across the end of the grain. Japanese wood 

 prints, on the other hajid, are mvAe on lengthwise sections of cherry 

 wood parallel to the grain. 



Throughout the national forests the rangers are posting the roads 

 with permanent guide signs which tell distances and directions, 

 especially at forks and cross-roads. The signs are usually put up in 

 the winter when other work tends to be light. On some forests the 

 rangers go on snowshoes, dragging loaded sleds, and naU the sign- 

 boards to the roadside trees. 



