THE SOUTHERN LUMBERMAN 



43 



are not unusual, and some attain three or four 

 times that size. 



SASSAFRAS Probably the principal value of 

 sassafras in the future will be for oil and not. 

 lumber. The oil is manufactured from the wood 

 and bark, chiefly from the roots, and is used to 

 perfume soap. It has long been so used, but of 

 late years synthetic oils, of which one of the in- 

 gredients is camphor, have somewhat lessened the 

 demand for sassafras oil. The whole reported out- 

 put of sassafras lumber in 1909, according to census 

 returns, was only 24,000 feet, and yet Tennessee 

 alone last year used fourteen times that much in 

 its factories. If the wood were more abundant, it 

 would be a valuable commodity, for it is of good 

 color, attractive grain, and is hard, strong and 

 durable. Its tendency to season without checking 

 was recognized generations ago by early settlers 

 who for that reason selected it for dugout canoes 

 on the Mississippi River and elsewhere. It is of 

 historical interest that sassafras was once (for a 

 brief period) the most valuable wood in the United 

 States, due to a belief that it was a cure-all for 

 diseases. Sassafras is in no danger of becoming 

 extinct. It spreads so rapidly into open ground 

 that in some localities it becomes a nuisance; but 

 large trees, suitable for lumber, are apt to become 

 scarcer than they now are. 



BUCKEYE This wood is of considerable im- 

 portance in Tennessee and manufacturers last year 

 used nearly 3,000,000 feet of it, which was almost 

 one-fourth of the entire cut of the wood in the 

 United States. Three species of buckeye are cut 

 in Tennessee, Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra), yel- 

 low buckeye (Aesculus octandra), and purple buck- 

 eye (Aesculus octandra hybrida). The yellow buck- 

 eye is niost abundant and of largest size. The box- 

 makers, trunkmakers and ' coffin manufacturers 

 used nearly all the buckeye reported in Tennessee, 

 and practically all of it was state grown. It is 

 especially valued by manufacturers of candies and 

 chocolates. The seasoned wood is white, clean 

 and odorless, and when made into boxes imports 

 no taint to articles of food. When green it is one 

 of the softest woods, but it hardens and toughem 

 as it becomes dry. It is among the lightest of the 

 broad leaf trees, lighter even than basswood, which 

 in some respects it closely resembles. 



MAHOGANY This is a foreign wood and comes 

 from Mexico, the West Indies and other parts of 

 tropical America. Other woods commercially 

 known as mahogany are brought from Africa. Next 

 to osage orange, mahoc-iny is the most costly 

 wood reported by manufacturers in Tennessee. 

 Sixty thousand of the 183,000 feet reported was 

 the African species (Khaya senegalensis). 



CHESTNUT Tennessee ranked fifth among the 

 chestnut producing states in 1909, with a cut of 

 58.000,000 feet. That was four times as much as 

 its factories worked into commodities, and it shows 

 that the state is sending most of its chestnut be- 

 yond its borders. In fact, nearly two-thirds of what 

 was used in the state was imported. Home-grown 

 chestnut was sold out of the state, while Tennessee 

 factories were sending away from home for what 

 they needed. Chestnut is perhaps the most im- 

 portant wood of this country for coffins and cas- 

 kets, and it goes to large cities where these com 

 modifies are manufactured on an extensive scale. 

 The owners of chestnut timber are concerned lest 

 .a blight affecting the species in some of the 

 Northeastern States shall spread into other regions. 



OSAGE ORANGE Only 8,000 feet of the wood 

 was used last year in Tennessee, but it cost more 

 per thousand than any other. It came wholly from 

 Texas and Oklahoma, which is its natural range. 

 It has been planted for hedges and ornament In 

 nearly every state, and is known by many names. 

 In Tennessee some call it osage apple tree, and 

 others yellow wood. The last is the proper name 

 of another Tennessee wood (Cledrastis lutea). 

 which is not closely related to the osage orange. 

 Manufacturers of wagons use all the osage re- 

 ported. It is a very hard wood and shrinks and 

 swells little under climatic changes. The very high 

 price is accounted for by the fact that it was 

 already manufactured into felloes when received 

 at the wagon factories. 



BASSWOOD Tennessee finished 8,500.000 feet 

 of basswood in 1910. That was three million feet 

 under the reported output of the preceding year. 

