THE USES OF WOOD. "It is certain and demonstrable that all arts and artisans whatsoever must fail and cease, if there were no timber and wood in a nation (for he that shall take his pen, and begin to set down what art, mystery, or trade belonging any way to human life, could be maintained and exercised without wood, will quickly find that I speak no paradox). . . . We had better be without gold than without timber."—fohn Evelyn.
This is the age of steel. Yet it is not to be expected that metal will take the place of wood much more than now. Although steel frames have replaced timbers in ships, bridges and many storied buildings, the demand for wood in the bulk of the world's industries grows stronger and prices are rising. The fires of factory, mill and household in this country are more than half of them fed to-day with wood. Coal (a fossil wood), oil and gas, happily come in to check the too rapid consumption of our forests for fuel.
Trees grow, therefore wood is cheaper than metals. It is easily worked with tools into desired shapes and sizes. It is held securely by nails and by glue. It is practically permanent when protected by paint; under water or in the ground it outlasts metal. Its strength and lightness adapt it to varied uses. Its lightness makes it easy to handle. It preserves the flavour of wines as no other material can do. It is a non-conductor of heat and electricity. Many woods are marked by patterns of infinite variety and beauty, whose very irregularities constitute an abiding charm. To this is added a fine blending of colours and a lustre when polished that give woods a place in the decorative arts that can be taken by no other substance.
Precious woods, worth their weight in gold, are not unknown to-day. ' A wagonload of satinwood worth $75,000 was delivered to an English furniture manufactory recently. It was cut for veneer work, sixteen thin sheets to the inch. The price paid per square foot was one pound sterling. Peacocks' feathers, arabesq;.es, and wonderful mythological beasts are revealed by the saw that cuts through the gnarled butts of maple, birch and yew, and through the buds that stand out like excrescenses on ash and other trees. Imperfections in the normal grain are responsible for these figures and colouring. It is the sawing that makes the most of these good points. In woods like oak there are broad, radial bands of "medullary rays," which sawing reveals. They are fully exposed by sawing through centre of a log, and when polished gleam with "mirrors," the cabinetmaker's delight. The larger the log the larger proportion of this valuable mirrored wood it will yield.
White oak, which contains a large percentage of pith rays and reveals these mirrors to perfection when "quarter-sawed," is now largely used in veneering. So are the curly and bird's-eye maples and birches, and the exotic woods, mahogany, rosewood and satinwood. The layer glued on the cheap frames of piano cases and all manner of furniture is often but a sixteenth of an inch in thickness. Black-walnut stumps are bought for veneer
wherever they can be found.
It is hopeless to try to list the uses of wood—even of our native kinds—with fulness and accuracy. The lumber trade is in unstable equilibrium. Certain kinds of lumber are giving out— the black walnut, for instance. SubstitUtion of cheaper woods by furniture factories is a symptom that the supply of good lumber is running low and prices high. A few years ago red oak was discarded. Only white oak was suitable for furniture and oak interior finish. To-day no distinction is made between these two species. White oak is scarce and is used for the most expensive work. Red oak is the bulk of the supply. To the general public oak is oak, and the manufacturer and retailer are not inclined to bother the buyer with hair-splitting distinctions. In fact, most "oak" furniture that sells at low prices is elm, whose coarse, muddy grain is a poor imitation of oak.
Spruce forests were ignored by lumbermen and esteemed worthless by the general public twenty-five years ago. Then the pulp industry sprung up, and spruce wood made the best paper. The pulp men bought tracts of spruce forests, and the mills now consume thousands of acres a year. So great has been the drain upon these forests that already pulp makers are looking to Canada as the source of future supplies. Regenerative forestry is being put into force in many thousand acres to maintain the spruce crop on the same land. Spruce wood brings to $7 per cord at the pulp mills, and even spruce stumps are bought at $15 per thousand feet. This revolution of values brings spruce up until it costs more than Southern pine in the market— a condition of affairs unthinkable in the lumber trade a few years ago.
Paper making has raised cottonwood and other soft, white woods to a rank above ordinary hardwoods, among which they were counted by foresters as mere nurse trees and forest weeds. A state forester recently said: "If I could change all the trees in the state forests to poplars I would add greatly to the wealth these acres represent. The pulp and paper mills would take every stick we could cut and beg for more. We could set our own price." Twenty years ago white pine was still king of soft-wood lumbers. Its day is past, partly owing to the exhaustion of the virgin growth in great Northern pineries, partly by reason of the exploitation of Southern pines. The "black sap" of Southern pines, seasoned slowly in the lumber pile, darkened the wood and made it impossible as a competitor of white pine in the markets. But kiln-drying makes yellow pine white, so that the yellow pines of the South now furnish handsome flooring, interior finish and general building material in vast quantities. It is also used for furniture and for ties.