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



THE LUMBER TRADE JOURNAL 



35 



ishes well, and meets most requirements. In Texas 

 it goes to the furniture and wagon shops and is 

 often used for interior house finish, and is one of 

 the best woodenware materials in the state. It 

 stencils well, is clean and odorless, and this fits it 

 for first-grade tox lumber. 



Slippery Elm. Commercially this is not usually 

 distinguished from other elms with which it is as- 

 sociated in Texas. It is of a little darker color, and 

 some users insist that it is stronger than other trees 

 of the genus. It is used for furniture, agricultural 

 implements, boxes and crates, vehicles and fixtures. 

 The inner bark has medicinal value and is sold in 

 most drug stores. This tree in south Texas iscalled 

 "olmo Colorado." 



Sophora. The color of the wood of this species 

 gives it the name "pink locust" in Texas. It is 

 whittled into canes which are hard, strong and 

 heavy. The trees are too small for lumber. 



Spanish Bayonet. Some call the tree Spanish 

 bayonet and know the wood as yucca. At San An- 

 tonio, the novelty stores sell pin cushions, hatpin 

 holders, and other useful and ornamental articles of 

 this material. The rim of the trunk or stem is 

 hard and tough, and the inside soft and spongy. 

 Pins are easily inserted in the pith of cross sec- 

 tions. The articles are made in local shops. Stems 

 three or four inches in diameter are liked best. 



Spanish Oak. So many species of oak are locally 

 called Spanish oak that it becomes difficult to de- 

 termine to what extent the true Spanish is used in 

 Texas. It is at its best near the coast in the eastern 

 part of the state. It goes to wagon shops for repair 

 work, and makers or repairers of cotton and rice ma- 

 chinery use it. A log twenty-four inches In diam- 

 eter which was examined showed little difference in 

 appearance between heartwood and sapwood. Sam- 

 ples of 'balusters, panels, capitals, and molding in 

 the university collection at Austin resemble white 

 oak in color and figure. 



Sweet Magnolia. This finely-colored wood is too 

 scarce in Texas to become commercially important, 

 but some excellent specimens are found. A meas- 

 ured trunk seventeen inches in diameter had one 

 inch of sapwood. The heart is used as an imitation 

 of mahogany. It takes high polish, and the 'brown 

 and darker shades combine with fine effect. Small 

 articles are turned on lathes, and spindles for arm 

 chairs are another class of products made of this 

 wood. By some it is called sweet bay. 



Sycamore. The common eastern sycamore grows 

 as far west in Texas as Devil's River, but it is scarce. 

 What little is cut is likely to go to the furniture 

 shops. A considerable part of the supply is made 

 into chair seats. Some is used for newel posts and 

 railing for stairs, and for panels. A little is con- 

 verted into picture-frame molding, and a rougher 

 place for other is found in making ox yokes near 

 the Louisiana line. 



Texas Ebony. The color of the heartwood gives 

 this species its name. The roots are blacker than 

 the trunk, and small articles made of root wood re- 

 semble the black ebony of Ceylon; but the trunk 

 wood is apt to be striped with black, brown and 

 medium yellow. The annual rings of growth are fre- 

 quently of different colors. A trunk that was meas- 

 ured was twelve inches in diameter and twenty-four 

 years old, with one and a half inches of sapwood. 

 Many kinds of articles are made of ebony from 

 turned candlestick, goblets, cups and rings, to cross 

 ties and house blocks and rollers. When used for 

 railroad ties they must be bored for spikes, for the 

 hardness of the wood makes driving very difficult. 

 It resists decay many years and is one of the com- 

 mon fence-post materials near the Rio Grande. It is 

 in much use as fuel, 'but is sai dto be objectionable 

 for stove wood because of the intense heat it pro- 

 duces. In open fireplaces it burns with cheerful 

 blaze and glowing coals. Large amounts of it are 

 sold as cordwood about Brownsville. 



It is suitable for higher uses than cordwood and 

 cross ties. It makes first-class cabinet material, and 

 by selecting and matching colors, it is worked into 

 furniture. Even large tables are made of it which 

 are elaborately carved, and present a massive and 

 pleasing appearance. At Austin it is manufactured 

 into parquetry floors, being one of the darkest woods 

 employed. The seeds have been used as a substitute 

 for coffee. 



Texas Cat's Claw. A log in the university collec- 

 tion at Austin is nine inches in diameter with 

 twenty-three annual rings. In San Antonio the wood 

 is used (for chisel and gouge handles, and at Austin 

 for small frames, scroll work, and curtain rings. In 

 Brownsville small pieces of cat's claw furniture are 

 exhibited in some of the shops or show windows. It 

 is manufactured into mission lamps, candlesticks, 

 paper weights, rulers, canes, umbrella handles, and 

 numerous ornaments. The sapwood is not much 

 used as it is liable to be attacked by boring insects. 

