22 



THE LUMBER TKADE JOURNAL 



[Now Orleans, La., May 1, 1911!. 



TABLE 2. 



PLANING MILL PRODUCTS. 

 Kinds of Wood Quantity used annually. Av. cost 



Longleaf pine.. 

 Shortleaf pine. . 



Red gum 



Yellow poplar. . 

 Loblolly pine. .. 



White oak 



Cypress 



Spruce pine. . . . 



Red oak 



Tupelo 



Cuban pine 



White pine 



Black gum 



Chestnut 



Sweet magnolia. 



White ash 



Birch 



Beech 



Basswood 



Sugar maple... 

 Sycamore 



Feet B. M. 



415,176,000 



146,164,500 



8,882,000 



6,950,000 



1,900,000 



1,683,000 



1,030,000 



850,000 



755,000 



500,000 



300,000 



140,000 



100,000 



85,000 



74,900 



31,500 



20,300 



20,000 



10,000 



9,800 



2,000 



% per 1000 ft. f. 



71.01 



25.00 



1.52 



1.19 



.32 



.29 



.18 



J5 



.13 



.09 



.05 



.02 



.02 



.01 



.01 



$11.77 

 11.42 

 10.87 

 12.83 

 11.63 

 17.79 

 15.00 

 15.26 

 16,08 

 10.00 

 10.83 

 45.00 

 12.00 

 11.06 

 11.52 

 12.38 

 34.48 

 13.25 

 10.00 

 24.49 

 10.00 



Totals. 



584,684,000 100.00 $11.72 

 *Less than 1/100 of 1 per cent. 



$6,852,557 554,387,900 30,296,100 



Sash, Doors, Blinds and General Millwork. 



Many commodities other than those named in the 

 caption of the table are the products of this indus- 

 try, though sash, doors, blinds and interior and ex- 

 terior finish are the principal ones. The lathe plays 

 an important part in this industry, and its output 

 consists of spindles for grills, 'balusters for stairs 

 and porches, and larger pieces such a columns, and 

 newel posts. Brackets, pedestals and capitals are 

 also among the usual products. As in Table 2, long- 

 leaf and shortleaf pine surpass in quantity all the 

 other woods and together constitute over ninety-one 

 per cent, of the total. 



The average cost is low for an industry -which 

 turns out many products of high class, but the gen- 



eral average is affected by the cheapness of the two 

 largest items, longleaf and shortleaf pine. Sweet 

 magnolia and black gum are the cheapest shown in 

 Table 3. The first of these, when well selected and 

 properly finished, is a very handsome wood, though 

 it is little known. The rich brown of its heartwood 

 will compare favorably with black walnut. 



The yellow poplar's cost is so low as to suggest 

 that most of the purchases were in log form, and 

 even then its cheapness is not wholly accounted for. 

 This wood and white pine usually range very 

 nearly the same in price under similar circum- 

 stances ; but here the pine's is more than four times 

 bhe cost of the poplar. The latter was bought in 

 small quantities, and the former in larger amounts. 



TABLE 3. 

 SASH, DOORS, BLINDS, AND GENERAL MILLWORK. 



Kinds of Wood 



Longleaf pine.. 

 Shortleaf pine. . 



White oak 



Yellow poplar. . 



Red oak 



Tupelo 



Red gum 



Cypress 



Beech 



Birch 



Sugar maple 



White ash 



Sweet magnolia. 



Mahogany 



White pine 



Black gum 



Black walnut. . . 



Totals 



6,000 



67,348,000 100.00 $13.10 $882,415 



Less than 1/100 of 1 per cent. 



65,183,000 



2,000 

 2,165,000 



Packing Boxes and Crates. 



The boxes made in Alabama, and shown statistic- 

 ally in Table 4, are used chiefly for marketing the 

 products of the orchard and truck garden, though 

 egg cases were made in large numbers. The princi- 

 pal articles manufactured were hampers, grape bas- 

 kets, berry boxes, cabbage crates, fancy boxes, and 

 crates in which to ship smilax, holly, and moss. 

 Fifty thousand feet of the cottonwood listed in the 

 table was of the species known as swamp cotton- 



wood. It is a wood less plentiful than the common 

 cottonwood and is also in less demand which ac- 

 counts for its low price. Black walnut at $18 is 

 cheap, even for logs, but the box makers probably 

 made use of logs so small and containing so large 

 a percentage of white sapwood that few other in- 

 dustries would buy them. The average cost of lum- 

 ber as shown in Table 4, runs regularly not much 

 above or below the average of $10.89, the extreme 

 range being from $9 to $18 for the fifteen species. 



TABLE 4. 

 BOXES AND CRATES PACKING . 



Kinds of wood 



Red gum 



Longleaf pine 



Tupelo 



Shortleaf pine 



Yellow poplar 



Evergreen magnolia. . . 



Cu'ban pine 



Cottonwood 



Black gum 



Spruce pine 



White elm 



Sweet magnolia 



White ash 



Black walnut 



Sycamore 



Quantity used annually. Av. cost 



Feet B. M. 



8,517,000 



6,450,000 



3,200,000 



2,050,000 



810,000 



500,000 



300,000 



200,000 



165,000 



100,000 



60,000 



50,000 



25,000 



10,000 



5,000 



% per 1000 ft. f. 



