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



THE LUMBER TRADE JOURNAL 



31 



mine the exact species. If this were not done, most 

 state reports of wood uses would name few species 

 of oak other than white and red. 



White Pine. The reign of the white pine in the 

 United States is a thing of the past, though a large 

 amount is still demanded. It does not grow in the 

 state, and the lumber now used here comes princi- 

 pally from the Lake States, where it was once lum- 

 bered in enormous quantities, but now to a much 

 less extent. Much white pine lumber is still i the 

 market, but not all that passes for white pine is the 

 genuine article. Some is Norway pine cut in the 

 Lake States and Canada; some is the western white 

 pine, a different species from the northern Rocky 

 Mountain states; the California sugar pine furnishes 

 some of it, and the western yellow pine more, and a 

 small amount is the Mexican white pine. These sev- 

 eral species pass as white pine in the lumber mar- 

 ket, and it is difficult to determine how much of the 

 total is the real article All are good woods, and for 

 some purposes are doubtless as good as white pine. 

 No manufacturer expects, nor should the buying 

 public expect, to obtain much white pine now of a 

 grade equal to that on the market when the original 

 pine forests of New England, New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania and the Lake states were available. 



Willow Oak. This tree is nearly but not quite an 

 evergreen in the extreme southern part of its range. 

 Its thick, willow-shaped leaves adhere to the twigs 

 until the new crop of the following year pushes 

 them off. The wood resembles red oak, and it often 

 passes under that name. The tree grows rapidly and 

 the annual rings are broad and clearly defined. It 

 is one of the most promising species of eastern 

 Texas. Not only is the wood of high grade and 

 useful for many purposes, but the tree increases in 

 size so rapidly that few species promise better re- 

 turns from planted stands. It has not yet been 

 planted to any extent. One factor not in its favor 

 is that it is somewhat exacting in its soil and moist- 

 ure conditions. It must have plenty of water or the 

 trunk becomes stunted. It may be expected to do 

 well in Texas only in the eastern half of the state, 

 and there only near water courses where the soil is 

 deep and damp. 



Wing Elm. This wood passes under various 

 names, and those who use it are apt to call it elm 

 without any qualifying term. The wood differs lit- 

 tle from white elm, but some consider it a little 

 harder and tougher. It is not called wing elm 'be- 

 cause its seeds are equipped for flying,, as might be 

 supposed, but 'because its small twigs are provided 

 with flat keels, often a half an inch or more wide. 

 The wings are of no use to the tree, as far as is 

 known, but they are an easy mark of identification. 

 The tree is called cork elm and rock elm, but these 

 names are applied to other species of elm as well, 

 and cork elm is the proper name of one of them. 



Yellow Pines. Three species of yellow pine grow 

 in Texas, and are cut in large quantities by sawmills 

 and are made into finished commodities by manu- 

 facturing plants. The three kinds of pine are some- 

 times spoken of collectively as yellow pine or south- 

 ern yellow pine; but it often happens that it is nec- 

 essary to be more exact in specifying the kinds, and 

 they are listed according to species as longleaf, 

 shortleaf and loblolly. Sawmill output, as it is han- 

 dled by the census, usually groups all three under 

 the common name of southern yellow pine. The 

 purpose in that case is merely to separate them 

 from the western yellow pine of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains and Pacific coast regions, and the other pines 

 figured in the lumber cut of the United States. That 

 general classification is considered sufficient in re- 

 porting the sawmill output, but factories which work 

 the lumber into finished products find it necessary 

 to separate the general groups of woods into spe- 

 cies. 



Shortleaf Pine. Factories in Texas report the 

 use of 48 species of wood, but more than ninety per 

 cent of all consists of the three species of yellow 

 pine. Shortleaf leads in quantity, with longleaf 

 second, and loblolly third, according to the reports 

 of manufacturers. The principal supply of shortleaf 

 pine comes from the northeastern section of the 

 state; the loblolly belt is south of that, and the long- 

 leaf nearer the coast. The belts of the different 

 pines are not clearly defined in all places and there 

 is much overlapping of ranges. 



Shortleaf pine 'has a number of characteristics 

 which separate it from its relatives in the yellow 

 pine group. Its leaves are shorter than those of any 

 other timber pine in Texas, and that usually makes 

 the identification of the standing tree easy; but it 

 is often desirable that the logs or lumber be iden- 

 tified when far removed from where the trees grew. 

 It is not always easy to do that, particularly to dis- 

 tinguish shortleaf from loblolly pine in the log yard 

 or lumber pile. There are some general features 

 belonging to each of the species which will assist 

 in distinguishing one from another. Longleaf has 

 comparatively thin sapwood and much heart. Both 

 shortleaf and loblolly pine have thick sapwood and 

 comparatively little heart. These features alone 

 usually are sufficient to identify longleaf pine logs, 



if compared with those of the two other species; 

 but shortleaf pine and loblolly are so nearly the 

 same in the proportionate amounts of heartwood 

 and sapwood that some other mark of distinction 

 must be sought and it is not always possible to find 

 it on a general view of the logs. 



