New Orleans, La., May 1, 1912.] 



THE LUMBER TRADE JOURNAL 



23 



Kinds of wood 



TABLE 5. 

 CAR CONSTRUCTION. 



Quantity used annually. Av. cost Total cost 

 Feet B. M. % per 1000 ft. f. o. b. factory. 



Grown in Grown out of 

 Ala., ft. B. M. Ala., ft. B. M. 



Ivongleaf pine. 



White oak 



Yellow poplar. 



Red oak 



Shortleaf pine. 



White ash . 



Loblolly pine. . 

 Mahogany 

 Cuban pine. . . . 



Cherry 



Black walnut. . 



7,094,000 



4,826,300 



2,471,000 



1,450,000 



1,100,000 



963,000 



450,000 



138,600 



125,000 



500 



500 



38.10 



25.92 



13.27 



7.79 



5.91 



5.18 



2.42 



.74 



.67 



* 



* 



$16.72 

 20.94 

 20.97 

 19.22 

 16.82 

 23.29 

 17.67 



129.62 

 17.70 



100.00 



100.00 



Totals. 



18,618,900 100-.00 $19.79 

 *Less than 1/100 of 1 per cent. 



TABLE 6. 



$118,586 



101,072 



51,805 



27,875 



18,500 



22,425 



7,950 



17,965 



2,212 



50 



50 



$368,490 



7,022,000 



4,826,300 



2,411,000 



1,450,000 



1,100,000 



910,000 



450,000 



125,000 



72,000 

 60,000 



53,000 

 138,600 



- 500 

 500 



18,294,300 



324,600 



Kinds of wood 



VEHICLES AND VEHICLE PARTS. 



Quantity used annually. Av. cost Total cost 

 Feet B. M. % per 1000 ft. f. o. b. factory. 



Hickory 



White oak 



Post oak 



White elm 



Red oak , 



Yellow poplar. 



Red gum 



Shortleaf pine. 



White ash 



Cottonwool . . . 

 Longleaf pine. 



Willow oak 



Pin oak 



Texan oak 



Totals. 



3,060,000 



1,405,000 



760,000 



500,000 



450,000 



320,000 



250,000 



200,000 



16.0,000 



150,000 



149,900 



60,200 



60,000 



59,900 



7,585,000 



40.34 



18.52 



10.02 



6.59 



5.93 



4.22 



3.30 



2.64 



2.11 



1.98 



1.98 



.79 



.79 



.70. 



$22.53 

 26.60 

 20.00 

 15.00 

 22.00 

 35.31 

 25.00 

 17.00 

 45.94 

 35.00 

 16.34 

 43.19 

 40.00 

 38.40 



100.00 $24.02 



$68,930 



37,370 



15,200 



7,500 



9,900 



11,300 



6,250 



3,400 



7,350 



5,250 



2,450 



2,600 



2,400 



2,300 



$182,200 



Excelsior. 



The raw material for this industry is nearly all 

 in the form of cordwood and longleaf pine consti- 

 tutes nearly ninety per cent, of the total. There 

 are only a few plants in the state; but their output 

 is increasing and the manufacturers consider the 



prospects very good for further development. As 

 furniture and other industries increase, the excelsior 

 output will be augmented. The excelsior makers 

 use cheaper material than any of the wood users of 

 the state which employ wood as a raw material. 

 There is comparatively little waste. 



Kinds of wood 



Longleaf pine. 

 Loblolly pine. . 

 Cottonwood . . . 



TABLE 7. 

 EXCELSIOR. 



Quantity used annually. Av. cost Total cost 

 Feet B. M. % per 1000 ft. f. o. b. factory. 



5,100,000 89.47 $8.00 $40,800 



500,000 8.77 7.50 3,750 



100,000 1.76 9.00 900 



Totals. 



5,700,000 100.00 



$7.97 



$45,450 



Grown in 

 Ala., ft. B. M. 



5,100,000 

 500,000 

 100,000 



5,700,000 



Grown out of 

 Ala., ft. B. M. 



Chairs. 



The manufacturers of chairs are not usually mak- 

 ers of furniture in general, and for that reason 

 chair making is often considered a separate indus- 

 try. There are, of course, many kinds of chairs, 

 and the processes and customs followed in manu- 

 facturing all are not the same; but in making stock 

 for chairs standard sizes are more common than 

 with other 'branches of furniture making. Some 

 mills saw chair stock exclusively, such as 'backs, 



bottoms, legs, and other parts. These parts are 

 then shipped to the chair factory to be finished and 

 the chairs completed. Oak, consisting principally 

 of white and red, are reported in Alabama more 

 largely than all other woods together in fact, 

 they amount to four times as much as all the others. 

 It is probable that much of the wood reported as 

 red oak is really yellow, Texan, and willow oak, 

 since it all is state-grown, and the true red oak is 

 very scarce in Alabama. 



Kinds of wood 



TABLE 8. 

 CHAIRS. 



Quantity used annually. Av. cost Total cost Grown in Grown out of 

 FeetB. M. % per 1000ft. f. o. b. factory. Ala., ft. B. M. Ala., ft.B. M. 



White oak. 

 Red oak. . . 

 Hickory . . 

 White ash. 

 Red gum. . 

 Beech .... 

 Birch ... 



2,000,000 

 1,999,800 

 210,000 

 201,000 

 200,300 

 200,000 

 199,900 



Totals. 



5,011,000 



39.91 

 39.91 

 4.19 

 4.01 

 4.00 

 3.99 

 3.99 



100.00 



$14.99 

 15.00 

 11.67 

 10.05 

 10.00 

 10.00 

 10.01 



$14.06 



$30,000 

 30,000 

 2,450 

 2,020 

 2,OdO 

 2,000 

 2,000 



$70,470 



2,000,000 

 1,999,800 

 200,000 

 201,00ft 

 200,300 

 200,000 



10,000 



199,900 



4,801,100 



209,900 



Boxes, Tobacco. 



