HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



pith, for the latter Inay be destroyed without 

 interfering with their production. 



The jiores of wood are minute tubes, which 

 run vcrticallj' through the stem, and which 

 convey air and fluids. All but tliose of very 

 new wood contain air, gums and resins which 

 have accumulated from rejection by the 

 leaves, or occasionally peculiar tissue, which 

 appears like a mass of bubbles. Jn certain 

 tropical woods, teak for example, another 

 sort of filling takes place, which seems to be 

 of mineral origin. It is exceedingly hard, 

 and dulls the edges of tools very quickly. 

 Specimens of wood have been found in which 

 accumulations of this substance have practi- 

 cally replaced the inner rings and formed a 

 heavy, stony mass. The pores do not arise 

 irregularly, but in ' ' rhythmic succession. ' ' 

 They may be seen in graceful festoons in the 

 elm, or in tapering, plant-like clusters in 

 other woods. If a tree is observed in which 

 there are more pores iu the Autumn than in 

 the Spring zone, that fact is an indication 

 that the tree is a conifer, and the pores will 

 be found to contain resin, which is a further 

 indication of its family. 



Stone says : " If certain woods be cut in a 

 radial direction, a row of closely arranged 

 pores may be exposed at the same time, so 

 that the wood will appear very 'coarse- 

 grained. ' On the other hand, if the cut be 

 tangential, the' radial row of pores will be 

 cut at right angles, and only one of the series 

 will appear ou the surface. Confusion can 



easily arise from this cause, and no small 

 lieniand is made upon the imagination to rec- 

 oncile the differences shown by an oval-pored 

 wood cut on the quarter (radial section) with 

 its abundant coarse grooves and showy ' sil- 

 ver-grain ' and another piece of the same 

 wooil cut plank-wise (tangential sc<'ticiu) mi 

 which but few narrow pores and no silver- 

 grain are to be seen. ' ' 



Woods display great individuality in their 

 structure. Usually the fibres are parallel and 

 the wood is called "straight-grained." The 

 bundles vary in shajie and size in the same 

 species of oak, tapering and overlapping at 

 the ends, thus making that wood harder 

 to split than soft pine, for example, which 

 has regular, cylindrical fibres, meeting end to 

 end. Beside the natui'al irregularities in 

 straight gi'ain, caused by knots, there are 

 odd and abnormal forms. A wavy grain is 

 frequently exluliitcd; or the twisting of a 

 tree while growing will throw the grain 

 into spiral lines. The gums sometimes show 

 a strong tendency of the grain to veer for 

 a time to one side, then back to the other, a 

 process which causes a "cross-grain" almost 

 impossible to split. "Birdseye" and "cur- 

 ly" nmple present a beautiful pattern 

 and sheen when finished carefully, and in fact 

 any extreme irregularity adds to the value 

 of high-class woods, giving them a place 

 in decorative art, for which no substitute 

 can be fouml. 



'Builders of Lumber History. 



NUMBER XXXI. 



Alfred Dobell. 



(Sec Portrait BuppJcinint.) 

 As the subject of its pictorial supplement, 

 the Hardwood Record takes great pleasure 

 in presenting to the hardwood trade of the 

 United States the president of the Timber 

 Trade Federation of the United Kingdom, 

 Alfred Dobell, of Liverpool, England. 



Mr. Dobell, the senior member of the firm 

 of Alfred Dobell & Co., was born in Liver- 

 pool in 1844. He is the seventh son of 

 George and Elizabeth Dobell, and serves to 

 illustrate the old tradition that the seventh 

 son is born to success in anything he un<ler- 

 takes. However, others of the family have 

 been famous as lumbermen, namely the late 

 Hon. Kichard R. Doliell. of Quebec, who had a 

 world-wide reputation. 



Alfred Dobell was educated at Beltield 

 House, Bowdon, Cheshire. At the age of six- 

 teen he entered the timber office of Messrs. 

 Farnsworth & Jardine as an apprentice, and 

 four years afterward, at the end of his ap- 

 prenticeship, was ordered to the Mediterra- 

 nean and Egypt in search of health. He re- 

 turned in the spring of 1865, but again find- 

 ing the English winters too severe for him, 

 he sailed in Xovember of that year for Sa- 

 vannah, Ga., in the barque Lady Russell. 