 The heart is dark in color and exceedingly hard. The 

 color varies, however, from nearly red to nearly 

 black. The wood takes a high polish, and is among 

 the most handsome in the state. 



Tree Huckleberry. This is known also as farkle- 



berry and sparkleberry, and reaches its best devel- 

 opment in eastern Texas. Trees five or six inches 

 in diameter are the maximum. The wood is hard 

 and heavy, is light brown, tinged with red. Occa- 

 sional uses of the wood are reported. It has been 

 employed in a small way -for turnery in the Texas 

 Agricultural and Mechanical College. The wood is 

 hard to split but is liable to check in drying. 



Umbrella Tree. A few small picture frames and 

 spindles for grill work make up the uses found in 

 Texas for this planted tree. The trunk is short, the 

 wood coarse, and of brown color, with figure and 

 general appearance of chestnut. It is a foreign tree 

 brought from southeastern Asia. 



Water Hickory. This is a member of the hickory 

 group and is put to the same uses as the others, 

 though it is seldom given its proper name. The 

 woods of the hickories are so similar that users do 

 not care to separate them. This particular species 

 has been manufactured into counter tops. 



Water Oak. The custom of listing this wood as 

 red oak robs it of some of the credit that should 

 come to it. Though not reported under its own 

 name by a single manufacturer in Texas, it is known 

 to supply material for wagons, furniture, fixtures 

 and general millwork. The figure of the wood is in- 

 ferior to that of many species of oak, and it is ob- 

 jectionable on account of its poor seasoning quali- 

 ties; but the wood is strong and reliable and is 

 -worthy of more consideration than has been given 

 it. 



Whiteleaf Oak. The beauty of this small, ever- 

 green oak that grows on the high regions of western 

 Texas is in the foliage rather than the wood. Large 

 trunks are apt to be hollow, but the sound wood is 

 used for repairing wagons and it has been tried with 

 some success for furniture. It will never become 

 of other than local importance. 



Wild China. This tree is abundant in Texas, but 

 is of poor form for lumber, the trunks being short 

 and none too straight. It is often planted for shade. 

 It is not a foreign tree 'brought into this country, as 

 its name might imply. It grows from Georgia to 

 Arizona, but probably will never attain to any more 

 importance in the timber supply than it now holds. 

 It is sometimes called soap berry because sub- 

 stances extracted from the roots and the fruit have 

 been used for soap. The true soap berry is a closely 

 related species. It is credited with being a rapid 

 grower, but the count of annual rings in a number 

 of trunks in Texas did not show it so. The wood 

 bears some resemblance to ash, but is not as coarse. 

 It is used for boxes, crates, furniture and vehicle 

 repairing, but not in large amounts. 



Wild Plum. The wood looks like apple but is of 

 deeper red. It was found one of the woods in use 

 in a shop where butcher-knife handles and wooden 

 spoons are made. A log that measured seven inches 

 in diameter had three-fourths inch of sapwood. 



Yellow Buckeye. A little of this wood is made 

 into boxes in eastern Texas, and ironing boards and 

 'bread boards find places for a little. It is a white, 

 soft wood, useful for many purposes, but it is not 

 plentiful or of large size in Texas. 



fellow Oak. The yellow oak loses its forest name 

 when it reaches the lumber yard and becomes red 

 oak, and is used wherever it is found. The wood 

 varies in quality (like elm) in accordance with soils 

 on which it grows. Good soil produces clear, sound, 

 good-colored wood; poor soil shows results in brash, 

 defective trunks. 



Yopon Holly. The only use found for this small, 

 scarce wood in Texas was for wooden spoons and 

 manicure sets; and the largest trunk measured was 

 only three inches in diameter. The wood is white 

 like other hollies. 



INDUSTRIES. 



The sawmills of Texas cut 1,884,134,000 feet of 

 lumber in 1910, as is shown by the census figures 

 for that year. Reports came from 466 mills. The 

 quantity further manufactured last year was 768,- 

 336,112 feet, according to special reports received 

 and compiled by the Forest Service. That shows 

 the further manufacture of the equivalent of 41 per 

 cent of the cut of the mills. About 9 per cent of 

 the quantity further manufactured is shipped into 

 the State, it being largely such woods as are not 

 abundantly produced in Texas. 



Five foreign woods are used in Texas factories 

 the two mahoganies, African and American: Mexi- 

 can white pine, Spanish cedar, and teak. The Mex- 

 ican white pine grows also in the United States and 

 is not strictly foreign species. The combined 

 amount of the foreign woods is only a little more 

 than half a million feet. 