Agricultural Implements. 



The material shown in Table 9 was used in the 

 manufacture of cigar boxes. In most parts of this 

 country the makers of such boxes draw largely from 

 Spanish cedar brought from Cuba and other coun- 

 tries south of us, but in Alabama no Spanish cedar 

 was reported. The red cedar in the 'table is the 

 same as that used in making lead pencils, cedar 

 chests, etc. Tupelo, the principal wood used, may 

 he stained to imitate cedar, but the odor which is a 

 valuable property of the cedar is not easily imitat- 

 ed when other woods are used. Tupelo, being a 

 white wood, shows stenciling well. 



A large amount of cotton ginning machinery is 

 manufactured in Alabama, but other agricultural 

 implements are made in a small way only. Consid- 

 erable wood is used, however, in shops in all parts 

 of the state where farm machinery is repaired. 

 Blacksmith and wheelwright shops do most of the 

 work of' that kind. In the manufacture of ginning 

 machinery, certain woods are preferred for specific 

 purposes. -White pine at $40 a thousand is used for 

 brushes; red gum and cotton wood are made into 

 brush heads; yellow poplar is for pressers and 

 feeders; white ash, 'white oak, and Shortleaf pine 



for pressers; and longleaf pine for frames and other 

 parts. 



The hickory which appears in Table 10 was de- 

 manded by shops 'which make repairs, but turn out 

 little or no new machinery. Shortleaf pine and 

 white oak also are used in repair work. The abund- 

 ance of coal and iron in Northern Alabama, and the 

 supply of suitable woods in many parts of the state 

 would suggest that Alabama might profitably manu- 

 facture much of the farm machinery annually de- 

 manded in the state; but it does not appear that a 

 serious beginning in that direction has yet been 

 made. 



Furniture. 



Less than 2,000,000 feet of wood is made into fur- 

 niture in Alabama yearly. That is a small amount 

 for a state so rich in timber. There are single 

 towns in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin that use 

 more. Two million feet lacks much of being suffi- 

 cient to supply Alabama's home market with plain 

 furniture. The column in Table 11 which shows 

 the average cost of the furniture woods used in the 

 state is worthy of more than passing notice 'because 

 the prices are remarkably low, not of one or two 

 woods only, but of every one of the fourteen in the 

 table. It is worthy of note, also, that ten of the 

 fourteen woods and eighty per cent of the total 

 quantity reported were cut in Alabama. The con- 

 clusion is logical that if furniture -wood can be had 

 in Alabama at an average cost at the factory of 

 only $13.90 per 1,000 feet, it ought to 'be possible to 

 build up a large business in manufacturing furni- 

 ture in that state. The prices paid for material by 

 furniture makers in some of the other states, where 

 furniture is manufactured in large amounts, show 

 that Alabama offers decided advantages in the mat- 

 ter of cost of material. It ought to offer induce- 

 ments in the matter of cheap and abundant power 

 equal to those of any other state or region. Follow- 

 ing are average prices paid for rough lumber by 

 furniture manufacturers in some of the states: 



North Carolina $18.23 



Wisconsin 27.17 



Massachusetts 28^36 



Maryland 29^32 



Kentucky ; 30.73 



Illinois 34.49 



A comparatively large amount of the raw material 

 shown in Table 11 -was bought in log form, which 

 accounts in part for the low cost; but if the sawmill 

 charges are added the cost is still below that in any 

 of the states above listed. It would appear, there- 

 fore, that Table 11 suggests opportunities for the 

 development of large business in furniture making 

 in Alabama cheap material to which should be 

 added cheap power. 



The woods listed in the table are all substantial. 

 Four are oaks, all suitable for outside, visible parts 

 of good furniture; longleaf pine is serviceable for 

 all interiors of furniture and for cheaper kinds of 

 outside work. Red gum, if skilfully worked, is one 

 of the best furniture woods in the United States 

 and a great future is promised for it. Some of the 

 species listed in the table belong in the class of 

 cabinet woods, provided their beauties are brought 

 out by skilled workmen and modern methods. Per- 

 simmon (the heartwood), and the two magnolias, 

 particularly sweet magnolia, deserve places as such. 



Handles. 



White ash is the leading handle wood in Alabama 

 followed closely by hickory. The latter goes large- 

 ly into ax, hammer, and pick handles; the former 

 into handles for farm tools, such as hoes, shovels, 

 rakes, and pitchforks. Yellow poplar, Shortleaf 

 pine, and red gum are reported as hoe-handle ma- 

 terial, but the small quantity of each used seems to 

 indicate that these woods are not entirely satisfac- 

 tory for such handles. The cheapness of all the 

 woods reported in this industry is due to purchases 

 in the log torm. INo cause is snown why yellow 

 poplar is the cheapest of the list, as it usually is an 

 expensive wood. 



Sporting and Athletic Goods. 



The raw material for this industry is generally 

 received at the factory in the form of bolts. Nearly 

 all of the manufacturing output is semi-finished 

 stock for golf sticks. The hickory goes principally 

 into shafts, while the persimmon is generally turned 

 into rough blocks for golf-stick heads. Only two or 

 three individuals attempt to turn out a finished prod- 

 uct and they only aim to supply local golf clubs. 

 The hickory and persimmon stock is in great de- 

 mand both at home and abroad and a large amount 

 is shipped out of the state. 



Shuttles, Spools and Bobbins. 



The raw material for shuttles, spools, and bobbins 

 is received at the factories in the form of bolts, and 

 is often -bought and sold by the cord. Dogwood and 

 persimmon, are manufactured into rough shuttle 



