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HARDWOOD RECORD 



the harmonizing of all rules of inspection and measurement into a 

 single standard. Just a handful of hardwood lumbermen block the 

 most desirable legislation that could transpire in lumber history. 

 These obstructionists, whether they are members of the National 

 Hardwood Lumber Association, the Hardwood Manufacturers' Asso- 

 ciation of the United States, or of the Northeastern Hardwood Lum- 

 bermen 's Association, will not only be criticised by Hardwood 

 Eecord, but by the majority of hardwood producers, merchants and 

 wholesale consumers throughout the land until they are willing to 

 let the majority have their just desserts. The Record is strictly an 

 apostle of the square deal, and a universal base of hardwood measure- 

 ment and inspection is the only way to accomplish this result. 



Renaissance of Black Walnut 



In the middle eighties black walnut, for the making of furniture, 

 its principal use, went out of fashion in the United States, and since 

 that time the call for this wood has been only for special furniture, 

 for electrical work, and for foreign consumption. This decadence 

 in the use of black walnut was due to the scarcity of supply and 

 the fact that oak at that time became the fashion in furniture making. 

 For a long time there has been a limited amount of Circassian walnut 

 employed in high-class furniture construction, but during the last 

 year a large demand has grown 

 up for furniture made of this 

 beautiful wood. In the bulk of 

 tliis line of manufacture ve- 

 neered work has been employed, 

 and the handsome Circassian burl 

 is notably beautiful in parlor and 

 bedroom furniture and has be- 

 come a prime favorite to those 

 who can afford the luxury of 

 furniture of this costly material. 



Now comes the singular part 

 of the matter, which illustrates 

 the resourcefulness of the Amer- 

 ican furniture manufacturer. 

 Circassian walnut is • costly, and 

 most of the limited quantity of 

 this growth is not particularly 

 suitable for the making of rails, 

 muntins and posts, It happens 

 that the general tone of the 

 younger growth of black walnut 

 corresponds very closely with 

 that of Circassian walnut, hence 

 it is that the furniture trade is 

 again seeking black walnut lum- 

 ber to use in connection with 

 Circassian veneers and minor 

 ornamentation in the making of 

 ''solid Circassian furniture.'' 

 The call for black walnut is 

 largely for thick stock, in six- 

 quarter, eight-quarter, ten-quar- 

 ter and twelve-quarter. It would 



not be surprising if during the next few years the domestic call for 

 black walnut would be fully equal to the possibilities of the supply 

 of less than 30,000,000 feet annually. 



This is a brand new one for the walnut producer who has been 

 struggling with might and main to get his product into the German 

 market. He. can now secure orders for his wood in the required thick- 

 nesses from more tlian a hundred of the leading furniture producers 

 of the home market. 



Forestry- 

 Forestry, which in European countries dates back four hundred 

 years, is yet a comparatively new and little understood science in the 

 United States. In the minds of the laymen, and also of a good 



many lumbermen, the meaning and value of forestry are but vaguely 

 defined. Wliy forestry should be confused with arboriculture and 

 sylviculture in the minds of the average man is hard to understand, 

 but the untrained have applied the term forestry to everything from 

 the planting of trees in the farmer 's wood lot to the setting out of a 

 shade tree on Arbor Day. 



Forestry as understood in this countrj- is so closely allied with 

 forest conservation as to mean little else. Forestry means the study 

 of tree growth and the cutting of a forest on lines that shall secure 

 the best possible commercial results. Where timber-bearing lands 

 are suitable only for forest reproduction, then forestry means the 

 cutting only of the mature and hyper-mature trees, and leaving the 

 young growth, most suitable for regeneration, to come to maturity, 

 and rehabilitate the land. It also means the selection of the best types 

 of woods for this purpose, and in some instances means perhaps the 

 replanting of limited areas. In timber sections where the soil is 

 adapted for farming it means the absolute stripping of the timber 

 from such land, and converting it to the best advantage into lumber 

 or other products, leaving the land in the best possible shape 

 for agricultural pursuits. This in brief is forestry, in contradis- 

 tinction to sylvievdture, the planting of forest trees ; or arboriculture, 

 the cultivation of trees or shrubs. 



/^F no use are the men 

 ^-^ who study to do ex- 

 actly as was done before, 

 w^ho can never understand 

 that today is a new day. We 

 w^ant men of original percep- 

 tion and original action, who 

 can open their eyes w^ider 

 than to a nationality name- 

 ly, to considerations of bene- 

 fit to the human race — can 

 act in the interest of civiliza- 

 tion, men of elastic, men of 

 moral mind w^ho can live in 

 the moment and take a 



step forward. —Hmersou 



Troubles of the Furni- 

 ture Makers 



Hardwood manufacturers need 

 not hug to tlieir hearts the idea 

 that they are the only people that 

 have difficulties to solve in con- 

 nection with the low-grade prob- 

 lem. The furniture-manufactur- 

 ing situation is far from roseate 

 at the present time. There is a 

 manifest capacity for production 

 in excess of the demand for man- 

 ufactured goods, with the result 

 tliat furniture is selling at very 

 close prices. Furniture manufac- 

 turers, especially those working 

 in oak and gum, are obliged to 

 go farther from producing cen- 

 ters every year for their lumber 

 supplies, involving an increased 

 freight cost in addition to the 

 gradual advance in lumber values. 

 Furniture manufacturers would 

 like to be able to substitute for 

 firsts and seconds and No. 1 

 Common a good proportion of 

 No. 2 and No. 3 Common, if it 

 were possible to cut these grades 

 on a profitable basis. They in- 

 sist that it is not, as lumber con- 

 stitutes approximately one-third 

 of the total cost of manufactur- 

 ing furniture, and therefore, is a 

 big item in general expense. With furniture prices showing little 

 advance and with increasing lumber values, the furniture manu- 

 facturing trade is forced to do business with little margin, or to 

 run on short time, witluiut profit. 



Furniture makers are attempting to secure stock in some shape 

 that will assist them in augmenting their profits, and perhaps it is 

 for that reason that the Record office has received so many inquiries 

 for dimension material. This prospective evolution in purchasing 

 lumber supplies for furniture factories, as well as for interior finish 

 and flooring plants, will probably result in the cutting of a good 

 deal of low-grade lumber at points of production. It is the logical 

 way to insure conservation of forest products, as the saving in 

 freight alone will constitute a good profit on the transaction. 