It is not always an easy matter to define what is, 

 meant by and included in an industry. There are 

 many overlappings and doubtful cases. A clear 

 line between furniture and fixtures, for instance, 

 can not always be drawn; nor between handles and 

 agricultural implements; nor between tanks and 

 coperage ,and so on down the whole list. In dividing 



into industries the whole amount of wood used in 

 the State, the Forest Service follows the same sched- 

 ules and rules In all the States in order to have uni- 

 formity, and to facilitate the comparison of one 

 State with another. The classes of commodities in 

 the trunk industry, or the musical instrument in- 

 dustry, or the horse vehicle industry, or any other 

 industry, are the same in all the States. One wish- 

 ing to ascertain how Michigan compares with Texas 

 in the tank industry can consult the reports for the 

 two States, with the assurance that the same kind 

 of commodities, and no others, are included in both 

 States. The rather large group of industries which 

 are marked "Miscellaneous" in the table is made 

 up partly of odds and ends and of doubtful articles 

 which do not clearly belong in any of the listed 

 industries. That is the place where all the left- 

 overs go. 



After this explanation it will be of interest to 

 compare the numbers of industries in certain States. 

 The quantity of wood used is no gauge by which to 

 measure the number of industries, for where devel- 

 opment is high and utilization close, subdivisions 

 are clearly differentiated; but -where quantity is 

 the principal item considered, industries are apt 

 to be few. The following list by States includes 

 "Miscellaneous" as an industry in each. 



No. of 



State. Industries. 



Louisiana 9 



Mississippi 9 



Texas 13 



Maryland 13 



Arkansas 15 



Kentucky 19 



Alabama 19 



Oregon ; . . . 20 



Massachusetts 20 



North Carolina 21 



Wisconsin 22 



Missouri 24 



Illinois 51 



If there are not at least three manufacturers en- 

 gaged in making the same commodity, it is not 

 classed as an industry If less than three, they are 

 listed with the "Miscellaneous." That is to avoid 

 revealing the Identity of any manufacturer's fig- 

 ures. 



A comparison of prices paid for lumber in differ- 

 ent States 'by firms making similar commodities 

 would show such differences that ordinary market 

 conditions would not afford a satisfactory explana- 

 tion The real cause of difference in cost, where it 

 is great, is often to be found in the quality of the 

 products manufactured Some furniture makers, for 

 instance, pay $20 or less for lumber, while others 

 pay $100; but they do not both make the same grade 

 of furniture. When a greater difference in cost of 

 lumber exists than freight and the ordinary market 

 conditions will account for, the difference will 

 usually 'be found in the grades used Some white 

 oak may be bought for $25 a thousand, and other 

 can not be bought for three times that It is prac- 

 tically impossible in a report such as this to enter 

 minutely into grades of wood used. The average 

 prices paid must serve as an index to the grades. 



Planing-MIII Products. 



The output of planing mills constitutes the largest 

 wood-using industry in Texas, amounting to 77 per 

 cent of all, and the average cost of the lumber used 

 as raw material is less than in any other industry. 

 The items are flooring, ceiling, and siding. The 

 planing mills which turn out these products are 

 nearly all operated in connection with and as ad- 

 juncts of sawmills. The latter make rough lumber 

 which, when it has been properly seasoned, is run 

 through the planers, and is then considered a fin- 

 ished commodity ready for use, and is shipped to 

 market. Stock sizes, kinds, and patterns are made 

 and no special machinery is needed. The mills 

 which saw the lumber, plane it also because it can 

 generally be done more cheaply in that way than 

 by shipping the rough lumber to be made into ceil- 

 ing, siding, and flooring elsewhere to be planed. But 

 some planing mills do that kind of work though 

 they are not connected with any particular sawmills. 

 They are so situated in relation to supply that they 

 can obtain rough lumber very cheaply and can dis- 

 pose of the finished product to advantage. 



The three species of yellow pine, shortleaf. long- 

 leaf, and loblolly, contribute practically all of the 

 wood demanded by this industry. Though eight 

 other species are listed, their aggregate contribu- 

 tion is less than 1,000,000 feet, which is not a quar- 

 ter of 1 per cent of the whole. White pine is highest 

 in price and loblolly pine the lowest. Seven of the 

 eleven woods, as listed in Table II were supplied 

 wholly by Texas, and only one, white pine, came 

 entirely from without. The State furnished more 

 than 98 per cent of all the raw material used by this 

 industry. 



The table does not show where the products are 

 sold, but it is known that one of the best markets 



