PLATE 8. Interior of a 14-year-old grove of sugar gum planted in the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains at an elevation of over 2,000 feet. Good forest conditions established. In recent years several plantations of large size have been established in anticipation of a market for gum wood of merchantable size or for poles, piles, and railroad ties. The plantation of Mr. Dwight Whiting at El Toro, Orange County, now covering 1,000 acres, is the most extensive commercial plantation in the State. Its oldest portions are now three years old. Planting will be continued annually until a forest of 4,000 acres is established. The plantation consists almost entirely of gray, red, and sugar gums. The Bixby Company of Long Beach has begun the planting of an area of about 3,000 acres near Orange, Orange County. Blue, gray, lemon and sugar gums, in varying proportions, will be used. The Santa Fe Railroad Company has recently acquired a tract of 8,600 acres in San Diego County, which will be devoted to Eucalyptus production to supply the company with poles, piles, ties, and other timber. The gray, lemon, sugar and blue gums will be planted. The Union Lumber Company, located at Fort Bragg, Mendocino County, is the first lumber organization to become interested in the commercial planting of Eucalyptus. This company has cut over an area of 10,000 to 15,000 acres of redwood during the course of its operations. The logged redwood lands do not naturally restock with merchantable timber, because space between stumps afford too much entrance to lateral light, causing the production of limbs and hence knotty timber. Eucalyptus will be planted between the clumps of coppice shoots to cut off the lateral light and force the redwood secondgrowth into height development. The Central Counties Land Company, which has recently acquired extensive holdings on and near Clear Lake, Lake County, has begun the propagation of blue and sugar gum seedlings for planting on its lands both for ornamental and commercial purposes. The Pacific Electric Company and the Ontario Power Company have recently acquired smaller tracts in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, upon which they have begun planting with several species of Eucalyptus to raise tie timbers and poles for electric wiring. Extensive commercial planting is also being undertaken by many other companies and individual landowners in several different sections of the State. It is apparent that much greater attention to Eucalyptus planting may be expected in the near future. TIMBER UTILIZATION. Fuelwood. In Southern California the use of gum fuelwood has been most general. Gum cordwood is a staple fuel and may be found on sale in woodyards in most of the valley sections of the State. In the northern valleys it is much less common than in Southern California, owing to its greater scarcity and the competition of valley oaks, which have been slaughtered regardless of their value for ornament and shade. Fuel oils have supplanted fuelwood to some extent, yet in Southern California, where fuel oils are available, fuelwoods have never been disposed of at a sacrifice. Eucalyptus wood has high fuel value. It makes a quick, hot fire, hence it is very suitable for cooking purposes and for use in open fireplaces. It burns with a bright blaze and emits a pleasant, aromatic odor. In heating qualities it is hardly inferior to California oak wood. Most consumers are prejudiced in favor of oak wood, however, hence gum wood commands a lower price in the market than oak or mesquite. In different localities the price of gum fuelwood varies from $5 to $14 PLATE 9. Portable Cutting a 6-year-old stand of blue gum for fuel. per cord, with tendencies toward the latter. Wood of the slower-growing eucalypts and that of old trees possesses higher value than young wood from quick-growing species. Green gum wood makes poor fuel. Gum wood is sold by the short cord of 96 instead of 128 cubic feet, two tiers of wood, 10 to 18 inches long, piled 8 feet long and 4 feet high, constituting a cord. Ten-inch wood is generally sold at the same price as 18-inch wood, without protest by the consumer. The wood cut from the rapid-grown gum sprouts is mainly sapwood, which shrinks greatly in drying. A cord will lose 15 per cent or more of its volume in seasoning. Cordwood for the market is usually cut from tall, slender, sproutgrown trees rarely over 8 inches in diameter. The trees are sawed into fuel lengths without peeling the bark. If left in the round the sticks do not burn as well as if split. Splitting must not be delayed after cutting, as the wood becomes very hard upon drying. Wood of sugar and red gum is quite straight-grained and splits without difficulty. Blue gum wood, particularly the sap-wood of old, open-grown trees, is very tough and cross-grained. The interlocked fibres must be chopped through in splitting and seasoned blocks defy all attempts to split them with an ax. A small industry has grown up