HARDWOOD RECORD 



27 



I would like to learn something about the 

 management of a large mill and its logging op- 

 eiallous, and would like to gain the prestige of 

 such experience and connections. 



Will you make a place for me, for a few 

 monlhs, as an assistant (a sort of aid-de-camp) 

 to one of your managers at one of your mills? 



1 will make myself useful to him in any way 

 lie finds desirable, and am *?ure that 1 can be 

 of service in many ways. 



I am not particular about the compensation ; 

 anything will do. Very truly yours, 



J. O. McMaho.v. 



P. S. — Do you want to buy any kind of a 

 machine or engine, new or second hand? If so 

 I can offer you a bargain. 



J. O. McMahon must certainly be a peach! 



Plain Rot. 

 The secular press is full of foolish litera- 

 ture about lumber affairs, but among the 

 craziest stuff that finds its way to print are 

 the fake records of the wonderful prices ob- 

 tained for black walnut. It is alleged that 

 black walnut has ceased to be of com- 

 mercial importance in the United States and 

 cannot be obtained in any quantity. Other 

 would-be forestry experts relate how quickly 

 black walnut timber can be grown into mer- 

 chantable trees. The Eecord has a note 

 from J. V. Hamilton, the well-known black 

 walnut specialist of Fort Scott, Kas., en- 

 closing a clipping from the "Boy's World," 

 a youth's paper published in Chicago, which 

 is very evidently without truth in any par- 

 ticular. 



As a matter of fact, black walnut logs and 

 lumber are produced in the United States to 

 the extent of well toward 40,000,000 feet an- 

 nually, the average remaining at about this 

 stage for some years. The larger proportion 

 of the wood goes into export, chiefly into 

 Germany and France, although there seems 

 to be a renaissance in its use for wood spe- 

 cialists, electrical work, and some lines of 

 furniture, in this country. The price of 

 walnut is not considerably greater than that 

 commanded by first-class white oak. The 

 item referred to is printed below : 



Twenty odd years ago a Texas farmer who 

 had moved south from Michigan planted on his 

 new laud the seedling of a black walnut tree. In 

 time he died and the farm came into the pos- 

 session of his daughter, who married. Her hus- 

 band worked the farm and with her took good 

 care of the tree, although neither of them 

 thought it of much value. 



One day in August, 1905, John F. Alcott, a 

 lumber dealer of Chicago, driving through that 

 part of Texas on a vacation trip, saw the tree 

 and stopping at the house, asked : 

 "How old is that black walnut?" 

 "About twenty-six years, I think," was the 

 reply of the woman of the house. 

 "What will you take for it?" 

 "We wouldn't think of: selling it. It is a sort 

 of family tree." 



Some talk followed, and Mr. Alcott finally 

 halted to wait until the man of the house came 

 home. After much discussion with him he finally 

 bought the tree, roots and all, for $1,500. The 

 next day he had it dug up and shipped just as it 

 was on a flat car to Chicago. There it was taken 

 into a mill and converted into w'ood for pianos, 

 for veneerings on desks and other ornamental 

 purposes. 



After all the expense of buying and handling 

 the tree was paid, it yielded a profit of about 

 $1,500 to the lumber dealer. 



The particular point in this story for the boy 



who is making investments for the future is that 

 it pays to plant and to keep a tree. It may not 

 always be a black walnut tree, but it always can 

 be a tree worth keeping and usually worth sell- 

 ing. Just invest a little of your boyhood energy 

 and time in planting a young tree and so long as 

 you are at home raising it. 



To Aid San Francisco Lumbermen. 



St. Louis, April 19. — Editor ILiimwooD Rec- 

 ord : While it is too early to receive any de- 

 tailed information regarding the lumbermen of 

 San Francisco, they all have undoubtedly suf- 

 fered greater or less loss, and it occurs to us 

 that lumbermen throughout the country would 

 be glad to have the opportunity of doing some- 

 thing for them. A mite from each would be of 

 great moment to those who have and will for 

 some time feel the effect of the great misfortune. 

 If each firm in the lumber business, including 

 retail, wholesale and manufacturing, would con- 

 tribute $10 or more as each saw fit, the total 

 sum would be such an amount that it would be 

 of material assistance to San Francisco lumber- 

 men, the amount collected to be placed in the 

 hands of a committee of three, say N. W. Mc- 

 Leod of St. Louis, R. A. Long of Kansas City 

 and J. B. White of Grandin, Mo., to be pro- 

 rated as loss sustained to amount invested, or on 

 any other equitable basis. The San Francisco 

 people will undoubtedly suffer a loss from earth- 

 quake and lire, both at their residences and busi- 

 ness, and will also sustain losses of accounts 

 through inability of their customers to pay on 

 account of misfortune of the customers. 



