26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



medicinal properties; that the residue left 

 from the leaves is said to be a very good 

 boiler compound, and that the residue con- 

 tains a good tannic acid and makes an effec- 

 tive tanning solution for the manufacture of 

 leather. The report concludes with tables 

 showing the growth and yield of sundry 

 eucalyptus plantations. 



The document is issued under the auspices 

 of the Sacramento Valley Improvement Com- 

 pany of St. Louis, and with due respect to 

 the distinguished gentlemen who prepared the 

 data for it. Hardwood Record begs leave to 

 make sundry suggestions to people who have 

 become interested in the growth of eucalyptus 

 for commercial purposes with the idea that 

 they can suddenly grow rich in the enterprise. 

 The advertising columns of sundry magazines 

 and newspapers just before the panic were 

 filled with advertisements of eucalyptus pro- 

 motion companies. During the year of the 

 depression is did not pay them to advertise 

 and these announcements disappeared. Eight 

 now. with the returning period of prosperity, 

 there has been a renewal of the exploitation 

 of the prospective profits that might be made 

 in buying California lands and growing this 

 wood. 



About this eucalyptus proposition Hard- 

 wood Eecokd wishes to impress upon its 

 readers the necessity of extreme caution in 

 making investments in this or any other com- 

 mercial tree-growing venture. 



Generally speaking, there are three distinct 

 enemies to" a profitable employment of money 

 for the individual or corporation in artificial 

 tree growth. The most important of these, 

 the one which militates against a reasonable 

 profit, is taxation. Very few states of the 

 countrv exempt, as should be done, grow- 

 ing timber crops from taxation until the 

 owner has a crop of timber, which logically 

 should only then be subject to taxation. 



Second, in many cases there is danger from 

 fire or disease rendering the tree growth un- 

 profitable. 



Third, there is no legislation against dep- 

 redation, the setting of fires and the steal- 

 ing of timber, which are a constant menace. 

 With the elimination of these dangers and 

 the utilization of lands unfit for agricultural 

 pursuits, it would be possible for individuals 

 to make handsome earnings on an investment 

 where the variety of trees planted were 

 adaptable to the particular soil of the region. 

 The "glorious climate" and soil of Cali- 

 fornia may be particularly adaptable to the 

 growtli of eucalyptus, and beyond question 

 the difi:erent varieties planted there do grow 

 with great rapidity, but investors should bear 

 in mind the fact that the cost of land, plant- 

 ing, protection, and notably of taxation, is 

 very heavy. 



Again, with all due respect to the eminent 

 auth'ors of the brochure on the eucalyptus of 

 California, the Eecokd wishes to make fur- 

 ther observations. 



In the issue of Hardwood Eecord of 

 April 2.5, 1909, there was a report of the 

 third annual convention of the National 



Hickory Association, which was held at Cin- 

 cinnati on April 13 and 14. O. B. Bannister, 

 a member of the Executive Committee of that 

 association, in the course of an interesting 

 address had the following to say about 

 eucalyptus as a substitute for hickory. 



"Eucalyptus is a hardwood which grows 

 only in California. It is the fastest growing 

 wood on the American continent, which means 

 that it produces more board feet per year 

 than any other. The quality of the wood 

 varies considerably in the diflferent species. 

 The Forest Service is now experimenting with 

 eleven different species to determine its use- 

 fulness in the hickory industry. 



"Two hundred and fifty-eight trees planted 

 in Berkeley, Cal., twenty-nine years ago now 

 average 14,750 board feet per acre, with a 

 maximum acreage of 44,000 board feet in 

 thirty years. The trees, which were planted 

 8 feet apart, have an average measurement 

 of 10 to 14 inches in diameter and 80 feet 

 to the first limb, and a tree measuring 12 

 inches at the butt tapers only 10 inches at 

 the first limb. Some species of eucalyptus 

 are very hard, and have shown strength 

 values which are greater than hickory. Tlie 

 wood is very free from defects, but it warps 

 very badly. However, it is claimed by rep- 

 resentatives of the Forest Service that this 

 warping occurs entirely while the wood is in 

 the green state, and that it is quite practica- 

 ble to dry it successfully and overcome this 

 warping. A factory in southern California 

 has made wheels entirely of this wood and 

 sold them, and found them to be quite satis- 

 factory in service. A plant has recently been 

 put in in California for making rims of this 

 wood, and rims of hickory secured from the 

 central states will also be made. 



"The area of production is limited, as 

 eucalyptus grows only in California. It can- 

 not stand frost, and grows very poorly even 

 north of San Francisco. The wood at the 

 present time is worth from $80 to $100 per, 

 thousand feet for stock which is suitable for 

 wagon material. Of course this is caused by 

 the very small acreage now standing." 



Although thoroughly competent to do so. 

 Mr. Bannister failed to commend eucalyptus 

 as a carriage material. 