Shortleaf pine grows rapidly the first thirty or 

 forty years of its life, and the yearly rings showing 

 the growth are wide. But after that age is reached 

 the tree develops a tendency to grow more slowly 

 and the annual rings are narrower. Upon examin- 

 ing the end of a shortleaf pine log, therefore, the 

 part next the center is apt to be found made up of 

 broad rings and the outer part of narrow rings. The 

 rule does not always hold, but generally does. Lob- 

 lolly pine grows rapidly and has wide rings until the 

 trunk attains large size. 



;Shortleaf pine is at this time the most extensive- 

 ly used wood in Texas, and the greatest demand for 

 it is by manufacturers of doors, sash, and interior 

 house finish. It is a soft wood and joins nicely. It 

 is not difficult to season, and it retains its shape 

 well. The figure is handsome, and the grain holds 

 and displays points and stains. It works easily. 



The belief is quite general among workers in pine 

 that there are two species of shortleaf in Texas, one 

 whiter and softer than the other, but botanists have 

 not been able to work out two species and hold that 

 the differences in wood are due to soil, climate and 

 other factors of environment. In some instances 

 the soft variety of shortleaf is called Texas white 

 pine. The best of It closely resembles the white 

 pine of the Lake states.. 



The cutting of this species is gaining rapidly on 

 the growth and the supply must run short before 

 many years. It is said that pines have encroached, 

 a good deal on the prairie land in Texas since the 

 country was settled, and the Indian fires stopped. 

 The young growth coming on is not enough to make 

 up the yearly drain to supply the mills. 



Longleaf Pine. A considerable amount of small 

 growth of longleaf pine is met with in places near 

 the southeastern border of Texas; but the fact is 

 apparent that the end of this fine wood, as a timber 

 supply, is only a question of a few years or decades. 

 Large tracts which were once heavily wooded are 

 now bare of trees. In many instances farmers fol- 

 lowed the lumberman, and crops grow among the 

 stumps. In other cases, stumps dot wide expanses 

 of pasture. 



This pine possesses great strength, stiffness, and 

 hardness, and is fitted for special places. It is the 

 great bridge wood of the central and eastern part 

 of the United States. Its chief competitor in that 

 line is the Douglas fir of the Pacific coast. Each 

 holds the field nearest it, and in the broad belt of 

 country, midway between the two, they meet in 

 sharp competition. In good qualities they are pret- 

 ty evenly matched. The western wood may be had 

 in larger pieces, bu.t the southern pine is sawed in 

 dimensions large enough for all ordinary purposes. 



The hardness as well as the strength of longleaf 

 pine qualify it for use as flooring. It wears well, 

 is not inclined to splinter under hard usage, and is 

 of handsome appearance. Car manufacturers use 

 it for framing timbers, as well as for flooring and 

 siding. The long beams cut from the shapely 

 trunks of this species constitute excellent frames 

 and trusses for large buildings. 



The longleaf forests of Texas are now coming in 

 as a source of naval stores, such as rosin, pitch, 

 turpentine, and oils. A few years ago Texas con- 

 tributed little to that industry. Georgia was once 

 the chief field; then it moved westward successively 

 into Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The 

 gradual shifting of the center of the naval stores 

 supply westward marks in a general way the deple- 

 tion of longleaf pine. Texas has the farthest west 

 and the last of the large stands. 



Loblolly Pine In some instances loblolly is call- 

 ed longleaf pine, and in others it is classed as 

 shortleaf. Its needles are midway in length be- 

 tween longleaf and shortleaf, and when compared 

 with the former they are short, and in comparison 

 with the latter they are long. It is not improbable 

 that the figures for loblolly pine in Table 1 are far 

 too small because of the custom of calling this wood 

 either longleaf or shortleaf pine. The wood bears 

 much closer resemblance to shortleaf than to long- 

 leaf pine, and is made into doors, frames, and dif- 

 ferent kinds of finish. 



Loblolly pine is an aggressive tree. It pushes 

 into vacant land wherever it finds it, and takes pos- 

 session and generally crowds out most other spe- 

 cies. It prefers old farms as a seeding ground, and 

 so 'prompt is it in improving opportunities of that 

 kind that it is apt to distance its competitors in the 

 race. In some of the Eastern states, particularly 

 Virginia, Norh Carolina, and the eastern shore of 

 Maryland, it has taken possession of thousands of 

 old fields where corn and tobacco once grew. In 

 Texas there are few worn-out fields, and the spread 

 of loblolly pine over land of that character is not 

 common; but the species is spreading where forests 

 have been cut, and also into many prairie tracts 



where no trees grew half a century ago. If one 

 may judge the future by present indications, this 

 tree will be the longest survivor of the pines of 

 Eastern Texas. The longleaf will be the first to 

 give up the fight because of its inability to compete 

 for space, and the loblolly will be last because it 

 will win in that competition. 



