HARDWOOD RECORD 



17 



IJverpool Mahogany Sales of July 

 The July report of Tickle, Bell & Co., Liver- 

 pool, England, states that at regular sales of 

 that company many good firms were represented, 

 and as the average grade was rather low, vin- 

 usiml prices proyailed for good quality lumber. 

 Brokers were much in evidence in disposing 

 of this and withdrew considerable stock be- 

 cause their estimates were not realized. A 

 large import within the next few months is 

 anticipated, and Liverpool concerns look for a 

 consequent falling oft in prices. This company 

 reports having received, during July. 670 logs 

 of African mahogany, totaling 511.521 feet, 45 

 Cuban logs containing 5,735 feet and 135 logs 

 from other seel ions of walnut, teak and ma- 

 liogany, comprising some 12.000 feet. The price 

 of mahogany ran from 7'/{, to 22 cents a foot. 



Wisconsin Hardwoods 

 Sixty members of the Northern Hemlock and 

 Hardwood Manufacturers' Association of Wis- 

 consin make the following report on their cut 

 and shipments for the month of June : 



Sawed Shipped 



Feet. Feet. 



Ash 451,000 551.000 



Easswood 3,272,000 2,359,000 



Birch 7,388,000 4.621,000 



Llm 1.723.000 1,330,000 



Maple 4,714,000 1,659.000 



Oak 411,000 130,000 



Not specified 3,690,000 7S2.000 



Total 21,649,000 11,432,000 



The increase of cut over shipments by this 

 coterie of lumbermen can be explained from the 

 fact that eleven were not sawing in May, and 

 during that month six were working entirely on 

 hemlock, and nine firms had no dry hardwoods 

 of any description which they could shii) during 

 the month of June. 



In the aggregate there is at present much 

 less hardwood lumber in first hands in Wis- 

 consin than there was at the beginning of the 

 year. 



Mahogany and Ebony for Cross Ties 



The Soulhern I'acific Company of Mexico has 

 posted notices at its dilTerent stations announc- 

 ing that it is in the market for mahogany and 

 ebony cross ties. The territory adjacent to 

 Mazatlan and southward along the route of the 

 road to Tepic, now under construction, supplies 

 the ebony and mahogany trees from which the 

 cross ties hitherto have been obtained. Many 

 ties of these woods have been utilized in the 

 completed section of the new road and it is 

 planned to use them to the exclusion of other 

 woods if they can be obtained in sufficient quan- 

 tity. In most cases the hardwood ties, which 

 are hand hewed, are brought in from the for- 

 ests a few at a time by the Mexican Indians. 

 It is claimed that an ebony or mahogany tie 

 will last a lifetime. The ties in use on the 

 upper part of this road were brought from 

 Japan and are of excellent wearing quality. 

 The natives place little value on the mahogany 

 and ebony trees of this section. The wood is 

 largely used tor fuel and many valuable trees 

 are destroyed for this purpose. 



Buys Bonsack Stock 



Things a'-e now in shape for the removal of 

 (he J. S. Vaughn Lumber Company of Memphis, 

 Tenn., to St. Louis. Contracts for railroad 

 switches have been signed and ground leased for 

 a yard. The yards at the foot of Angelica street 

 have a piling capacity of 25.000,000 feet of lum- 

 ber. The contract for the switch, closed with 

 the Terminal Railroad & Merchants' Bridge, will 

 be long enough to permit the handling of be- 

 tween twenty-five and thirty cars of lumber 

 daily. Pendii'g the completion of Its new ar- 



rangements the company has bought the entire 

 stock of the Bonsack Lumber Company at the 

 foot of St. Louis avenue. The latter company 

 retires following the recent death by drowning 

 near New Orleans of its president and manager, 

 W. A. Bonsack. The Vaughn Lumber Company 

 will use the offices and yards of the Bonsack 

 Lumber Company until its own are ready. 



