HARDWOOD RECORD 



this that they are manufactured practically for a song. It is easily 

 evident that they are turned out by automatic machinery or machinery 

 with a very high capacity, and it is easy enough to understand that the 

 machinery cost may be reduced to a minimum. But the wood Itself 

 costs something, and the remarkable thing is in that they can be made 

 and delivered to customers for as low a price as they are. Many kinds 

 of wood are used by makers of wooden buttons ; but more are of birch. 

 raaple, and beech than of any others. 



Metal Railway Ties in Switzerland 



A report on metal railway ties in Switzerland was recently made by 

 R. E. Mansfield, consul at Zurich, in which he says that the scarcity of 

 wood for general purposes and the increasing cost of wooden railway ties 

 in Europe has encouraged the manufacture and general use of metal ties 

 in recent years in the railways on the Continent. About seventy per cent 

 of the ties in use on the federal railways of Switzerland are metal. The 

 majority of the wooden ties used are made of Swiss wood. 



Metal ties were first used on the Swiss roads in 1881, since which 

 time they have gradually replaced, to a large extent, the wooden ties. 

 Iron ties are especially recommended on the Swiss roads where a goo<l 

 quality of gravel is available for ballast. Wooden ties are used in tunnels 

 and in localities where the conditions do not permit of good drainage 

 along the railways. They are also generally used in street crossings in 

 towns and cities where the track is graded with gravel up to the level 

 of the ti:^s. 



While tlic cost of metal is greatly in excess of that of • wooden ties, 

 the longer duration of the former makes them cheaper in the end. as 

 they do not have to be replaced so frequently, which is an expense that 

 has to lie taken into consideration when wooden ties are used in road 



Till- following prices are paid by the Swiss Government for plain, or 

 unoiled wooden ties, feet long. 10 inches wide, and 6 inches thick ; 

 Oak, $1.2G to $1.50: beech, .fO.Sl to .$1.12: larch, $0.8a to $1.16; pine. 

 $0.73 to $0.90. Oiled wood ties of same size and quality : Oak, $1.58 to 

 $1,87; beech, .$1.45 to $1.81; larch, $1.14 to $1.54; pine, $1.04 to $1.35. 



Iron tie"! feet long. OVi inches wide, by 5% inches thick, weighing 

 160 pounds, .«ell for $2.30. The metal ties used on the Swiss railways 

 are iniiiortr-d from Germany and are purchased on contract by the federal 

 governniont of the German Union Steel Works, which distributes the 

 orders among the iron foundries in the Saar and Mosel districts. 



Australia's First State Sawmill 



Western Australia's fli 

 December by the governoi 

 the course of a trip thr 

 the steam and the premie 



St state sawmill was officially opened early in 

 and tlie premier, who were visiting Manjimp in 



lugh the South-West. The governor turned on 

 cut the first two crossties. Tlie mill is situated 



in the midst of fine forests containing magnificent supplies of karri timber. 

 as well as a quantity of .iarrah. The life of the mill is expected to be 

 from twelve to fourteen years, and the capital expenditure is, roughly. 

 $325,000, which includes the cost of the "powelHsing" plant. The mill 

 site is well chosen, the timber gravitating naturally from the big log 

 landing to small benches, and then straight on to the skids, where the 

 timber is stacked to dry prior to being loaded into trucks. The first 

 order to be executed by the mill will te the cutting of the ties for the 

 trans-.iustralian Railway, the order which the Commonwealth govern- 

 ment gave some time ago. The capacity of the mill is expected to bo 

 27,000 feet a day. The mill should employ about 150 men, and the 

 wage bill will amount to $7..>00 per month. It is only eighteen months 

 since it was first proposed to open a state sawmill. The first is now 

 open, and two more will be ready early this year. 



Some Old Oak Logs 



Some oak trees were recently dredged from the river Tyne in England 

 at a depth of twenty feet below low-water mark. One of the trees 

 measured five feet six inches in diam.. and was forty-five feet long in the 

 trunk. The rings which could be counted upon it numbered 380, thus 

 testifying to 380 years of age. Certain it is that they must have been in 

 existence thousands of years prior to the building of Hadrian's bridge. 

 which structure is stated to have been built 120 A. D. 



Money in Acorns 



Down in .Vrkansas. where oak trees of many kinds abound in pro- 

 fusion, the long-nosed hog is being robbed of some of the forest food 

 to which he has been accustomed since time out of mind. The acorns 

 from certain kinds of oaks have become salable to nurserymen In the 

 North who are growing seedling oaks to sell to farmers who are beginning 

 to plant woodlots. A large variet.v of oaks grows in .\rkansas — more, it 

 is said, than are found in any other state, and some knowledge is necessary 

 in order to select the kinds that will sell ; but. if properly selected, the 

 price is satisfactory. A considerable demand for acorns is said to exist, 

 to be used in the manufacture of a breakfast drink which is widely 

 advertised as a substitute for coffee. For this purpose the acorns of the 

 white oaks only can be used. The rod oak acorns arc too bitter ; but 

 for planting purposes the acorns of red oaks as well as white oaks are 

 salable. Some of the red oak acorns, especially those commonly called 

 yellow oak, are apt to sprout before they fall from the tree, or very soon 

 after, and, consequently, they must be handled in a special manner. The 

 acorns of the chestnut oak. or the rock oak. as some call it, frequently 



Save Money on Lumber Bills 



su|llll^ \"ii uith < LK.\R CCTTINGS of soft Kentucky Oak or 

 o thut th,% uill (OST vou considerably LESS THAN the same 

 if HOI (.11 r AS l.lllBKK. 



GARDNER WOOD COMPANY 



FL.*TIRON BUILDING 



NEW YORK, N. Y. 



Bluestone Land & Lumber Company 



MANUFACTURERS 



WEST VIRGINIA HARDWOODS 

 Soft White Pine, Oak, Poplar. Chestnut, Hemlock 



Band Sawed Stock RIDGWAY 



PENNSYLVANIA 



iC I N C I N N A T If 



^Hardwood Manufacturers and Jobb«rs| 



pOHIO VENEER COMPANY 



I Manufacturers & Importers FOREIGN VENEERS 



a 2624-84 COLERAIN AVENUE 



I DAY LUMBER & COAL CO. 



Mfrs. YELLOW POPLAR and WHITE OAK 



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OAK, POPLAR, CHESTNUT 



SCBIMERS AND GEST STREETS 



CIRCASSIAN WALNUT AND ALL 

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HIGH GRADE WEST VIRGINIA HARDWOODS 



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HARDWOODS, WHITE PINE and HEMLOCK 



Sales Office — South Side Station — C. H. & D. R. R. 



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OAK, ASH, POPLAR & CHESTNUT 



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I OAK, POPLAR AND OTHER HARDWOODS 



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THE M. B. FARRIN LUMBER CO. 



