The Republican journal., 1885-06-04
Maine Matters.


NEWS AND GOSSIP FROM ALL OVER THE STATE.
THE LUMBER BUSINESS OF TODAY.
In olden times, when pine was more plentiful,
no other kind of wood was used for box boards,
or for hardly anything else. AS the old growth
pine became used up and quite valuable, spruce
and second growth pine began to be used, and
these have now superseded the former material
in many classes of work, because they are much
more easily obtained, and are therefore cheaper
while Just as good for great variety Of work.
The same may also be said of hemlock, which
has superseded pine in many kinds of work,
particularly for flooring purposes and house
frames. Probably all the houses built fifty or
more years ago had pine flooring, boards being
used that to-day would command almost any
price. Large pine logs were hewn out for house
frames and elevated into positions where the
cheaper hemlock now serves equally well. The
old Court House at Pennington that has been
recently removed from the lot Whereon it stood
for eighty years is good example Of this old
time way of using up pine lumber. Through
out the frame of the building was constructed
of hewn pine timber, huge logs even having
been used for rafters for the second story of the
building and for the construction of the belfry
and tower The contractors who moved the
building found their estimates far too low, for
Its great weight proved too much for the even
extraordinary preparations that had been made
for its removal. Three weeks were consumed
III moving lut DulluiuR, wien a lnOueTU Dulu-
ing of the same size might have been moved
the same distance in one week.
The aim OF the lumber manufacturer to-day
is to get rs much out of his logs as possible.
Every log is carefully scrutinized, and if a
portion of it is good for one purpose and ano-
ther portion good for another purpose, the log
is divided and each section worked up in the
most economical manner, boards, clapboards
and laths frequently being sawed from the same
log. In the saving of box boards great care
has to be taken in regard to their thickness,
because all orders call for boards certain
number of siXteenths of an inch in thickness.
A half dozen different thicknesses are used in
the manufacture of boxes, and it is a pretty fine
job to saw boards that will all run throughout
of the desired thickness. A gang" saw is used
Tor the purpose, as many as tWenty-eight par al
lei saws frequently being used at time This
large number of saws enables boards of a large
number of thcknesSes to be sawed at the same
time. sometimes the saws upon one side are
set for thicker boards than upon the other, and
logs are then run upon either side of the gang"
that will enable them to be cut up the most
advantageously. Dimension timber Is now
generally sawed by circular saw, which runs
it out very fast For boards such a saw cannot
be used TO the best advantage, as 1t will Wnver
and thus produce board of varying degrees of
thickness, and besides this the greater thickness
of the saw scorf prevents the greatest economy
being practiced when boards are sawed with a
circular saw. The gang" is thus the most
popular for the manufacture of boards because
it is the most economical, and as expeditions as
any system heretofore introduced. c. l.. NJ.
III Boston Journal
A MAINE EDITORS LIBRARY.
The other day while in Augusta The Jour
nails correspondent called upon ). L. Board
man, Esq, editor of the Home Farm and one
of the Commissioners upon the Agricultural
Experiment Station established by ,he last Leg
islature. The opportunity was Improved to
look over Mr.. Boardman's agricultural library,
which it is safe to say is the most extensive and
complete in Maine. On the shelves are copies
of the oldest agricultural works published as
wei! as the latest, it having been his aim to fla
millarize himself thoroughly with the history of
agriculture as Well as It's present condition.
The first agricultural book ever published in
the English language was The Book of Hus-
bandry," by Master t'itzherbert printed in
1874, copy of which, issued by the English Di-
alect Society, may be found upon his shelves,
together with copies of all succeeding volumes
that are valuable as marking periods of prog
ress in the several departments of the science
of agriculture. Among the earlier publications
which We're noticed were ''Tusser's Five Hun
dred Points of Good Hu-bandry,' first publish
ed in 1880; "English Husbandry" by Gerva>e
Markham, published about 1909; and the Com
plete Farmer, or General Dictionary of Hus-
handrv in all II. Branches" published about
1850. The work of Tusser is Il quaint affair
N
each. Mr.. Boardman has also copy of the
first agricultural book published in America,
entitled AVIATOR, being Series of Agricultural
Essays, Poetical and Political" )" by John Tay-
ior, President of the Agricultural Society OF
Virginia. Another book was noticed that has
considerable interest because of the recolec-
tions it reviveS. and that was ESSAYS and
Notes on Agricultural by Edward Rufn, the
man who fired the first gun upon Fort Sumter.
Mr.. Boardman has a very complete series Of
State Agricultural Reports of all the older
States, as well as a complete series Of the pro-
ceedings of the Royal Agricultural Society of
England and the Highland Agricultural Socie-
ty Tor Scotland. For wealth OF opportunity to
prepare an agricultural paper, Mr.. Boardman
is undoubtedly the best situated of any gentle
man in this State. For number of year. he
has been the Maine correspondent of the De-
partment OF Agriculture. and though the Ad-
min>tratioh has changed it can i'll afford to do
away with Mr.. Boarl.nan's services. The last
contribution published by the department was
a pamphlet entitled The Dyked Marshes of
Maine and Nova Scotia" a work somewhat
similar in its character to his report upon the
Agricultural Capabilities of this State, which
was issued last year. fC. L. NJ. in Boston Jour
nal.