HARDWOOD RECORD 



27 



No. 35 can be bought £oi- $1 from the Superin- 

 tendent of Documents, Government Printing 

 Oflice. Washington, D. C, or is on file In all 

 public libraries.) 



Vou sav -There is little doubt that eucalyptus 

 is a fast-growing tree. l>ut the wood has little 

 beauty and has none of the characteristics of 

 mahogany. It is a difficult wood to mill, does 

 not lend'itself to ornamental finish, as its grain 

 is involved, and in strength it is not nearly the 

 equal of hickory. The vehicle and furniture 

 people have made numerous tests of the wood 

 and regard it of little value for their purposes." 

 On the contrary. Bulletin 33, page 2U, says : 

 "The matured wood of all species is hard, of 

 some species very hard. Of many species it Is 

 tough and durable, resembling in this respect the 

 wood of American oaks and hickories. The wood 

 of some species is heavier than water. The wood 

 varies a good deal in grain, being straight- 

 drained and easily split in some species, while 

 in others it is gnarled and splits with great 

 difficulty. For this reason the various species 

 furnish timber adapted to a great variety of 

 uses. The color of the wood varies from clear 

 white to a rich brown." In the description of 

 the various forty-one varieties from pages 51) to 

 S3, Bulletin 35 mentions five varieties — i. e., 

 Vulophylla, Corynocalyi-, Citriodoia, Olobuliis 

 and Tereticornis — as in use for wheelwright 

 work, and "replacing American hickory in Aus- 

 tralia in coach factories along the coast." 



Within the past month, four pieces, all cut 

 from a small tree grown in this city, but finished 

 differently, were submitted by a prominent archi- 

 tect to an expert inside-finish contractor, who 

 called them, respectively. "Mahogany, red gum, 

 magnolia, and 1 don't know what that other_ is, 

 but it is a very handsome wood." The writer 

 was offered "$130 for a thousand feet of flooring 

 like that" at sight by another party. Another 

 user offered "$180 for a thousand feet like that," 

 and the sample was nap, cut from a tree less 

 than twenty-one months old, and dead at that. 

 It had grown on Esplanade avenue in New 

 Orleans. It is freely admitted that White Bros. 

 and the Dieckmann Hardwood Company are cor- 

 rect in their statements that "We have never 

 been able to procure any merchantable eucalyp- 

 tus lumber grown in California," and that "We 

 have had inquiries for this kind of wood, but 

 have really not been able to find it here in Cali- 

 fornia growing in merchantable quantities." This 

 is not to be wondered at, since the trees are 

 exotics, are not capable of being grown outside 

 of certain limited areas, because of their climatic 

 requirements, and, lastly, because as windbreaks 

 and as seed-producers they were more valuable 

 standing than cut into lumber. 



Possibly the assumption that they could not 

 be grown" outside of California may have some 

 hearing on the findings of* the vehicle and furni- 

 ture people, although it is difficult to see how- 

 numerous tests could have been made, in view 

 of the great scarcity of the wood. The discovery 

 that at least 100,000 acres situated at the mouth 

 of the Mis3issippi river, between Venice and 

 Land's End. comply fully with every re- 

 quirement for the best and most rapid growth 

 of the most valuable varieties, and in a location 

 most favorable for the distribution of the product 

 to the .Atlantic and Central portions of the 

 ■United States, will certainly make it necessary 

 to revise that idea. Possibly some other por- 

 tions of the state of Louisiana may be found 

 available for growing some varieties also. 



In reply to your statement "That American 

 hardwoods will be exhausted in fourteen years 

 is a ridiculous statement." I will not undertake 

 to give definite and exact figures for what can 

 be at best only an astimate. 



Whether we have a supply for fourteen or 

 seventy-five years, it is certainly prudent to 

 plant eucalypti, with their undeniable hardness, 

 toughness and variety, coupled with rapidity of 

 growth, even If they should on test, prove to be 

 not so superlatively good as the woods they are 

 said to replace. 



