New Orleans, La., June 15, 1912.] 



THE LUMBER TRADE JOURNAL 



29 



KINDS OF WOOD. 

 Common Name. Botanical Name. 



Water hickory Hicoria aquatica .... 



Water oak Quercus nigra 



Whiteleaf oak Quercus hypoleuca . . 



Wild china Saplndus marginatus. 



Wild plum Prunus americana. . . . 



Yellow buckeye Aesculus octandra .. 



Yellow oak Quercus velutina .... 



Yopon holly Ilex vomitoria 



Quantity Average Total cost 



Used annually. cost per f. o. b. 



FeetB. M. Percent 1,000ft. factory. 



Grown 



Grown out 

 in Tex. of Tex. 

 Per ct. Per ct. 



Totals 762,336,112 100.00 J13.30 $10,144,925 91.51 8.49 



*Less than 1/100 of one per cent. 



tThis and 79 species which follow were not reported by any manufacturer but were found in use. 



suit it best, and when it finds conditions just right 

 it grows nearly or quite as fast as any tree in this 

 country. Twenty or thirty years will produce sinall 

 sawlogs, and twice that period suffices for trunks 

 occasionally two feet or more in diameter. Being 

 a waste land tree, ,it is worth the consideration of 

 those who think of planting woodlots for commer- 

 cial timber growing. Its light seeds are scattered 

 far and wide by the wind, and if suitable tracts are 

 made ready, the planting will generally be done by 

 nature if seed trees nappen to be in the viciinity. 

 The wood is strong and reliable, but not handsome. 



Chestnut. Texas grows none of the chestnut 

 which its factories use, 'but Imports it from the 

 States in the Appalachian region, or the Ohio valley. 

 Though it is an excellent wood for certain purposes, 

 it does not belong in the indispensable class, and if 

 it were withdrawn from market its place could be 

 filled with something else. Considered for the whole 

 United States, it is probably the most important 

 wood in the manufacture of coffins and caskets. 

 Custom controls that use. Undertakers insist that 

 no reason can be given for the demand made upon 

 chestnut for burial cases, except a long-standing 

 custom which had its origin no one seems to know 

 where. The wood is still abundant, but the cut is 

 heavy, both for lumber and tanning extract; and in 

 recent years the appearance of a diseased condition 

 affecting this timber in some of the best chestnut 

 regions of the country has caused concern for the 

 future. 



Chinquapin Oak. This oak seems to supply a 

 large quantity of wood to manufacturers in Texas. 

 It is possible that some reported by this name was 

 other oak. Its range does not extend westward of 

 the Guadaloupe Mountains, and it attains its best 

 size and form in the eastern part of the State. 

 Trees eighty feet high and three feet in diameter 

 are occasionally found. The wood is strong, of good 

 grain, and is serviceable for many purposes. The 

 leaf resembles that of the swamp white oak and 

 the chestnut oak, .though it is smaller than either. 



Common Cottonivood. Texas is not a large pro- 

 ducer of this wood and in 1910 only fourteen mills 

 in the State reported any in their output. Many 

 mills cut small amounts and did not report it in 

 the census returns for that year. This tree is able 

 to eke out an existence in nearly any kind of soil, 

 and it can get along with comparatively little water, 

 but it does not prosper under such circumstances. 

 It wants plenty of moisture and a fertile soil to show 

 best results. It is a frontier tree, and not only in 

 Texas but elsewhere in the Plains States it was 

 found by explorers and first settlers miles in ad- 

 vance of the fringe forests of other species. The 

 seeds are light, and the wind carries them long dis- 

 tances. Some of the millions thus scattered found 

 lodgment near springs of water and in damp situa- 

 tions along water courses, and thus the outposts of 

 the forests were planted. The trees' custom of grow- 

 ing where the ground is damp often saved it from 

 prairie fires in the days when grass was burned 

 yearly. The fact that cottonwood grew farther out 

 on the plains than most other trees gave it an im- 

 portance in early years which it does not hold now. 

 Frontiersmen built corrals and barns of cotton- 

 wood logs when they could procure nothing else. 

 At the present time it has taken its place as a ma- 

 terial for manufacturing, and is bought and sold 

 on its merits as far as supply will permit. It is 

 becoming >scarce. The sawmill cut in the country is 

 less now than it was ten or twelve years ago. There 

 is no immediate danger that cottonwood will fail 

 entirely either in Texas or in the country generally, 

 but the best has already been cut in most States, 

 and dependence must be placed on young trees now 

 coming on. 