 Arriving at Savannah in January, 1866, he 

 remained until the following May, when, after 



a trip through the States and Canada, he 

 returned to England. 



In November of this year he returned to 

 Savannah and entered the firm of Charles 

 Green & Sons' Company as a partner. In 

 1872 he returned to England and started in 

 business in Liverpool as a timber broker, and 

 to-day his firm is quoted as the largest of 

 its kind in the United Kingdom. He was, 

 while in Savannah, one of the pioneer ship- 

 pers of long-leaf pine to England, and after 

 his return he created a large and important 

 business in this wood. A few years after 

 ilr. Dobell commenced business in Liverpool 

 Charles E, Paynter, who had been associatei! 

 with him in his oflice, became a partner. I n 

 1876 Charles O. Hughes entered the office as 

 apprentice, and was made partner in 1899. 



The London Timber Trades .Journal of re- 

 cent date says: 



"We well rcuK'Nilicr Mr. Dobell 's ilcbiit as 

 a mahogany auctioneer on the 19th Decem- 

 ber, 1890, when the catalogue consisted of 

 only 56 lots of Panama mahogany,' and the 

 sale was upon the open quay of the Carrier 's 

 Dock. These were the days when public 

 sales were held either upon open quays or in 

 draughty sheds — the old time, when the auc- 

 tioneer moved ou from lot to lot with a 

 crushing, crowding concourse of customers 

 treading on his heels, and when the wielder 



of the hammer sold 50 lots in an hour he 

 thought he was doing well. This method of 

 selling no doubt shortened the life of many 

 of feeble constitution. The credit for rem- 

 edying this barbarous method belongs to Al- 

 fred Dobell & Co., and they did it by erect- 

 ing a saleroom where the auctions could be 

 held with comfort and business-like decorum 

 and despatch. Now, instead of the old rate 

 of 50 lots an hour, the normal rate is 200 

 lots an hour. The innovation was so well 

 supported and appreciated by buyers that the 

 other brokers followed the example, and as 

 a result the Liverpool mahogany sales are 

 now conducted with such despatch and com- 

 fort that it makes us wonder why tne old 

 style of selling was allowed to exist as long 

 as it did. The strides by which Alfred Dobell 

 & . Co. have placed themselves in the front 

 rank of the mahogany brokers of the world 

 may perhaps be best illustrated by the growth 

 of their storage accommodation, which is 

 almost entirely devoted to mahogany. In the 

 old quarters at No. 1 Canada Dock in the 

 year 1890 their accommodation was less than 

 .^1,000 square yards. As steadily as their ma- 

 hogany business increased, so did they stead- 

 ily keep pace with its requirements. They 

 added area after area to their storage accom- 

 modation, and tlieir total storage space is 

 now no less than 21,000 square yards, or over 

 four acres of land, all of which is covered by 

 gantries and by steam or electric cranes. The 

 rapidity of despatch which is practiced both 

 in the in-coming as well as the out-going of 

 mahogany is marvelous, and would not have 

 been considered possible ten 3'ears ago." 



In addition to their important pine and 

 mahogany trade, Alfred Dobell &- Co. do a 

 large business as agents for American hard- 

 wood shippers. Por this the experience of 

 Mr. Dobell iu his years of business in the 

 United States particularly adapts him. He 

 is conversant with American as with English 

 methods of marketing lumber. Realizing this, 

 ,lohn E. Jloore & Co., of St. John, New 

 Brunswick, made the firm their English brok- 

 ers for their great spruce output. Alfred 

 Dobell & Co. are also buying brokers for the 

 entire timber requirements of the Great Cen- 

 tral Railway, and by the appointment the 

 English railroad officials paid compliment not 

 only to the good judgment and business 

 acumen of the Arm's personnel, but also to 

 their tact and integrity. 



ilr. Dobell is married and has a family of 

 four boys and four girls. He never took a 

 very active part in politics but once in his 

 life, when the Hon. George Curzou (now 

 ijoril Curzon of Kedleston) first contested the 

 Southport Division of Lancashire. Mr. Do- 

 bell was then chairman of the Waterloo 

 Conservative organization, and this district 

 really won the election for Lord Curzon. 



While Mr. Dobell has the reputation of a 

 business man of indomitable perseverance 

 and conservative judgment, yet his unfailing 

 tact and great geniality make him one of 

 the finest examples of the builders of lumber 

 lustorv. 



