THE ST. LOUIS LUMBERMAN. 



69 



SUMMARY OF KINDS OP WOOD USED IN MISSOURI. 



TABLE I. 



Totals 443,272,993 100.00 



Less than 1/100 of 1 per cent. 



24.12 



$10,689,962 



35.80 



64.20 



for common purposes; but in Europe where they 

 know how to appreciate a wood at its true value 

 red gum is in much favor. In England they call it 

 Satin walnut, and there can be little doubt that 

 much which goes across the Atlantic as red gum 

 comes back later as Circassian walnut furniture. 

 That transformation is many times made without 

 shipping over seas; and red gum goes into a fac- 

 tory and the high-class furniture or finish that 

 comes out is sold as white or red oak, cherry, 

 birch, or some other fine cabinet wood. Manufac- 

 turers were a long time learning how to handle 

 this wood. It was hard to season, but the secret 

 has been learned more than one secret, for differ- 

 ent ways are known. Some secure results by spe- 

 cial methods of kilndrying; others have found that 

 something may be done by felling the trees at a 

 certain time of year and sawing and handling them, 

 in a certain way; and others believe that the 

 immersion of logs several months in running wa- 

 ter produces highly desirable results. There is no 

 question that many improvements have come about 

 in recent years in ways and methods of preparing 

 this excellent and beautiful wood for the many 

 purposes to which it is now put. 



There are other trees known as gum which are 

 not in the same family as red gum. Four deserve 

 mention here, for the purpose of differentiating 

 them from red gum, though two will be mentioned 

 later in their own proper places. The four other 

 gums are black gum, tupelo, water gum, and sour 

 tupelo. 



Cypress. 



Six species of cypress grow in the United States, 

 four in the west and two in the south and east, 

 yet practically all lumber comes from the eastern 

 and southern species, and no distinction is made 

 between these two at sawmills. They are so nearly 

 alike that botanists alone recognize a difference be- 

 tween the two. Cypress stands third in Missouri 

 in amount used by manufacturers, and the State 

 grows only 10 per cent of it. It is a swamp tree 

 and can maintain its place on ground covered witR 

 water most of the year. Nevertheless, there must 

 be dry ground part of the time or the tree can not 

 plant its seeds and secure reproduction. The 

 seeds of very few trees are able to sprout and grow 

 In water. The mangrove can do it in appearance, 

 though its seeds actually sprout before they drop 

 from the tree, and need only to take root in water 

 and grow. But the mangrove is not found in Mis- 

 souri, and the cypress there holds first place as a 

 swamp and overflow land species. This fact is of 

 considerable economic importance, because larger 

 tracts grow cypress better than any other wood 

 along the Mississippi river flood plain in Missouri. 

 By that means waste land produces a valuable 

 commodity. The suggestion has been made that 



the swamp lands along the Mississippi and other 

 rivers of that region be perpetually given over to 

 cypress growing, but the economy of such a policy 

 is doubtful. Most of that land may be drained, 

 and will then become much more valuable for agri- 

 culture than for timber. Cypress grows so slowly 

 that it can never appeal to a forester as a profit- 

 able tree to plant. A century is too long to wait 

 for a tree to grow even to the size of the smallest 

 saw log. It would seem, therefore, that when 

 lumbermen have cut the cypress trees which na- 

 ture planted, the end of that resource will have' 

 been reached. The supply is still considerable, 

 but by no means inexhaustible. Missouri, like oth- 

 er cypress States, has much less of this timber 

 than it once had. In 1909 the State cut less than 

 four per cent of the country's output of cypress 

 lumber. 



White Oak. 



Three trees belonging to the white oak group 

 are listed for use by the manufacturers of Mis- 

 souri. The most important is the common white 

 oak, which is known by that name wherever it is 

 cut for lumber. Post oak and bur oak are also 

 listed in Missouri. The lumber cut from these three 

 species is so much alike that few sawmill men 

 or manufacturers' take the trouble to keep them 

 separate. There are several other oaks in the 

 State that doubtless go the same way. In some 

 parts of Missouri the white oak is of excellent 

 quality as to strength, size, grain, color, and other 

 properties. In other localities, however, complaint 

 is sometimes heard by manufacturers that the oak 

 is not first class, and much culling is necessary to 

 secure satisfactory stock. The chief complaint is 

 that the standing trees are attacked by insect ene- 

 mies. This holds true more in some localities than 

 in others; for oaks, like other timbers and also 

 like farm crops, are of better quality on good 

 ground than on poor. The white oak is strong, 

 vigorous, long-lived, yet few trees in the American 

 forest have more insect enemies. It is subject to 

 numerous diseases. It is claimed that this one tree 

 has more than 1,000 insect foes. It is usually able 

 to fight them off, particularly if it occupies good 

 soil; but sometimes it is devoured alive by its 

 enemies, some of which are formidable in size and 

 voracious in appetite. It has been asserted that 

 the strongest oak will sooner or later succumb if 

 a single carpenter worm (prionoxystus robinia) 

