HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



section) with its abundant coarse grooves 

 and showy ' ' silver-grain ' ' and another piece 

 of the same wood cut plank-wise (tangential 

 section) on which but few narrow pores and 

 nu silver-grain are to be seen. The horse- 

 chestnut, the box-tree and a great number 

 of others do not display any jiores which 

 are visible to the naked eye, but it must 

 not be concluded that the woods are coni- 

 ferous because the pores are not visible. 

 The lens or. even the microscope must be 

 called in, wlien they vpill appear as minute 

 apertures or grooves as the case may be. No 

 briiad-Ieaved tree entirely lacks pores except 

 a very curioiLS one called drimys cMlensis, 

 a relative of the magnolias. * * « 



In all cases where the arrangement of the 

 pores takes definite form, such as festoons, 

 tree-like or flame-shaped groups, the}' strike 

 the eye as an independent jiortiou of the 

 wood, especially when they are compacted to- 

 gether into masses by the "soft-tissue" or 

 short, thin-wa!led wood-cells. The commonest 

 fiirm of soft-tissue is a coat of delicate cells 

 which clothes the pores and appears as 

 circles round their orifices, or as borders 

 by their sides in a vertical section. If the 

 latter section be in the least oblique, as is 

 usually the case, the soft-tissue looks like 

 a fail or fringed continuation of the pore. 

 Often the coat of soft-tissue is so narrow 

 tliat it is only by careful search for these 

 continuations that it can be detected. Inas- 

 much as tlie oblique section of any figure 

 exhibits greater breadth than a transverse 

 section, it is a wise plan to use the knife 

 freely in all directions, to show up obscure 

 details. This coat of soft-tissue may be 

 traced in transverse section in all grades 

 of complexity. The simple uniform sheath 

 is sometimes laterally extended into wings 

 or diamond-shaped patches having a large 

 pore or pore-group as centre, or into con- 

 centric rings, or oblique, cross-shaped or un- 

 dulating lines of bands, which look like 

 designs in lace when viewed as transparent 

 objects. Some are of great beauty and many 

 are so characteristic that they at once de- 

 clare that such a timber belongs to such 

 and such a genus. For the most part the 

 pores and soft-tissue together produce this 

 tracery, but occasionally the soft-tissue is 

 quite independent of the pores, and nearly 

 always is ot a lighter color than the ground 

 tissue. 



The term soft-tissue is rather a defective 

 expression. Soft-tissue may be a very hard 

 tissue at times, but it is always softer than 

 the wood fibres of the same timber, and to 

 the lay mind the term has the advantage 

 of conveying the meaning intended, for in 



looking at a section of wood no one would 

 misapply it. * * * 



Soft-tissue is usually; present among the 

 dense mass of pores fn the pore-rings of 

 woods that possess them, but it should not 

 be considered in the same light as a zone 

 enclosing the pores, but as the result of 

 crowding, and may be ignored as of little 

 significance. As the pores diminish towards 

 the Autumn zone, and the intervals increase, 

 the soft-tissue will be seen to increase, and 

 develop its characteristic arrangement. 



Although many woods display great indi- 

 viduality in their characters, it must not 

 be supposed that every wood can be clearly 

 described so that it may be recognized on 

 sight. Among a limited number of woods 

 a description may suffice, but the larger the 

 variety, and the more numerous the species 

 of closely related woods, the more difficult 

 their discrimination becomes, and it is as 

 well to define the limits which are set by 

 Nature in this respect. Just as the flowers 

 of all species of ash tree are modeled upon 

 the same plan, so is their wood. A few 

 species of ash may present some peculiarity, 

 but most are practically indistinguishable 

 from other , members of the genus by the 

 structure alone. The common elm cannot 

 be mistaken for the American or white elm, 

 though their structure proclaims their mutual 

 relationship, but sufficiently precise language 

 cannot be found to describe the difCerence 

 between the wood of the latter and of the 

 American rock elm. Again, all the mem- 

 bers of the silky-oak family are sufficiently 

 alike to be recognizable at a glance, but in 

 many orders it is difficult to discover two 

 genera bearing any resemblance to each 

 other in their wood. 



Besides all this, it must be clearly stated 

 that no varieties such as are ikie to different 

 conditions of growth, climate, locality or 

 other external conditions, can be dis- 

 tinguished by their structure. It is hardly 

 possible to find language which will enable 

 a reader to tell Iloncluras from Tobasco 

 mahogany, or even American from African 

 mahogany. There are characters which strike 

 the eye in the St. Domingo variety and dis- 

 tinguish it from the others, but let anyone 

 attempt to put upon paper a description 

 which will enable a second person to tell 

 for certain which is which, and he will admit 

 that the time is not yet come to essay it, 

 notwithstanding the fact that upon the log 

 as it comes to market there are often indi- 

 cations of its origin, but these are for the 

 most part the outcome of the dressing by 

 human hands. 



'Builders of Lumber History. 



NUMBGB 



Henry C. Christy. 



