HARDWOOD RECORD 



19 



the article? Can the sawmill enlarge its scope and become a dimen- 

 sion mill, by cutting sizes an,d shapes which are not carried in the 

 general stock? 



The problem is an interesting one, but its solution must be worked 

 out to conform to individual circumstances. Some mills might ad- 

 vantageously work in that direction, while others cannot do so. A 

 mill with large orders for special sizes can afford to cut them, but it 

 is apparent that a mill without such orders would be unwisely man- 

 aged if it should produce stock of that kind and throw it on the mar- 

 ket or pile it in the yard and wait for customers to ask for it. 



Cases might readily arise where a sawmill could afford to cut spe- 

 cial sizes for a customer, and the customer would be benefited also. 

 Take, for instance, a manufacturer whose product is office supplies, 

 such as filing cabinets and labor-saving devices. A large factory of 

 that kind may use more than a million feet of hardwoods a year; 

 and an examination of the cutting bills, in a particular case, reveals 

 the fact that he uses eighty-five sizes, ranging in length from fifty- 

 two inches down to eight, and in width from seven inches down to 

 one and five-sixteenths. Thicknesses range from two inches to less 

 than one-half. The year's stock represents, say, about two million 

 individual pieces. 



If a single sawmill should receive the order for that bill of mate- 

 rial, it would be worth while to bring in from the woods many short 

 logs to fill it. Such logs could not be us3d by the mill which cuts 

 the usual lengths of stock only. In England some of the sawmUls 

 specialize in short lumber, much as a chair-stock mill does in this coun- 

 try. Clear lengths of trunk, between large knots, crooks, or other 

 defects, are cut out and converted into lumber of small sizes. This 

 is not usually done by sawmills in this country, because it has not 

 been considered profitable to work out small dimensions. 



Grading lumber for particular purposes is liable to encounter many 

 obstacles. There are cases,^ however, where it would be practicable 

 and profitable to do so. A manufacturer might buy boards which 

 meet the requirements of the usual inspection, yet are unsuitable for 

 the purpose for which they are bought, as when the grain is twisted 

 when nothing but straight grain will answer for the use intended. 



Unquestionably the tendency is toward closer utilization of forest 

 material; and in working toward that end, the better the co-operation 

 between the mill that cuts the lumber and the factory which uses it, 

 the more profit and less waste for all concerned. 



The Wooden Passenger Car and the Farm 



THE RAILROADS HAVE COLLECTED and published statistics 

 wliich throw light on the wooden passenger car situation. There 

 has been nuu-h said, in the way of guessing concerning the inroads 

 made by steel upon the car industry; but the exact state of affairs 

 was not accurately known, even to the railroad managers until re- 

 cently. Early in the present year the roads made an investigation 

 which covered practically the whole of the United States. On January 

 1, 1914, there were-3,144 passenger cars being built in this country, 

 of which fifteen were of wood, and only two of the fifteen were 

 intended to carry passengers, the remainder being for express, bag- 

 gage, mail, and other purposes. From January 1, 1912, to January 

 1, 1914, the number of wooden passenger ears retired from service 

 was 3,566. 



The handwriting seems to be on the wall. Whether or not the 

 wooden ear ought to go, it is going. Apparently the most potent 

 factor in speeding its departure is the steel industry. Many of the 

 charges attacking the wooden passenger car on the ground that it is 

 less satisfactory than the steel ear, are unfounded ; nevertheless, the 

 charges have produced results. The public has been influenced if not 

 prejudiced against the wooden car, and this fact has been taken 

 advantage of by the agitators to push the steel car forward. The 

 congressional calendar at Washington is loaded with proposed laws 

 for retiring the wooden passenger car. There are always men ready 

 to take advantage of what appears to be a popular tide, and this is 

 doubtless responsible for some of the measures introduced in Congress 

 for the purpose of retiring the passenger cars which are not chiefly 

 of steel. 



Lumbermen have not yet been so hard hit as some suppose. The 



3,566 cars retired from service in two years do not represent more 

 than 30,000,000 feet of lumber. One good mill will cut that in a 

 year. Of course, it is commendable in lumbermen to want to hold 

 all the business they can, but they can easily make good many times 

 what they stand to lose to steel passenger cars by pushing out to the 

 farms. There are 7,000,000 farms in the United States. Immense 

 possibilities for increasing sales of lumber lie in that direction. 

 Farmers are making money and are not averse to spending some of 

 it for farm improvements. They understand that silos, sheds, barns, 

 fences, and better residences are desirable, and farmers are not hostile 

 to wood as a building material. If one farm in five can be induced 

 to increase its use of lumber by only one thousand feet a year, it will 

 mean more to lumbermen than all the car building in the United 

 States. 



If lumbermen have lost the passenger car business, they can doubt- 

 less more than make that loss good by turning to farmers in a single 

 state like Illinois. There is as much lumber in a shed and a silo as 

 in a passenger car, and the markets are all over the country, not in 

 certain manufacturing centers only, as in car buililing: 



A Lesson from Africa 



AFRICA, which has long been known as the "Dark Continent," 

 is the last place where one would naturally look for a lesson 

 in practical forestry. The fact should be borne in mind, however, 

 that the continent is not so dark as it once was, and is not dark 

 in all parts alike. 



In certain portions of the great forest belt, stretching five 

 thousand miles along the west coast, following the inequalities of 

 the shore, the cutting of mahogany is an important industry. 

 Natives do most of the work, nnder direct or indirect supervision 

 of white men. The mahogany trees are usually scattered through 

 the forests, from one hundred yards to half a mile apart, varying 

 greatly in different regions of the long line of coast. In certain 

 districts, no mahogany tree less than three feet in diameter, ten 

 feet from the ground, is permitted to be cut. Many of the trees 

 are enormous, running from six to ten and in extreme eases, twelve 

 feet in diameter, measured above the swelled base, ten feet or 

 more from the ground. 



When such a tree is felled, and the necessary swamping is done 

 to clear away the underbrush so that the trunk may be cut into 

 logs and hauled away, the result is a very large opening in the 

 tropical forest. Sprouts, vines, and weeds soon s^Jring up in dense 

 .jungles, if left to nature's course; but here is where methods are 

 adopted which serve as lessons for more highly civilized countries 

 than the foijests of West Africa. It is required, by law and 

 custom, that twenty-five small mahogany trees be planted in the 

 vacant space caused by the felling and conversion of the giant 

 tree. Not only must they be planted, but they must be protected 

 and kept growing for two years. This regulation is rigidly en- 

 forced. After two years, the young mahoganies are left to make . 

 their own P.ght. By that time they have gained such a start that 

 it can be reasonabh' expected that two or three of them at least 

 will ultimately reach maturity, some centuries hence. 



The example can be followed in America without putting seed- 

 lings exactly where the old trunks are felled. That would be a 

 waste of time and a dissipation of effort, but the planting might 

 be done elsewhere, the main purpose being to have young trees 

 growing to make up for those which are cut for lumber. There 

 is one adverse condition in most of the forests of this country 

 which the Africans do not have to contend with in most of their 

 mahogany forests. That is five. Their woods are too wet to burn, 

 and the principal danger which a seedling tree has to face there 

 is the crowding by its associates. If it survives that, it is rea- 

 sonably sure to become a large tree sometime in the future. .. 



In the United States it is generally not so m»ch the actual 

 planting of young trees as their subsequent protection that counts. 

 In this country nature usually does plenty of planting, but fires 

 speedily undo the work. Two years of protection, like they give 

 in Africa, would not be sutfieient here. The protection must be 

 perpetual to be eflfective. - 