yellow Poplar. This fine forest tree is not found 

 growing in Texas in commercial quantities. Its 

 range is in the Appalachian region, but demand for 

 the wood exists in practically every manufacturing 

 section of this country. It once competed with 

 pine, but it is no longer a competitor, having risen 

 above most of the pines in refinement of uses. Its 

 high price excludes it from many places where it 

 was once common, but it has a few places Which it 

 continues to hold in spite of cost. One of these is 

 in the manufacture of fine carriage bodies, where 

 broad panels, particularly those of curved form, are 

 demanded. No wood surpasses yellow poplar in 

 smoothness of finish and in ability to hold high- 

 class paints. 



One-Seed Juniper. The one-seed juniper is a des- 

 ert tree that comes down into western Texas from 

 the mountains. It is not of good form for lumber, 

 the trunk being short and rough. The numerous 

 knots are apt to be much darker in color than the 

 body wood; but that is not necessarily a defect, for 

 in making clothes chests, the remarkable contrast 

 in color between the knots and other wood gives the 

 articles a peculiar and attractive appearance. The 

 trunks are sharply buttressed and deeply creased. 

 Sometimes the folds of bark within the creases al- 

 most reach the tree's heart. The sapwood is thin, 

 the heartwood irregular in color. Some is darker 

 than the heartwood of the southern red cedar; other 

 is clouded and mottled, pale yellow, cream-colored, 

 or streaked with various tints. 



This tree can be economically worked only as 

 small pieces. It takes a soft, pleasing finish. It 

 is a lathe wood and shows to best advantage as bal- 

 usters, ornaments and small posts; and as Indian 

 clubs, dumb-bells, balls and lodge gavels. It has 

 been made into small game 'boards with fine effect, 

 and it is excellent material for small picture frames. 

 Furniture makers find for it several uses. It ought 

 to be valuable in the manufacture of small musical 

 instruments where fine polish and novel figures are 

 desired, but inquiry failed to discover that it has 

 ever been so used in Texas. It is not an abundant 

 wood, nor is it convenient to market. 



Mountain Juniper. This tree has several local 

 names in Texas, among them being juniper cedar, 

 mountain cedar, juniper and rock cedar. It grows 

 in southwestern Texas, and is closely related to the 

 red cedar. When mountain juniper grows under 

 adverse circumstances it assumes fantastic and dis- 

 torted forms which bear little resemblance to any 

 of its relatives. It has been planted for ornament 

 to a small extent, along the coast about Corpus 

 Christ! and between there and the Rio Grande. That 

 region is outside of the species' natural range, and 

 the trying climatic conditions strangely affect the 

 tree's form, and the trunks often resemble twisted 

 and interwoven bundles of lead-colored vines but- 

 tressed, fluted and gnarled. The branches under 

 these circumstances lose the horizontal or upright 

 positions which they have in their natural environ- 

 ment, and droop in ragged festoons; and the wind 

 in winter whips most of the foliage from them. Few 

 of the planted trees are yet above a foot in diameter 

 or more than twenty or thirty feet high. In its 

 natural range the tree may attain a diameter of 

 two feet and a height of 100 feet. Even in its nat- 

 ural range the creases in the trunk are often so 

 deep as almost to divide the trunk in two; and 

 trunks of planted trees are sometimes entirely divi- 

 ded, forming two or more stems. 



The sapwood of the mountain juniper is very thin. 

 It is not a tree that can be profitably cut into lum- 

 ber of the usual kinds and sizes, because of its odd- 

 shaped and irregular trunk. It lends itself more 

 economically to the manufacture of articles made up 

 of small pieces. Some of the wood is extremely 

 beautiful, having the color and figure of French 

 walnut. There is great difference, nowever, in color 

 and figure, and the wood from one tree is not a sure 

 guide to what another may be. Boards a foot wide., 

 or even less, may show several figures and colors. 

 Some pieces of the wood suggest variegated marble; 

 others are like plain red cedar. Some is light yel- 

 lowish in color; other has a tinge of blue. Small 

 spindles, such as are made into grills, show to fine 

 advantage. It may be highly recommended for pic- 

 ture-frame molding and for small panel work and 

 turned ornaments. Fine stair balustrades have been 

 made of it, including newel posts and railing. Fur- 

 niture makers use it. Those 'well acquainted with 

 it say that the wood varies greatly in hardness, even 

 in the same trunk. Some is tough and flinty, other 

 soft and brittle enough for lead pencils. It has 

 been substituted for red cedar by clothes-chest mak- 

 ers; and goblets, cups, rings, dishes, trays and other 

 small wooden-ware are turned by the lathe. 



Mesquite. Persons well acquainted with Texas, 



