HARDWOOD RECORD 



3^ 



replying to earlier on account of not receiving 

 the papers you sent us by express. The copy 

 whicli came by mail, was picked up before the 

 writer had an opportunity of going through 

 it very carefully and was not in a position to 

 give you an opinion as regards to the issue prior 

 to receiving these copies by express. 



We, however, think the edition is a very 

 creditable one for both your paper and Memphis 

 as a whole and we have heard some very favor- 



able comments on it, both in the lumber trade 

 and by others who are not in the lumber trade 

 but interested in the development of Memphis, 

 and we believe this will prove to be one of the 

 best advertising mediums for Memphis that it 

 has gotten the bcnetit of during its campaign 

 for publicity and development. 



"With personal regards, we remain. 

 Yours very truly, 



James E. StahS & Co. 



Hardwood Record Mail *Bag 



Non-Unifonnity of Hardwood Inspection 



The Kecord is in receipt of a letter from a 

 prominent hardv.-ood jobber in which he states 

 that in his opinion the matter of the utmost 

 importance to the lumber trade is securing a 

 uniform survey according to rules published. 

 He alleges that it is disgraceful that sucli a 

 wide line of application of rules exists among 

 different official and authorized inspectors. 

 Furthermore, the writer says: 



"We are not fighting individual inspection, 

 although it has our kindest regards, but we 

 are fighting the errors that materially affect 

 our business. However, it is too big a job for 

 one individual to accomplish. 



"We are frank to confess that for a num- 

 ber of years we have thought that if we could 

 only get uniform inspection rules our troubles 

 will be cleared away, but we find from ex- 

 perience that it is only a step towards the 

 remedy. We have not only got to have uni- 

 form, commonsense, plain English lumber 

 rules, but we have got to have good men, with 

 good memory and eyesight, who are interested 

 in the work and will live up to the rules on 

 the pile, and even then they should be checked 

 up and lined up several times a year. 



' ' As you are aware, it is the lumber in- 

 spectors who handle the lumber firm 's cash 

 rather than the cashier. In the case of the 

 cashier we check against him by keeping a 

 double-entry set of books and provide him 

 with dollars, dimes and pennies to get down 

 to the actual cash. But in the part of the 

 inspector he is liable to get away from the 

 line ten to thirty per cent, and nobody knows 

 it until it is too late to check the error. The 

 existing facts are that the larger portion of 

 so-called hardwood inspectors vary from five 

 to sixty per cent from one another in grade, 

 and from one to eight per cent in measure- 

 ment, and the large percentage cannot grade 

 within ten per cent of themselves three times 

 out of five on the same car of lumber. 



"We recently had a car of lumber rein- 

 spected that had been taken up by a National 

 inspector, and these two official inspectors 

 varied over ten per cent. 



"We frequently find reinspections that 

 show as high as sixty per cent off and below 

 the grade ordered. The other day we found a 

 car that ran sixty-six per cent above the 

 grade ordered. Ought not associations es- 

 tablish a school for inspectors, and issue a 

 license thereafter that shows their ability, 

 and keep right after them and keep them lined 

 up? 



"At best the grading of lumber is not an 



exact science, as to a considerable extent it 

 depends on the care or carelessness, integrity, 

 imagination, greediness, notions, opinions and 

 judgment of the man that is handling the 

 board rule when nobody is looking. 



"To the mind of the writer, under present 

 conditions the hardwood business is sort of 

 a cross between an Irish wake and a dog 

 fight." 



Company. 



Even to the casual reader there is con- 

 siderable meat in the foregoing communica- 

 tion, which is worthy the consideration of 

 lumber associations' inspection departments. 

 • — Editor. 



Wants Bending Stock 

 Batavia, III., Aug. 23. — Editor Uabdwood 

 Record : Can you furnish us with the names of 

 thrte or four beading lirms within a radius of 

 100 miles of Chicago, who could furnish us with 

 bent stock made to order from hickory, elm or 

 rock elm ? Company. 



The above concern has been supplied with 

 several names of manufacturers of bent stock, 

 and any others desiring to be placed in com- 

 munication with this firm can have the ad- 

 dress upon application to this office. — Editor. 



More About Eucalyptus 



The Record is in receipt of a letter from 

 EoUo J. Hough of Ann Arbor, Mich., of which 

 the following is an excerpt : 



An.\ AiiBOK, Mich... Sept. 1910. — Editor 

 Hakdwood Uecord : A number of recently pub- 

 lished articles in your valuable magazine rela- 

 tive to the commercial culture of eucalyptus in 

 California having been called to my attention, I 

 have perused them with considerable interest. 

