New Orleans, La., March 15, Hi 1 2.] 



THE LUMBER TRADE JOURNAL 



lumber used in building was planed by hand. Car- 

 penters could dress two or three hundred feet a day; 

 but the condition then prevailing shows an almost 

 total absence of wood manufacturers as the term is 

 now understood. Doors, sash, flooring, ceiling, sid- 

 ing and vehicle making -were pratcically all hand 

 work, and some of 'it was done by slave labor. The 

 absence, in the first place, of good harbors, and in 

 the next place, the want of large cities or towns as 

 centers of surrounding populations, discouraged 

 manufacture in that state before railroads had great- 

 ly modified industrial conditions. The want of min- 

 eral resources was also a serious drawback, and the 

 state was, largely by force of circumstances, forced 

 to become almost exclusively agricultural to the 

 neglect of its phenomenal wealth of timber. There 

 was not much improvement, as far as forest pro- 

 ducts were concerned, up to 1880, when there were 

 295 sawmills and six planing mills. In 1900 the 

 sawmills had increased to 481, and the planing mills 

 to twenty-eight. Modern manufacturing conditions 

 began to take a firm hold about that time. The 

 United States census in 1909 gives the number of 

 mills at 1,470 cutting yellow pine alone. Many of 

 these were large, complete and up-to-date plants, 

 and perhaps the largest of them turns out as much 

 in one day as was cut daily by the entire 277 mills 

 in the state in 1860. Instead of counting planing 

 mills on the fingers of two hands, as could be done 

 up to 1880, they now number hundreds, and probably 

 a single one of the most complete now dresses as 

 much lumber in one day as the single mill in the 

 state turned out in the year 1860. The lesson to be 

 learned from this development is that old things in 

 manufacturing have passed away to make room for 

 new. 



In taking up this study of the wood-using indus- 

 tries of Mississippi, the Forest Service purposed to 

 supply information not availablS in. any public or 

 private report. The Bureau of the Census co-operat- 

 ing with the Forest Service, collects and compiles 

 annually statistics showing what the country's total 

 sawmill output is; what the output in each state is; 

 what is the mill value for each kind of wood in the 

 several states; what kinds of wood and how much 

 of each one are manufactured into lumber in each 

 state, and in all the states. But this stops short of 

 giving all needed information on the subject. It 

 does not go beyond the rough lumber, and presents 

 no statistics to show what becomes of the lumber 

 after the sawmills turn it out in the rough state. 

 The present report takes up the subject where the 

 census leaves off; that is, it considers rough lumber 

 as raw material for further manufacture, and shows 

 what becomes of it, what it is used for, and what 

 products are manufactured from it. For instance, 

 the census statistics give figures showing how much 

 white oak the sawmills cut into rough lumber, but 

 that is all. This report follows that lumber until it has 

 been made into finished commodities, such as furni- 

 ture, vehicles, finish for houses, ships and boats, 

 musical instruments, and whatever it goes into. It 

 is thus shown what becomes of the wood which 

 sawmills convert into lumber and stack in their 

 yards. This report, however, does not take up the 

 wood which is not further manufactured after it 

 leaves the sawmills. If oak or any other wood goes 

 into rough construction, or railroad ties, or bridge 

 timbers, or is taken for any other purpose which 

 uses it in the rough, it is not considered as raw ma- 

 terial for further manufacture. A state's sawmills 

 may turn out a large quantity of a certain wood, and 

 little of it may be further manufactured. In that 

 case, if no explanation were offered, it might appear 

 that the difference between what the mills cut and 

 what the factories account for is unreasonable. To 

 illustrate, Mississippi's mills cut about 168,000,000 

 feet of oak yearly, yet the state industries further 

 manufacture only about 13,000,000, /which is less 

 than eight per cent. This means that ninety-two 

 per cent, of the oak is either used in the rough or 

 is shipped out of the state to be further manufac- 

 tured elsewhere. Bearing this explanation in. mind, 

 the tables of uses in this report, and the amounts of 

 the several species demanded, will be easily under- 

 stood and will furnish a basis for ready comparison 

 between the rough lumber produced in the state and 

 the amount further manufactured. There are, nev- 

 ertheless, modifying conditions which should be held 

 in view, particularly in a general study of wood- 

 manufacturing in states. Manufacturers in some 

 state's import lumber from other regions and actual- 

 ly manufacture more than their own sawmills cut. 

 Except in the case of foreign woods, the Southern 

 states do not import much lumber, but some of the 

 Central and Northern states do. Mississippi brings 

 in almost no wood to supply her factories less than 

 one per cent.; but it ships to other states, chiefly 

 to the Middle West, hundreds of millions of feet. 

 It is, therefore, a state which -pours its wealth of 

 raw material into other regions to build up their in- 

 dustries, while its own are growing with compara 

 tive slowness. 



