The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-21
A FAST DIsApprARrNG WOOD.

verttser do not need to DC tolo "ha' | the black walnut Is, nor of its value as | an ornamental wood. Like most other | timbers or woods which Is used for | ornamental wood work in building, or | for furniture, it has its fashions. Some- | times 1t is more sought after, especial | ly in the form of old furniture, than | mahogany or rosewood. but 1t is never | entirely out of fashion and demand. be- | cause 1t possesses at least three desir- | able qualities. It Is exceedingly dur able, 1t bears a fine finish and its odor renders 1t less liable to become the home of insects. For these reasons, if for no others, 1t will always be popular when 1t can be obtained, and its grow ing scarcity will cause 1t to continue | to bear a good price.
 It is a great mistake to suppose that | the black walnut Is confined to cer- tain limits and that it will grow mo- | where else. for this is not true. The | false impression evidently grew out of the fact that hardly any tree Is less | disposed to spread from natural causes
 
 the seeds are scattered by the wind, as are the pine seeds. or by birds. IS is the case with acorns and most berries, or by squirrels, in the case of hickory nuts, and in various other ways nature provides for the dissemination of the trees of the forest.
 In the case of the black walnut the | scattering of the seeds is almost as slow as takes place with the cocoa nut. The walnut with its outer cov- | ering, is a heavy ball, which neither | birds nor squirrels will carry far. and l from the trees they are not apt to drop | them carelessely so that they may | grow up into trees. The Indians, who | gathered and saved all kinds of nuts | more carefully than the whites do. | sometimes dropped walnut and 1t grew up and thus they were spread to some extent, but the extension of their range was small and of slow progress. The early settlers of the country had | little conception of the value of wal nut timber. They knew that the wood was fine and durable, and the country workmen made rude articles of furni- | ture of it, but the pioneers had no idea | of the great future demand, or of the money that was in it. They would save a few fine trees that stood in favorable | nuts for home use. and that was about the extent of their ideas of preserva- ton. Up in the hill regions of middle Alabama we have seen many of the finest walnut trees made into fence- rails and posts, or split into logs to build log cabins, and as much as could not be utilized in this manner was burnt In the field or fire-places to get rid of 1t, as they disposed of other timber.
 Of late years there has been great demand for this wood, and a few fine trees are like a gold mine to the own CT So great has been the demand that in many places the stumps of trees long since cut down are pulled up and cut into blocks and veneers for the cabinet maker and house and car fln- isher And 1t may be added that ow- ing to the formation of the grain in these stumps and roots they make the finest and most beautiful veneers that the cabinet maker can find.
 The favorite home of the walnut seems to have been In what we now call the Middle West. for though the tree was found scattered all through the South the largest and finest trees, and in greatest numbers. were found in Kansas, Indiana. Illinois and other States of that region. There, too. there was no thought among the early pio- neers of the value of the timber, and an article in Arboriculture states that even within a few years there could worm fences, built of walnut rails" These early settlers had no idea that they were destroying veritable gold mines.
 The fact that the black walnut was not as plentiful and as widely dis tributed throughout the country as l some other trees has led to the mis- taken belief that they will not grow anywhere but in the places where they were originally found. This is de- cided error, as experiments have shown.
 We might say the same of apple. pear or any other trees if we did not know | from experience and observation that | such is not the case, The walnut like
 most nut-bearing trees, is difficult to
 remove and transplant successfully, but the nuts can be planted and will
 grow and thrive wherever hickory or
 oak will. There are thousands of
 waste places in Alabama where this l tree would flourish, and provide a
 source of wealth for future generations
 Although. as we have said, the fashion
 and demand for certain kinds of wood
 changes to some extent, and the de-
 mand and price may vary, there can
 be no reason to doubt that there will
 always be a profitable market for
 black walnut timber. Not only will
 1t be in demand for its own valuable
 qualities, but 1t must be remembered
 that the supply of foreign fine woods is
 rapidly vanishing, and the wood work
 CTS of the future must largely depend
 on domestic wood for all ornamental
 work
 We know that in this day of push
 and struggle there is d disposition tc
 look out for the present and let the