Lastly, in reply to your assertion that "There 



' is no authority of the Forest Service for most 



• of the statements made in these documents," 



i which, I suppose, means the claim that 100,000 



feet hoard measure can be grown on one acre in 



, tea years, and then replaced in seven years from 



the stump when cut, i must say that I can not 



: recall just at this time any specific statement as 



to .the amount that can be grown in that time, 



Bat it is impossible to avoid that inference, 



■ from the following statements of the. United 



' States Forest Service, which can be specifically 



and readily located : 



In bulletin .'9. issued October 3, 1907, by 

 Mr. GlfEord Pinchot. forester, he states, on page 

 . 3, that seedling stands "will average a height 

 growth of 100 feet in ten years." and "have 

 reached a height of 125 feet and a diameter of 

 36 inches in nine years." On the same page 

 he says that sprout stands 70 feet by 7 inches 

 have grown in 3 years. In Bulletin 35, on page 

 25, are mentioned trees 25 years old, as large 

 as oaks whose rings shew them to be 200 to 300 

 years old, and plate 22 shows a photograph of 

 same. 



Bulletin 59 recommends that "Blue gum trees 

 should be set 8 feet apart each way. Most 



other eucalypts should be planted by 6 feet 

 apart. This comparatively close spacing is desir- 

 able in order that forest conditions may be 

 established as speedily as possible with straight 

 trees, clear of branches." As 8x8 gives 670 

 trees and 0x0 gives 1,225 trees to the acre, if 

 those living at the end of ten years should be 

 reduced to 600 and 1,000 trees respectively, 100,- 

 000 feet board measure to the acre would be 

 reached with GOo trees 120 feet high and 14 

 inches in diameter, and with 1,000 trees only 

 100 I'eet high by 12 inches in diameter. 



Trees to average those sizes are well within 

 the probabilities, in any fair to good soil, with 

 fair moisture supply, within the temperature 

 limits. 



1 confess to considerable curiosity as to the 

 size which will be attained in rich Mississippi 

 river bottom land, with the inexhaustible water 

 supply of that river. 



I have seen trees in New Orleans, planted out 

 in March, 1908, about IS inches high, and in 

 April. 1909, they averaged about 25 feet high 

 and several were more than 6 inches in diameter. 

 They were Glob-itlus variety, however, and were 

 killed by a temperature of 23 degrees in De- 

 cember last. I can show a few Ruslratas, not 

 yet eleven months old from the seed, some of 

 which are nearly 10 feet high and nearly IVi 

 inches diameter. 



CnAEi,ES Collins Buck. 



Concerning Mr. Buck's Communication 



White Brothers do not say that eucalj'ptus 

 growing in the United States has ever sold 

 for $100 or $125 per thousand. Their refer- 

 ence to its value is based entirely on Aus- 

 tralian virgin growth. The same observation 

 can be made concerning the communication 

 of the Dieckmann Hardwood Company. Let- 

 ters from both- the previous mentioned eon- 

 . cerns were published in the last issue of the 

 Eecord. Even the price named does not 

 , refer to the mill run jiroduct of the Aus- 

 tralian growth but to the firsts and seconds 

 of the growth, of which the percentage is an 

 unknown quantity. 



Inasmuch as eucalyptus requires a heavy, 

 rich, -wet soil it is more than likely that it 

 would thrive better in the swamp regions of 

 lower Louisiana than in the irrigated district 

 of southern California. 



Mr. Buck fails to present evidence repudiat- 

 ing the claim of Hard-wood Eecoed that there 

 is any authority for coupling the word ' ' eu- 

 calyptus ' ' with that of ' ' mahogany. ' ' 



The reference made to the -n'ant of beauty 

 and the bad characteristics of eucalyptus does 

 not apply to the Australian type but to the 

 California -growth, which the writer has care- 

 fully examined and analyzed. 



In spite of the fact that eucalyptus-plant- 

 ing is absolutely experimental and of un- 

 known commercial results, it is stated in the 

 New Orleans Lumber Trade Journal of July 

 15 that the Pioneer Planting Company of 

 Kew Orleans has arranged for the planting 

 of a tract of about 100,000 acres of land 

 between New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico 

 for the growing of eucalyptus trees. The 

 paragraph states that the land to be planted 

 is ten miles from tidewater and at Land's 

 End. It claims that there are about 145,000 

 acres in that section suitable to the plant- 

 ing of the above trees. It is further alleged 

 that the trees -will grow to a diameter of sixty 

 inches in twenty-five years. 



