The Washington herald., 1907-06-12


kitchen fire
The United States government destroys
a hundred million cigar boxes year, the
law preventing the boxes from being used
twice Cigar manufacturers are trying to
induce the government 70 relax this reg
ulati0n. but as It would lay down the
bars to fraud upon the internal revenue,
it is doubtful IF anything VIII he done.
The best Havana cigars could not be sold
for cost II they were packed in any but
boxes made Of Spanish cedar. Imitation
veneers. and woods are used. but the best
cigars go into cedar boxes. These cost
the cigar maker from ten TO twelve cents
each. The average price Of all boxes is
about cents each. so that Uncle Sam de
stroys 100000 worth each year. Cigar
boxes of the better grades are now sold
TO the cigar maker at less than cost, con-
sidering only the bare wood box. The
profit comes in printing the fancy labels
Red cedar from which pencils are made
has become so scarce that It is bought
and sold by the pound, the only lumber
so hOnored and priced in the country. The
United States makes 32o,e00,O00 pencils a
year Bavaria makes even more. Both
Germany and the United States get most
Of the cedar In Tennessee, Alabama. and
Florida. Other kinds OF wood have been
tried, but the soft and stringy spruce or
pine will not sharpen" easily. Every
body has a pencil ard he sharpens it
with his own knife or one he borrows for
the purpose. Such knives are rarely
sharp and red cedar IS the only wood
that viii cut smoothly with a dull knife
The Fabers began making lead" pen
cils, the lead being a mixture Of gra-
phite and clay, in Nuremberg. Europe's
supply Of red cedar was exhausted years
ago, and the Fabers came to Florida for
more. The American pencil makers start
ed into business and drew upon Tennes-
nessee and Alabama. In Tennessee the
supply IS nearly gone. and small mills
all over the central part Of the State
are cutting ZIP scraps bought by the
pound into pencil stock" that is, blocks
of cedar Of the pencil-length, seven
inches.
Fence rails that weathered the civil war
been dug up and sold for more than the
trees which were cut from them to make
railroad ties. Fence posts have given
way to newer kinds Of wood and have
been carted To the pencil factory TO be
sold for 10 cents a hundred pounds And
vet this red cedar viii grow anywhere
in the United States where the soil is
not too much sand or clay. will flourish
on land that IS unfit for agriculture, and
will reach a size fit for pencil-making
when twenty-five years old. The Forest
Service IS trying 10 induce people with
land unfit for other purposes TO plant
red cedar. and 10 that end will give the
fullest and most minute instructions TO
any one who is interested.
One feature which the forestry experts
rely on to prevent a calamity in the de-
struction OF the forests is that the ad-
vancing price will prevent the use OF so
much lumber. so that the forests will
not be cut down so rapidly in the next
twenty-five years as in the same period
Just past A Pullman car made fifteen
years ago used up 1900 feet of lumber
One built now uses only 5000 feet. This
terials are used in the place Of wood
and that veneering has been substituted
for solid wood on account of the prices
Some lumbermen belieye that the saw
ing by the substitution Of other materials
will be neutraliZed by the increase in
population and business.
The enormous growth of the use Of re-
enforced concrete in building construc-
ton wastes more lumber than any other
one line Of business. As much timber IS
used in the boards into which the con-
crete is poured as would be used in an
ordinary brick building This lumber is
usually an almost total loss. Suggestions
are being advanced for some sort OF
metal boxes for pouring concrete, and
the prediction is made that these will
soon be made practicable. In the mean
while houses made wholly Of lumber are
being erected at a more rapid rate than
ever before in the history Of the country
Prosperity in the rural districts and in
small towns expresses itself IN home