1905 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



91 



these matters before the users of tim- 

 ber. 



The introduction of western hem- 

 lock to the market as a building ma- 

 terial has met with many obstacles. 

 The hemlock of the East is far inferior 

 to the Western species as a building 

 wood, and the prejudice existing 

 against the Eastern species is unjustly 

 extended to that of the West. The 

 latter is a hard, straight, and even- 

 grained wood, nearly white in color. 

 It does not split readily, and is light 

 and tough. These characteristics pe- 

 culiarly fit it for manufacture into 

 boxes. It is also a superior wood for 

 all inside finishing, as it takes a high 

 polish and has excellent wearing quali- 

 ties. It can be rapidly kiln dried at 

 high temperature without injury. Me- 

 chanical tests have shown it to pos- 

 sess about 70 per cent, of the strength 

 of red fir and to be suited for all except 

 the heaviest structural demands. Large 

 quantities of this timber are now sold 

 under other names than its own. There 

 is no just cause for the prejudice 

 which necessitates this deception, and 

 Western hemlock should be handled 

 under its right name. 



Another tree which has been dis- 

 criminated against is the loblolly pine. 

 This is a tree of a wide range of dis- 

 tribution, and Bureau tests have shown 

 that, under proper conditions of 

 growth, it can furnish wood of great 

 structural merit. It, too, is sold under 

 fictitious names, when it should be 

 sold on its merits. The principal ob- 

 jection to ic is that it is usually sap- 

 wood and decays rapidly when ex- 

 posed. But it is of open grain and 



can be very successfully treated with 

 preservatives, which should entirely 

 eliminate this objection. Many of the 

 so-called inferior timbers can be more 

 thoroughly and successfully treated 

 with preservatives than can the more 

 solid timbers. Happily, this is in a 

 marked degree the case with the abun- 

 dant loblolly pine, and this tree is cer- 

 tain to come into general and appre- 

 ciated use. 



Another phase of this work is in 

 connection with the packing box in- 

 dustry. Very few people appreciate 

 the amount of lumber that goes into 

 the manufacture of packing boxes. 

 Formerly the size of boxes for differ- 

 ent purposes, was based on the 

 strength of white pine, which used to 

 be the standard material employed. 

 With the scarcity of white pine and 

 its increased price, gum, cottonwood, 

 loblolly pine, and other woods have 

 come into use for boxes. In many 

 cases these woods are much heavier 

 than white pine, so that there is an 

 added expense for freight because of 

 the extra weight of the boxes. It be- 

 comes, then, an important matter to 

 ascertain to what extent the thickness 

 of boxboards commonly used can be 

 reduced without lessening the strength 

 of the box below the necessary re- 

 quirement. The Bureau of Forestry, 

 in co-operation with the North Caro- 

 lina Pine Association, is about to take 

 up this problem, and by actual experi- 

 ment with boxes of different sizes and 

 of various kinds of lumber to deter- 

 mine the extent to which the prevail- 

 ing thicknesses of boards can be di- 

 minished. 



