HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



reiving simply on hose stationed in tlie plant, though this provision 

 is not to be disregarded, and in fact is a valuable auxiliary of the 

 sprinklers. In many plants d separate line of piping is installed to 

 supply hose stationed about every 100 feet, and this, combined with 

 the operation of the sprinklers, gives the plant almost impregnable 

 defense against fire. A special underwriters' fire-pump is ordinarily 

 installed to provide water for the hose service, while the supply in 

 the tank (.-onnected with the automatic sprinklers is usuaUy sutlicient 

 to keep that system in operation long enough to put out the fire. 



Theoretically, the fire insurance rate is cut about fifty per cent 

 by the use of sprinklers. Actually, however, it is reduced to a much 

 greater degree. The reason is that the ordinary unprotected mill 

 building is not a "preferred risk"; while a sprinkled sawmill is a 

 desirable risk to have on the books. Fire underwriters, especially 

 those engaged in the actuarial end of the business, studying the 

 physical hazards only, frequently say tTiat even a sprinkled mill 

 building, not of fireproof construction, should carry a rate of from 

 1 to 1.50 per cent, or $1 to $1.50 per $100 of insurance; but while 

 a rate of this kind may be put into the tariff, the sawmill man who 

 makes the change should not be content with this until he has found 

 that it is impossible to get the rate down to about where it is 

 on other plants. 



Fireproof plants in other lines, equipped with automatic sprinklers, 

 are often written as low as ten cents, or one-tenth of one per cent. 

 The sawmill of combustible construction is a different proposition, 

 and the underwriters point out that the open construction of the 

 mill, the fact that the system is subject to mechanical injury, and 

 tliat it may be interfered with on account of the amount of dust 

 and other material about the plant, make it impossible to give as 

 large a credit as is due when the system is installed in a manufac- 

 turing plant where the hazards are less and the operating conditions 

 better. 



Yet, in spite of this, there is a sawmill in an Indiana city which 

 is getting a rate of twenty-nine cents on its sprinklered risk, though 

 the rate was secured only after competitive conditions had been 

 introduced. The use of automatic sprinklers resulted in many com- 

 panies which would not have cared to accept tlie liability offering to 

 write the insurance ; in other words, it broadened the market, and 

 enabled the sawmill man to get the benefit of the kind of competition 

 he himself engages in when a big customer with a good rating comes 

 into the market for a large block of stock. He would make con- 

 cessions to get the business; and the fire insurance companies make 

 them to get such desirable risks as sprinklered mill buildings. 



A veneer mill which is located in the Ohio valley has gotten its 

 rate down to about fifty-five cents by the use of sprinklers, the 

 conditions being largely the same as those which prevail in a sawmill. 

 In fact, the company operates a band mill and a veneer saw, so 

 that it is really in the savrmiU class. In this particular case the 

 building, while old, is of fairly good construction, being brick, and 

 the concern provides watchman services, a fire pump, hose and other 

 auxiliary protection devices, all of which help to cut down the rate. 

 This is a good deal better than paying about three per cent, which 

 would be charged without this protection, and the manufacturer has 

 the mental relief which goes with knowing that it would be hard to 

 put him out of commission by fire. 



Sawmill men may be divided into four classes, from an insurance 

 standpoint; those with poor buildings, who carry insurance; those 

 with poor buildings, who do not carry insurance, on account of the 

 prohibitive rate; those with fireproof buildings, who do not carry 

 insurance because of the absence of hazard, and those with fair 

 buildings, who sprinkle and otherwise protect them, and carry insur- 

 ance which is offered at a low rate by reason of these improvements. 



There seems to be no reason to doubt that the last class is in the 

 best position. It is protected, yet the protection is at a reasonable 

 figure; it avoids the great risk taken by the man who "can't afford" 

 to pay the high rate demanded on his poorly constructed and unpro- 

 tected plant; it likewise avoids the big overhead expense made neces- 

 sary by the construction of a fireproof mill, which, after all is said 

 and done, is subject to some hazard, even though it is remote. Its 

 position is safe from all angles, and the expense of getting in that 

 condition is comparatively small. 