The removal of the Vaughn Lumber Company 

 from Memphis is due, according to President 

 Vaughn, to the more advantageous location of 

 St. Louis as a hardwood accumulating and dis- 

 tributing center. 'St. Louis is the natural mar- 

 ket and center for the vast hardwood manufac- 

 turing region west of the Mississippi river in 

 Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and 

 Texas. St. Louis today is the largest hardwood 

 market and consumer of hardwoods in the world. 

 At present St. Louis carries more than 150.000,- 

 000 feet of liardwoods in stock and the local 

 consumption is enormous as compared with 

 many other lumber markets," is the way Mr. 

 Vaughn speaks of St. Louis. 



Biltmore Doings for July 



The field work conducted at Sunburst, N. C, 

 during the montli of July has consisted of timber 

 estimating, railroad and bridge surveys, select- 

 ing and surveying proper sites for splash dams, 

 a study of mill construction, botanical and 

 zoological work. 



The general routine was interrupted for one 

 week, during which some very interesting trips 

 were taken to several lumbering operations in 

 the proximity of Ashevillc. One day was spent 

 in' Canton. N. C, where the school visited the 

 fiber and tannic acid plants of the Champion 

 Fibre Company. This proved to be very in- 

 structive as three different processes (soda, 

 sulphite and sulphate) were seen, by which the 

 fibre is obtained, all being operated at the same 

 time. The tannic acid plant was equally inter- 

 esting to visit. 



A trip of several days to the operations of the 

 Pigeon River Lumber Company at Crestmont, 

 N. C. offered excellent opportunities for the study 

 of log transportation in the mountains : the 

 means of transportation being standard and nar- 

 row gauge railroads, inclined railroads, pole 

 chutes, overhead cable, snaking with a donkey 

 (■ngine, and .skidding with both horses and cattle. 

 The double band saw mill of the company cutting 

 80,000 feet board measure per day, and the steam 

 dry kiln were closely inspected by the students 

 and greatly appreciated. 



A striking contrast between different methods 

 of operation adopted under similar condiljons was 

 presented to the students seeing near Crestmont 

 the interesting operations conducted by Mr. 

 Latham, manager of the Uaddock-Frantz Lumber 

 Company. This firm uses a single band mill lo- 

 cated close to the logging operations. The lum- 

 ber instead of the logs is carried over the moun- 

 tains to the main line of the railroad. A narrow 

 gauge incline railroad is being used on the steep 

 grades and a regular narrow gauge railroad on 

 the lesser grades. 



The school gave a dinner dance at The Manor 

 hotel in Asheville on July 4. This was greatly 

 appreciated by the the students after living in the 

 "backwoods" for some time. 



U. C. Oberholser (U. S. Biological .Survey) 

 spent two weeks lecturing on zoology. Both the 

 lectures and field trips were very interesting and 

 brought forlh marked enthusiasm for the course 

 on the part of the students. 



Dr. Schenck is lecturing on the second and last 

 part of lumbering and technology. Dr. House 

 i.s lecturing ou morphology and classification of 

 plants. 



The school will be located in Cadillac, Mich., 

 in Ihe logging camps of Cummer-Diggins, from 

 August 15 until October 1, sailing October 4 on 

 the steamship New Amsterdam of the Holland- 

 Am'^rican Line from lloboken, N. J., for the Ger- 

 man forests. 



Building Operations for July 



Official reports from fifty building centers 

 throughout the country, compiled by The Ameri- 

 can Contractor, show a loss in the agregate of 

 22 per cent for July, 1910, as compared with 

 July, 1009. Of this amount. New York City 

 assumes nearly throe-fourths, a decrease of 

 nearly $15,000,000, or 52 per cent. The major- 

 ity of the other cties in the list contribute their 

 mite to make the total. Thirty-two cities show 

 a loss of from 2 to 70 per cent, and eighteen 

 cities show a gain of from 2 to 185 per cent. 

 Tlie principal gains were made in Atlanta, 185 

 per cent ; Dallas, 128 ; Duluth, 45 : Hartford, 

 128 ; Los Angeles, 08 ; Oklahoma City, 95 ; St. 

 Paul, 44. Particulars will be found in the 

 following table : 



City. 