At this same convention a large number of 

 specimens of the blue gum variety of 

 eucalyptus was exhibited, which had been 

 made up into various forms of wagon and 

 carriage materials. The breaking strength of 

 these specimens was shown and the results 

 were so unsatisfactory from a carriage or 

 wagon man's viewpoint that further attempts 

 for the utilization of eucalyptus as a substi- 

 tute for hickory were not seriously considered 

 by any of the practical men present. A spe- 

 cific report on the fitness of eucalyptus for 

 shaft work was made by the Pioneer Pole & 

 Shaft Company of Muncie, Ind. This report 

 was printed in Hardwood Eecord of May 25, 

 1909, but is herewith reproduced: 



We received on March 3, inoO, twelve pieces 

 of Hucalvptus timber. I%x2>/jx9' long, same 

 h.ivlng been shipped from San Jose, Cal., by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture for the 



purpose of being worked into shafts and for- 

 warded to the laboratory of Forest Service at 

 I'lu-due University for strength tests. 



Our report on tlie timber and working of it 

 is MS follows: 



lienl len pieces into shafts and worked two 

 pieces into cross-bars. 



The timber when received was very dry and 

 hard, badlv sun-checked, evidently cut from dry 

 lumber and from the top of the pile. In con- 

 seciucnce we could not give it any drying or 

 curing treatment. 



The timber weighed 4.72 pounds per board 

 foot on the average. Some pieces were of 

 li-'bter weight than others. 



"The growth seemingly was very dense, but 

 badly twisted and curly. 



Using the sharpest of knives, the timber badly 

 roughed up in planing. In planing this stock 

 from 1%" thick by 2V." wide to 1%" thick by 

 1%" wide, tapered to pattern for shafts, i. e., 

 11/16" at the heel, by %" square at the point, 

 the sun-checking seemingly worked out, but after 

 the material was steamed and bent these checks 

 burst open badly. 



In steaming the stock preparatory to bending, 

 the material showed a relationship to the oak 

 family, staining black in color. 



Some of the pieces were steamed four hours, 

 some were resteamed to nine hours and as long 

 as fourteen hours. ^ „ 



We found it to bend just as successfully after 

 the four hours as after the longer period of 

 steaming. In bending it shaped up very nicely 

 at the points, but sc|uashed badly underneath 

 the heel. We doubt if any of these would pass 

 muster in the trade for a well-made shaft. 



In rounding the shafts, after they were bent, 

 thev roughed up badly again as in planing. 



Bv belting, or sanding and polishing, by tak- 

 in" considerable time we were able to sand down 

 these rough places to rather a smooth finish, 

 vet it re'quired considerably longer time and 

 care to do this than it does with hickory, with 

 the danger of leaving the shaft with a very 

 uneven surface in an effort to belt down the 

 ro-igli places. , .,, , .^ .* 



The length of time the timber will hold its 

 bend of course, would have to be determined. 

 With the exception of one pair of shafts, which 

 we retain, they were sent to the laboratory of 

 Forest Service 'at I'urdue University. The tim- 

 ber coming to us in the condition it was ma.v 

 not be a fair sample of that wood. The fact 

 that it was dry and badly sun-checked of course 

 was against it. Possibly a test of green stock, 

 cured "carefully, would show better results, yet 

 if the nature" of this timber is twisted and 

 curly as was this sample lot, and straiglit- 

 grained material cannot be had, we doubt the 

 practicability of using this for shafts. Will 

 be anxious to know of the strength test. 



The Pioneer Pole & Shaft Co.mpany. 

 In the Eecokd of the same date a letter, 

 which is quoted below, was printed. This 

 letter was from H. C. Haner, a well-known, 

 practical lumberman of long experience, and 

 who is pretty nearly an authority on the sub- 

 ject of timber growth: 



Crowley, La., May 15.— Editor Hardwood 

 Record : . It is a pity the circulation of the 

 Record does nut roach the sections remote from 

 lumber manufacturing sections, so the good ad- 

 vice regarding the proposed "lumber corpora- 

 tions" (■') and other similar schemes would be 

 more widely known as to their character and 

 the results achieved from the methods snch as 

 thev propose. ^ < „ 



This being a section rather far removed from 

 anv timber production, the glamor of fortunes 

 ni-ide is easily shed and receives a willing and 

 anxious ear. Not long ago, in the daily paper 

 of our community, there appeared a letter from 

 a man who had "gone into timber," to quote 

 the paper, and he was somewhere in the San 

 Joachim valley in California, and wrote a glow- 

 in" account of bow it was like finding money to 

 go" there "with a few hundred dollars and sand 

 enou"h in his craw to rough it a few years. 

 act a few acres of that soil and plant eucalyp- 

 tus." and have nothing to do hut wait for 

 someone to bring the money around. 



AS a result there are people here now who 

 have sent for seed and have the little plants 

 "rowing in boxes and which are ready to set out 

 three inches apart in rows. Just how many 

 more times this "crop" has to be transp anted 1 

 do not know. But this enthusiast in the state 

 of California says the trees are planted six 

 feet each way, making them grow tall ana 

 straight Coming south from Los Angeles can 

 be seen many groves of these trees, planted in 

 rows like cbrn, some of them full.v tt> in 

 diameter, and looking at least 100 feet high 

 Whether they are shade trees or planted lor 

 the timber could not be told, nor was there any 

 sign of anv cutting having been done. 



It has created widespread interest here, as the 

 climate in this section is a good deal like that 

 around Los .\ngeles, and has inspired some of 

 the parties to experiment with the idea of going 