Fire insurance is one of the big expenses of the business, and 

 the insurance companies are charged with making as high a rate as 

 the traffic will bear. In many cases a little investigation, preferably 

 with expert advice from those who know insurance and fire protection, 

 will show ways and means of putting in equipment, including in 

 many cases automatic sprinklers, that will cut the hazard and the 

 rate in a way that would have been thought impossible by the 

 uninitiated. G. D. C, Jr. 



Government Figures on Walnut 



Recent government statistics bear out the statements which have 

 been made by leading members of the walnut business, who have 

 estimated the annual production of walnut at 50,000,000 feet. The 

 latest federal report which is available covers the manufacture of 

 lumber for 1912, and gives the total production of walnut lumber for 

 that year as 4.3,083,000 feet. This does not include the production 

 of logs, many of which are exported without being cut up, and the 

 figures show that the estimate of the walnut men has erred on the 

 side of conservatism, if at all. 



It seems to be certain, judging from the figures, that the supply 

 of black walnut is equal to all demands which may be made upon it; 

 and while no great forests of walnut may be cut into, the number of 

 trees growing is still much larger than the casual observer has any 

 idea of, and these are gradually being made use of, and are keeping 

 the market well supplied. Recent photos in Hardwood Record indi- 

 cated that there aro walnut trees to be had which are over thirty-six 

 inches in diameter; and while these are the exceptions, they are 

 numerous enough to show that walnut is far from being a disappear- 

 ing quantity. 



It is interesting to note that the territory which formerly supplied 

 the bulk of the walnut lumber is still leading, in spite of repeated 

 declarations to the effect that the supply had become exhausted. 

 Ohio is in the lead with 8,565,000 feet ; Indiana second with 6,425,000 

 feet; Kentucky third with 5,855,000 feet; Illinois next with 5,197,000 

 feet, and Missouri fifth with 4,635,000. Tennessee has a considerable 

 production, 3,736,000 feet; while Pennsylvania's record is 2,268,000 

 feet. West Virginia had an output of 1,597,000, and Virginia, 1,123,- 

 000. North Carolina turned out about three-quarters of a million and 

 Iowa 655,000 feet, while other states contributed from 100,000 feet 

 on up. 



How Long Will It Live? 



It may be asked in all seriousness how much longer the supersti- 

 tion will live which ascribes to the moon an influence over timber? 

 This unscientific and unprovable claim has long held a place in the 

 back woods where people were prone to accept the teachings of tradi- 

 tion without much concern about cause and effect; but it is rather 

 late in the day now for educated people to attribute to the dead, 

 inert moon an influence on vegetation. 



Attention is directed to this subject by a recent article in Steam 

 Machinenj, written by Dr. Leonard Keene Hirschberg, A.B., M.A., 

 M.D., of Johns Hopkins University, on ' ' Mahogany Forests. ' ' After 

 giving some interesting and instructive history concerning the ma- 

 hogany industry, the writer says : ' ' The felling of the tree is begun 

 by the waning moon, partly on account of the superstition of the 

 cutters, who have always been led to believe that moonlight offers 

 the really proper illumination for such a ceremony; partly, also, 

 because the experienced woodsman has demonstrated that the mahog- 

 any tree is the freer from sap, sounder and of richer color, than when 

 felled before the full moon." 



If there is anything certain it is that the moon has no observable 

 effect on the flow of a tree's sap or on the characters and qualities 

 of the wood. It can be argued scientifically that it cannot have, 

 and it has been demonstrated in practice that it does not have such 

 effect. Apparently there is some mistake in the statement that the 

 felling is done by moonlight, or with regard to any phase of the moon. 

 Accoimts of modern mahogany logging operations in America and 

 Africa do not mention that custom. In some of the tropical regions 

 hauling logs from the woods is done at night because the heat by 

 day cannot be endured by the ox teams ; but the position of the moon 

 is not taken into consideration. 



