1899. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



89, 



entire tracts are logged for pulp manu- 

 facture. 



The article referred to has one forcible 

 illustration of this change, in connection 

 with the production of wood pulp on the 

 Androscoggin River. In 1888 the con- 

 sumption of Spruce timber on that 

 stream in pulp manufacture was only 

 22,000,000 feet; in 1898 it was 195,000,- 

 000 feet. The same thing has been 

 going on all over New England, though 

 resisted in some sections, as on the Pe- 

 nobscot River. Spruce therefore is rap- 

 idly becoming a material not available 

 for the lumber manufacturer, who is out- 

 bid for its possession by the pulp maker. 



While New England is the home of 

 the Spruce, the idea that it is confined to 

 that section of the country is errone- 

 ous. There are large quantities of it in 

 the Allegheny Mountains and no small 

 amount in the upper peninsula of Michi- 

 gan and in northern Wisconsin. There 

 are a few million feet of Spruce lumber 

 produced in Michigan, but the real use 

 of the wood there as elsewhere is for 

 pulp making. Two of the greatest 

 centers of wood pulp manufacture in the 

 country are now to be found in Wiscon- 

 sin, the Spruce districts in that State 

 being respectively on the Fox River, in 

 the eastern part of the State, and on the 

 Wisconsin River. The Spruce in that 

 section ordinarily does not grow in solid 

 bodies of any size, but is scattered in 

 narrow belts through the other timber or 

 is found mixed with other growths. But 

 in the aggregate the output is consider- 

 able, and the traveler along the railroad 

 lines which penetrate the upper penin- 

 sula sees at every station piles of pulp 

 wood bolts brought in by the farmers and 

 small jobbers, to be shipped to the pulp 

 mills further south. Spruce has had its 

 day as a lumber wood, but is even more 

 valuable as standing timber available for 

 the use of pulp making than it was when 

 its only or chief use was the production 

 of lumber. American Lumber ma 11. 



Mine Props. 



It is generally known that in all coal 



mines the roof above the coal vein has 

 to be propped up as the coal is dug out. 

 This is done with wooden props made of 

 round timber cut to proper lengths. In 

 this country the coal mines are usually 

 situated in wooded localities, and the cost 

 of the mine props is a small matter ; but 

 in the United Kingdom and some States 

 in Europe the trade in such timber is an 

 important one. By the by, mine props 

 in England are called "pit props" and 

 " pit wood," and they come largely from 

 the Scandinavian countries. While there- 

 is a limit to the amount of lumber timber 

 in this country, the amount of small tim- 

 ber suitable for pit props may be truly 

 said to be inexhaustible if used for no 

 other purposes. W T e have had some in- 

 quiries as to the feasibility of shipping 

 pit wood from the hardwood section of 

 the Central South to British ports. The- 

 data as to prices, cost of freight-, etc., 

 available at present is not sufficient tc*- 

 permit any satisfactory answer ; but it 

 may be of interest to inquirers to know 

 that English experts have some queer- 

 ideas as to the crushing strength of tim- 

 ber. The following extract is from Tim- 

 ber of March 4, 1899. We do not know 

 just what is meant by "ordinary oak 

 props " : 



"At a general meeting of the Federated 

 Institution of Mining Engineers, held at 

 Shelton, Stoke-upon-Trent, on the 22d 

 ult., Prof. H. Louis read a paper, en- 

 titled 'Further Notes on Pit Props,' 

 stating that of half a dozen ordinary oak 

 props he had tested the best result was- 

 given by the straightest prop ; yet this 

 was only 1.11 tons per square inch r 

 while the average of the six was only 0.92 

 ton per square inch. This figure com- 

 pared very unfavorably with the result 

 obtained from ordinary Baltic soft-wood 

 props viz, 1. 57 1 tons being only 6o> 

 per cent of that figure. The lowest 

 figure obtained from soft wood 1.1 

 tons -was equal to the highest given by 

 an oak prop. It was, therefore, impossi- 

 ble to doubt that the oak prop was far 

 weaker than an ordinary Baitic prop." 

 Southern Lumberman. 