Cypress. Cypress in Texas is of less importance 

 than the pines, and the yearly output of this wood 

 will likely decrease until it reaches a low place in 

 the State's list of natural resources. Nature has 

 confined it to overflow land and many tracts of that 

 kind in Texas produce no cypress. It grows in cer- 

 tain river bottoms, but usually not in extensive bod- 

 ies. The State has no large cypress mills, as Louis- 

 iana has, and the total cut is only moderate. There 

 are few young cypress trees coming on. When the 



old trunks have been cut, or when they fall in course 

 of nature, their places will he left vacant, unless 

 some other kind of tree fills the openings. It is a 

 tree that grows very slowly, and two or three centu- 

 ries are required to produce a trunk large enougn 

 for first-class sawlogs. It can not 'be expected that 

 young cypress will be set apart for future cutting. 

 The returns will be too far in the future, and if any 

 tree planting is done, some species of more rapid 

 growth 'Will be chosen. 



Douglas Fir. This wood was unknown in the 

 eastern and middle regions of the United States a 

 few years ago, ,and, as a comparatively new comer, 

 it has met with favor. Most of it is cut in Wash- 

 ington and Oregon, but it abounds in the nonrthern 

 Hocky Mountain States. A common name for it is 

 Oregon pine, and it is occasionally called red fir. 

 The trees attain great size, and very large timbers 

 are cut from them. In Texas it enters into com- 

 petition with longleaf pine probably oftener than 

 with any other. The two woods are much alike in 

 many ways. Both are very strong and stiff, and 

 are used tor similar purposes. Douglas fir is cut in 

 larger quantity than any other wood in the world, 

 except the southern yellow pines, and is so cheap in 

 the regions where it is produced that It is able to 

 force its way into markets hundreds or thousands of 

 miles away. Its high price In Texas limits its com- 

 petition with its great rival, longleaf pine. It costs 

 more than three times as much as the pine. 



Evergreen Magnolia. This is not a timber tree of 

 first importance in Texas or anywhere else. A few 

 years ago it was seldom cut except in very small 

 quantities; but it was found to possess good quali- 

 ties, and now it goes regularly to the mills which 

 saw hardwoods in the region where it grows. The 

 wood of different magnolia trees, or even the wood 

 of the same tree, shows lack of uniformity. Some 

 of it looks like yellow poplar and compares favor- 

 ably with it in several particulars, .while other of 

 it is very dark, with hard flinty streaks which not 

 only presents a poor appearance, but dull the tools 

 ot the wood-worKing machines ana create an unfa- 

 vorable impression of the wood generally. Tnis 

 magnolia holds pretty closely to the damp lands in 

 eastern and southeastern Texas. The amount of 

 the annual cut is not known, because it goes in with 

 the minor species in most places and no separate ac- 

 count is taken. It is coming into more notice every 

 year, and some manufacturers have been so success- 

 ful in finding ways to make it serviceable that the 

 best grades are easily sold. The wood does not hold 

 its color very well. The light-colored sapwood is 

 apt to become darker after exposure to the air, and 

 the dark heartwood fades a little. The tree is so 

 handsome in the forest that it is occasionally spared 

 when the surrounding trees are removed. For 

 purely ornamental purposes it is one of the finest 

 of all southern trees. In the parts of Texas where it 

 grows naturally, it is destined to survive most of 

 its associates, and in years to come it may be re- 

 garded as more ornamental than useful. 



Gamoel Oak. This tree will never be important 

 except locally. It is scarce in Texas of a size fitting 

 it for commercial purposes, and much of the woou 

 contains hard and dark colored streaks. When a 

 choice tree is found the wood makes good furniture 

 and finish. It is found in the western part of the 

 State where woods are scarce, and this gives it more 

 value than it would have if its range lay in the 

 wooded regions of the east. Nearly any kind of 

 tree is valuble when it is the only one to be had. 



Hackberry. A good deal of confusion exists ia 

 Texas between hackberry and sugarberry. One is 

 frequently mistaken for the other. They are so 

 nearly alike, however, that for all practical purposes 

 they might be considered the same. Botanists more 

 than wood users try to keep them separate. Though 

 hackberry is cut in rather large amounts in Texas, 

 as well as in more than a dozen other States, the 

 census returns of the lumber cut of the United 

 States do not mention this wood, not even among 

 the minor species. That is because it loses its iden- 

 tity when it reaches the sawmill. Hackberry lum- 

 ber is seldom heard of. It goes as ash, or else by 

 no name at all. Users generally consider it not 

 quite as strong as ash, ,aud with grain and figure 



less pronounced, but otherwise it compares favor- 

 ably with white ash. Mature trees often have little 

 or no colored heartwood. 