 finds lodgment in its trunk. The worm is three 

 inches long, bores to the tree's heart a hole half 

 an inch in diameter, and continues its work year 

 after year. It is found from Maine to California, 

 and reports indicate that Missouri possesses its full 

 share of the animals. There are many others 

 which, though not so large as the carpenter worm, 

 do more injury in the aggregate. Mature oaks are 



much damaged by forest fires, though they may 

 scarcely more than burn through the bark. Such 

 wounds open the way for multitudes of Insect and 

 fungus enemies to gain entrance to the wood, and 

 when once established they seldom depart until 

 the tree is completely ruined. There is no certain 

 cure, but the proper remedy consists in keeping 

 fires out of the woods if possible, and, as far as 

 it is found practicable, cutting dead and diseased 

 trees to put a stop to the hatching of the insect 

 eggs and spread of the broods already in the 

 trunks. That method will be followed in the ra- 

 ther uncertain future whn the Missouri forests 

 pass from the wild and uncared-for conditions in 

 which they have been and still are, to the wood-lot 

 state where the owners will find it profitable and 

 possible to look after the health of their trees, as 

 the progressive stock grower now watches over the 

 health of his cattle. 



Cottonwood. 



Missouri's sawmills cut nearly 18 million feet 

 of cottonwood lumber yearly and manufacturers 

 use nearly 30 million. It therefore is necessary to 

 bring in about 12 million feet a year from else- 

 where. Most of it comes from Arkansas, which is 

 of all the States the largest producer of cotton- 

 wood lumber. The cotton-wood tree has several 

 relatives, among them being aspen, which is of 

 little importance in Missouri, Balm of Gilead, a 

 more northern tree, black cottonwood of the far 

 northwest, and the three planted trees, Carolina 

 poplar, Norway poplar, and Lombardy poplar. In 

 Missouri the three last named seldom or never 

 reproduce from seed, and are of small importance 

 as producers of lumber; but cottonwood yields seed 

 in vast numbers, and the wind scatters them far 

 and wide. Each seed is equipped with fine, silky 

 hairs which buoy it up and assist it to travel long 

 journeys through the air. This causes the cotton- 

 wood to spring up wherever suitable soil is found; 

 for seeds manage to find their way nearly every- 

 where in this country. The tree is disposed to 

 grow along streams, and it is in such situations 

 that many of the best logs are cut. To some ex- 

 tent it 'is a wet ground tree, though not in the 

 same degree as the cypress. Prior to settlement 

 when Indians were accustomed to burn the coun- 

 try for the purpose of killing the woods and mak- 

 ing grass for game, the cottonwood was often the 

 last survivor among the trees, because it grew on, 

 damp ground near the rivers where fires were weak. 

 This applied, however, to the regions north and 

 west of Missouri rather than to the State itself, 

 for the Indians had not yet succeeded by their fires 

 in reducing much of Missouri to prairie when 

 the white settlers drove them out. However, many 

 a large cottonwood tree that had often been saved 

 from fires because it grew on damp ground, is now 

 being cut into lumber, and forms good material 

 for the furniture and other factories in Missouri. 

 The tree has always been put to use in the region 

 where it grows (and it grows nearly everywhere), 

 but one of the first demands for it, as a high-class 

 lumber, was as a substitute for yellow poplar for 

 beds of farm wagons. Many regarded it as next to 

 yellow poplar tot that purpose, and some of the 

 best wagon-bed stock came from Missouri in early 

 times that is, 20 or 30 years ago and still comes 

 from there. It lacks figure, and is never selected 

 for any beauty other than its clean white color; but 

 it is tough and does not split readily when made 

 into wagon beds. It is an important box lumber 

 for the same reason; and it gives reliable serv- 

 ice in the manufacture of furniture, and in many 

 other industries. Cottonwood is one of the forest 

 trees upon which lumbermen can depend in the fu- 

 ture. There will be trees of this species as long 

 as any other forest trees live wild in this country. 

 It grows rapidly and will be profitable if the time 

 comes when lumber is cut from planted forests in 

 this country as it is now cut in some European 

 countries. 



Hickory. 



Six or more species of hickory are cut in com- 

 mercal quantities in Missouri, and all are put to 

 similar uses without much distinction. Hickory is 

 not the strongest or the most elastic wood in this 

 country, but no other so admirably combines 

 strength, elasticity, and toughness and these prop- 

 erties are responsible for the wood's many uses. 

 For light vehicle wheels and running gears it is 

 the best in the known world. It is sent all over 

 the world and meets no rival in its line. It has 

 many other exacting uses. 



In production of hickory by sawmills, Missouri 

 stands fourth, with Tennessee first among the 

 States. All of the hickory, however, in the State 

 does not pass through sawmills probably less 

 than half of it does. It is not generally worked 

 up that way. Many manufacturers of hickory prod- 

 ucts cut the trees, and make their commodities 

 without passing the logs through a regular saw- 

 mill. Such are those who make wagon spokes and 

 tool handles from split billets or those saweS on 

 dimension mills. Specially fine trees are some- 

 times cut for sucker rods, used in oil wells. 



The principal hickory area of Missouri lies in 

 the southeastern quarter of the State. In that re- 

 gion the best stock is cut, and most mills and fac- 

 tories are located there. Some hickory grows in 



