538 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



ornamental as well as useful, and the tops and sides are 

 frequently decorated to increase their beauty. Hand- 

 painted lids are not unusual, and the decorative work 



frequently more than 

 doubles the cost of 

 the plain box. Choice 

 woods are preferred, 

 among them being 

 Circassian walnut, 

 mahogany, rosewood 

 and ebony. If the 

 ornamentation is pro- 



duced by phyrography, as is 

 frequent when that style is in 

 fashion, the wood that behaves 

 best under the point of the burn- 

 ing needle is selected. No 

 moderate priced wood is superior 

 in this work to basswood, but 

 cottonwood does not fall much 

 below it. For the finest grade 

 of work the pyrographer often 

 selects orange wood or some 

 other that is very hard, dense 

 and fine grained, with absence 

 of distinct growth rings. 



Most manufacturers of boxes 

 would welcome standardization 

 in the output; that is, regular 

 established sizes and shapes, and 

 the elimination of so many sizes 

 and special patterns. If boxes 

 could thus be standardized it 

 would be practicable to employ 

 machinery to better advantage. 



Some progress in that 



direction has been made and further advance is prom- 



used, and one too large is wasteful in space, packing 

 material, drayage, and freight charges. Because of this, 

 no great success has attended the efforts put forth to 

 standardize packing boxes. 



The thickness of box lumber can be no more standard- 

 ized than the size and shape of the box can be ; because 

 woods vary so much in their strength and their ability 

 to hold nails. One wood of a certain thickness might 

 be sufficient to meet all demands, but another cut to the 

 same standard of thickness would be wholly unsatis- 

 factory. 



Much consideration is given to the weight of the 

 material of which boxes are made, because 

 most boxes are sent to market by freight or 

 express, and carrying charges are levied ac- 

 cording to weight. That holds true whether 

 the lumber is shipped before being made 

 into boxes, or whether the shooks or the empty 

 boxes are transported, or whether the hoxes 

 are weighed and are figured in the freight 

 bill as they carry merchandise to market. 

 Freight must be paid on every pound, box, 

 contents, and all. At a very moderate esti- 

 mate, the boxes manufactured annually in the 

 United States weigh 3,000,000 tons; and if 

 an average freight rate is six dollars a ton 

 when these boxes are shipped, the total bill 

 is $18,000,000 a year. 



By using a light wood for boxes, many tons 

 can be saved by large shippers. White pine 

 exceeds any other wood in the quantity made 

 into boxes. It is only a little more than 

 half as heavy as oak. Red gum exceeds any 

 other hardwood in amount converted into 

 boxes, and this wood is moderately light. 

 Weight is, of course, only one of the quali- 

 ties considered in selecting woods for boxes, 

 but it is an important consideration. 



Of the annual consumption in the United 

 States by boxmakers of 4,600.000,000 feet, 

 board measure, more than 3,000,000,000 feet are soft- 

 woods and the hardwood is about half as much. Pine 



ised ; but to reduce all boxes to fixed sizes and shapes Contributes more than half of all. Every species of pine 

 is a problem beset with almost insuperable 

 difficulties. Articles to be shipped are of 

 dimensions so various and of shapes so differ- 

 ent, and of kinds so numerous that a box suit- 

 able for one will not answer the needs of others. 

 If such a thing as regular sizes were estab- 

 lished, it would at once become necessary to 

 have two specials to one regular to accommo- 

 date the trade. The manufacturer of an arti- 

 cle insists upon a box 



that will fit, protect 

 and carry his article, 

 and he will take no 

 other kind. A box 

 too small cannot be 



HICKORY AND SASSAFRAS IN RUSTIC BOXES 



Flower nd fern boxes for porches and window sills belong in a class to them- 

 selves. Fashion and custom require that they be ornamental, odd, and attractive. 

 Boxes ot this kind are shown in the accompanying cut, copied from the cata- 

 logue of the Old Hickory Chair Company, Martinsville, Indiana. 



that occurs in com- 

 mercial quantities in 

 this country goes to 

 box factories, a score 

 of species at least ; 