To some extent, that condition is due to local cir- 

 cumstances. Nature was not quite as liberal with 



Mississippi as with many other regions in supplying 

 it with water power. The absence of rivers of 

 large volume and steep gradients prevents the erec- 

 tion of vast water-power plants as in the Appalach- 

 ian region. Coal is wanting in the state, though 

 abundance is available within moderate distances of 

 the state's borders. Thus, while it possesses re- 

 sources of the highest value, it lacks others, from 

 the manufacturing standpoint. If a 'balancing of 

 accounts were made, however, it would show to 

 Mississippi's credit wealth which places it among 

 the most fortunate states of the whole country. 



KINDS OF WOOD USED. 



Eighty or ninety kinds of wood grow in the for- 

 ests of Mississippi, not counting a number that are 

 too small or too scarce to be of commercial value. 

 About half of that number are now of sufficient im- 

 portance to find a place in the list of woods put to 

 use in. the state, and with closer utilization in the 

 future a number of other woods will take their place 

 among the region's resources. It is a rule which 

 appears to hold nearly everywhere that while wood 

 is abundant only that which is 'best and most con- 

 venient is put to use, but when the pressure of 

 scarcity begins to be felt, neglected woods are 

 pressed into service. 



The timber which grows in Mississippi is of two 

 classes or kinds hardwood and softwood. In a 

 general way these terms describe the characters of 

 the woods, but not absolutely so; for some trees in 

 the hardwood class have wood actually softer than 

 some in the softwood class. For example, bass- 

 wood, willow, and cottonwood are never considered 

 anything but hardwoods, yet they are softer than 

 long leaf pine, which is in the softwood class. The 

 separation of all woods into the two classes is, for 

 that reason, a somewhat artificial arrangement, and 

 is accepted only iby mutual consent. There is an 

 easily understood line separating the two classes of 

 wood. Broad-leaf trees are usually classed with 

 hardwoods. Among such are the oaks, hickories, 

 maples, gums, cottonwoods, and trees of that kind. 

 The needle-leaf trees are softwoods. Such are the 

 pines, spruces, hemlocks, cedars, and cypresses. In 

 a general way, the evergreen trees are softwoods, 

 the deciduous species hardwoods; but there are so 

 many exceptions to this rule that confusion is lia- 

 ble to result. Cypress in the South and tamarack 

 in the North are needle-leaf species which shed 

 their leaves yearly; and live oaks, and some of the 

 magnolias and hollies, are broad-leaved, yet they are 

 evergreen. It is thus apparent that the simple fact 

 that a tree is or is not an evergreen is not suffi- 

 cient reason for calling it a softwood or a hard- 

 wood. Some persons would call a cone-bearing tree 

 a softwood, and all others hardwood. This distinc- 

 tion holds good in most cases. The United States, 

 when it collects statistics of lumber cut, and the 

 Forest Service in discussing tne country's timbers 

 in a practical way, recognize a clear division be- 

 tween hardwoods and softwoods, and base the dis- 

 tinction upon ibroad-leaf and needle-leaf trees. Con- 

 fusion is apt to follow an attempt to call a tree a 

 softwood because it bears cones. Some trees bear 

 What look like cones, but they are not. Among 

 trees of that kind are some of the birches, hophorn- 

 beam, cucumber, and yellow poplar. Neither is it 

 safe to base a division into hard and soft woods 

 upon the annual fall of leaf alone. As already said, 

 there are several exceptions, but in addition to that, 

 every living tree sheds its leaves sooner or later, 

 although the evergreens do not cast them all down 

 at once, but grow a new crop <before the old falls. 

 Anyone walking through a pine, spruce, hemlock, 

 cedar, or live oak forest, and noting that the ground 

 is covered with dead leaves or needles, has un- 

 doubted evidence before him that even the leaves of 

 vergreens fall in larger numbers. In Mississippi 

 the long leaf pine's needles fall at the end of the 

 second year; the loblolly pine's fall the third year; 

 the shortleaf pine's at the end of the second and be- 

 ginning of the third year, while the sand pine car- 

 ries its needles to the third and fourth years. Some 

 of the evergreen trees on the high Western moun- 

 tains carry their needles much longer than the 

 -Southern pines retain theirs. The foxtail pine, 

 growing at the perpetual snowline in the Sierra Ne- 

 vada mountains, may cling to its needles as long as 

 twelve years; for in its barren soil and bleak cli- 

 mate that tree can grow new leaves only very slow- 

 ly, and it keeps what it has as long as possible; but 

 pines in the warm and friendly climate of the South 

 find it no hardship to part with their needles every 

 second or third year. 



The Pines. 



