738 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



tistics often group many related species as a single wood, 

 as oak, or ash, or elm, or maple, or birch, or pine, though 

 each name represents several species in actual use. There 

 are, for example, fifty-two oaks, half that many pines, 

 several elms, ashes, maples, and birches, and most of them 

 figure in the furniture making of this country. There 

 are numerous minor woods, not widely known because 

 of their local occurrence or scarcity. Some of them are 

 beautiful in color and figure, and in localities where 

 they grow they are in more or less demand by furniture 

 shops. Though few of these minor woods are named 

 in statistics, they may be in much greater use than some 

 of the foreign species which are on the lists. The wealth 



from our own forests which are only superficially under- 

 stood and appreciated by most people. 



Furniture is classified in several grades or sorts, and 

 most manufacturers specialize in certain kinds. Though 

 chairs are furniture, most chairs, particularly of the com- 

 mon sorts, are not the product of factories which make 

 other kinds of furniture. Chairmaking is sometimes 

 considered to be separate and apart from the general 

 furniture industry, or at least as a distinct branch of it. 

 The moderate-priced dining room or kitchen chair is an 

 interesting product, if its method of manufacture is taken 

 into account. Much of the stock of which these chairs 

 are made never passes through the ordinary sawmill, but 



CENTER TABLE OF FIGURED GUM 



Veneer is put to its best use in furniture like this, where the finest figures are matched for display. The gum paneling on the walls 

 completes the harmonious grouping. The photograph for this illustration was furnished by the Gum Lumber Manufacturers Associa- 

 tion, Memphis, Tennessee. 



of wood in this country cannot be fully appreciated unless 

 account is taken of the lesser species as well as of the 

 greater. More of these little-known woods are given a 

 place in furniture making than in any other industry. 

 Among species of this class may be named yew, torreya, 

 yucca, mulberry, redbud, Santa Cruz ironwood, witch 

 hazel, featherwood, devil's claw, junco, mesquite, red 

 bay, yellowwood, holly, bluewood, mangrove, madrona, 

 and manzanita. The list could be extended fourfold 

 without getting outside of possible furniture material 



is the output of small, usually portable chair mills which 

 work out the blank dimensions for the rounds, backs, 

 bottoms, posts, spindles, and braces. This rough stock 

 is sent to central factories to be made into finished chairs 

 ready for use. One such factory may take all the stock 

 cut by dozens of the small chair mills located within a 

 radius of a hundred miles. These small mills are equip- 

 ped with special machinery for cutting the various chair 

 parts. The majority of such mills move from place to 

 place, working up patches of timber which are not ex- 