in Southern California through the cutting of blue gum groves for fuel. Traveling cutting concerns undertake the cutting of groves by contract, employing gangs of choppers and operating portable sawing and splitting machines in working up the product. The cost of cutting varies with the cost of labor from $2 to $3 per cord, and a margin of from $3 to $8 profit is left the owner, according to the advantage with which the wood is sold and its nearness to market. Green wood should be piled for seasoning away from contact with the ground. The wood decays rapidly in contact with the soil and soon loses its fuel value. A superior grade of charcoal can be made from gum wood. Where old groves are rooted up after repeated cuttings, the massive stumps are frequently burned for charcoal, and cordwood has likewise been used to some extent for this purpose. Posts. A supply of strong, durable fence posts is one of the greatest needs of the California rancher. At present, dependence is placed in redwood and to a limited extent in local plantations of black locust. The hardness and strength of Eucalyptus wood would justify its use for posts if it were more durable in contact with the soil. Certain species, notably sugar and red gum, are of average durability. Round blue gum posts from sapling groves have been used to some extent, but without satisfactory results. Split or sawn posts of more mature timber would doubtless last much longer, but these have not been widely used owing to the difficulty of splitting the wood. It is apparent that Eucalyptus has fallen into disrepute for post purposes without receiving a thorough trial. Experiments in seasoning and treating Eucalyptus to determine its. durability under better treatment have been undertaken recently by the Forest Service in coöperation with the State of California. Thousands of posts, of the size ordinarily used, were cut from young sprout plantations. Some were set green and unpeeled, others peeled and seasoned. Still other posts, green, seasoned, peeled, and unpealed were impregnated with hot creosote for different lengths of time in small portable tanks. They were then given distinguishing marks and set in fence lines in soils of different kinds. Examinations of the posts will be made from time to time to determine their durability under different methods of treatment. The experiment, when concluded, will demonstrate whether blue gum may be used to advantage for post material. Red, blue, sugar and red iron bark gums were used. It was found that all yielded to treatment remarkably well. The average cost per post was 6 or 7 cents for preservative alone. To this must be added the minor cost items, labor and wear of apparatus. The greater durability of treated gum posts is still unknown, but judging from the increased life of other inferior woods after treatment, and the known value of creosote as a preservative, it is safe to predict an increased durability all out of proportion to the cost of treatment. Poles. A large amount of timber is used annually for poles for electric wiring. The increase in value has almost prohibited the use of the much preferred Oregon pine (Pseudotsuga taxifolia), and pole timbers of lower grade have come into use. Oregon cedar from which from six to fifteen years' service is obtained, depending on the character of the soil in which the poles are set, is the chief substitute. Experiments are also being conducted looking toward the substitution of yellow pine and yellow cedar. Eucalyptus poles have been tried to a limited extent, and may be expected under treatment to outlast the pole timbers in present use. Railroad Ties. The development of transcontinental, interurban and urban railways has created a strong demand for timber suitable for ties. Eucalyptus timber has not yet come into general use for ties, although the indications are that it will be used more extensively in the future. The value of the wood for tie use has been tested by the Southern Pacific Company. Some hundreds of ties of California-grown blue gum were laid green and untreated in sandy soil in the roadbed through central Nevada. They exhibited good wearing qualities and the requisite strength, but, through lack of proper seasoning, checked badly, so that in some cases they failed to hold the spikes. At the end of four years the ties showed no signs of decay; after seven years' service some were worthless from decay, but some were sound at the end of eleven years. The result of the experiment officially reported to the company credited the gum ties with being equal to the best second grade Southern pine, but the experiment was not followed by more extensive use. Gum timber can not compete with the best tie timber in durability, but if the life of gum wood is extended by preservative treatment its wearing qualities will make it a superior tie timber. With increase in cost of redwood and pine timber, lower grade ties of the more durable eucalypts should find a place in the market. Sea |