HARDWOOD RECORD 



More on Eucalyptus 



When the Record made an analysis of Cali- 

 fornia eucalyptus growth and recited details 

 concerning numerous companies engaged in 

 exploiting lands in southern California for 

 the purpose of growing this wood, it did so in 

 the full belief that the commercial possibili- 

 ties of eucalyptus-growing were entirely con- 

 jectural. It still believes so. It has issued 

 repeated warnings, advising prospective buy- 

 ers to obtain evidence of possible profits in 

 the growing of this wood before they invested 

 any money in these ventures. It wishes to 

 repeat this advice.. 



It is not the intention of this publication to 

 devote its entire space iu deprecating what 

 it believes a chimerical undertaking so far as 

 profits go^-to investors, — but at the same 

 time it wants to give these promotion com- 

 panies an opportunity to defend their under- 

 takings in all ways possible; in other words, 

 to give them an absolutely square deal. 



Therefore it gives space to the following 

 lengthy communication from the North Amer- 

 ican Hardwood Timber Company of New 

 York : 



111 Broadway, New York, August 0, 1910. 

 To the Editor of Hardwood Kecobd, Chicago, III. 



Dear Sir: In your issue o£ July 10 appeared 

 an editorial which presents our company and the 

 industry of eucalyptus culture in a most unfair 

 light, and which I am sure you will be glad to 

 correct, in view of the following facts : 



You evidently considered that a deception was 

 being practiced in coupling the word "eucalpy- 

 tus" with "mahogany," and still since the 

 earliest publications on eucalyptus, it has been 

 known as "Australian mahogany." 



First, with regard to your assertion that there 

 is no commercial or botanical authority for 

 coupling the term "eucalyptus" with "mahog- 

 any" : the new International Encyclopedia, pub- 

 lished by Dodd, Mead & Company, 1005, under 

 the heading "Mahogany" states : 



"In Australia the name mahogany is applied 

 to the timber of a number of species of 

 eucalypts." 



In the issue for August, 1909, of the Bulletin 

 of the International Union of the American Re- 

 publics, which is published iu Washington, D. C, 

 and which has upon its governing board the 

 ambassadors or ministers of practically every 

 country in Central and South America, of which 

 board the Secretary of State of the United 

 States is chairman ex-officio, it Is stated : 



"Mahogany is a popular name for the timber 

 of several unrelated trees, among which are 

 various species of eucalypts of Australia, of 

 myrtles and so-called cedars." 



Other encyclopedias make similar statements. 



I will admit that this is unfair to eucalpytus, 

 because the latter is a wood infinitely superior to 

 mahogany in strength and durability, and fully 

 equal to it in beauty of grain and in susceptibil- 

 ity to an ornamental finish. 



Your paper also states "that American hard- 

 woods will be exhausted in fourteen years is a 

 ridiculous statement." This may be a ridiculous 

 statement, but we have for it the authority of 

 the United States Department of Agriculture. 

 In circular No. 116 of the Forest Service, issued 

 September 24, 1907. and entitled, "The Waning 

 Hardwood Supply," on page S thereof, there 

 occurs the statement that 25 billion feet yearly 

 is certainly not a high estimate of the amount 

 of hardwoods consumed, and that the largest 

 estimate of standing timber states the figure for 

 hardwoods at 400 billion feet. The circular goes 

 on to say : 



"If we are using hardwoods at the rate of 25 

 billion feet per year, this would mean a sixteen 

 years' supply. The conditions during the past 

 few years suggest no reason for increasing this 

 estimate." 



Sixteen years from 1007 would mean thirteen 

 years from 1910. If the hardwood here is very 

 much more than a fourteen .years' supply, the mem- 

 bers of this company, as well as every other 

 good citizen, will be extremely glad to hear it. 



In the pamphlet issued by this company, and 

 entitled "Growing Mahogany for Market," the 

 publications of the National Forest Service have 

 been liberally quoted from, and a number of 

 quotations have also been made from pamphlets 

 issued by the University of California and the 

 Forestry Society of California, After this book 

 was printed we wrote to The Audit Company 

 of New Y'ork and asked it to have all these 

 quotations verified, and to carefully examine the 

 publications from which quotations were made, 

 in order to ascertain if the context in every case 

 supported the quotations — in other words, to 

 find out if the latter were correct both in the let- 

 ter and in the spirit. The following is a copy 

 of the letter received from The Audit Company 

 of New York, iu reply to our request : 

 "North American Hardwood Timber Company, 

 New York City. 



"Dear Sirs ; — Agreeably to your request, we 

 have compared the numerous references contained 

 in your sales pamphlet entitled 'Growing Ma- 

 hogany for Market' with the reports of the 

 United States Forest Service, the Forestry So- 

 ciety of California, etc. 



"On page S of the pamphlet, in the fifth para- 

 graph is found a typographical error. The refer- 

 ence in brackets (See United States Forest Serv- 

 ice Circular Number 116, page 12) should imme- 

 diately precede the sentence 'The demand for 

 railroad ties is increasing at the rate of over 

 ten per cent a year.' 



"On page 13 of the pamphlet, Section 2, occurs 

 another typographical error. The reference 

 should correctly state page 29 and not page 25 

 of the United States Forest Service Bulletin 

 Number 35. 



