342 



FOEESTS 



FORESTS 



of this wood is such that it should command a 

 much higher price than at present. 



White ash has long been the common wood for 

 ball bats, but now maple, beech and black ash are 

 all used for low-priced goods of this class. 



Immense quantities of all the cheaper grades of 

 timber are used for dry barrels and a large num- 

 ber of articles classed as "pail stuff." 



Elm has experienced a rapid and steady increase 

 in price as its possibilities have become better 

 known. It is now used for a large part of the 

 cheaper grades of furniture. When steamed it 

 bends readily, and for this reason is largely 

 used for iiat hoops. Attention was drawn to 

 the possibilities of all the elms when it was 

 discovered that rock elm is an excellent wood 

 for the manufacture of wood-rims for bicycles. 

 The quantity of rock and red elm is very limited, 

 but the supply of white elm, in spite of the 

 fact that the timber decays readily and does 

 not grow rapidly, is holding out well, probably 

 because it withstands exposure well and frequently 

 occupies land that is not well adapted to cultiva- 

 tion or grazing. Small trees, four to twelve inches 

 in diameter, are sometimes sold for hubs. This 

 requires the sacrifice of young, growing stock, 

 which, under most circumstances, would best be 

 left in the stand. It may be stated in this connec- 

 tion that the pepperidge of the North, which is 

 the black gum of the South, of suitable size, would 

 better be used for hubs than for any other purpose. 



Because of wind-shake and other defects, hem- 

 lock is uniformly used for dimension stuff. Al- 

 though not a first-class lumber, there is steady 

 demand for it at reasonable prices. 



With the increased value of wood has come a 

 substitute of the poorer sorts, where formerly only 

 the better quality would answer. Not long since, 

 black walnut was considered the only wood suit- 

 able for certain kinds of furniture. This has been 

 replaced almost entirely by oak ; but now oak is 

 increasing in value to such an extent that some 

 other wood must soon take its place. The art of 

 veneering is helping to extend the use of the more 

 valuable woods. Tables, desks, doors, and other 

 articles of common use, are now made of hemlock 

 and veneered with yellow pine, oak, or some other 

 wood susceptible of a high finish. Consequently, 

 timber good enough for work of this nature can be 

 placed on the market almost any day at a good 

 price. The owner of a fine specimen of white oak 

 has been offered one hundred dollars for the tree 

 on the stump, which was more than the value of an 

 acre of the land on which the tree was growing. 



Three-fourths of our timber product is from cone- 

 bearing trees. A large proportion of this is pine. 

 The extensive tracts of timber, composed largely 

 of cone-bearing trees, are owned by men of large 

 means, companies or corporations, but these or- 

 ganizations have not yet gained such control of 

 supplies but that the owner of a small patch of 

 pine, if it is properly managed and marketed, may 

 realize rich returns from the crop. Stands that 

 twenty years ago brought two dollars and a half 

 per acre now bring a hundred or more. In Michi- 



gan, white pine is now worth ten dollars to twenty- 

 five dollars per thousand feet on the stump. In 

 Fig. 484 is seen a load of pine logs starting for 

 market. The logs in the booms shown in Fig. 481 

 are mostly pine and hemlock. The car shown in Pig. 

 485 is loaded with 35-foot white pine logs, except 

 a small Norway pine log (JPinus resinosa) on top. 



Development in lumbering industries. 



Some classes of timber have doubled in price in 

 five years, while others have taken twice as long 

 to experience a like increase in price. In spite of 

 the many substitutes for wood, its consumption is 

 increasing at the rate of about 3 per cent per 

 capita per annum, the quantity now used being 

 about three hundred and fifty cubic feet per capita 

 in America ; and forty cubic feet in Germany and 

 fourteen cubic feet in England, where substitutes 

 for wood are largely employed. 



That the demand for timber will continue to 

 increase can not be doubted when we are reminded 

 that, besides consumption for many other purposes, 

 in lumber and pulp timber alone we clear an area 

 of good virgin forest every year as large as the 

 states of Connecticut and Rhode Island ; for boxes 

 and crates, 50,000 acres ; for matches, 400 acres ; 

 for shoe-pegs, 3,500 acres of good second-growth 

 hard-wood ; for lasts and boot-trees, 10,000 acres ; 

 while for fuel we require 17,971,200 acres, or four 

 and one-half times the area of Connecticut and 

 Rhode Island. These are examples of large and 

 small consumption, the intermediate uses being 

 almost indeterminate. 



The adaptation of the inferior woods to new 

 uses has led to the convenience of a local though 

 small market, where a timber-owner may dispose 

 of material that he does not need or which is ill 

 adapted to his purpose, and at the same place he 

 may secure building materials that better meet his 

 requirements. The difference in price of that sold 

 and that purchased is necessary, considering the. 

 perishable and combustible character of the goods, 

 the long hauls, and the freight rates, all of which 

 must ultimately be met by the consumer. 



Literature. 



Nearly all forestry books contain advice on har- 

 vesting. Following are a few useful references : 

 Schlich, A Manual of Forestry; Gayer, Forstbe- 

 nutzung, eighth edition ; Ribbentrop, Forestry in 

 British India; Nisbet, The Forester, Vol. II; 

 C. A. Schenck, Forest Utilization ; William F. Fox, 

 A History of the Lumber Industry in the State of 

 New York, Bulletin No. 34, United States Forest 

 Service ; J. E. Defenbaugh, History of the Lumber 

 Industry of America. The Woodsman's Handbook, 

 Part I, Bulletin No. 36, Bureau of Forestry, Wash- 

 ington, D. C; Forest Mensuration, by Henry Solon 

 Graves, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1906 ; 

 Rules and Specifications for the Grading of Lum- 

 ber, Bulletin No. 71, Forest Service, United States 

 Department of Agriculture; Grades and Amount 

 of Lumber Sawed from Yellow Poplar, Yellow Birch, 

 Sugar Maple and Beech, Bulletin No. 73, Forest 

 Service. 



