Bisbee daily review., 1912-08-18
LEAD PENCIL SUPPLY
 MAY SOON GIVE OUT
American Cedar from Which Pencil Wood Comes is
 About Exhausted

All lmpSnulnS snOElue5S or ledu pencils throughout the entire world is forecast in a current number of stitute wood can be found to take the place of the practically exhausted sup ply Of American pencil cedar. The properties of the native pencil cedar, which includes the northern red ce- dar and southern cedar, are so marked and so different from those of other commercial woods, that it seems almost hopeless to find a sat isfactory substitute. Even now, earn est experiments are being made with several varieties in the hope of find ing a suitable substitute The most recent is with an east African variety of wood resembling cedar.
 There is no other wood-using in- dustry in the United States so de- Fendent upon a single species as the pencil industry is upon cedar" says the scientific journal. The scarcity of the pencil material will soon be felt also in Europe. A firm in Nu. remburg. Germany. makes annually over 300,000,O00 million pencils out of the American cedar. About 100, 900 tons. or 7.5O0, 900 cubic feet of the wood are required for making these pencils. An equal amount is con sumed annually in the United States in the pencil industry alone This makes a total of over 100000 tons, or 15,000,000 cubic feet of wood an nually: or a little over 500 tons are used for pencils each day in the year. How long the supply will last at this rate of consumption is diff cult to say. but it is certain that un- less a suitable substitute is intro, duced, some of the mills now in op- eration must shut down inside of a few years.
 'The requirements for wood used in the pencil industry are most rig i'd The wood must be soft, light, strong. close and strong grained, free from defects, and must not check or warp. The physical properties of cedar are subject to considerable va riatiOns, due to soil and climatic con ditions, and for this reason it must be carefully inspected and graded as to quality. The Hghtest and soft est wood is produced in the swampy hummocks of Florida and Georgia.
 The older the tree, the softer and better the wood becomes. The wood of the shell Of rotten logs is said to be the best for making lead pen cils. The hard, flinty wood, such as is obtained principally from trees on the dry upland or near its western limit of distribution is considered poor grade.
 Pencil makers both in this coun- try and abroad have long been searching for a suitable wood to take the place of cedar, and an announce ment has been made that a substi- ute was discovered in east Africa which may be obtained in sufficient ly large quantities at a reasonable price. In Europe this announcement was accepted at its full face value. In America the pencil makers prefer to wait, pending more exact informa- ton, for fear that the discovery may share the fate of many others, which, under the rigorous test of quality, amount of available supply and cost of production, have failed to realize the antiCipations formed by them, or even to establish a claim to commer- cial value. There can be very little doubt, however, in case of the wood from east Africa. because it is known to be a very good wood, and pencil makers have tested it and found il to be an excellent substitute for the American cedar.
 The introduction of a new wood is usually very slow, and the promoters and exploiters of strange woods fire quently score heavy losses, although the kinds they import are good and useful. This east African cedar is now being imported into Germany, and it is likely that it will soon De used in this country. The tree which yields this wood is very closely al lied to our pencil cedar, and is known botanically as Juniperus pro cera. It forms a beautiful tree from 75 to 125 feet in height, and from to i feet in diameter. Sclater, an English naturalist, states that in British East Africa the tree often at. tains a height of 200 feet and a di- ameter of feet. East African cedar is distributed over the mountainous districts from Abyssinia southward into German East Africa. and is found in great abundance around kilimandscharO.
 Similar to our native cedar, the wood is soft, light, durable easily worked, highly scented, of good col or, uniform texture, and fine grained. The annual rings of growth are dis tinct 10 the unaided eye. The sur face exposed by cutting the wood with a sharp knife is very smooth and has a satiny iustre. These are facts which will place this wood on a par with the American pencil ce- dar, not only in the manufacture of lead pencils, but for other purposes requiring especially fine grained and