Canadian Forestry Journal, June, 1917 



1101 



of $660,262. The leading woods are 

 eastern cedar, western red cedar, 

 spruce and tamarack. Spruce and 

 other piling is used quite extensively 

 in Canada and forms an important 

 export item. 



Spruce Most Widelij Used 

 The term lumber is used to include 

 a wide range of material and con- 

 stitutes the most important manu- 

 factured product A large propor- 

 tion goes directly from the saw-mill 

 into general building and construc- 

 tion without passing through an 

 intermediate wood-working factory. 

 In 1915 the lumber out in 3,239 mills 

 totalled 3,242,676,000 feet board 

 measure with a total value of $61,- 

 919,806, which include a good deal of 

 "structural timbers." Twenty-five 

 kinds of wood are reported which re- 

 present about 50 distinct species. 

 Spruce, white pine and Douglas fir 

 account for about 75 per cent, of the 

 total lumber out in Canada Hard- 

 woods are of minor importance repre- 

 senting only about 6 per cent of the 

 total lumber cut; birch is the leading 

 species in point of quantity available 

 The term "structural timbers" covers 

 wood so used that its strength is a 

 factor of first importance and includes 

 timbers for mill construction, trestle 

 and bridge timbers, wharf timbers, 

 larger ship timbers, etc. The Divi- 

 sions of Timber Tests and Timber 

 Physics of the Forest Products La- 

 boratories are now establishing au- 

 thoritative data on the mechanical 

 and physical properties of Canadian 

 woods for the benefit of engineers 

 architects and others concerned with 

 the grading of lumber and design of 

 structures. The Canadian species in 

 order of merit and resources are Doug- 

 las fir, western hemlock, eastern hem- 

 lock, western yellow pine, western 

 larch, red pine and eastern larch. 

 Douglas fir is fully equal to southern 

 longleaf pine as a heavy structural 

 timber and with the tremendous 

 untouched resources in British Col- 

 umbia is destined to become Canada's 

 most important tree. 



3 Billion Shingles 

 The rough manufactured products 

 are too well known to require much 



discussion. (Canada produces over 

 3 billion shingles annually, valued at 

 nearly $(),000,000. Over half of these 

 are made in British Columbia mostly 

 from western red cedar. About 800 

 million laths are produced with a 

 value of over $2,000,000, these being 

 for the most part by-products from 

 slabs and edgings. Treated wood- 

 block paving is now used in a number 

 of Canadian cities and throughout 

 the world is placded in the first rank 

 of city paving materials. Wood flour 

 or wood meal is the fine, fluffy, ab- 

 sorbent fibre made by grinding wood 

 chips in a stone mill or steel burr roller 

 mill with a limited amount of water. 

 It is used in the manufacture of 

 dynamite, inlaid linoleum, oatmeal 

 wall paper and wood plastics. Can- 

 ada imports considerable quantities 

 from Europe and the United States 

 chiefly for the manufacture of dyna- 

 mite and there is no reason why the 

 industry should not be established 

 in Canada for both local and export 

 trade. Wood wool is a fine excelsior 

 used in Europe for surgical, dressings, 

 filtering, stuffing mattresses and as 

 a substitute for cotton waste. 



Specially manufactured products 

 include hundreds of dilTerent kinds 

 of articles wholly or partly construct- 

 ed of wood. In Canada this group 

 accounts for 15 per cent, of the total 

 wood cut. An economic principle 

 underlying the proper use of wood is 

 that each species of wood has a 

 legitimate field of usefulness within 

 which it should be employed. Cus- 

 tom, prejudice and lack of informa- 

 tion frequently prevent the use of 

 a species for some purpose for which 

 it is naturally adapted. A large 

 amount of accurate data still remains 

 to be established and there is a wide 

 field for technical research in de- 

 termining the mechanical, physical 

 and chemical characteristics of Can- 

 adian woods. . 



Some By Products 



Special mention should be made 

 of the by-products of the lumber 

 industry since they constitute an 

 enormous amount of wood material 

 which for the most part is now going 

 to waste. Utilization is retarded in 



