January 1, 1912.] 



THE LUMBER TRADE JOURNAL 



19 



The Wood-Using Industries of Louisiana 



BY HU MAXWELL, EXPERT UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE. 



NOTE. 



The following report was prepared by Hu Max- 

 well, expert, under the direction of H. S. Sackett, 

 chief, Office of Wood Utilization, United States For- 

 est Service. It is published and thus made avail- 

 able to the public through the courtesy of the LUM- 

 IIKB TRADE JOURNAL, New Orleans, La. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Preface 19 



Woods used in Louisiana 20 



Planing mill products 23 



Boxes and crates 24 



Sash, doors, blinds and general mill work 24 



Furniture 25 



Vehicles and vehicle parts 26 



Tanks 26 



Ship and boat building 27 



Fixtures 27 



Miscellaneous < 27 



Apportionment of woods among the industries. 29 



Summary by industries 28 



Spanish moss 30 



Uses of various v oods 31 



List of manufacturers 32 



Appendix 32 



PREFACE. 



Louisiana has 18,000,000 acres of forest land, the 

 hardwoods being principally In the northern half, 

 the softwoods in all parts. More than 100 kinds of 

 trees make up the forest, about one-half of the spe- 

 cies possessing commercial value, the others being 

 too small or too scarce to count for much. Six or 

 seven softwoods the pines and cypresses supply 

 fourteen-fifteenths of the annual lumber output of 

 the state. At this time the softwood forests are 

 given much more attention than those of hard- 

 woods; but it may be expected that a change will 

 come in time, diversified manufacturing will in- 

 crease, and the large sawmills will lessen in number 

 as the primeval stands of pine and cypress are cut 

 out. Plants which manufacture lumber into other 

 commodities will take the place of mills which now 

 sell their output in the rough, or sell it planed or 

 surfaced. Diversified manufacturing of wood pro- 

 ducts has not progressed nearly as far in Louisiana 

 as in the northern and eastern states. Many south- 

 ern industries of that kind are still In their infancy, 

 and there is room for many others which have not 

 yet had a beginning. Development will come in 

 time, for the raw material is abundant. The least 

 encouraging phase in the outlook for Louisiana is 

 found in the fact that it is selling immense quan- 

 tities of its logs and lumber in the rough, to feed 

 factories in other regions, and when the develop- 

 ment of home wood-working industries shall be 

 undertaken in the future, it may be found that the 

 forests will be much depleted. It may thus happen 

 that its forest resources will never reach their best 

 development. 



Uses are being found for every wood that grows 

 large enough and symmetrical enough for econo- 

 mical working. Search for new woods is stimulated 

 by the increasing scarcity of some of the well-known 

 species. The Forest Service of the Department of 

 Agriculture has been pushing this search for some 

 years. It has studied many woods to find out what 

 they are best fitted for, and has investigated the 

 forests and factories of various states and regions 

 to ascertain in what amounts the commercial spe- 

 cies exist, and what use is being made of them. 