Hickory. Texas is not an important producer of 

 hickory. Thirteen mills reported it in their output 

 in 1910, the latest census figures. Wood users lis? 

 less than 200,000 feet a year. Hickory approaches 

 its southwestern limit in Texas, and the species 

 known as pecan is the only one that is fairly abun- 

 dant, though five other species grow in the State. 

 Users of hickory generally make no distinction be- 

 tween the species in listing them for statistical pur- 

 poses, but they clearly recognize a difference when 

 selecting the material for use. Few manufacturers 

 will buy pecan hickory on equal terms with bitter- 

 nut, shagbark, or pignut. The six species of hick- 

 ory found in Texas are, mockernut (Hicoria alba), 

 pecan (Hicoria pecan), bitternut (Hicoria minima), 

 water hickory (Hicoria aquatica), shagbark (Hic- 

 oria ovata), pignut (Hicoria glabra). The only one 

 of these to attain its best development in Texas is 

 pecan. Along some of the water courses in the 

 southwestern part of the State, pecan trees grow 

 four or five feet in diameter. 



Mahogany. Two species of mahogany are im- 

 ported by Texas manufacturers. The most common 

 is the American species, which, speaking from th 

 standpoint of the botanist, is the true mahogany, 

 the kind that has been in use four hundred years. 

 It is cut in 'Mexico, Central America ,the northern 

 States of South America, and the West Indies, and 

 is usually imported in the log. The other kind re- 

 ported in Texas is the African species. The two 

 bear close resemblance, and some manufacturers 

 prefer one and some the other. There are other 

 woods which pass commercially for mahogany, but 

 none were reported in Texas. Wood staining has 

 'been so far perfected that many common American 

 woods are finished in such close imitation of mahog- 

 any that they successfully pass for it. 



Mexican White Pine. This tree is more abundant 

 in Mexico than north of the international bound- 

 ary, but it occurs in the southwest, where some call . 

 it Arizona pine, or simply white pine. Competent 

 judges have pronounced it the nearest approach in 

 good qualities to the white. pine of the Lake States 

 of all the woods of this country. It has not yet 

 been much used in the United States. Large and 

 fine forests of it are said to exist among the moun- 

 tains of northwestern Mexico. 



Osage Orange This valuable wood is of peculiar 

 interest to Texas, because of its unique history and 

 because of its probable future importance when the 

 country shall be brought to depend on planted trees 

 for wood supply. Osage orange has been planted 

 in perhaps every State of the Union, and grows suc- 

 cessfully in most of them. It is one of the most 

 widely distributed of American forest trees, but its 

 distribution has been chiefly artificial. It was found 

 originally in a very restricted region, from which 

 it was carried for hedge and ornamental planting 

 far and wide. Its natural home, to which it was 

 confined when first discovered, embraced little more 

 than 10,000 square miles, and probably half of that 

 small area produced no trees of commercial size. Its 

 northern limit was near Atoka, Okla., its southern 

 a little south of Dallas, Texas; a range north and 

 south of approxximately one hundred miles. Its 

 broadest extent east and west was along Red River, 

 through Cooke, Grayson, Fanning, Lamar and Red 

 Kiver counties, Texas, .about 120 miles. Some osage 

 orange of commercial size grew outside the area 

 thus demimited, but no large amount. Much of that 

 region, particularly south of Red River, was prairie, 

 without timber of any kind; but scattered here and 

 there were belts, strips, thickets, and clumps of 

 osage orange mixed with other species. On the 

 very best of its range, and before distributed by 

 white men, this wood seldom formed pure stands of 

 as much as 100 acres in one body, and since the 

 country's settlement, the stands have become smaller 

 or have been entirely cleared to make farms. All 

 accounts agree that the osage orange reaches its 

 highest development on the fertile lands along 

 Boggy and Blue Rivers in Oklahoma, though fine 

 bodies of it once grew south of the Red River in 

 Texas, and much is still cut there, though the 

 choicest long ago disappeared. Few trees are less 

 exacting in soil, ,yet when it can make choice it 

 chooses the best. In its natural habitat it holds its 

 place in the black fertile flats and valleys, and is 

 seldom found on sandy soil. It is not a swamp tree, 

 though it is uninjured by occasional floods. The 

 tracts where its grows are sometimes called "bo- 

 dark swamps," though they are marshy in wet 

 weather only. 



Thirty or forty thousand square miles of north- 

 eastern Texas are fenced with osage orange posts, 

 and nearly half of the houses in the same region 

 stand on blocks of this wood. It is equal to any 

 timber in this country in resulting decay. It has 

 been much used as bridge piling, and to a less ex- 

 tent for telephone poles. Ten or twelve thousand 

 wagons are made yearly with osage orange felloes. 

 The wood shrinks and swells very little, and wheels 