Atlanta $ 



Bsiltimore 



Hirniiiighani 



niiffali) 



Chic.^go 



Cincinnati 



Cleveland 



Columbus 



Dallas 



Denver 



Detroit 



Dulutll 



Grand Rapids 



Hartford 



Iiulianapnlis 



Kansas City 



Knoxville 



Little Rock 



Los Angeles 



Louisville 



Manchesler 



MilwAukoo 



Minooapolis 



Nashville 



Newark 



New Haven 



New Orleans 



Manhattan 



Brooklyn 



Bronx 



New "Vork 



Oakland 



Oklahonia City.. 



Omaha 



Pateison 



Phil.^delphia . . . 



Pittsburg 



Portland 



Rochester 



St. Paul 



St. Louis 1,976.350 



Salt Lake City 443.400 



Scranton 267,308 



Seattle 1,655,405 



Spokane 452,505 



351.243 



July, 



1910. 



Cost. 



989,112 



753.404 



305.039 



893,000 



. 5,253,200 



842.320 



. 1,094,638 



313.778 



890,865 



. 1,765,635 



. 1,556,665 



286,955 



242,0.Sfl 



387,015 



889.510 



. 1,584,405 



70,236 



129.976 



. 1,319.268 



335,970 



113.275 



. 1,177,345 



. 1,151,930 



203,320 



729,202 



21S.257 



428,620 



. 7,000,775 



. 3.181,595 



. 2,509,250 



. 12,691.620 



452,024 



565.930 



463,975 



174,291 



. 3,462.665 



958.593 



847. OSO 



550,336 



1.116.861 



July 



1909. Per Cent 



Cost. GainLoss 



346,878 185 . . 



792.120 



20 



15 

 16 



Syracuse . . . 



Toledo 



Wilkes-Barre 

 Worcester . . 



159.397 

 216,138 

 2S1.152 



334,098 . . 



1.. 393,000 .. 



6,856.250 . . 



830.430 2 



1,282.363 . . 



284.145 .. 



388.720 128 



2,240,670 . . 



1,651,760 .. 



128.965 45 



346,244 .. 



169,235 128 



628,727 41 



1,3.34,715 18 



134,340 . . 



210,130 . . 



1,022.213 98 



278,907 



152,225 

 1,087.004 

 1,001.180 



175.223 



990.990 



537.310 



622,780 



18,886,434 



4,734.914 



3,848,775 



27,470.123 



406,326 11 



289,315 95 



815.280 



144,464 

 3,897.590 



1,506.923 . . 



911,570 .. 



1,030.815 . . 



770,498 44 



2,066.059 . . 



490,500 . . 



1,138.505 . . 



1,275,415 . . 



583.110 .. 



440,015 . . 



209.395 . . 



180.885 . . 



445,347 . . 



26 



25 



Total $51,011,543 $71,282,417 



Driving Belts of Steel 



German and Belgium manufacturers are em- 

 ploying thin steel of exceedingly high temper in 

 the manufacture of transmission belts, and ac- 

 cording to recent exhaustive tests, most satis- 

 factory results are being obtained. The tests 

 were conducted under the supervision of Professor 

 Kammerer of Berlin, who demonstrated that 

 among the many advantages of the steel belt 

 some of the most interesting are that inasmuch 

 as steel does not stretch to any appreciable ex- 

 tent, all trouble necessitated by taking up belts 

 is avoided ; much narrower belts can be em- 

 ployed to do the same work, widths from one 

 third to one-tenth of those of ordinary build being 

 sufficient. A speed of as much as ten thousand 

 feet per minute can be employed. 



To Cut Hardwoods in Illinois 



Ezra Rhodes, the well-known hardwood man 

 of South Bond, Ind., has just purchased eighty 

 acres of timber land near Kankakee, 111., fifty- 

 two miles from Chicago, which is estimated will 

 cut 1,000,000 feet of , oak, walnut and cherry. 

 A mill will be put in this fall to cut the tim- 

 ber. A gang of men is now engaged in clearing 

 off the small stuff on the property. 