If you approve of the above, would suggest 

 that you publish same with a view to ascertain- 

 ing what others think of it. — BoxsACK Lumber 



CO.MPANV. 



The Hardwood Becord is pleased to give 

 publicity to the above plan, and bespeaks for 

 it the hearty cooperation of lumbermen all 

 over the country. Correspondence on the sub- 

 ject may bo addressed to the writer of the 

 foregoing letter, W. A. Bonsack, or to N. W. 

 McLcod, chairman of the above-named com- 

 mittee. — Editor. 



Walnut Squares and Shorts. 



Tlie Hardwood Eecord is in receipt of the 

 following letter, and the writer's address 

 will be cheerfully furnished to prospective 

 purchasers : 



Fort Wayne, Ind. — Editor Hardwood Kkcoru : 

 We wish we could reach some customer for wal- 

 nut squares and also walnut shorts, Ix.SxSO to 36 

 inches in length, through your columns. We un- 

 derstand that the principal users of this stock 

 at the present lime are the Germans, and should 

 1)6 glad to know of some firm in Germany that 

 is in the market, or better still, some American 

 firm. ■ Lumber Company. 



English House Wants Dimension Stock. 



The Eecord is in receipt of a letter from 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, making inquiry 

 for the addresses of reliable shippers of 

 birch planks 2% inches and upward in thick- 

 ness; also of satin walnut squares and black 

 walnut squares. Producers interested in this 

 request may have the address of the inquirer 

 by applying to the Hardwood Eecord. — 

 Editor. 



Suggestions to Small SaWmill JM en. 



FIFTH PAPER. 



In the life of every active sawmill man, 

 whether he operates a little portable mill 

 or a mammoth institution, are incidents from 

 which may be drawn pointers and suggestions 

 of value in the study of ways and means to 

 successfully conduct saw milling enterprises. 

 Thus it is in order to turn from the dis- 

 cussion of mechanical things and glean a 

 thought from the experiences of others. 



There is one individual known to the 

 writer whose experience might be of value 

 to those who are working for better commer- 

 cial returns from lumber manufacture. He 

 operated a number of small mills, and had in- 

 creased the number and pushed the output 

 steadily for years on the theory that it was 

 quantity and not quality that counted. 

 Most of his product was car material, rail- 

 way ties, street car ties, bridge bills and 

 other common stock. But one day he hired 

 a new sawyer at one of his mills who proved 

 to be a thinker as well as a worker,' and in 

 the course of events this sawyer gave him a 

 pointer. They were edging up sidings, in- 

 cluding one and two-inch boards, of which 

 as many as possible were made of two-inch, 

 because of a better sale for that size, when 

 the sawyer called attention to the fact that 

 some of these two-inch boards were clear 

 stock and would make coupling poles for farm 

 wagons. The operator was not very enthu- 

 siastic about the matter, but as he did not 

 put much value on his siding anjTvay, he 

 told his sawyer to go ahead and do as he 



thought best with them. About a month af- 

 terward, when he found they had enough for 

 a carload of this coupling pole stock, he un- 

 dertook to sell it. This was in the earlier 

 days, before common oak was worth much, 

 and clear oak was not as high in price as it 

 is now, but the price realized for this car 

 of clear poles was more than twice what 

 the lumber out of which they were made had 

 been bringing. 



This set the sawmill man to thinking that 

 perhaps there were other things besides 

 quantity to be considered, and he determined 

 to keep his eyes open and see what he could 

 find. In his meanderings be came upon a 

 spoke factory one day which was in the 

 market for good butt stock. He soon dis- 

 covered that he could cut a spoke length or 

 two off a white oak tree, have them split 

 into spoke blanks, anjd realize more for 

 them than if sawed into ties or other com- 

 mon stock. This proved to be some improve- 

 ment, but not entirely satisfactory. Mr. 

 Sawmill Man was ambitious and, having a 

 little wanted more. So ho cast about again, 

 this time to the wagon factory where his 

 poles had been sold. Here he found they 

 needed other material in good oak stock, 

 among other things bolsters. This stock he 

 had always avoided, because ordinarily it is 

 difficult to manufacture, requiring the best 

 of logs and producing a discouraging quan- 

 tity of culls even then. But he reasoned 

 somewhat as follows: It would not be prac- 



