278 



SELLING LUMBER 



Public 



Misconception 

 of Southern 

 Pine 

 Varieties 



Shortleaf for 



Interior 



Trim 



are therefore aware that outside of the dealers and wood-working 

 plants, everyone else who gives any attention to our wood, very 

 often refers to it also as "Pitch Pine" or "Hard Pine." Few lay- 

 men understand that there are the species of long and short leaf, 

 loblolly, etc., and that each of these is a specific wood for specific 

 purposes. This fact was very forcibly demonstrated during the 

 exhibits conducted by the Southern Pine Association and Arkansas 

 Soft Pine Bureau at Cleveland and Dayton, Ohio, last winter, 

 when out of the combined attendance of nearly 250,000, several 

 thousand individuals took the opportunity of asking questions of 

 those who were in charge of the exhibits, which questions proved 

 the preceding statement. The outstanding opinion proved to be 

 that nearly everyone regarded all Southern Pine as a hard, resinous 

 wood, suitable for interior use only in cheap buildings where low 

 cost takes precedent over artistic effect. The general idea pre- 

 vailed that no Southern pine could be finished but that it would 

 appear streaked or show a blotchy color, raised grain, etc., and in- 

 variably discolor white enamel because of the action of the rosin 

 on the white lead. 



An analysis to determine the cause of this opinion developed 

 that few dealers ever take pains to advise customers of the dif- 

 ference between long and short leaf and of the further fact that 

 the latter is one better suited for interior use. Instead they merely 

 deliver so much Yellow Pine finish to a given job. It may be long 

 or short leaf, or both the contractor installs it in his own way 

 and the painter comes along and sees nothing but another lot of 

 "Georgia Pine," which he proceeds to shampoo with shellac as the 

 first act on his part in this travesty on merchandising. 



Going behind the dealer, however, we find the manufacturer's 

 salesman is also to blame for his own lack of interest or knowledge 

 or both, and that were he more alert to the proper finishing of 

 the woods he sells, that the dealer would as a matter of course 

 absorb a good deal of information from the salesman which trie 

 former in turn could pass along to his trade. 



Most of you know, in a general way, that short leaf makes 

 a better interior trim than long leaf, because it is less resinous and 

 therefore easier to work and less likely to split, but do you actually 

 know why long leaf always looks streaked and blotchy under 

 stained treatments and why it seldom can be made to look any 

 other way? It is because first of all the painter must shellac the 

 raw wood for the purpose of neutralizing the rosin in an effort 