37.95 



28.74 



14.26 



9.13 



3.61 



2.23 



1.34 



.89 



.74 



.45 



.27 



.22 



.11 



.04 



.02 



$11.80 



10.00 



10.94 



10.05 



12.16 



10.00 



9.00 



9.25 



9.00 



10.00 



14.00 



10.00 



14.00 



18.00 



10.00 



Total cost 



o. b. factory. 



$100,525 



64,500 



35,000 



20,600 



9,850 ' 



5,000 



2,700 



1,850 



1,485 



1,000 



840 



500 



350 



180 



50 



Totals. 



22,442,000 100.00 $10.89 



$244,430 



21,510,000 



932,000 



Car Construction. 



Several railroads have repair shops in the vicinity 

 of Birmingham and much of the wood shown in 

 Table 5 is employed in car repair, and 'much is used 

 for street-car building. In car construction, a large 

 part of the lumber employed is in the rough form, 

 that is, it has not been run through planers and 

 other machines; jjut some of the material is care- 

 fully dressed and finished by skilled workmen. 

 Eleven woods are employed in this industry, 'but 

 two of them iblack walnut and cherry are in quite 

 small amounts and are used as finish for passenger 

 coaches. A large part of the white ash reported is 

 for street-car finish and some of it for finish of pas- 

 senger cars. Longleaf and shortleaf pine meet de- 

 mand in many parts of car construction; sills, sid- 

 ing, decking, braces, and the like. White and red 

 oak are employed for sills and other rough work 

 where strength is required, and they also give good 

 service as coach finish. Yellow poplar is an all- 

 round car wood, but the -best of it goes into finish, 

 particularly into broad panels for passenger coaches. 

 It may be successfully stained to imitate other 

 woods. The excellent finish which it is capable of 

 taking gives it a place which few other woods can 

 fill, and for many years it has been considered one 

 of the best woods for certain parts of car construc- 

 tion. Mahogany was the most expensive wood used, 

 and it was made into finish for coaches. 



Vehicles and Vehicle Parts. 



Hickory is the most important wood in the ve- 

 hicle manufacturing business in Alabama, as it is in 

 all other parts of the United States. Half a dozen 

 species of hickory are employed, but one name ap- 

 plies to all without distinction. A hickory log con- 

 sists of thick, white sapwood and dark colored heart 

 wood. Common opinion has long held that the sap- 

 wood is superior to the heartwood for vehicle con- 

 struction. Tests made by the United States Forest 

 Service a few years ago, however, demonstrated 

 that the difference in quality 'between hickory heart- 

 wood and sapwood is less than had been generally 

 supposed, and that, for certain purposes, the heart- 

 wood is as satisfactory as the sap. The wooden 

 parts of small vehicles are often entirely of hickory, 

 with the exception of the ibody or box; but such is 

 less often the case with heavy wagons. For shafts, 

 poles, spokes, rims, axles, double trees and single 

 trees .hickory has no superior in the manufacture 

 of ibuggies and carriages. Large wagons and carts 

 substitute oak for some of these parts, and several 

 oaks are suitable. The Alabama manufacturers re- 

 ported white oak, red oak, Texan oak, post oak, pin 

 oak and willow oak. The bodies of carriages and 

 buggies and the beds of farm and business -wagons 

 are made of woods which are reasonably light, will 

 take paint readily, will not split easily or warp bad- 

 ly in changes of temperature and weather, and 

 which are not excessive in cost. Those most gener- 

 ally used in Alabama are yellow poplar, red gum, 

 shortleaf and longleaf pine, and cottonwood. White 

 ash, which is the most expensive wood reported in 

 this industry, is made into bolsters, poles, sills, 

 frames, and felloes. It is a strong, stiff wood. A 

 large part of the total of more than 7,500,000 feet of 

 vehicle wood reported in Alabama is used for re- 

 pairs in small shops in all parts of the state. Some 

 vehicles are made in shops of that kind. The larg- 

 er establishments usually make semi-finished, rough- 

 turned vehicle stock, and pass it on (generally send- 

 ing it out of the state) to be finished and made into 

 vehicles. 



The discussion under Table 1 of cost of woods 

 when bought in small amounts or for special pur- 

 poses will apply to some of the woods of Table 6. 

 Three oaks, at the 'bottom of the table, cost more 

 per thousand than the average would have shown, 

 had they 'been purchased in larger amounts. White 

 ash at $45.94 is the costliest wood reported in the 

 vehicle industry. It is not usual for ash to be the 

 most expensive wood in the vehicle industry, and in 

 order to make comparisons between its cost in Ala- 

 ibama and in certain other states where similar 

 studies have been made, the following average costs 

 are given: 



North Carolina $27.88 



Illinois ( 36.23 



Kentucky 37.00 



Massachusetts 42.00 



Alabama 45.94 



Wisconsin 47.66 



Maryland 51.00 



This comparison conveys the impression that there 

 is no regular price for ash. Maryland vehicle mak- 

 ers pay nearly twice as much as those of North 

 Carolina, while Alabama and Wisconsin pay nearly 

 the same. Nevertheless, there is usually a reason 

 back of every price, but it is not always easy to 

 find. It is pretty sure to depend on grades and di- 

 mensions a good deal more than on distances of 

 transportation. For instance the Illinois makers of 

 heavy wagons paid $36.23 for their ash and the light 

 wagon makers paid $51.85. 



