The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-11

Yet the manufacturers have this fact to face: The hickory supply Is being rapidly exhausted and. at the present rate of cutting. will last only about fifteen years longer. Last year. ac- cording to the Forest Service, some thing less than 150.000.00e feet of hickory were cut for lumber, and an tomobile and carriage wheels, axle caps. gears. axles. poles. single-trees and neck yokes.
 Because hickory is cut in the same prodigal, thoughtless fashion that has characterized the nation In all its tim- Der cutting. an enormous amount of good timber is wasted every year. Es- pecially in the South. where the gos- pei of forest conservation is only just beginning to be appreciated the lum- herman leaves hickory to decay that would make up into millions of han dies and spokes. Millions of feet are cut up into small articles like skewers. spokes and handles, that should have been worked into poles. shafts and rims. At the meeting of the National Hickory Association last July. the president of the Carriage Builders Ma tional Association was present, eager to offer cooperation in any movement that would tend to conserve the nick ory supply, and 1t was the general de- cision that the waste must be imme- diately decreased at least fifty per cent.
 This question is one of the many im- portant ones that come up before this meeting of the Association, for that body has gone on record as being thoroughly in sympathy with the Ma tional Conservation Commission in efforts to conserve all natural re- sources. government expert has been making timber tests at Purdue University. Lafayette. Ind, for some time. taking into the laboratory sev- en or eight different kinds of hickory now in use and testing the strength and toughness of each kind. The cen- tury-old discrimination between red hickory and white hickory has been proved unnecessary by these tests, for 1t has developed that weight for weight. the strength. toughness and general values are the same. And so the stigma has been removed from the red hickory. J. A. Newlin, who has been conducting these tests, will have charge of an exhibit Of experiments at the meeting this week
 Another interesting feature of the wood-test exhibit will be that show ing the relative value of hickory woods from different localities of the country, experiments being made with hickory from the Middle West, the At- lantic States and the South, when the point as to whether locality has any influence on It's building value will be decided. Popular prejudice has long been in favor of Northern grown hick. ory against Southern.
 Already the Northern supply of nick. ory has been reduced. and 90 per cent of the supply is now said to come from points south of the Ohio River. Ohio and Indiana have been practically de- nuded of their one-time great supply. All Kentucky, except the southeastern part, has sacrificed It's old growth, Ten nessee Is being hapidly denuded of this particular species, while Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana are giving their toll to the ruinous forestry meth ods of modern manufacturers and Iunl- bermen. To grow more hickory will require that some of the best agrI- cultural lands be levied on, for these trees prefer good. rich soil, and refuse to grow or develop good qualities on poor lands or in exposed places Since crops of grain, or cotton, or other farm products are vastly more profitable than the 120 hickory trees that each acre would raise for the farmer, there is little possibility of the farmers of the Middle West and South going into hickory raising as a business, SO fhe manufacturers must turn elsewhere for help. It is believed that the creation of the national forest reserves in the mountains will do much toward conserving the hickory supply. for careful cutting will be required and protection afforded against forest Ares.
 The last Paris Exposition had an ex- hibit of carriages that wasba practical history of the evolution of that branch of transportation. America has not done that for this country, yet 1t would be a most interesting object lesson in modern progress. George old stage coach stands In the carriage house at Mount Vernon, of long journeys to PhiIa- delphia. and even to Boston. Built of heavy wood because of the terrible roads 1t must travel. and with it's body hung on great leather straps, it Is a striking contrast to miIadfs smart carriage of today with It's mod srn fittings. Hidden away some- where is the coach in which Lafayette rode in state in Washington. It Is the only carriage ever built by order of Congress, and was especially designed that the great hero might find more comfort than the average coach or car- -iage would afford.
 The wild life on the Western from Her brought many trans-continental coaches or stages in the limeiight Of publicity. There were Indians and out aws to challenge the progress of cIv- lization. as spelled out by the stage and It's burden of passengers, mail and express packages, and more than one mimic battle has been fought as a re- suit. Buffalo Bill had one of these most historic coaches. which he offered To the National Museum. Jt was known as the Deadwood Coach. Built in Yer mont in 1863. 1t was shipped around the Horn. and by some trick of trade drift ed back inland from the California coast, until in 1874 1t was running from Cheyenne. Wyo., into the Black Hills Once eleven men were killed defend Ing 1t and its burden of gold dust When it was old. Colonel Cody bought It and took 1t abroad where dozen or so royal personages honored 1t by driving about the circus grounds with some of the Indians in wild pursuit
 Such an exhibit would include the buggy as a vehicle of purely American origin. and to the astonishment of the world. it would include also the jin- -iksha, Japah's national vehicle. For It was an American who designed and built the first 'riclshaw in New Eng and. sending it out to China for the Ise of the invalid wife of a missionary. Copyright. 1908, by Frederick J.
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