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HARDWOOD RECORD 



Hardwood Record JMail 'Bag. 



[In this department It is proposed to reply 

 to such inquiries as reach this office from the 

 Haedwood Uecobd clientage as will be of enough 

 general interest to warrant publication. Every 

 patron of the paper is Invited to use this de- 

 partment to the fullest extent, and an attempt 

 will be made to answer queries pertaining to all 

 matters of interest to the hardwood trade, in 

 a succinct and intelligent manner. J 



A Sensible Letter. 



Tlie following interesting (.•ommunication 

 was received from Prof. E. E. Bogue, in 

 charge of the forestry department at Michi- 

 gan Agricultural College — a man w-ho is not 

 only accomplishing much in training young 

 men for future usefulness in the lumber 

 world, but for the cause of practical fore.stry 

 in all its branches: 



AGincrLTiKAL C'nLi.KOE. .MuH., .Tune i!. — Kdi- 

 toi- Uakiiwoud Rechhu : I wisli to thank .vou 

 for your willingness to receive a suggestion 

 from me. The thought comes to me now that 

 you could perhaps demonstrate to your readers 

 who have large lumber interests that, for their 

 continued prosperity and the prosperity of those 

 who are to succeed them, attention must he 

 given to a future crop of timber. A few lumber 

 companies have seen this dnd have talcen steps 

 toward a I'ontinuous supply, but most of them 

 are skinning the land of its virgin crop and 

 then selling 11 for what they can get or letting 

 it go for ta.ves. They say they are in business 

 for themselves and not for future generations. 

 They seem to expect that all the next genera- 

 tion will have to do Is to spend the money tbey 

 are making out of the virgin stand and will 

 not need to run saw mills and build freight 

 cars. 



Is this not true and is it not at the same 

 time a very shortsighted policy? With the 

 present dearth of freight cars and steadily ad- 

 vancing price of timber of all kinds for all pur- 

 po.ses it seems to me that the American lumber- 

 man is a mighty stupid fellow that he does not 

 invest some of the shekels he gathers in a fu- 

 ture supply of timber. A small fraction of the 

 value of a virgin crop will set another and bet- 

 ter growing, and a small annuity will protect 

 it and keep it growing. There is no need for 

 experimental planting in the great majority of 

 cases. Nature through unnumbered thousands 

 of years has demonstrated the kinds of trees 

 best suited to different .soils and locations. The 

 species tliat are likely to prove profitable (or 

 lumber are comparatively few, but where tbey 

 grow naturally will develop with surprising 

 rapidit.v. 



-My suggestion has now lengthened far beyond 

 the limits 1 expected, so will stop by thanking 

 you again for the opportimity of saying a word. 



E. E. liii.ii K. 



What He Wants to Know. 

 The following humorous communication 

 was recently received in response to a circu- 

 lar letter soliciting .suggestions in reganl to 

 improving and broadening the scope of the 

 Hardwood Record: 



Blie MorxTAi.x, Miss., May 30.— Editor 

 IlAKDwoon Record : In reply to yours of the 

 27th asking for suggestions in regard to broad- 

 ening the .scope of your publication, will say 

 what we of Mississippi need most is a few 

 pages devoted to forecasts of the future. Tell 

 us if the market is really going to the bad. 

 Will it ever qiiit raining V While the reports 

 from the North and East would lead one to 

 think that the demand was easing off on one 

 side : then listen to the millman as he has 

 just come in from the bottoms, saying th.if lie 



is losing money every day. We as a middleman 

 are wanting advice as to whether it will be best 

 to go on piling up what lumber we can get. to 

 stick rot. flood, black and let the bugs feed 

 upon, while we are waiting and begging for 

 n market that will bring us out with a little 

 profit ; or would it be iiest to invest our ac<'umu- 

 lated wealth in cotton futures'' This is all we 

 want to know. 



The past we want to forget : for the present, 

 it is raining : the future — that is what we want 

 to know about : something more than the 

 weather man can tell ; something more than 

 the lady with the dark hair and painted cheeks 

 can tell us when she reads our hand. She can 

 tell us how many wives and babies we are going 

 to have, some of which is true, and some we 

 could not dispute, as we have spent twenty 

 years of our life through Ihe tangled wildwoods 

 from Cobaconk. Ont.. to Vardiman. Miss., in 

 pursuit of the ever alluring hardwood. 



If you can open up a department in your 

 paper devoted strictly to truths on this matter 

 I am sure it will be appreciated by one. if not 

 by millions. 



Thaukiiig you in advance for same. . 



Wants Wood for Butter Packages. 



