1348 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



colors ; but it is better to use woods which naturally have 

 the desired colors, because stains and dyes may not pene- 

 trate much beneath the surface and after a little wearing 

 down by use, the real tones of the woods may appear and 

 betray the counterfeit. 



Floors of parquetry may be built in place, block by 

 block, strip by strip, and border by border; or they may 

 be made in factories, the pieces all matched ready for 

 laying in sections. One style of such flooring is called 

 wood carpet, 

 though it is 

 more properly 

 a floor -cover- 

 ing than the 

 floor itself, and 

 that is what is 

 implied when 

 the name car- 

 pet is used. 



Some floors 

 are not meant 

 to resist much 

 wear. Quite 

 soft woods an- 

 swer for such. 

 Floors of that 

 sort are often- 

 est seen in 

 large store 

 windows in- 

 tended for 

 show, and in 

 alcoves and 

 on balconies 

 where mer- 

 chandise is dis- 

 played and few 

 persons ever 

 walk, except 

 window trim- 

 mers, decora- 

 tors and jani- 

 tors. Very soft 

 woods like 

 white pine and 

 basswcod will 

 stand all the 

 wear to which 

 they are com- 

 monly liable in 

 such situations. 



Factory and 



warehouse floors are of a wholly different kind. They 

 must stand rough usage, and the wear is often excessive. 

 Heavy trucks and barrows trundle over them, and the 

 surface of the boards, if the floors are of lumber, are 

 apt to be splintered by the grinding and crushing action 

 of wheels, or splintered or dented by the fall of heavy 

 bodies. This holds true of warehouses in particular, the 



SOUTHERN TIMBER FOR FLOORING 



Flooring is made in the South as well as in the North, and each kind has a field to fill. The ahove 

 picture represents a forest scene in Georgia where trees of different kinds grow intermingled, and among 

 them are some possessing great value as flooring stuff. Softwoods and hardwoods grow side by side. 



floors of which must be strong. To secure this condition, 

 sometimes the sub-floor is made of planks several inches 

 thick, and over this is laid a thinner floor of hardwood 

 to receive the immediate wear. By that arrangement, the 

 surface is kept fairly smooth. In many instances, the 

 flooring in a factory or a warehouse is of edge grain 

 lumber, such being less liable than plain planks to split 

 and splinter under rough usage. 



Another kind of flooring common in factories, mills, 



breweries, tan- 

 neries, and sta- 

 bles, is made 

 of blocks, set 

 in a way to ex- 

 pose the end 

 grain to wear. 

 These blocks 

 are similar to 

 those used in 

 paving streets. 

 It is customary 

 to set such 

 blocks on a 

 plank floor as 

 a foundation, 

 and after the 

 blocks are in 

 place, they are 

 treated with a 

 dressing of tar, 

 pitch, sand, as- 

 phalt, or some 

 similar mate- 

 rial. This fills 

 the interspaces 

 between the 

 blocks and 

 makes the floor 

 solid and tight. 

 The end- 

 grain of the 

 blocks forms 

 the surface of 

 the floor. It 

 wears better 

 than the side 

 of the block, 

 because the 

 ends of the 

 wood fibers 

 bruise slightly, 

 forming a com- 

 pact, felt-like mass, resembling a cushion, and this resists 

 wear in a remarkable manner, and at the same time it is 

 sufficiently soft to deaden and neutralize the jolts and 

 jars caused by passing trucks or by the dropping of 

 heavy objects. It is a yielding and semi-noiseless floor, 

 and for that reason it is popular for certain kinds of 

 buildings. The employment of wooden blocks as flooring 



