HARDWOOD RECORD 



21 



lo\v. There has been this discrepancy between the obvious condition 

 of the money market and the rates of interest for many weeks. It 

 now becomes more manifest. There is one explanation of this situa- 

 tion which the public does not like to consider: that the demands 

 for money for current business are lessening. That would indicate, 

 if it were true, a halting state of general business. If trade is 

 going to slow up, high money will be avoided, but Wall Street would 

 rather pay more for money and know that the tide of business is 

 rising. 



The demands for gold for export shipment during the last week 

 hiive been considerable. This gold is being sent abroad because the 

 country owes it. If it did not owe it, it would not be required to 

 send it at all. It's a choice between paying debts in gold or com- 

 modities. Bight now American commodities are so high that the 

 foreign trade will not buy them. There is no mystery about this 

 fact, and even lumber, relatively the lowest priced American export 

 commodity, is regarded in Liverpool and Hamburg as too high priced. 



if by adopting the botanical name of liquidambar it will help to 

 further public nppreciation for this wood, b.v liquidambar let it be 

 known. 



A New Name for Red Gum 



That exquisitely illustrated and beautifully printed magazine, 

 "Furniture," jjublished by the Furniture Beeord Company of Grand 

 Eapids, Mich., in its April number suggests that a name for red 

 gum, other than satin walnut, kyonyx or hazel pine (by which the 

 sapwood is sometimes known), would be a distinct advance in the 

 nomenclature of this magnificent wood. "Furniture" suggests that 

 there could be no better name applied to it than liquidambar. Bed 

 gum is of the family Hamamelidacea:, the same family to which the 

 witch-hazel belongs. The generic name of red gum is liquidambar, 

 and the name of the species is stifrarifliia. As the name of the 

 species would be hard to memorize, it strikes the Eecord that the 

 generic name liquidambar would be a highly appropriate one by 

 which to identify this wood commercially. As a matter of fact, many 

 woods in common use in this country might better be kuown by their 

 botanical names. This is especially true of the oaks. 



Referring specifically to this wood, "Furniture" says: 



For a good while "red gum," as it is commonly called, 

 was regarded as entirely useless for furniture. It was a 

 handsome wood, too — workable, strong, durable, taking a 

 fine finish, and. withal, inexpensive, as compared with the 

 other hardwoods. But it seemed practically impossible to 

 season it so that it would retain even a semblance of its 

 original shape after it had reached the cabinet maker. The 

 resinous sap with which it was filled acted so peculiarly 

 when the green wood was placed in the dry kiln that how- 

 ever long the wood was permitted to season there, the 

 moisture was never completely dried out. Perhaps the sap 

 seared over a certain depth beneath the surface and rendered 

 air-tight the pores of the wood, so that the sap within could 

 not be driven out by the heat of the kiln. At any rate, in 

 its early history, as a cabinet wood, the red gum was a 

 terror to the manufacturer. By and by, however, the dif- 

 ficulties of seasoning were overcome, and gradually the red 

 gum grew in favor. Its early history was against it, how- 

 ever, and the wood had to masquerade under other names. 

 Our British cousins renamed it "satin walnut," and our 

 own cabinet-workers have used it as "imitation mahogan.v," 

 "imitation walnut," and in other ways without even giving 

 it a name. 



At last, however, the wood is coming to its own. Some 

 manufacturers, making high grade furniture, have utilized 

 the wood without disguise. It is beautiful material. It is 

 durable. It takes a rarely handsome finish. Finished to 

 simulate mahogany, many an expert has been deceived, and 

 pronounced it real mahogany. As an understudy for the 

 expensive Circassian walnut it can hardly be distinguished 

 from the original, and finished dull, either dark or light, 

 in propria persona, it reveals a rarely beautiful wood. But 

 "red gum" is not the proper name for it. Its botanical 

 title i.s "liquidambar." and b.v that name it should, here- 

 after, be generally known. "Liquidambar" should take its 

 place with mahogany, oak, maple, walnut and the other fur- 

 niture woods. 