In quantity, the pines in Mississippi much exceed 

 the hardwoods. Seven or eight kinds of pine are 

 cut for lunrber, but three or four are scarce, and 

 even when they are distinguished from other pines 

 with which they are associated, it is not customary 

 for lumbermen to keep separate the lumber cut from 

 each kind. The census reports from year to year 

 call it all "yellow pine." It is evident to any one 



that it is not all the same kind of lumber when it 

 comes out of the mill. Some of it has narrow rings 

 of annual growth, some has wide rings; some of the 

 lumber is comparatively free from sapwood, other is 

 largely sap. The wide-ringed thick-sapped wood is 

 usually classed a little softer than the wood of nar- 

 row rings and little sap, and not quite so strong. 

 There are other differences well known even to 

 those who are satisfied to call it all yellow pine. 

 The same observation holds for the appearance of 

 the standing trees as for lumber in logs. Some of 

 them have long needles, others are short, and this 

 difference serves to distinguish the trees nearly as 

 far away as their appearance can be made out. 

 There are four species of pine usually cut for lum- 

 ber in Mississippi, and it is proper that a short ac- 

 count be given of each, together with references to 

 the parts of the state where they are most abund- 

 ant. 



Longleaf Pine (Pinus palustris). 



Much of the yellow pine lumber in Mississippi is 

 cut from this tree, which is found in greatest abund- 

 ance in the southern half of the state. It has long- 

 er needles than any other Southern pine, and they 

 range from eight to eighteen inches in length, and 

 are arranged three needles in a little bundle or 

 sheath (white pines have five needles in a bundle). 

 The longleaf pine has thinner sapwood than any 

 other Southern pine. This sapwood generally forms 

 a thin ring round the darker colored heartwood. 

 The rings of annual growth are narrow, due to the 

 tree's slow growth. Thus there are three visible 

 features which usually serve to distinguish this tree 

 from others in the woods, and the logs or lumber 

 from other pine lumber in the lumber yard. The 

 three points are: longer needles than other pines, 

 thinner sapwood, and narrow annual rings. Being 

 a tree of slow growth, a new stand does not quickly 

 come on to take the place of a forest cut down. A 

 period of eighty to 150 years is necessary to grow a 

 longleaf pine tree to merchantable size. The lum- 

 ber of this species is often known as hard pine, and 

 certain trees that are rich in resin are occasionally 

 called "pitch pine." That name, however, is among 

 the pines what the name "rock elm" Is among elms 

 in some regions; it Is applied to any one of several 

 species, and, except as far as local custom extends, 

 it does not mean any species in particular. 



Shortleaf Pine (Pinus echinata). 



The shortness of this pine's needles gives name 

 to it and serves to distinguish it at once from the 

 longleaf pine. There is little likelihood that any 

 one will mistake one for the other while the trees 

 are standing, for the difference in the appearance of 

 the needles attracts immediate attention; but when 

 shortleaf pine trees are compared with two other 

 pines growing in the same region loblolly and Cu- 

 ban the differences in the appearance of the need- 

 les is not quite so apparent, though it is not usually 

 difficult to separate the shortleaf species from the 

 others. Shortleaf lumber has certain characterist- 

 ics which differentiate it from longleaf. The sap- 

 wood is much thicker, and the annual rings near 

 the heart of the tree are generally wider than those 

 of longleaf; but the outer rings of both are much 

 alike. Longleaf is heavier and stronger than short- 

 leaf, and is generally preferred for structural tim- 

 bers which are expected to carry heavy loads, but 

 the softness and the attractive grain of shortleaf 

 pine lead to its extensive use for doors and interior 

 finish. The two pines are found growing near to- 

 gether in many parts of Mississippi, but generally 

 the longleaf is in the southern half, and the short- 

 leaf northward. 



Loblolly Pine (Pinus taeda). 



The needles of the loblolly pine are in length 

 nearly double those of shortleaf, but much shorter 

 than longleaf. The loblolly and the shortleaf pines 

 are often cut and sent to market as one. There are 

 differences in the wood of the two trees, but they 

 might not be noticed by a casual observer. The 

 shortleaf trunk grows rapidly during its first quar- 

 ter or third of a century and more slowly later in 

 life, and the record of the growth is shown by the 

 annual rings; ibut the loblolly grows rapidly and at 

 a fairly uniform rate its whole life, and the rings 

 are wide from heart to bark. This generally serves 

 to distinguish loblolly logs from shortleaf, but it is 

 not an unerring guide, because accidents may befall 

 trees and interfere with their growth. The loblolly 

 pine is liable to be met with in all of the pine re- 

 gions of Mississippi. It has not, nevertheless, de- 

 veloped in the Mississippi valley states as vigor- 

 ously as in Virginia and North Carolina, where it 

 has taken possession of large areas to the exclusion 

 of almost all other pines. Its wood serves practi- 

 cally the same purposes as that of the shortleaf 

 pine. 



Cuban Pine (Pinus heterophylla). 



The Cuban pine is occasionally confused with lob- 

 lolly. There are a number of differences which may 



