The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-05-26


 tentiOn to This Tree as a Mems of
 Continuing the Lumber Supply.
 Recent investigations of the Bureau of Forestry indicate an important addi- ton to the present timber resources of the country through the better utiliza- tion of the red gum. This timter tree is the predominant species on the hard wood bettomlands of all the South eastern States In spite of it's abun- dant supply, it has been slow to reach commercial importance because of the lextent to which it warps and stains in seasoning. While hickory oak, ash, and yellow poplar were cheaply ob- tainable, red gum received little atten- tion. The increasing scarcity and rising price of more adaptable trees have forced the gum into market place of late and have caused lumbermen to seek, with partial success, such meth ods of handling it as would obviate the difficulties which have stood in the way Iof a larger use of the wood.
 In common with all the hardwood bottomland species-ash, cottonwood, land oak-its growth is very rapid. It reaches a maximum height of 140 feet and is commonly 30 to 40 inches in dia- meter, while trees of feet in diame- iter are not infrequently found. Little red gum has been cut in the past, and at present it hardly pays to cut below IS to 20 inches in diameter, so that this species furnishes a magnificent supply lof full-grown timber in regions where culling has removed most of the larger ltrees of other kinds. The wood is com paratively straightgrained, free from ] knots and blenishes, and, because of it's abundance, cheap. It is now used ex- tensively for building timbers, flooring, boxes and barrels, and for numerous purposes where narrow boards can be used. It has been found that wide boards are very liable to. o.warp.
 1 Sixty per cent of the barrels and boxes manufactured in the Mississippi Valley States are now made from this wood in spite of the fact that it's heayi- ness is against it for this use. Large quantities of gum are shipped to Eng land, France and Germany to be manu- factured into furniture and interior fur lnishings, and it has been used exten- sively in Europe for paving blocks. It can be successfully steamed and bent and is thus available for barrell slaves, wagon rims, and carriage wood stock. 1 If the tendency of the lumber to warp 1 and stain during seasoning can be pre- Ivented, it's use will extend into many lnew fields. Certain facts have lately been discovered which show that such an extension is possible if proper meth ods of handling are employed. The lheartwbod can be air-dried without great stain or warp. Sapwood, however If air-dried directly after coming from the saw, usually develops a large per centage of sap stain, which is causei 1 in the case of most Ill conifars and hardwoods by a fungous growth which develops under certain conditions of l1u- midity and temperature in the lumber ward, but 1t has been found that lum- Der from logs which have been allowed | to remain in water for six weeks stains very little. Treatment with live steam | has also been found to produce very 1 favorable results in the elimination of staining and prevention of wacp.ng. | In steam kilning the tlmpAr is thor oughly soaked in live st am for 48 to l 72 hours and is then oued by steam radiation for from p to IA hours ac- cording to the condition of the timber. The boards should then De air-tlried for l from two to three months. Lumber above 1 inch in thickness is air-dried only. Care must be taken in pilrg for air drying to secure free circulat'ch of air. Plenty of open space should be left between the boards, and the piles I should not be over 6 feet wide. Stick
 ers' or cross pieces of nonabsorbent wood should be placed not over 3 feet apart. For this purpose oak and the heartwood of gum answer sexcenlently. Stickers of sappy or undried wood are likely to cause stain to develop. Bp following these methods the lumber
 men are able to furnish better grade of timber, which has in consequence se-
 cured a firmly established place on the market.
 l The Bureau of Forestry is now mak- ling, at it's timber-testing laboratory at Lafayette Ind., extensive tests to de-
 termine more fully the value of gum timber in comparison with higher priced materials. Mechanical tests are made on timber collected from various parts of the country, including samples
 taken from both mature and immature
 timber at different parts of the trunk. The young trees contain a greaterepro- portion of sapwood than the mature trees, and show about 35 per cent great
 CT strength. The strength of the wood is very uniform in the trunk between
 the stump and the first limb. The re suits of the tests point to the fact that red gum irnber has high degree of strength as compared with other spe-
 cies, not only in small selected sticks, but also in large ioists. Its freedom from knots in large sizes is an advan- tage in this respect. A joist of red gum
 will carry as great load as a joist of North Carolina pine
 l Comparisons have been made by the Bureau between red gum and hickory to determine the ability of the former l to serve as material for carriage and