Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-06-03
Drafting the
Forests
by Frederic J. HAskin

| the bInck walnut, the blgck lorust and
the hickory
The United States Forest Service,
with the help Of rho county agents 81
the Department 81 Agriculture, the Boy
Scouts end numerous volunteers, IL
securing the country for black walnut.
And similar methods will probably have
To bc used To meet he demand for black
locust and hickory
| Black walnut has been named the
Liberty Tree" because If It's overwhelm-
ing Importance in wfr work. II liz the
one perfect wood for the manufacture
~ gun stocks, mahogany in the only wood
that can he substituted for II in the
making of aeroplane propellers.
For great many yefrs literally all the
gun stocks in the world had been made
from American black walnut The sup
ply was allowed 10 dwindle; no measures
were taken to replace the stands If this
splendid timber that were cut When
the war broke out in Europe the we'll
known and available supplies Of American
black walnut were exhausted almost
overnight American gun manufacturers
were unable In fill contracts for lark Of
this material
ARTIFICIAL SEASONING.
The United States Forest Serv ice went
10 work upon the problem If once In
it's forest products laboratory ~ devised
y method Of seasonong black walnut in
| kilns Formerly. ~ had taken three years
u properly season the timber by exposure
10 air and sunlight. while attempts ~
kiln driving hid resulted IN from 30 10 %
per een, ~ waste BY thc Forcs. Ser
| vice mr. bod which ~ now IN general use,
| he wood Is successfully seaSonoh with
\ !. l. from ts,y - Io4te
This achievement made instantly avail
able supplies ri green wood. but when
| tho United States entered tho war not
| enough standing timber could be found
| ~ meet the newly created demand For
| est service officials are confident that ~
| will he met however, nv tho country
wide canvass for walnut trees whIdh ~ now
| being conducted
ANY person who owns or can ut hold
| 81 enough black walnut timber 70 mako
n carload NJ this time can render pa
triotlc service and also mako a very
neat profit The logs must be NJ least
ten feet long and ten inches IN diameter
and II ~ reasonably clear grain The wood
| is worth from $50 % 800 per thousand
| board feet Only three or four medium
| sized trees arc needed 20 make thousand
| feet A few acres n black walnut timber,
| which would hardly have been worth
cutting twenty-five years ago. now repre-
| sent a fortune
Persons having small quantities n the
wood not enough 70 make a carl Dad 4
should communicate with the nearest
county agent or with the forest service IN
Washington All of the Information as
IN the location of black walnut trees
which comes to the forest service "a
being tabulated according tn .cgi IONS.
and purchasers will be sent 10 all To-
cali les where there IS enough Of the wood
~ make u worth while.
LOOK OCT TOR IwPosrERs
Owners Of black walnut timber are
strongly urged TO communicate with the
forest service or some other representa-
tive Of the government before selling.
ITnpostors, representing themselves 70 be
connected with the government or with
concerns doing war work. have been
going about the country induciQ1 per-
SONS 10 sell them walnut timber ~ low
prices on grounds Ut patrIon~. The
wood is then resoid TO manufacturers at a
high profit The forest service will fur
nish 70 anyone list Of concerns actually
making guns and aeroplanes for the gov
eminent, and the wood should be sold
direct to these.
MANY persons are writing 10 the forest
service offering their walnut trees for the
good Of the cause And some are also
offering old walnut furniture This
latter IS not generally acceptable, As
the pieces are too small. Occasionally,
old beams, rafters, fence rails and bridge
thinkers NAV be used. however
The American black walnut has had =
rather romantic story II occurs ali the
way from northern Florida TO southern
Connecticut and west as far as Kansas
\ hundred wears ago it was abundantly
distribute throughout this territory, and
as considered of little value, although
the dye with which our grandsires' home
spun breeches were colored was made
from the green nuts. The pioneering
American, however has strong dislike
for the tree because II was 80 hard 10 cut
down IN making \ clearing. Walnut
forests, which would now be worth many
millions. were burned t. make way for
cornfelds
There have been many efforts made to
find suitable substitute for walnut n
gun stocks. Germany is using other woods,
of course Ii Is reported that birch IS now
being used for gun stocks BY many
American manufacturers But the walnut
has combination of qualities which is
found In no other wood 1t is light and
strong It does not SPLINTER or crack when
struck by bullets, II never shrInks after il
has been once properly seasoned; and IL
has high degree Of resistance 10 the
shock OF explosion
GOOD OLD HICKORY WANTED
Hickory, another TYPICAL and well-knoWn
American tree, Is almost AS much in de-
mand and rs hard 10 get as black walnut
for this wood which has SO long been used
for the chastisement OF recalcitrant
American youth is now needed 70 whip a
delinquent nation Hickory like walnut.
IS hard and strong. Ii will not do for gun
stock and aeroplane propcllers but for
wagon wheels and spokes II has no equal.
And in spite Of the wide use Of motors
there IS tremendous wartime demand for
wagons. The American mule and the
American hickory wagon are doing large
part OF the work OF transportation in this
war. as they have done nearly all of il in
previous ones. So if you have any hickory
trees. there is a ready market for them
The other American tree which is need
ed TO WIN the war is the black locust 1t
is needed for single minor purpose, but
IL is practically indispensable for that.
and the Emergency Fleet Corporation is
calling upon American farmers who own
black locust trees to communicate with
them immediately
The black locust is used for maxim
wooden nails-tree nails they are called,
and the name is pronounced "trunnell"
A ,ree nail is huge wooden ma il. two
TO four feet long, which is used to faSten