14 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



but it is decided now also to add the government 

 lands in the lower peninsula, about 170,000 acres. 

 Besides these, there are 500,000 acres of tax lands, 

 abandoned and not desired, belonging to the state, 

 all of which could be turned into forest reserve." 



A commission was appointed under an act of 

 the last legislature to look over these lands with 

 a view to reforestation. If 500,000 acres could 

 be added to the lands already set aside, Michigan 

 could begin one of the greatest works of refores- 

 tation and conservation in this country. 



The conference of governors at Washington 

 centered its attention largely on the forestry ques- 

 tion as the central problem, exactly as outlined 

 in Chas"e S. Osborn's letter to President Roose- 

 velt. In this 'problem of reforestation Michigan 

 seems to be taking a lead. 



Governor Folk, of Missouri, was so impressed 

 with the importance of forestry that he publicly 

 announced, amid great applause, that he would 

 appoint a forestry commission in his state. Sev- 

 eral other governors made the same announce- 

 ment. 



Michigan interests long have regarded refores- 

 tation as a mighty problem, but academic and 

 hard to solve in a practical manner. The solu- 

 tion of the problem and reforestation projects 

 on a grand scale are Michigan results from the 

 great conference, and all other states are sure to 

 follow. It is certain that the governors' Chau 

 tauqua will be fruitful of practical results of all 

 kinds in many forms of endeavor. 



FASHIONS IN FURNITURE WOODS. 



(A lecture given before the Foresters' Club 

 of the Michigan Agricultural College on May 

 19 by M. J. Buck, of Lansing.) 



Unless something more than has been done 

 in the past shall be done in the future to re- 

 plenish the forests of the world, wood suitable 

 for furniture will be exceedingly rare before 

 the end of the present century. Even now 

 Circassian walnut and some other woods are 

 reckoned by the pound, and if oak, mahogany 

 and birch and maple continue to hold popular 

 favor, they will soon be handled on the same 

 basis by weight, instead of volume. Next to 

 the popularity of mission furniture, the Cir- 

 cassian walnut is the striking feature. In some 

 high-grade show rooms this wood almost 

 crowds the mahogany exhibit. Inasmuch as 

 the cost of Circassian walnut goods ranges 

 higher than mahogany, this condition is most 

 surprising. 



The high price of oak lumber has brought 

 out the substitute for the real thing. The dif- 

 ferent imitations are difficult to distinguish in 

 some cases from the genuine quartered oak 

 and as this cabinet wood continues to become 

 scarcer and higher in price, we must look for 

 the imitations in increasing quantities. Oak 

 has the advantage of being one of the most 

 widely distributed of woods. It has the further 

 advantage of readily reproducing itself, but the 

 disadvantage of very slow growth. The tree will 

 produce quarter-sawed stock fifteen or six- 

 teen inches wide is probably hundreds of 

 years old. From Kentucky, a heavy producer 

 of oak, comes no indication of any increase of 

 production. The only indication is decrease 

 of supply. The same may be said of Ohio and 

 other oak producing states. 



Grand Rapids is the furniture center of the 

 world. It picks its lumber from every forest. 

 There are, at this writing, lumber camps in 

 Mexico and Central America chopping out 

 mahogany for these factories. Agents are 

 stationed at Liverpool to buy up the best tim- 

 ber brought in from South America and Africa 

 for Grand Rapids and there is hardly a hard- 

 wood section noted for its fine timber which is 

 not tributary to this point. The furniture fairs 

 at Grand Rapids twice a year net millions. 

 They have 532 factories, employing 20,000 

 hands, with a daily payroll of over $50,000. 

 During my stay I went through factories that 

 turn out the finest beds, china closets, dining 

 tables and sideboards; one factory turns out 

 chamber suites which cost as high as $2,500, 

 and dining tables close to a- thousand dollars. 



The most of the furniture, of course, is much 

 cheaper. 



These high-grade goods are made in mahog- 

 any. The wood is brought here in logs and 

 sawed into boards, the boards are put away 

 in kilns and roasted until every bit of moisture 

 is out of them; then put under cover to absorb 

 just enough moisture to be easily worked, and 

 then are run through machine after machine 

 to be trimmed and polished for furniture mak- 

 ing. A great deal of the work is done by hand 

 and these laborers receive high wages. One 

 of the queer things I saw is that the finest 

 furniture we have today is veneered. We like 

 to think that our mahogany furniture is solid. 

 We often talk of our solid mahogany bed or 

 table, etc. The truth is there is very little 

 solid stuff on the market, and the veneered 

 stuff is far more beautiful than any solid 

 article could be. The reason is that in veneer- 

 ing a section of wood which has a beautiful 

 grain can be cut up into sheets so that it will 

 cover a large space. The sheets are cut just 

 about as thick as one's big toenail, but one 

 log may make several hundred sheets. These 

 are glued to cheaper woods and the two are 

 as solid as if grown together. The machinery 

 here is such that skins off this fine wood can 

 be fitted to furniture of every shape. Alto- 

 gether, the veneer is considered one of the 

 greatest improvements in the wood working 

 industry of the day. The vry best of oak, 

 the walnut and the 'mahogany trees are se- 

 lected for veneering. A large walnut tree with 

 a perfect grain is worth a great deal of money 

 for it can be made, into hundreds of feet of 

 veneer, and one mahogany log sold recently at 

 Liverpool for $7,000 to be used for veneers. 

