424 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



but such restrictions do not usually apply in the suburbs, 

 and there wooden houses are found in largest numbers. 

 Many houses with halls of brick or stone are actually 

 more than half wood, the floors, partitions, ceilings, and 

 stairways being of that material. 



Without doubt the fire peril is often overworked to 

 the prejudice of wood. Fire laws frequently go too 

 far in restricting the use of lumber in buildings, and 

 persons who may prefer wooden houses are discour- 

 aged from building them. The lumber associations 

 of the country are constantly alert to see that municipali- 

 ties do not knowingly legislate against the proper use of 

 wood in house building. The suspicion is apparently 



timbers are chamfered and the splinters are removed, so 

 that if a fire starts, it will not spread quickly, thus giving 

 the fire fighters a chance to arrive. 



Within recent years an important place for the use 

 of wood has been found in a class of buildings desig- 

 nated as "mill construction." The first employment of 

 wood in structures of that kind was not very recent, and 

 it was probably a development from small and crude 

 beginnings ; but the style of architecture which now 

 bears that name came into notice quite early in the 

 cotton mills of New England. For that reason it was 

 called mill construction. Buildings of that kind were 

 in existence early in the nineteenth century ; but that 



THIS IS UNQUESTIONABLY "ROUGH CONSTRUCTION" 



Not a stick of this woodwork ever saw a planing mill or a paint brush. Neither would the bunkhouse be a desirable risk for an insurance com- 

 pany. It is an inside view of lumbermen's sleeping quarters and living room in Wisconsin, but is a little out of date, as they have much better 

 layouts now. 



well founded that dealers in building supplies other than 

 wood, but which compete with wood, not infrequently in- 

 stigate by unfair methods the passage of laws intended to 

 discourage the use of wood. 



Much has been done to lessen the fire peril in wooden 

 buildings by what is known as the "slow combustion" 

 style of architecture. It is seen oftenest in large ware- 

 rooms, store houses, and factories. The wood is not 

 made proof against burning, but the corners of exposed 



particular style of architecture did not attract much at- 

 tention until about eighty-five years ago when the owners 

 of a large number of such mills formed an organization 

 for mutual protection of their property against fire. It 

 resulted in fire insurance, and out of that movement grew 

 certain regulations calling for a standard type of mill 

 building which had proved its value in resisting fire, 

 and also in its strength and permanence. The original 

 regulations concerning such structures are largely em- 