 Constant attention is given to the discovery of 

 new uses for well-known woods, and to bringing 

 little-known woods so-called "minor species" to 

 the attention of users. Many trees which were once 

 looked upon as mere forest weeds, are now taking 

 their place as valuable members of the American 

 forest family. Red gum, hemlock, and tupelo, are 

 examples. In the spring of 1911 the Forest Ser- 

 vice undertook an investigation of Louisiana's wood- 

 manufacturing industries, and this report embodies 

 the result. Statistics collected by the Bureau of 

 the Census show that, with the single exception 

 of Washington, Louisiana produces more lumber 

 than any other state. Interest would naturally 

 attach to a study undertaken to ascertain how much 

 and what kind of further manufacture Is given 

 this lumber in the region that produces it wheth- 

 er it is sold in the rough and shipped to other 

 regions, or whether furniture, machinery, boats, 

 finish, vehicles, and other commodities are made 

 of it at home. Similar studies had already been 



made in seven states Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, 

 Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wiscon- 

 sin. These represent the eastern, central, northern 

 and western parts of the United States, and Louisi- 

 ana was chosen as a representative of the hard- 

 wood and softwood forests of the South. As a 

 lumber region it is new in comparison with some 

 others, and that fact was expected to add to the 

 value of the investigation. Some of the states prac- 

 tically exhausted their primeval forests long ago 

 and now depend on young growth; 'but not so 

 with Louisiana. The cutting of its original forests 

 is now in full swing, and new growth, either present 

 or prospective, is given little attention by the 

 people of the state. The same human character- 

 istic or human frailty which showed so conspi- 

 cuously while the Pennsylvania, Michigan, and 

 New England forests were being cut, appears again 

 in Louisiana where they are harvesting the present 

 crop with no thought for the future. It was be- 

 lieved, therefore, by the Forest Service that a 

 study of manufacturing conditions in Louisiana 

 would result in good by calling attention of thought- 

 ful business men of the state to the subject. If the 

 people are not manufacturing as much of their 

 rough lumber into finished products as they might, 

 means may be found for improving the situation, 

 and developing home industries while wood is yet 

 plentiful. It was not a part of the plan of this 

 investigation to make a silvical study of the state, 

 to look into the condition of the forests, 'note the 

 stand of timber, rate of depletion, quantity and 

 character of reproduction, and the like; but, inci- 

 dentally, some attention has been given to this 

 phase of the question and the concluding para- 

 graphs of this report present a few important 

 facts which must be apparent to any one who travels 

 through the various regions of Louisiana. 



The investigation was conducted upon lines simi- 

 lar to those followed in other states where work of 

 like kind has been done. Lists were obtained of 

 manufacturers who were reported to be engaged 

 in the conversion of rough lumber or wood into 

 finished products. Blank forms for reports were 

 sent them by mail with requests that the reports 

 be filled out and returned. A second request was 

 sent to such as failed to respond to the first. The 

 salient points of the inquiry were: The kinds of 

 wood used, the amounts required annually, the 

 cost of each at the factory, the products manufac- 

 tured, sizes and grades of lumber used, where it 

 comes from, and the market for the products. After 

 sufficient time had been given for all to reply who 

 meant to do so, the field work began. This con- 

 sisted in visiting those who had not replied ,and 

 also many who had but whose replies were not 

 quite satisfactory. 



One of the constant purposes of the field work 

 was to note any new or little-used woods which 

 were beginning to make their appearance in the 

 mills and shops, and to observe any properties in 

 them which seemed to commend them for wider 

 use. One of the earliest discoveries made was that 

 a number of woods were going into the sawmills 

 as one species and coming out as another. This 

 was not due to any purpose to palm off an inferior 

 wood for a better, but was owing to the fact that 

 Louisiana has more than a hundred species of 

 forest trees, while the lumber yards recognize 

 scarcely a score of species as lumber. For in- 

 stance, three maples are cut as saw logs, but all 

 appear in the lumber yard as "soft maple." Two 

 species of ash are cut in the woods, and sugarberry 

 and hackberry are loaded on the log truck with 

 them; but in the lumber yard the whole four are 

 often simply "ash." Turkey oak, post oak, overcup 

 oak, cow oak, and white oak all come from the mill 

 as "white oak." Texan oak, yellow oak, willow 

 oak, and water oak blend in the yard as "red oak," 

 and not one of them is the true red oak (Quercus 

 rubra) which is a more northern tree. Three elms 

 go to the saw mill; one comes out. The same meth- 

 od holds to some extent in the softwoods. The 

 two cypresses are never distinguished apart, and 

 in many lumber yards where three or four pines 

 are stacked side by side, one or two may be rec- 

 ognized. Black gum and tupelo are never mis- 

 taken for each other In the woods; but black gum 

 almost invariably becomes tupelo if sawed into 

 lumber. 



This method is not pointed out for criticism, nor 

 is it peculiar to Louisiana. It exists as a matter 

 of convenience, and because no one objects. The 

 time is near at hand, however, when there will be 

 less grouping and mixing of species in the lumber 

 yards and shops. Each will go by its true name. 

