40 WOOD-USING INDUSTRIES OF MARYLAND 



FORMS IN WHICH WOOD REACHES FACTORIES. 



The wood-using industries of Maryland manufacture nearly 300,- 

 000,000 feet of lumber a year, and the raw material reaches the fac- 

 tories in nearly all sizes and grades known to the sawmill business. It 

 is seldom practicable for all the factories and shops which make the 

 same kind of wares to specify certain sizes and grades of material 

 desired, and take nothing else. There are, however, limits to the 

 varieties which they can make use of, because their business demands 

 that the lumber purchased must meet certain requirements, and if 

 it does not meet them, it can not be profitably used, though it might 

 suit some other industry very well. 



In collecting the statistics which have been compiled and condensed 

 in Tables 3 to 15, both inclusive, the Maryland manufacturers of wood 

 were asked to state the forms and grades in which the raw material 

 was desired at their factories, and also the smallest sizes that could 

 be profitably used. A summary of replies received shows that there 

 is little agreement among them on these points, even among those who 

 make the same class of commodities. "For example, what one box 

 maker demands, another can not use. It depends upon the kind of 

 boxes each is making, and unless the fact is stated each time a certain 

 size or grade of lumber is specified, the information can be of no value 

 to others. Six smallest sizes that could be used were listed in the 

 replies of the box makers, and no two of them were the same. It is 

 evident that a maker of confectionery boxes could find places for sizes 

 of lumber that would have no place in the factory of a piano-box maker. 

 Six box makers reported that they bought the log run of lumber, while 

 eighteen bought certain specified grades. The smallest sizes that could 

 be employed by makers of interior finish were almost as numerous as 

 the firms reporting. This record was greatly exceeded by boat builders, 

 for nineteen sizes were listed, every one of which was the limit for 

 some one of the manufacturers. The grades listed were not so numer- 

 ous, but seventeen boat makers bought rough lumber, five bought 

 dressed, while eleven bought first grade, four bought second, and 

 twelve bought all. The makers of horse vehicles showed no uniformity 

 in size, grade, or kind, some purchasing logs, some rough lumber, some 

 both kinds, while in sizes almost everything known to the lumber trade 

 was reported. The requirements of the makers of different kinds of 



