HARDWOOD RECORD 



39 



are satisfied. Inexperienced men militate against the quality of 

 the handles and result in a great production of low-grade stock. 

 It is necessary for every factory to turn out a certain percentage 

 of low-grade handles — in fact this percentage often runs larger 

 than is desirable — but the experienced handle manufacturer is con- 

 stantly trying to cut down his percentage, and to get the price on 

 these handles to a point where he can realize at least the value 

 of the lumber contained in them. This effort is rendered, par- 

 ticularly hard because of the fact that so many low-grade handles 

 are being constantly put on the market. 



"If the firms making broom handles as a side line would keep 

 a close account on them for a month all through the factory, 

 charging every legitimate charge against them as they would in 

 any other line of a well regulated business, and would also keep 

 a close account of the percentage of each grade when ready for 

 the market, it is a safe conclusion that the handle market could 

 be materially strengthened. If it is found that the handles are 

 not of sufficient quality to bring the right price, then the remedy 

 is to secure the services of some one who will show the firm how 

 to manufacture. ' ' 



"Handle manufacturers report that there should be a brisk 

 demand for basswood lumber at this time of the year, as the 



handle men usually lay in a supply of this wood to manufacture 

 ceiling handles for winteixand spring delivery. Basswood is well 

 suited for this purpose on account of its light weight and the 

 ease with which it is worked, also its ability to stay straight. 

 However, unless it is well dried it will not go through the lathes. 

 For this reason the handle men usually buy it early and dry it 

 themselves. 



"It would seem that the big sawmill firms are disposing of all 

 their maple lumber for flooring stock and other lines, as it is very 

 diflicult for handle men to buy it at any price. As a consequence 

 the handle man has to get his supply entirely from the smaller 

 mills scattered all over the country, and while the price is usually 

 less, the quality is decidedly inferior. In a great many cases these 

 small mills ship stock which cannot be used. In some instances 

 other wood, such as oak, chestnut, poplar and sycamore, is loaded 

 with the maple. Of course this is an absolute loss to the handle 

 man. In other instances valuable and more easily marketable 

 woods, such as cherry and bird'seye maple, are mixed with the 

 ordinary handle stock. 



"The demand for broom handles has been fairly consistent right 

 along, whereas in former years there was no trade at all during 

 .Tune, July and a part of August. While the business as a whole 

 has been rather dull, still this unusual summer demand has brought 

 up tbe aggregate volume considerably." H. B. A. 



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Utilizing Minor Hardwooods 



On every logging operation there are almost sure to be certain 

 trees of so-called inferior kinds. It was formerly the custom to 

 leave all such in the woods, but with decrease in the supply of the 

 best grades of timber, utilization lias gradually become more nearly 

 complete until now no good operator will intentionally leave merchant- 

 able material of any kind in the woods unless there are good reasons 

 for doing so. If he is interested in a second cut he may leave trees 

 of tbe smaller sizes to grow until he returns, but such trees should 

 be of the better rather than the inferior kinds since they determine 

 largely what the succeeding young growth shall be. 



Under the old conditions, when there was a surfeit of the best 

 kinds of timber, not only were the poorer species left in the woods 

 but also many trees of the better kinds which were not of suflBciently 

 high quality to meet the exacting requirements of the trade. For 

 example, in northern Michigan the first lumbering operations removed 

 only the best white pine. Such hemlock as was cut was largely for 

 the bark alone, and the peeled logs were left to rot. A second 

 cutting removed such pine as was left, the best of the hemlock, and 

 the better grade of hardwoods. These lands are now being visited 

 for a third time and almost everything of merchantable size removed, 

 irrespective of species. As a result, the lumber yards today contain 

 a great assortment of species and a much higher proportion of low- 

 grade lumber than formerly. 



This closer utilization is bringing nearer the time when timber- 

 land owners can afford to consider their holdings a permanent part 

 of their plant and handle them with a view to continual logging 

 operations on the same tracts. One hears much of the wasteful 

 methods of the lumberman, but much of this waste has been un- 

 avoidable under existing conditions, and it is doubtful if anyone re- 

 grets it more than the lumberman himself. To remove timber at 

 an actual loss can scarcely appeal to anyone as good business. As 

 fast as the condition of the market permitted, the lumberman has 

 welcomed tbe opportunity to increase the thoroughness of his 

 utilization. 



The time is passing when woods are judged by their names rather 

 than by their merits. There is not a kind of wood growing but has 

 its uses, although as yet many of them are imperfectly known. It is 

 to the interest of everyone that the minor species of the forest should 

 be employed for such purposes as they are suitable for. In this 

 way the drain on the supplies of standard woods is reduced and the 



latter in turn are kept longer available for the more exacting uses- 

 to which they alone are entirely fitted. 



Take hickory for ah example. For certain purposes this wood has 

 advantages not possessed by any other timber in the world. Its 

 combination of strength, toughness, and elasticity, its great resistance 

 to strains, twists, and shocks, make it the ideal wood for handles, 

 Ijuggy spokes, shafts, etc. Since for these special uses no substitute 

 has been found, it is important that the supply of hickory be used 

 conservatively and not dissipated in other directions where the de- 

 mands are less exacting and capable of being filled equally well by 

 less important woods. Any wood suited for highly specialized pur- 

 poses should not be wasted in common and ordinary places, but re- 

 served for purposes which no substitute can fill so well. 



To quote a government work: "In some parts of Pennsylvania, 

 hickory goes into mii;es as posts, props, rails, cribs and lagging. 

 There are perhaps fifty kinds of other trees in that region as good 

 as hickory for mine timbers, many of them better, for hickory is 

 not an enduring wood in damp places. In West Virginia, oil-well 

 derricks are occasionally made, in part, of this wood; while in parts 

 of Missouri and in other regions where it happens to be convenient, 

 it is taken for bridges, barn floors, and doors, fences, sheathing, 

 piling, culverts, cross-ties, ear stock and other similar purposes. In 

 most instances these uses are unnecessary and wasteful. Such prac- 

 tice is on a par with a custom, once rather common, of splitting black 

 walnut for fence rails. The difference is that the owners of black 

 walnut know better now, while some hickory owners have the lesson 

 yet to learn." 



In spite of the more thorough methods of utilization now in effect 

 in many parts of the country, there are a number of woods still 

 considered of too little merit to warrant cutting. It may prove help- 

 ful to describe some of the minor species of least value and enumer- 

 ate some of the purposes for which they are now being employed 

 in some places. The lernoval of such trees from the forest not only 

 lessens the dram upon the better kinds but leaves the forest in 

 better condition for later crops of timber. 



In certain parts of the South where pine is the principal timber 

 tree, it is a very common practice to cut only pine and leave all 

 the hardwoods standing. On the uplands these hardwoods are mostly 

 oaks of various species but largely of the red oak group, and some 

 hickorv. In the lowlands and river bottoms there are red gum,- 