 Farmers once had simply "cattle;" but specializa- 



tion has gone on until now there are many breeds 

 which buyer and seller clearly distinguish. Spe- 

 cies of wood are capable of being separated and 

 distinguished equally as well, and it will be done 

 when wood-using shall become as highly specia- 

 lized as stock raising. During the progress of the 

 field work of this investigation, 24 woods were 

 found in use, though not one of them was listed 

 by any manufacturer under its proper name. Some 

 went under other names, others were unknown, 

 and still others were used in amounts so small as 

 to be thought not worth mentioning. In some in- 

 stances, manufacturers were inclined to apologize 

 for using a certain wood, not because it was not 

 good, but because it was new and it was feared 

 the public might not take kindly to innovations. 



The use of some of the minor species which are 

 just corning in, would not have been discovered 

 had the reports of manufacturers alone been de- 

 pended upon, for in many cases they do not know 

 all the woods coming to their factories. Valuable 

 information along that line was obtained from saw- 

 mill men, lumbermen, and woodsmen. They know 

 the trees, and can often tell what industry buys 

 th? lumber. In this way, by carefully following 

 lumber it may be traced to the shop or factory 

 that uses it. In many instances, too, local uses of 

 wood may be learned from people not in the lum- 

 ber business at all. 



It may be instructive to compare the number of 

 wood-using industries in Louisiana with those in 

 other states where similar studies have been made. 

 An "industry," it should be explained, is not a de- 

 finite term, and does not mean exactly the same 

 everywhere. The comparison should, therefore, ap- 

 ply in a general way only. Following are the 

 numbers of industries: 



Illinois 51, Wisconsin 22, North Carolina 21, Mass- 

 achusetts 20, Oregon 20, Kentucky 19, Maryland 13, 

 Louisiana 9. This low place is held by Louisiana 

 because its forests products, that is, its logs and 

 lumber, are sold in the rough. Other states take 

 these rough products and furtner- manufacture, 

 them. It is the further manufacture, not the rough 

 lumber, which is considered in this report. Take 

 from Louisiana's total the one item, "planing mill 

 products," and not much remains. Its total would 

 be lower than that of any other state named above, 

 not only in the number of industries but in the 

 amount of wood used, and this in face of the fact 

 that it is next to the highest state in lumber cut, 

 and perhaps exceeds every state in the total out- 

 put of forest products. (See Table 29 and accom- 

 panying footnote.) Much of the "planing mill 

 products," Table 2, is really raw material for north- 

 ern factories which buy it in Louisiana because they 

 can procure it more cheaply there than elsewhere. 

 In addition to more than a billion feet of planing 

 mill products, much of which goes out of the 

 state to be further worked up, Louisiana sends out 

 perhaps half of its total mill output as rough lum- 

 ber not even planed at home. 



In reaching some of the best markets in the 

 United States those from New York to the Rocky 

 Mountains, and north of the Ohio River the Louisi- 

 ana manufacturers of wood commodities are at 

 some disadvantage compared with makers of like 

 articles more centrally located as regards those 

 markets. Long hauls by rail make freight rates 

 high. Compensating circumstances are found in 

 the fact that Louisiana's only market does not lie 

 at the terminus of long overland hauls. Take New 

 Orleans as a point in the end of an elipse and 

 complete the figure by extending its enclosing line 

 along the eastern coast of Mexico and Central 

 America, the northern coast of South America to 

 the mouth of the Orinoco River, thence northward 

 through the West Indies back to New Orleans. That 

 touches some of the foreign markets in which the 

 forest products of Louisiana may be laid down so 

 cheaply, because of low rates of water carriage, 

 that competition with the great wood-manufactur- 

 ing industries of central and northern states need 

 not be feared. There is. however, a still wider 

 foreign market open to Louisiana manufacturers 

 Europe, South Africa, and the eastern countries 

 of South America. This market is not merely theo- 

 retical, or a future possibility, but is now being 

 developed. An examination, industry by industry, 

 of the reports of Louisiana manufacturers shows 

 that commodities are now regularly sold In all 

 those countries, and manufacturers are already 

 planning for an enlargement of trade when the 

 completion of the Panama Canal makes new ports 

 accessible. 



