540 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



by the following list of states with the number of feet of lumber a year to keep its box factories going, and 

 of box lumber consumed in each annually. Each of the aggregate is 3,594,000,000 feet yearly, 78 per 

 these sixteen states requires more than 100,000,000 feet cent of. the whole box production of the United 



^States. 



PKO.IIXT-MW1-A 



l>KOI> ti:.st 

 MI'Tiinii or ll.si 



Virginia 434,000,000 Ohio 158,000,000 



TESTING BOXES BY DROPPING THEM 



The accompanying cut represents an apparatus built by the United States 

 Forest Service to determine how much dropping certain makes of boxes 

 will stand. It is too well known that during transportation many boxes 

 are pitched from drays, cars and boats, and the shipper wants to know 

 tn advance whether his boxes are strong enough to stand the punishment. 



New York 400,000,000 



Illinois 391,000,000 



Massachusetts 353,000,000 



California 310,000,000 



Pennsylvania 286,000,000 



Michigan 234,000,000 



New Hampshire 200,000,000 



Maryland 147,000,000 



Wisconsin 124,000,000 



Missouri 117,000,000 



Kentucky 114,000,000 



Arkansas 111,000,000 



Maine 109,000,000 



New Jersey 106,000,000 



Most boxes are broken up and destroyed after being 

 used once, yet the trade in the second-hand article is 

 quite large. Dealers in cities make a business of col- 

 lecting them and making repairs, then selling them to 

 manufacturers and other large shippers who refill the 



THE CRUSHING STRENGTH OF BOXES 



If packed boxes are stacked high, one upon another, those near the 

 bottom may be crushed by the weight of those above. It is important 

 to know how much a box of a particular kind will stand, before the risk 

 of having it crushed is assumed. The testing machine in the above cut 

 was devised in the Government laboratory at Madison, Wisconsin, 



boxes and send them out again as carriers of merchan- 

 dise. Sometimes large department stores systematically 

 collect and repair boxes and shipping cases for their 

 own use. They operate sanding belts for removing 

 all lettering and scars, after which the boxes are re- 

 stenciled and go out, looking like new. However, the 

 journey's end for most boxes is in the kindling wood 

 shed. Attempts have been made to draw the nails and 

 salvage the lumber, but no great success has attended 

 such efforts, because the pieces are too small for gen- 



