THE SOUTHERN CYPRESS. 17 



The seven grades of the Southern Cypress Manufacturers' Associa- 

 tion give the following averages in a number of representative locali- 

 ties, with 5 to 15 years' cut in the future: Tank, 2 per cent; clears, 

 15; select, 16; shop, 19; barn, dimension, and boxing, 27; peck, 9; 

 ties, posts, and miscellaneous, 14 per cent. 



STOCK AND SEASONING. 



The great bulk of cypress is air- dried for periods of from 9 to 

 12 months. A representative mill in Louisiana, carrying about 

 45,000,000 feet of cypress in its yards, kiln-dried only 2 per cent of 

 its lumber, but 60 per cent of its shingles and lath. Tank stock 3 

 inches thick should have about 18 months for air-seasoning. Except 

 in an emergency, little of the high grades is run through the kiln, since 

 checks and raised grain often appear, but some mills kiln-dry the 

 commons, and so hasten their disposal. Because of the large water 

 content, green cypress shingles are very heavy. Kiln drying effects 

 a reduction in weight of about one-half. For doors and other high- 

 grade products, manufacturers call for lumber dried for from 10 to 

 16 months, followed by kiln drying for from 3 to 20 days. Close mill 

 utilization and the demand of the trade for air-seasoned cypress in a 

 very large assortment of sizes and forms are the reasons why cypress 

 mills carry a very much larger stock than mills of equal capacity 

 operating in most other woods. Such large stocks are not turned 

 over rapidly, and mills usually carry some lumber 2 or 3 years. The 

 durability of cypress and its freedom from bluing and other injury 

 affecting most woods account for the prevalence and entire success 

 of open-air seasoning and slow handling of the stock. 



MARKETS AND LUMBER PRICES. 



Cypress was for a long time a little-known wood, used for the most 

 part locally in the manufacture of shingles. It made but slow prog- 

 ress in the general market, and was subject to frequent fluctuations, 

 which, were annoying and costly to operators with capital tied up in 

 standing timber and manufacturing plants. Now it has come into 

 iona] prominence and there is a strong domestic demand for it. 

 Although the larger part of the entire cypress cut is marketed in the 

 rc^i<>n easl of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio River, users and 

 manufacturers in the Central and the Middle Western States are 

 realizing more and more the value of cypress for certain purposes. 

 redwood of I he Pacific coast has been to some extent a competitor 

 of cypres , and cheap transportation through the Panama Canal may 

 perhaps bring it into the eastern markets in larger quantities, 

 96612° Bull. 272— 15 2 