 There has been a general decline during the past 

 five years in the cut of this wood in the United 

 States. In Tennessee it is occasionally called linn 

 and black limetree. Two or more species are cut 

 in the state, but they are considered one by most 

 lumbermen. The white basswood (Tillia heter- 

 ophylla) is often known in Tennessee as large- 

 leaved limetree, or linn. 



CUCUMBER This wood resembles basswood, 

 but if leaves and fruit are observed, it is not likely 

 to be mistaken for basswood or any other tree. 

 It is scarce and not very important. In early times 

 it was much sought for by pioneers who hewed 

 dough trays and woodenware from solid blocks 

 but that use has passed away and it now goes 

 to mills to be made into doors and other mill 

 work. The tree is conspicuous in the forest after 

 the first severe frost in the autumn, for the leaves 



taUe on strange and mottled colors and all come 

 down within a day or two. As they He on the 

 ground they resemble, in color, a heap of owl feath- 

 ers. This may be classed as one of the trees that 

 will disappear with the cutting of the original for- 

 ests; for no one will plant it except as a curiosity 

 and a relic in parks. It is named for its fruit, 

 two or three inches long. When green, the fruit 

 resembles a stunted, misshapen cucumber, but 

 when ripe it is bright scarlet. It yields abundance 

 of seeds and ought to reproduce vigorously, but 

 it does not appear to do so. Trees are found only 

 here and there scatered through forests of other 

 woods. 



BEECH Tennessee produces three times as 

 much beech as its factories use. Only one species 

 of beech grows in the United States, except in 

 parks where others have been planted. A tree 

 bearing some resemblance to it is known as blue 

 beech (Carpinus caroliniana). Though the blue 

 beech was not reported by any manufacturer in 

 Tennessee, it is probably used in a small way for 

 handles and for other purposes. The common 

 beech has been classed as a food tree for cen- 

 turies; and in some parts of this country the 

 nuts constitute an article of diet, but in Tennessee 

 they are valuable only as mast for hogs. 



Planing Mill Products. 



This is the largest wood-using industry in Ten- 

 nessee, and the chief commodities manufactured 

 are flooring, ceiling and siding. These products 

 are made and are offered for sale in the gen^ 

 eral market, it not being essential that they be of 



cypress and sassafras In the table was procured 

 in the state. 



Packing Boxes and Crates. 



This is the second largest wood-using industry in 

 Tennessee. In some other states it is the largest. 

 Since this product is employed in shipping mer- 

 chandise and the commodities of truck patch and 

 garden to market, the quantity of such boxes and 

 crates made in a state is a fair index to the state's 

 position as a manufacturing district. Tennessee 

 ranks high, though not as high as some of the 

 states north of it. This business in Kentucky 

 demands 109,000,000 feet of lumber, Wisconsin 

 119,000,000, Maryland 136,000,000, and Illinois 372,- 

 000,000. No satisfactory reason has been found 

 why Tennessee with its abundance of cheap wood 

 should pay a higher average price for box material 

 than is paid by any of the states named. Box- 

 makers in Wisconsin buy theirs for $13.09, in Mary- 

 land for $13.31, in Illinois for $15.31, in Kentucky 

 for $15.36, while in Tennessee the average for the 

 whole state is $16.26. Cottonwood is Tennessee's 

 leading box material, and it is high in price. It 

 possesses almost every requisite for a good box. 

 It is strong, tough, hard to split, holds nails well, 

 has no disagreeable odor or colored sap that will 

 stain the contents. It is white in color, which is 

 a quality greatly desired by certain shippers who 

 wish to stencil their advertisements on the pack- 

 ages. The wood suits so njany other purposes that 

 box-makers must bid high for it or it will not come 

 to them. That they get it in spite of cost and in 

 amounts larger than any other wood, is the best- 



PLANING MILL, PRODUCTS. 

 Table 2. 



Totals 147,214,950 



100.00 



Average 

 cost per 

 1,000 ft. 



$24.88 

 24.27 

 24.08 

 17.41 

 12.92 

 20.97 

 27.59 

 18.12 

 18.71 

 18.87 

 17.50 

 27.47 

 19.97 

 37.60 

 16.53 

 20.43 

 20.00 

 20/00 

 13.67 

 12.78 

 12.50 

 12.50 

 13.72 

 9.43 

 24.23 

 15.00 



116.00 

 18.95 

 16.33 

 12.72 

 12.00 



$22.03 



Total 



cost f. o. b. 



factory 



$ 756,200 



676,939 



613,287 



285,629 



161,491 



191,932 



156,771 



82,337 



54,600 



45,788 



35,000 



51,650 



29,950 



34,400 



7,914 



7,926 



7,520 



6,660 



3,854 



3,515 



3,125 



3,125 



3,335 



2,111 



3,15'0 



1,500 



11,600 



796 



490 



2-29 



180 



$3,243,004 



Grown in 

 Tennessee 

 feet B. M. 

