The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-02-19
DISAPPEARANCE OF WALNUT.

our new buildings, including business structures. churches and other edi- fees, are finished in oak or some other light-colored wood, instead of the beautiful dark shades that once pre- dominated, The change is noticeable on every hand. perhaps most so in church buildings, where dark shades of lumber would be preferable to many, as more appropriate to the character of the place. Not a few attribute this to change in the tastes of the peo- pie. The real cause for the change, however, is not fickleness of taste, but scarcity of the wood once used univer- sally for ornamentation. Walnut, for many decades the king of all woods, has become, commercially speaking, all but extinct. The consumption of it for so many years has been so rapid that like the white pine of Michigan, it is nearly all cut down. All that re- mains of 1t Is found in little cIumps of shade trees scattered over Missouri, H. linois, Arkansas and some of the mid dle states.
 Forty years ago walnut was so plen- tiful that settlers moving westward would cut it down without stint, sim ply to clear away their lands. At that time it was commonly used by farm CTS for fencing in their lands. These boundary fences Of walnut can still be seen in many places through the southern states. The beauty of walnut for ornamentation was soon recog- nized, however, and it was used the world over for finish in all costly work. Bedsteads, chairs, pianos, organs and nearly every article of furniture of any value was made of walnut, and expen- sive buildings were furnished with it. The St. Louis merchants exchange building is a good example of the popu- larity of this wood it's stairs and bal ustrades having been finished in wal nut. Many of our old, prosperous lumber firms made fortunes dealing in this timber.
 Twenty years ago St. Louis was the central walnut market of the world, and Missouri was one of the best states for supplying the wood Before that time Indiana had been the banner state for it's supply, and the last dis trict to claim precedence in this par ticular was Indian territory. Arkan7 sas, Tennessee and Kentucky came in for a good share of the trade, and a little of the wood was scattered through Iowa and the north. These vast forests have disappeared, and all that remain are small groves of shade trees, once considered of no commer- cial value.
 While the quantity of walnut has greatly lessened, singularly, the prices are about the same as they were years ago. At that time walnut was quoted at from seventy-ive to ninety dollars for the best grades thirty to forty dol- lars for common and fifteen to twenty dollars for cull. To-day the figures are about the same: Seventy to sev- enty-five dollars for best grades, thir- ty-f1ve to thirty-seven dollars for com mon, and fifteen to eighteen dollars for cuIl. These comparatively stationary prices are explained by the fact that no business is done by dealers in wal nut except in small way, and owners are glad to sell what they have at rea- sonable prices. Most of that which re- mains is cull quality, and is useless for anything but small articles. For larger and more costly work oak, ash and cherry, and for the finest articles mahogany, are now used in place of walnut. Small articles, such as tele- phone boxes and light panels, are still made of walnut, secured from the burls or knots of small trees. The burls are frequently of varied colors, and when found in this condition they are ve- neered over other woods used for f1n- ishing, giving a very handsome combi- nation. Woods finished in this man. ner are often called French walnut Many people mistake the combination for a distinct class of timber, and think 1t is imported, but of course this is not true.
 Nothing is being done except on a small scale to renew the supply of wall nut by raising new forests. It is esti- mated that it would take one hundred years to raise a walnut tree that could be used for commercial purposes The wood is close grained and grows very slowly. It's sap portion Is usually about an inch and a half thick, so that trees must be large to furnish any considerable supply. A few waste lands, valuable for nothing else, are utilized through Missouri and Ken lucky for raising walnut, but the prac- tice is not expected to amount to much.
 The best of the walnut still in exist enoe is carefully sorted out and shipped to Europe, where it commands good prices. A wood resembling wal nut, and called Circasslan walnut, is received here from Europe. It comes chiefly from the London, Paris and Marseilles markets, and is used as a figured wood. It is cut on veneer machine about -thirtieth of an inch thick, and is vaneered like the vari- ousy colored burl walnut on other dark wood panels. MT. Hubbard of the Hibbard-Steele company was the first to cut this imported wood and use it for veneerinS in St. Louis. The wood work of the Peoples store on Broad way furnishes a good example of this class of work.
 People have often been imposed upon with a wood known in early days as satin walnut. This Is dark in color and was regarded as a rare wood by our early fathers. It was used in making costly articles of furniture, much in the same manner as the regular wal nut later on. It is now known tha, this was nothing other than the native red gum, very common wood now. ot which millions of feet are raised ir this state and all the southern states