Here Haed-wood Eecoed readers have both 

 sides of the eucalyptus proposition, and in 

 view of the facts presented this publication 

 wishes to reiterate its previous caution tliat 



before investing a dollar in eucalyptus-grow- 

 ing people should wait for some definite re- 

 sults of experiments made by competent au- 

 thorities. 



Foreign Ltunber Trade 



Consul Samuel II. Shank of Mannheim, Ger- 

 reany, writes that notwithstanding the fact that 

 thirty-seven per cent of the area of Baden is 

 forest land there is a great amount of lumber 

 imported from the United States, Russia, 

 Sw-eden and Itoumania, forty per cent being 

 fiom the United States. He adds : 



'The imports of American lumber consist of 

 pitch pine, yellow pine, oak and poplar, with 

 the smaller lots of red gum, sap gum, cotton- 

 wood, whitewood, ash, hickory, maple, cypress 

 and redwood. Most of the lumber imported is 

 rough sawn, but some ash, hickory, and white- 

 wood comes in logs. On account of the duty 

 dressed lumber is seldom imported. There 

 have been imported recently some planed maple 

 flooring for roller skating rinks, but there is 

 little opportunity for trade in dressed lumber. 



Only first quality lumber is bought. Ameri- 

 can lumber commands from .$25 to $30 more 

 per 2,000 feet than Russian or Swedish lumber 

 because it is freer from knots, while there is 

 no guarantee with other lumber. Lumber is 

 sold by the St. Petersburg standard, which is 

 1,980 board feet. 



Most of the lumber comes from Mobile, New 

 Orleans, Pensacola and Galveston. The time 

 from Mobile to Rotterdam is about three weeks, 

 and it sometimes takes three weeks from Rot- 

 terdam to Mannheim, depending on the amount 

 of lumber at Rotterdam ready for shipment. 

 The rates from Mobile to Rotterdam are about 

 §15 to $20 per standard, and from Rotterdam 

 to Mannheim $2.85 to $3.60. These are water 

 rates. The rates by rail on American lumber 

 are sixty to seventy per cent higher than on 

 lumber from Russia, Sweden or any other 

 European countries. This discrimination does 

 not affect points reached by water, but almost 

 prohibits the sale of American lumber in the 

 interior of Germany. Some American lumber Is 

 sent to Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Alsace and 

 Sw'itzerland. 



The pine and maple are used for flooring : 

 oak, birch, cypress, Cottonwood and red gum 

 tor furniture : cypress and sap gum for staves : 

 oak and whitewood for veneers ; ash for wag- 

 ons and tool handles ; whitewood for carriages ; 

 California redwood for lead pencils and cham- 

 pagne corks (patent) ; hickory for spokes. On 

 account of the increase in the manufacture of 

 automobiles the use of hickory has grown five- 

 fold to eightfold within the last five years. 



Consul E. A. Wakefield of Port Elizabeth. 

 South Africa, writes that large quantities of 

 lumber are imported into that port considering 

 the limited population of the district. 



Small quantities of mahogany, birch, bass- 

 wood, poplar, oak, ash, and walnut are im- 

 ported for furniture manufacturing and interior 

 fittings. 



Removal of Jeffrey's Denver Office 



The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, main of- 

 fice and works, Columbus, Ohio, is changing the 

 location of the Denver office from No. 1711 

 Tremont place, and after August 1st will oc- 

 cupy a commodious suite of rooms in the First 

 National Bank Building. 



This company besides maintaining a large 

 selling force in over a dozen of the leading 

 cities of this country, also maintains a corps 

 of engineers at its branch offices situated in 

 the following cities : Chicago, St. Louis. Den- 

 ver, Montreal, Pittsburg. Charleston, Vi'. Va., 

 Boston, New York and Birmingham. 



There are also nearly one hundred Jeffrey 

 agencies in additional cities in this country and 

 abroad. 