KoTTEICllA.M. IIiiI.I.A.MI, .luly .".. Ddltor llAHIi- 



wucin Kecohd : We beg herewith to inform you 

 that we ore doing business as timber agents 

 with diffei'ent ports of your country and that 

 we are at present investigating whether we can 

 find sawn chestnut of prime quality, of a white 

 color, and without any smell, for making mar- 

 garine and butter packages. We should like to 

 know whether .vou can mention other woods 

 which might be suitalile for the purpose men- 

 tioned. You will no doubt answer that cotton- 

 wood very likely will meet our requirements, 

 and we can say that this wood is regularly im- 

 ported here, but that on account of some tech- 

 nical difficulties our buyers should like to have 

 a new kind which will meet the requirements 

 and which should not be as high in price as Cot- 

 tonwood at present. We are also looking for 

 absolutely white maple. 



We should like to know whether you issue 

 any statistics and reports concerning the quan- 

 tity of timber, the difference in quality between 

 the different districts, the different kinds of 

 wood, that grow in the different states, etc.. 

 and if such statistics and reports are issued by 

 you. you would very much oblige us if you 

 would forward us a copy of same. Kindly men- 

 tion in your answer what the disbur.sements 

 were and we will be very much pleased to remit 

 you the amount in question. Yours respectfully. 



K. & C. 



Anyone wishing the address of this im- 

 porter, or able to give pointers on material 

 for butter packages, should address this office. 

 We have replied that clear chestnut is obtain- 

 able in this country in considerable quantity ; 

 it is not white in color and it has some odor. 

 From the fact that it contains quite a large 

 percentage of tannic acid, it is not suitable 

 for the manufacture of butter and oleo- 

 margarine packages. 1 know of no material 

 other than white ash that is employed for this 

 purpose in this country. Dairymen have been 

 searching for years for some substitute but 

 have not been able to find it. The jirice of 

 white ash has gone very high, but I can sug- 

 gest no other wood to take its place for this 

 use. 



I can sujiply you with a very comprehensive 

 list of the manufacturers of any kind of 



wood produced in this country if you will 

 specify what you care to have covered. In 

 making up this list I can specify the sec- 

 tions which produce the highest quality of 

 timber of a given kind. 



Absolutely white maple, you must know, is 

 the clear sap of maple growth, and manufac- 

 turers succeed in drying it absolutely white 

 only by sawing it in the winter season and 

 end-sticking it under sheds. The section that 

 produces the highest type of white maple in 

 this country is the northern portion of the 

 lower jjcninsula of Michigan. — Editor. 



Differs With Correspondent. 



I.ivEiico.ii., E.MJLANU, .Uily 4.— Editor IIaud- 

 wooD I!e((jkd: As readers of your paper we 

 have been intending for some time to write you 

 with reference to your Liverpool reports because 

 we cannot understand same. In the paper of 

 June 'IT, part of your market letter reads: 

 •Hickory is stronger than it has been for some 

 time" ; also "t'oplar boards are somewhat 

 weaker, the heavy import on consignment hav- 

 ing had its usual effect." We have been in 

 Ihe business for many, many years and the fol- 

 lowing is our opinion of same : There has been 

 a very large import of hickory and the market 

 is very weak for this wood, weaker than it has 

 been for a long time : the market for poplar is 

 very strong, stronger than it has been for years, 

 shippers' prices being almost exorbitant, and 

 Ihe market for this at present is very bare. We 

 merely mention this because we have seen some 

 of your reports which are so absolutely at vari- 

 ance with our own ideas that we think it only 

 right to call your attention to same. We could 

 point several other times when the reports have 

 just been similar to above, and we have been 

 wondering whether they have been put in as 

 a joke or what. 



Not having a representative on the ground, 

 the Hardwood Record relies upon the work 

 of a correspondent in Liverpool and upon 

 Challoner's Wood Circular for market re- 

 ports. The former is in touch with one of 

 the high-class concerns of that city, and we 

 know faithfully reflects the situation as he 

 finds it. However, criticisms or opinions of 

 the nature above quoted are welcome at any 

 time and will be given due consideration. 



— Editor. 



Good Advice. 



Ilr.NTi.N-oBiK.i. l.M... .May li'.i.— Editor Hard- 

 wciiiD ItEcoRii: As far as suggestions or criti- 

 cisms of the Kecohd are concerned. I do not 

 know of anything I could suggest to you either 

 one way or the other : the fact is. I hardly 

 know what you expect me to cover in a letter 

 of this sort. The facts are that I don't suppose 

 any of us read the lumber journals with much 

 patience or care. The most of us are taking 

 from six to eight lumber newspapers, .some of 

 them very large, and in fact many of them con- 

 tain more matei-ial than we have time or are 

 inclined to read during the week. We perhaps 

 miss much lh.it we should read in some of the 

 journals that come into our house or office, and 

 when we do this sort of acknowledgment of the 

 papers one is scarcely able to malie any criti- 

 cisms. There was a time when we were only 

 taking on the average about two lumber news- 

 papers a week, and we read them thoroughly and 

 read them so that we got something out of 

 them. 



Now. I believe that this is one of tlie most 

 serious faults that exist today, and if we would 

 take one or two good lumber journals and read 

 them carefully we would get much more out of 



