The Saint Paul globe., 1898-01-10

times as far as the same amount three
or four years ago. Even now the
matter would be treated as still in an
experimental or preparatory stage. It
might not be desirable to spend more
than $4,000 this year, and possibly S25.-
600 the next year, the rest being stored
away for still more effective use as
discoveries come out and simplify and
cheapen the work: so long as the
money Is at hand, to be drawn upon
as needed, the whole scheme can be
laid out upon the most economical
basis. There are two directions in
which work thus undertaken would
furnish results of the most practical
character: First, in the determina-
tion of standards of strength values
and working qualities of out Amer
lean timbers. Let this once be we'll
done and the tables Of value will be
permanent, never requiring revision
Second, in furnishing data of fnspec-
ton; that is, the discovery of on what
physical data can be based safe predic-
ttons of the relative values of wood.
Experiments already made in this line
nave indicated in a general way that
specific weight is the best criterion Of
the strength Of timber. The percent
age of summer wood, which is the
more dense and contains the stronger
fiber, as compared with the porous
specific weight of any species. It is
not too much to hope, therefore, that
as result of further scientific inves-
tigation, 1t may be possible to save
all mechanical tests for the future,
with their incidental delays and ex-
penses, and to pass upon the qualities
or structural timbers by merely scrut-
inizing their physical appearance.
To show the immediate value of the
tests already made one or two Incl
dents will suffice. Almost half of the
entire forest cover in the state of
Washington is composed Of hemlock,
which there grows into q magnificent
tree 25O feet high and five or six feet in
diameter. But the fact that it is a
hemlock has practically killed its mar
ket in the East, where the name is as
sociated with a coarse, lOw-grade wood
used for the cOmmOnest and most un-
slightly work. The Washington hem
lock, on the contrary, makes an excel
lent finishing wood, as fine as olive in
appearance, besides being a good con-
structive material. Pacific coast lum-
bermen have tried to force it into the
Eastern market as Alaska pine" but
this device reacted to theh damage
when it was discovered. The result is
that the Washington hemlock has been
little cut; and exposure to the elements
after maturity, and the fires which play
such havoc in the sparsely settled re-
gions, have combined to destroy it.
Thus, through simple ignorance of the
value Of the material-an Ignorance
which might have been promptly dis
PEELED by an authoritative exposition of
the facts from an official source-mil-
lions of dollars worth of a great West
-ern product has gone to ruin. Or, take
this case. The other day a Kansas
agriculturist who had planted 600 acres
of catalpa trees and reared them to the
point where many of them were ripe
for cutting into fence posts or railroad
ties, sought to market his product, but
found it drug, simply because,
through widespread ignorance Of the
capabilities of Catalpa, a strong preju-
dice existed against it. He could not
find enough sale for the ripe wood to
pay him for cutting it out and thus Civ
ing the rest of his trees chance to
grow and perfect themselves. The de-
partment Of agriculture, to which he
applied, was poWerless to help him, not
because Of ignorance, but for lack of
funds with which to make the formal
test necessary as the basis Of an official
publication.
These are only scattered samples of
our mode of wasting our national re-
sources which is as bad in it's way as
the agitation Of economic and financial
heresies. 1t is hoped that congress may
wake UP to the fact before millions
more of the country's wealth has been
thrown away.