 Expert workmen are traveling through the 

 great woods all the time in the interests of 

 veneering companies. Sometimes it is found 

 in the heart of the woods, and again on some 

 lonely farm or in the dooryard of some coun- 

 try home. If it is straight, large and perfect 

 in grain ten times as much will be offered for 

 it as it would be worth for ordinary lumbering 

 purposes. 



With your permission, I would like to quote 

 from a brief address of Wm. Widdicombe, the 

 veteran furniture manufacturer of Grand Rap- 

 ids at the State Horticultural Society. "So far 

 as the forestry problem relates to furniture, it 

 is one difficult of solution. The timber used 

 for furniture manufacture is already of well- 

 defined limit. The hardwoods of the north are 

 now found only in Michigan and Wisconsin, 

 with a very limited amount to be had yet from 

 the Adirondacks and possibly from Northern 

 Vermont. The oak of Michigan, Wisconsin, 

 Indiana and Ohio is a thing of the past. Only 

 here and there is timber of suitable size and 

 quantity to be found. I am informed that 

 Kentucky and West Virginia are nearing de- 

 pletion, and that now Arkansas, Tennessee and 

 Mississippi are almost the only reliable sources 

 of supply. Grand Rapids consumes about sev- 

 enty-five million feet of hardwood yearly. The 

 only lumber used by the furniture manufactur- 

 ers which has not materially advanced in price 

 during the past ten or fifteen years is mahog- 

 any, which fortunately can be imported without 

 any duty whatever, hence the price is no 

 higher today than twenty years ago. 



"Reforesting the lands of Michigan for furni- 

 ture lumber is, in my opinion, almost 'impos- 

 sible. The forest for rapid production of 

 hardwood should be an unbroken wilderness 

 and the peculiar manner in which this state is 

 divided into mile square sections with a public 

 road around each section will prevent that 

 seclusion and moisture in the soil which hard- 

 wood timber demands for rapid and permanent 

 growth. The roads surrounding and dividing, 

 every section of land afford opportunity for 

 dry winds to penetrate the forest, a great 

 source of clanger through fire. Furniture 

 manufacturers, realizing their timber supplies 

 are constantly growing scarcer and increasing 

 in cost, are economizing in the use of lumber 

 to the utmost extent." 



Now. Mr. Widdicomb gets, a vermillion ma- 

 hogany to use in his factory for chamber 



suites. This mahogany comes from the Am- 

 damon Islands. The Amdamon Islands are 

 known as the Sing Sing of India. It is where 

 the convicts are sent to serve a long term. 



I also want to speak of the quaint furniture 

 in Arts and Crafts. While faithfully observ- 

 ing the characteristic simplicity and good 

 workmanship which form the keynote of the 

 old handicrafts, it possesses a distinctive and 

 most attractive individuality. Utility, sincerity 

 and simplicity have been named as the watch- 

 words of Arts and Crafts movements. Much 

 of this furniture is handmade, but that done 

 by machinery is not a whit inferior. 



Whether the return to severe simplicity in 

 furniture and furnishings of which we have so 

 many evidences during the past three or four 

 years is a passing fad, a pandering to the 

 demand for something novel rather than a re- 

 volt against cheap over-ornamentation is likely 

 to be settled within the coming year. That 

 the mevement has been productive of good 

 results cannot be denied; that the result is 

 lasting is doubted by many, but I believe tin- 

 severe simplicity of the mission of the Arts 

 and Crafts, and in the less degree of the mod- 

 ern English, will eventually result in a perma- 

 nent style. It will take its place among the 

 recognized' periods, the Louis, Colonial, Shera- 

 tan, etc. 



FORESTRY DAY AT ITHACA. 



The Ithaca Bay View Reading Circle, of 

 Ithaca, devoted a day to forestry recently and 

 many excellent papers on the subject were 

 presented by members of the club. The papers 

 were as follows: "Trees for the State of 

 Michigan," Mrs. Brown; "The Passing of the 

 Forest," Miss Hill; "Forestry Financially," 

 Mrs. Colwell; "The Voice of the Sequoca," 

 Mrs. Parrish; "Sees the Earth Drying Up," 

 Miss Potts; "Trees." Mrs. Nelson; "A True 

 Story," Mrs. McCall; "A Warning." Mrs. Mon- 

 fort; "The Fall of the Oak," Mrs. Price; "A 

 Lumberman's View," Miss Brown; "Forest 

 Fires," Mrs! Brown. 



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