"We certify, aside from the two foregoing ex- 

 ceptions, that all other references therein con- 

 tained are correct ; and that an examination of 

 the authorities quoted discloses the fact that all 

 the statements are supported by the references 

 given. Very truly yours, 



"The Audit Company op New York. 



"New York, November 10, 1909." 



In your article you present a cut from a photo- 

 graph belonging to us, which you say is "alleged"' 

 to represent three year old sprouts from stump, 

 'iVi inch in diameter at base and fifty feet high, 

 on our property. This growth was not only 

 made upon our property, as we have proved, and 

 can again easily prove to all, but it is a most 

 common occurence in California. Bulletin No. 

 35. which is devoted entirely to eucalypts, and 

 which was issued by the Forest Service in 1902, 

 gives a number of examples of growth fully as 

 great as that upon which your article tried to 

 throw discredit. 



You state in your paper that this company 

 has a long list of oflicials, including a forester 

 and field manager, etc., all of whom are equally 

 unknown in lumber or reforestry pursuits. Do 

 you think it fair to make this statement when 

 you know, or could easily ascertain, that the 

 forester and field manager of this company is 

 Mr. G. B. Lull, who graduated from the Forestry 

 School of Cornell University ; who spent several 

 years in the National Forest Service under Mr. 

 Gilford Pinchot ; who was selected as State 

 Forester of California, and has served in that 

 capacity for three or four years, and who re- 

 signed therefrom only to take charge of the field 

 operations of this company, because he knew 

 that the latter was honestly and effectively man- 



aged, that it had plenty of capital behind it, and 

 that the business in which it is engaged was 

 bound to become one of the greatest on the Pa- 

 cific Coast. 



Referring to the copy of your letter to Mr. 

 Graves, at Washington, asking him either to 

 concur in the "alleged" statistics of the United 

 States government, as shown in the circular of 

 this company, or to repudiate them, and to the 

 copy of his reply, it is significant that Mr. Graves 

 does not repudiate our quotations — for the simple 

 reason that they are absolutely correct — and I 

 am satisfied that Mr. Graves wishes well to a 

 company managed honestly and effectively, such 

 as we claim ours to be. 



Regarding the Forestry Society of California, 

 this was started as a semi-public institution and 

 has, we believe, done a great deal of good. If 

 sixty per cent of its members are now Interested 

 in commercial eucalyptus culture, it is probably 

 because of the society's good work in encourag- 

 ing the industry, and by no means shows that 

 the society's reports and bulletins have been 

 colored through any motive of self-interest. We 

 have, on our owu properties, plantations of eu- 

 calypts which have made fully as large a growth 

 in equally as short a time as the Forestry So- 

 ciety claims, and in our literature we quote in 

 detail measurements of groves which were made, 

 not by the Forestry Society, but by the Califor- 

 nia State Board of Forestry, which means the 

 State Forester of California and his assistants. 



A company called the Eucalyptus-Mahogany 

 Growers was incorporated in this city, to pur- 

 chase land from this company, and in the con- 

 tract between the two companies there was a 

 stringent provision made that all the literature 

 which the Eucalyptus-Mahogany Growers circu- 

 lated should first have the approval of the Execu- 

 tive Committee of this company. In one in- 

 stance this was not obtained and a statement 

 was made, which, while literally correct, was 

 misleading because of its context. It was found 

 and objected to by this company, even before the 

 Forest Service called attention to it. In another 

 instance this same concern copied an article ver- 

 batim from the San Francisco Call, which was 

 extravagant in its claims, hut to which paper 

 the blame, if any, belonged. Largely because of 

 this company's tendency to exaggerate in its 

 advertising, the North American Hardwood Tim- 

 ber Company has abrogated the contract, and 

 the Eucalyptus-Mahogany Growers, Inc., has 

 gone out of existence. 



We hold to everything we state in our litera- 

 ture, as to the rapidity of the growth of the 

 trees ; as to the uses and durability of the wood ; 

 and as to the profits which may be safely ex- 

 pected by owners of groves of eucalypts. 



We suggest that, if the Hardwood Record 

 wishes to be fair, it make further inquiries re- 

 garding this industry, which is destined to at- 

 tain a most commanding position. 



'The Hughes Manufacturing and Lumber Com- 

 pany, of Los Angeles, a large concern, has manu- 

 factured a good deal of California grown eucalyp- 

 tus — the people who.se letters you quote do not 

 seem to have done so. If you will write to the 

 Hughes Manufacturing & Lumber Company you 

 can get its unbiased opinion regarding the wood, 

 as to the ease, or otherwise, with which it is 

 worked, and as to its uses. We .can ,also refer 

 j'ou to other concerns who use the wood, and 

 who know all about it ; Mr. G. B. Lull of Sacra- 

 mento, California, can al.so inform you concei'n- 

 ing many details with which you are evidently 

 unfamiliar. Mr. Lull, while now the forester of 

 this company, was, as stated above, for many 

 years in the government service, has his reputa- 

 tion to maintain, and is acknowledged the great- 

 est authority on eucalypts in this country today. 

 Everything new must, it seems, run the gaunt- 

 let of prejudice, ridicule and all sorts of unin- 

 formed and misinformed opposition, and the in- 

 dustry of growing eucalypts, a most important 

 one, is evidently no exception to the rule. 

 However, as a matter of simple justice, we re- 