 I am interested in the subject and have been 

 familiar with the growth of the eucalyptus in 

 California for many years. During the past 

 three years I have made a special study of the 

 timber relative to its commercial value, and 

 as you have stated that your publication desires 

 TO give all sides of the question equal promi- 

 nence, I beg to submit some of the results of 

 my investigations and trust that they will be 

 published by you. 



First of all I desire to commend you for your 

 stand against the so-called wildcat statements 

 of various promotion companies whose only ap- 

 parent purpose is to sell land at a profit. This 

 last in itself is not deplorable, and if the indi- 

 viduals so engaged desire to make their profits 

 from land sales and are honest in their pur- 

 pose, their can be no more objection to so doing 

 than in publishing a magazine for profit. But if 

 they are engaged solely in the business of sell- 

 ing land they are real estate promoters and not 

 eucalyptus growers, although they may call them- 

 selves growers. Sundry extravagant statements 

 made by them are attributed to all genuine 

 eucalyptus growers who are sincere in their 

 belief in the commercial possibilities of Cali- 

 fornia grown eucalyptus, and who are express- 



ing their belief in a very practical manner by 

 planting the tree. I am quite familiar with the 

 conditions as they exist in California and I 

 know personally dozens of individuals and cor- 

 porations engaged in the culture of the eucalyp- 

 tus, expending many hundreds of thousands of 

 dollars, and who are not interested in land 

 sales, but instead expect to reap their profit 

 irom the sale of timber and not of land. I 

 think I can specify three classes of persons who 

 are at present engaged in planting and growing 

 eucalyptus in California, namely : First, the 

 land owner or person who is privately engaged 

 iu planting land with the sole idea of selling 

 mature timber : second, the person or corpora- 

 lion who is unable to bear the expense of plant- 

 ing and who sells only a portion of his holdings, 

 and who thereby expresses his sincerity by in- 

 vesting any profits in the same enterprise ; third, 

 the real estate concern planting the land or im- 

 proving it with the sole idea of disposing of it 

 as soon as possible. I class myself as of the 

 first division, and I know a number of the sec- 

 <)nd division who are unquestionably reliable, 

 while in the last division I think we can locate 

 those who have developed considerable prejudice 

 in the minds of many by their questionable 

 methods and unreliable statements. 



In California we have been combating these 

 wildcat concerns for several years. 



Furthermore, in Mr. Hough 's lengthy com- 

 munication he attempts to present evidence 

 assuring the absolute safety of investment 

 in eucalyptus growing and quotes numerous 

 authorities on the subject of the botany of 

 the wood, its value, fast-growing qualities, its 

 uses, etc., etc., which already have been cov- 

 ered in sundry communications from others 

 interested in this same subject. — Editor. 



The Meaning of "An Inspector's Judg- 

 ment" 



Coh:mel:.s, O., -Vug. 'J.O. — ICditor Hardwood 

 Record : Please advise us definitely through 

 your columns what is meant by "the inspector 

 must depend to some extent on his judgment." 

 as it forms a part of hardwood inspection rules. 



I don 't know. — Editor. 



Wants List of Mills Cutting Osage Orange 

 Felloes 

 Chicago, Aug. 29. — Editor Hardwood Record: 

 Can you supply us with a list of mills cutting 

 Kois d'Arc felloes? We are having inquiry for 

 this material from some of our members and 

 would like to locate it for them. 



Anyone manufacturing felloes from Bois 

 d 'Arc or osage orange is invited to send his 

 address to this office, as the Eecord has had 

 several inquiries of late for wagon felloes 

 made from this wood. — Editor. 



Seeks Maple Dimension Stock 

 Bat Citt, Mich., Aug. 31. — Editor Hardwood 

 Record : We would like to secure the names of 

 parties who would be in a position to turn out 

 clear, kiln-dried maple strips 2Y^ inches wide 

 and 5% inches wide, starting at 13Vi inches 

 long and increasing in 3inch lengths to 40 Vi 

 inches. 



The 5%-inch widths may be In two pieces, or 



even three if built up on a Linderman machine, 



or jointed and glued. All stock must be very 



smoothly milled, and a bevel run on four edges. 



We buy aljout ten or twelve cars a year of this 



stock. COMPANT. 



The above inquiry is from a foremost manu- 

 facturing house and to anyone interested in 

 supplying this material the address will be 

 given on application at this office. — Editor. 



