16 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



material as they can get hold. of at as early a date as possible, as 

 there is absolutely no question that there is going to be a much 

 higher price level for all kinds and varieties of hardwood lumber and 

 veneers. 



Hakdwood Kecord also suggests the unwisdom of sawmills con- 

 tracting for 1915 requirements on the present basis of lumber prices. 



The Cover Picture 



WHEN THE GOVERNMENT COLLECTS yearly statistics of 

 the country's lumber cut, it omits the output of all mills which 

 produce less than fiftjf tjjousand feet a year. That probably excludes 

 establishments like the one shown in the cover picture which illustrates 

 this issue of Hardwood Record. It is capable of sawing much more 

 than that, if it is operated full time ; but many mills of that class are 

 run during a few days, and then stand idle a long time. The govern- 

 ment 's investigations show that more than twenty thousand sawmills in 

 the United States do not produce fifty thousand feet of lumber a year 

 each. Their combined output falls short of one billion feet a year. 

 That is not a small quantity, considered as a whole; but it is not much 

 more than two per cent of the country's whole cut. 



In 1909 the census listed all mills, large and small, and the number 

 was found to be 48,112; in 1912 the small mills were omitted, and 

 the total dropped to 29,648. The argument advanced in favor of 

 omitting small miUs from statistics is that the total is not greatly 

 changed, while nearly half of the labor of collecting and compiling 

 the figures is saved.. 



Notwithstanding the tendency to ignore the very small mill, it fills 

 a place of considerable importance in the neighborhood. It provides 

 lumber for farms in remote valleys and on distant mountains which 

 otherwise would have none. Fifty thousand feet a year is quite in- 

 significant in the country's lumber suppl.v, taken as a whole, but 

 that provides lumber for a dozou or more small farms, for gates, 

 sheds, fences, and for an occasional residence. Frequently the farmer 

 hauls logs to the mill and gives part of the lumber to pay for sawing 

 the other part. 



The class of lumber turned out by the small rural mill is usually not 

 very high. The sawyer is not apt to be an expert ; but even if he is, there 

 are ways of spoiling the lumber after it leaves the saw. A look at the 

 picture on the cover will make that clear. The sticks in the piles 

 are carelessly placed; all lengths are piled promiscuously, and a gen- 

 eral lack of system is apiiarent. But that is not the worst of it. 

 Full.y half of the lumber visible on the yard has not been piled at all. 

 It has been thrown haphazard right and left, tumbled about the hill- 

 side and creek bank without semblance of order. 



Any man acquainted with lumber need not be told what will be 

 the condition of that scrambled mass of boards after a few months 

 of rain and sunshine. Most of the pieces will be unfit for anything 

 except the roughest and most common uses. Warping and splitting 

 will ruin the best boards; and, if left in unventilated heaps a consid- 

 erable time, deca.T will complete the work of ileterioration. 



Large lumber operations have been accused of great waste. Many 

 of the accusations ai"e not well founded, though some are unfortunately 

 true. Yet, when the worst has been said against the large mills, 

 it remains a fact that it is the small operator who wastes most, in 

 proportion to the amount of work he does. There are miU yards 

 which contain millions of feet of lumber where less waste is visible 

 than is seen in the picture where the yard contains scarcely thirty 

 thousand feet. 



The mill in the picture is evidently a hardwood operation. Thou- 

 sands of such mills are scattered through the woods from Maine to 

 Missouri. Formerly the majority of such mills were operated by 

 water power; but steam engines are now so low in price, particularly 

 second-hand engines, that it is about as cheap to buy one as to 

 make or buy a water wheel. Nearly anything with a boiler, firebox, 

 cylinder and whistle will answer. The man who wants to possess 

 one of these small mills can usually pick up for a mere song an old 

 engine that has seen its best years in the service of a threshing 

 machine, stone quarry or dredge; and by a little skirmishing through 

 the catalogues of second-hand dealers, the equipment can be com- 

 pleted, and the mill is ready to join the ranks of twenty thousand 



others which are so small that the statistics of their output are not 

 collected by the Bureau of the Census. 



It would be interesting to know how much of the complaint on 

 account of crooked lumber, which is heard from manufacturers, 

 could be traced to small mills which abuse their product after it is 

 sawed, bv ricking it in careless piles or scattering it in heaps about 

 the premises, after the manner shown in the cover picture. If such 

 lumber ever reaches a factory, it is bound to arrive in bad condition. 

 It has not seasoned straight because improperly piled; and after 

 it has once become warped and twisted, it can be made straight again 

 only with great difficulty, if at all. If it is used, it is generally 

 after the deformed boards have been cut half awa.v by passing them 

 through the planing machines, at an excessive expenditure of power, 

 unprofitable waste of wood and extra cost in labor and handling. 

 Abuse of property pays nowhere, and it pays less in the lumber 

 yards than in most places. A lean calf may be fattened again; 

 exhausted farm land may be renewed; a dilapidated roof may be 

 mended; but a warped an<i curled piece of lumber is permanently 

 degraded. 



Stand by Your Guns 



WHILE SOME I'EOl'LE seem to be trying to fool themselves into 

 thinking that there is now sufficient mahogan.v to go round, 

 and that the supply of mahogany logs will continue to be sufficient 

 to meet all demands, those people in the best position to know are 

 frank in admitting that the situation is not at all as it should be, and 

 that if the war continues for any protracted period, there will not 

 only be a scarcity but an actual absence of the high-grade mahogany. 

 At least there will not be suflicient logs to make enough impression 

 on the demand to be considered as any supply at all. 



.lust what will this mean? The result will be that we will simply 

 be compelled to re-establish our plans and styles of furniture manu- 

 facture. Mahogany and Circassian walnut are about the most ex- 

 pensive woods going into the high-grade lines. This country as a 

 whole has been universally accused of living beyond its means and of 

 inexcusable extravagance and pretense in its purchases. Perhaps the 

 enormous quantity of mahogany going into furniture is one instance 

 illustrating this fact. It rather appears now that we will be forced 

 to economize somewhat, and that one of these economies will be 

 effected by spending less money for our furniture. 



A period following such a stupendous calamity must be one of 

 close figuring and intensive economy the world over. Whether or not 

 this country is going to benefit exclusively to such a degree that it 

 will be able to satisfy its extravagant tendencies while the rest of 

 the civilized (?) world is counting its pennies, is a question that 

 cannot be successfully answered right now. However, whether we 

 wish to or not, it really seems that we will have to economize in the 

 purchase of furniture. If present indications of a general shortage 

 in mahogany and Circassian walnut logs are borne out by unusual 

 developments in the future, we simply will not be able to buy the 

 high grade lines that are made up of this wood and will have to 

 content ourselves with the more moderate priced lines in the other 

 woods. 



This is where the American manufacturer of lumber comes in for 

 his share. Not only will oak find a more active consumption for use, 

 undisguised in its natural figure and tone, but such woods as gum 

 and birch, which are renowned as substitutes for mahogany, will find 

 their field of use very decidedly broadened. 



It is quite probable that the attention of the furniture man will 

 be turned toward making his designs and his workmanship as 

 attractive as possible so that he will be en.abled to get more out of 

 his stock made from the more medium priced woods. Hovrever, the 

 scarcity of mahogany and Circassian walnut, which now seems an 

 almost assured fact, will, if it actually materializes, inaugurate a 

 period of more medium priced furniture in which our native woods 

 will find a ready call. 



In the meantime let us not forget the exquisite beauty, the rich- 

 ness and dignity which make furniture made from our own black 

 walnut an article comparable to the best in the world. Enterprising 

 walnut manufacturers have through commendable efforts greatly 



