OF VIRGINIA 



39 



PLANING MILL PRODUCTS 



A large part of the lumber, before leaving the region where it is 

 cut, is further manufactured into flooring, ceiling, siding, stock mould- 

 ing, base-boards, roofers, and other matched boards. It is the material 

 consumed for making these planing-mill products in Virginia which 

 the statistics in Table 5 represent. Many large sawmills in this State 

 have planing-mill departments. These and independent planing-mills 

 using bought lumber are the factories which contributed the information 

 of this industry. 



Based on the quantity of wood used, this class of manufacturers 

 is the second largest in Virginia. The box makers reported nearly 47 

 per cent of the total further manufactured as compared with a little 

 over 20 per cent by the planing mills. In North Carolina the adjoining 

 State, the situation is reversed; the planing mills used four times the 

 quantity consumed by the box makers. , 



Eighteen kinds of wood were required to make the products of this 

 industry. Loblolly pine heads the list as to quantity and cost. This 

 was also the principal planing-mill wood as shown by the Maryland 

 and North Carolina reports. Shortleaf pine is the second wood in 

 Virginia in importance, and, with loblolly, comprises more than four- 

 fifths of the total Longleaf pine and scrub pine are the other species 

 of yellow pine reported. The former, cut almost entirely in other 

 States, was extensively used by Virginia planing-mills and the price 

 paid for it was the highest of any woods except walnut. The latter 

 grew altogether in Virginia and was next to the cheapest wood. 



The kinds of lumber used for flooring were loblolly, longleaf and 

 Shortleaf pine, oak, beech, sugar maple, sweet birch, and chestnut. 

 Of the yellow pines, longleaf pine is the superior floor wood, being 

 stronger, harder, and more resinous. It goes into flooring for public 

 buildings where it is subject to excessive wear. It also serves as an 

 ornamental flooring. Waxed and polished, it presents an attractive 

 appearance and is used exposed like hardwood floors. Cheaper grades 

 of flooring are generally made from loblolly and shortleaf pine, al- 

 though commodities made from the old growths of these wods, es- 

 pecially the edge grained flooring, wear well and meet a wide demand. 



Next to yellow pine more oak finds its ultimate form in planing- 

 mill products than any other wood, and flooring is the chief commodity 

 made from it. Its qualities of hardness, strength, and beauty of grain 

 admirably fit it for this use. Oak flooring was quite extensively made 

 from quarter-sawed lumber. Manufacturers in other States use it 

 with birch, maple, black walnut, mahogany, and red gum to form 