(i<rc J'urlniil Supphinritl.) 

 In nearly all the addresses made by prom- 

 inent men before the classes to be gi"aduated 

 from the numerous colleges this spring the 

 great text has been ' ' concentration. ' ' 

 "Don't flinch, don't foul, and buck the line 

 hard," is Roosevelt's characteristic way of 

 putting it, and others have followed suit in 

 more or less picturesque language. This ad- 

 vice is probably best for the average young 

 business man. Usually, the prosperous and 

 successful man is the man of one idea, but 

 in every walk of life there are exceptions 

 which prove the rule. 



Perhaps the most notable hardwood lum- 

 berman who has been eminently successful in 

 many widely different commercial pursuits is 

 Henry C. Christy of Cleveland, O., and yet 

 so i|uietly and nujdcstly has he built up a 



XXVIII. 



number of great enterprises that compara- 

 tively few men know the wide scope of his 

 activit.v and the importance of his achieve- 

 ments outside of their own particular busi- 

 ness interests. Mr. Christy is so reserved in 

 eh.'iraeter that he rarely speaks of himself ; 

 in fact, it is almost impossible to find out 

 from him anything that would in any way 

 give the listener an idea of his really won- 

 derful diversity of business talent. 



To the hardwood trade Henry C. Christy 

 was formerly well known as the general man- 

 ager of the Kirk-Christy Company, manufac- 

 turers of hardwood lumber, with headquar- 

 ters at Cleveland, O. He is likewise well 

 known among the financial men of that city, 

 being actively connected with one of the 

 largest banking institutions in the state, also 

 with several important out-of-town banks. 

 As the financial head of one of the largest 



wholesale grocery houses in Cleveland he is 



a factor in the food-stufl' industry nf Ohio. 

 A little inquiry will divulge the fact that 

 he is one of the principal owners of the 

 largest brick plant in the country. Not con- 

 tent with these numerous outlets for an energy 

 \(hich seems tirelses, Henry C. Christy is the 

 head of a large steel range manufactory at 

 Warren, O. That he has engaged in many 

 lines of commercial enterprise is not remark- 

 able, although it is often the misfortune of 

 many men who have success in one feranch 

 of industry to lose all in some other busi- 

 ness, presumably unfamiliar to them, in 

 which they embark. The significance of Mr. 

 Christy 's achievements is in the fact that he 

 has been eminently successful in every enter- 

 prise in which he has engaged. Of course it 

 goes without saying that a man interested in 

 such diversified pursuits must be a tremen- 

 dous worker, and withal a man alert to the 

 smallest opportunity — able to judge quickly 

 and positively. 



Jn 1S67 Mr. Christy entered the lumber 

 business, in partnership with Isaac Kirk, at 

 Warren. For a good many years this firm 

 was the largest producer of ties, piling and 

 timbers in the country, but with the rapidly 

 lessening supply of suitable timber for this 

 line its operations became more diversified 

 until in 1895, when the firm was merged in 

 the corporation of the Kirk-Christy Company 

 and moved its offices to Cleveland, it was 

 among the largest hardwood producers of the 

 country. In 1902 the Advance Lumber Com- 

 pany was formed, and this concern took over 

 the active lumber interests of the Kirk-Chris- 

 ty Company. White and yellow pine were 

 added and a business of considerably over 

 100,000,000 feet per year built up. Mr. 

 Christy is at its head. 



The first business venture of Mr. Christy, 

 the Warren Hardware Company, of which he 

 is still president, distributes steel ranges from 

 the Atlantic to the Facific. He is also presi- 

 dent of the McCarty-Christy Company, of 

 Cleveland, a wholes.ale grocery house doing 

 an annual business of more than $3,000,000. 

 He is vice-president and chairman of the dis- 

 count committee of the Union National Bank 

 at Cleveland, one of the foremost banking in- 

 stitutions of the country; president of the 

 Empire Lumber Company of Buffalo, N. Y. ; 

 a director and actively interested in the 

 Cuyahoga Lumber Company, the Northern 

 Ohio Lumber Company, the W^orden Lumber 

 & Manufacturing Company, the Cleveland 

 Land & Timber Company, all of Cleveland, 

 and of the Mud Lake Lumber Company, of 

 Eaber, Mich., and the West Virginia Timber 

 Company of Charleston, W. Va. The last 

 named concern owns over 40,000 acres of fine 

 hardwood timber, its own railroads, and sev- 

 eral large mill operations. 



Having such a multiplicity of interests it 

 is quite apparent that Henry C. Christy, who 

 is still under sixty, is a tireless worker. He 

 is a man who decides without hesitation, 

 seeming to see the real issue immediately. His 

 kindliness upon greeting a stranger or wel- 

 coming a friend makes him seem younger 

 than he is. His only hobby is automobiling, 

 and most of his recreation hours are given to 

 it. Naturally he is devoted to business, and 

 lie seems to get from a variety of interests 

 the change essential to a well-rounded life. 