 22,133.000 

 23,022,000 

 22,620,000 

 10,819,000 

 7,536,000 



VsV, 6 66 



1,843,000 

 2,148,000 

 2,113,000 

 1,000,000 



. 



170,000 



365,000 



55,000 



43,000 



157,666 

 150.000 

 125,000 

 125,000 

 243,000 

 110,000 

 80,000 

 100,000 



4-Y,666 



30,000 

 18.000 

 15,000 



97,180,000 



Grown 



out of 



Tennessae 



feet B. M. 



8,266,000 



4,865,825 



2,850,825 



5,585,000 



4,964,000 



9,154,000 



4,688,825 



2,700,000 



770,000 



313,825 



1,000,000 



1,880,000 



375,000 



745,000 



113,825 



333,000 



333,000 



333,000 



125,000 



125,000 



125,000 



125,000 



113, 8;I5 

 50,000 



100.666 



50,034,950 



special sizes and patterns. The planing machines 

 which turn them out are generally adjuncts of the 

 saw mills that cut the lumber. Red oak, which 

 doubtless includes a number of species under that 

 name, heads, for quantity, the list of thirty-one 

 species. The rather large amount of black walnut 

 in this industry is unexpected, since the wood is 

 never used as siding and seldom as flooring except 

 for parquetry which is not included in Table 2. 

 Black walnut's low price may be accounted for by 

 assuming that the material was purchased in the 

 log. The cost of white pine is lower than would be 

 expected for grades acceptable at a planing mill. 

 The 'Massachusetts box-makers pay that much for 

 what passes through their hands. Mahogany's 

 price is rather low, but the prevailing grades may 

 account for it. Thirty-one species in all is a good 

 showing when it is considered that twenty-nine of 

 them grow in Tennessee, though no part of the 



evidence that it is looked upon as the box material 

 par excellence of Tennessee. 



Red gum, yellow poplar and shortleaf pine are 

 extensively demanded for boxes and possess most 

 of the essential features required. Medium weight 

 is one requisite that should not be overlooked. 

 Though a few pounds more for a single box might 

 be a smalt thing to consider, it is not small if 

 hundreds or thousands of boxes are shipped by 

 freight, and the weight would be still more im- 

 portant were shipments to go by express. Buck- 

 eye and basswood. both present in large amounts 

 in Table 3, are light in weight. They are likewise 

 light in color which puts them, as far as stenciling 

 qualities are concerned, in the class with cotton- 

 wood. It is worthy of note that these two woods 

 which are nearest to cottonwood in color are near- 

 est to it in cost. Except cottonwood, they are the 

 costliest in Table 3. 



BOXES AND CRATES, PACKING. 

 Table 3. 



Less than 1-100 of 1 per cent. 



Average 



cost per 



1,000 ft. 



$21.99 



12.92 



15.23 



12.45 



17.29 



17,35 



15.02 



16.11 



16.83 



9.69 

 15.21 

 15.00 

 13.33 

 10.00 

 14.88 

 11.65 

 15.19 

 14.11 

 13.00 



9.00 

 12.00 

 12.00 

 12.00 

 12.00 



$16.26 



Total 



cost f. o. b. 



factory 



$ 495.900 



216,243 



246,444 



163,773 



36,590 



31,163 



15,471 



15,064 



15,570 



8,380 



7,455 



3,150 



2,640 



1,250 



1,860 



1,363 



1,747 



1,288 



1,144 



468 



360 



240 



72 



72 



$1,267,707 



Grown In 



Tennessee 



feet B. M. 



12,550,000 



15,543,000 



15,286,510 



4,658,820 



2,116.617 



1,796,470 



1,000,000 



934,785 



925,000 



865,000 



490,000 



210,000 



198,000 



125,000 



125,000 



113,000 



115,000 



91,308 



14,000 



52,000 



30,000 



20.000 



6,000 



6,000 



57,271,510 



Grown 

 out of 



Tennessee 



feet B. M. 



10.000.000 



1.200,000 



900.000 



8,500,000 



30,00'l 



4,000 



'it, 666 



20,708,000 