The Eecord desires to lieartily second the observations of its con- 

 temporary on the subject of red gum and its high value for furni- 

 ture purposes. It is true that today manufacturers have learned how 

 to produce air-dried and kiln-dried red gum so that it will hold its 

 shape and stand up in finished work as well as oak or birch. Some 

 recent examples from the leading manufacturers of case goods and 

 chairs made from this material vie with Circassian walnut in beauty. 

 As a matter of fact, a good deal of figured red gum is now going 

 into use as Circassian walnut, and in many instances it is fully as 

 beautiful. Surely red gum is coming to be highly appreciated and 



Foreign Demand for Dimension 



A lumber exporter visited Chicago a few days ago and incident- 

 ally made inquiry for two-inch short mapk', stating that he was 

 willing to buy as short as seven and a half inches, for delivery in 

 France. 



A recent caller at the Eecord office was a prominent lumber 

 merchant of Quebec. He was also looking for small maple squares 

 for export. 



It is not generally kuown that in (ireat Britain and on the conti- 

 nent of Europe there is in the aggregate an immense demand for 

 small hardwood dimension of nearly all varieties of wood. In these 

 countries they are not as extravagant users of wood as in this coun- 

 try. There the best material for the purpose is employed, and if 

 wood happens to be this material, it is used, but if steel, iron, cop- 

 jjer, cement or some other material is better for the purpose it is 

 employed. The result is that European countries do not consume 

 one-fifteenth the quantity of wood per capita that is used in the 

 United States, but what they do use they demand shall be of the 

 best. They have learned across the sea that they can secure dimen- 

 sion stock in certain quantities in this country that is clear lumber, 

 and they can save a good deal by purchasing it when waste and 

 carrying charges for boards and planks are taken into consideration. 



It is perfectly logical to develop a big export trade in dimension 

 stock if the wants of the various markets is seriously studied. It 

 is therefore suggested to both the lumber exporting clients of the 

 Eecord and its various "wood goods" subscribers abroad as well, 

 that if they seek a source of supply of dimension stock and will 

 place a list of their prospective requirements in the hands of the 

 Eecord, information covering logical sources of supply will be 

 furnished. 



Eight BOW the high cost of stumpage is putting every lumber 

 manufacturer on the alert to secure the most wood from every 

 tree, and the majority of manufacturers are interested in securing 

 a list of specific sizes of various kinds of woods that can be 

 utilized for an infinity of purposes. Many manufacturers up to 

 this time have gone into the dimension business in a very unintel- 

 ligent way. They have made sizes that the trade did not demand, 

 and sizes they have made have not been accurately manufactured, 

 well seasoned or well cared for, with the result that they have 

 lost money on the venture. 



If buyers will supply specifications of required sizes and quanti- 

 ties of any kind of American wood they can secure it. The infor- 

 mation the American lumber manufacturer wants is specifications 

 of standard sizes that will be generally marketable at all times. 

 With this information at hand he can deliver the goods at satis- 

 factory prices. 



Editorial Notes 



An understanding lias been reached between the United States 

 and Canadian governments on the subject of tariff regulations. 

 Minor concessions have been made on both sides, and the current 

 schedule, so far as forest products go, will be continued for an 

 indefinite period. 



» # « 



The car shortage is easing u|> materially in the North, and at 

 most of the Mississippi river points, but is becoming quite serious 

 in the soutliern lumber manufacturing regions. It now seems prob- 

 able that before midsummer the situation will be just as bad as 

 during the spring of 1907. It is said that tlie railroads have not 

 kept their equipifltot up to correspond with the natural growth of 

 business, and thfl present and prospective activity in lumber move- 

 ment is leaving them unjirepared to handle the excess of tonnage 

 now ofl'erod. 



