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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Copyright photograph by Darius Kinsey. 



THIS SPEAKS FOR ITSELF 



This picture shows the great width of clear lumber that can be obtained from Douglas fir timber. Douglas fir produces a very high percentage of 



absolutely clear lumber. 



Douglas fir is one of the very few woods which is 

 well adapted to construction throughout, either in the 

 home or commercial structure. For use as sub-sills, 

 joists, studding, and rafters it has strength and durability ; 

 for use as siding it has beauty and durability and holds 

 paint well ; as a flooring material it offers great resistance 

 to wear, and for the interior finish of the home, the panel- 

 ing, baseboards, stairwork, doors, sash, moldings, or 

 other finish requirements its beauty adapts it admirably. 



But while rilling well the needs of a home-building 

 wood, it is none the less a factory, store, bridge, and 

 general structure wood. Its strength, lightness, and 

 durability are the desired characteristics for these pur- 

 poses. Railroads are large purchasers of Douglas fir for 

 car construction, railroad ties, trestle work, piling, poles, 

 and miscellaneous work. In 1909, when approximately 

 one hundred and twenty-five million ties were purchased, 

 Douglas fir contributed over nine million of them, and 

 would furnish many more but for the long haul to the 

 principal tie markets. Southern pine furnished twenty- 

 one million and the oaks fifty-seven million. 



The same year twenty-live thousand poles were cut 

 from Douglas fir. The cedars, however, are preferred 

 for this use because of their extreme durability. 



No data are available on the amount of piling driven 

 annually, but Douglas lir is exceeded only by the Southern 



pines as a piling wood. The four requisites of a good 

 piling are straightness, strength, length, and durability. 

 Douglas fir is nearly always "pencil" straight, amply 

 strong, clear length up to one hundred and fifty feet, 

 if desired, and is the equal in durability of other woods 

 used for this purpose. Creosoting greatly lengthens the 

 life of piling, and a marked increase in the number of 

 creosoted Douglas fir piles is noted annually. The creo- 

 sote acts as a poison to the great enemy of piling, the 

 toredo, and, in addition, preserves the wood. 



WOOD BLOCK PAVEMENTS 



In trend with the modern tendency toward increased 

 efficiency may well be mentioned the use of creosoted 

 wood blocks in pavement construction as a distinct im- 

 provement over the commonly used materials. Silence to 

 traffic, longer life, more even wearing surface, better 

 service, small maintenance cost, ease of repair, quickly 

 laid, and sanitary are terms which describe the Douglas 

 fir wood block pavement. Several examinations have 

 been made recently of this type of paving where the 

 blocks had been down for from eight to fifteen years, 

 and none of these showed more than one-quarter inch 

 wear in all of that time. And they bid fair to last an 

 indefinitely longer period under the same satisfactory 



