The west shore., May 01, 1884, Page 137, Image 13

THE WEST SHORE.
137
mous freight charges and vendors' profits. This trade
has been a drain of many hundred thousand dollars a
year from the people to support communities far away,
who pay us no taxes and share none of our burdens.
But the manufacture of furniture from our native
woods ash, maple, oak, spruce, cedar, alder and fir
has begun in earnest The product of the factories in
Portland and vicinity in 1883, as per estimate of men in
the business, was $200,000. The product in 1883 of
other factories in Oregon and Washington, as estimated,
was $100,000. These sums saved by cabinetmakers here
furnished a cash circulation worth ten times the amount.
Yet most of the fine furniture will be brought at high
cost until manufacturers import the hardwoods of Mexico
and Central America. Chairs are imported at a cost of
$100,000 per year, which can all be made of our own
woods. A firm in Salem has established a chair factory,
which it is hoped will arrest the importation and save
the funds for home circulation.
The strongest protest ought to be made against the
destruction of ash for fence rails and firewood. It
makes the most cheerful finishings and furnishings for
dwellings. It is worth $50 to $00 per thousand feet now,
and Boon it will command rates like black walnut in the
Mississippi Valley. -Maple, alder, cottonwood and oak
are rising in value rapidly for these purposes. Spruce
has won a front rank also. Juniper jn Southeastern
Oregon will have a place in the shop for finishinga
Cedar will keep its place and rise in value every year.
Not a log ought to be burned or made into rails. Alaska
cedar will be more in demand as its fine grain and sweet
odor become known. Like the seal and the arctio furs, it
will be counted a luxury for the richer mansions and
princely tables. ,
Sixty thousand acres of grub oak thickets have been
cleared for wheat fields and pastures, it is estimated, and
yet the grub oaks as timber forests were worth more than
the land ever will become as wheat fields. They should
be thinned and trimmed and allowed to grow, and then
selected ones taken for the purposes required. For ax
helves they outlast two or three of hickory. For pick
handles, wagon felloes, spokes and even hubs they are
superior to any imported. A wagon built of Oregon oak,
especially that grown among the fir, will outlast two im
ported from the West or East It is a wicked waste to
cut these oaks for wood and stakes. It destroys what
skilled artisans in the shops most need for their indus
tries. It is like a man burning bank notes, principal and
interest to keep himself warm for a brief time. Western
pioneers burned and destroyed black walnut forests
which now would be worth $100 for every tree two feet
in diameter. Our farmers and other land owners are
doing the same reckless thing.
In carriage and wagon making, until recently, it was
thought imix88ible to compete with the importer. The
trial has been made. The test Las been a severe ona
Capital has hold back in distrust and the enterprising
manufacturer has been put to tlie utmost strain of his
resources and credit But his finished products rank
with the best Bnd often take the prize. Pity that money
invested in sinking and almost worthless stocks was
withheld from him in his hour of nood and from his
noble band of skilled artisans, in their honorable purpose
to establish this line of home indnntrion n firmly in onr
Pacifio Northwest ns they have lxen established in the
region of the great lakes and on the Atlantic shores.
By the home industries named in this paper alone a
round million dollars was saved last year for homo circu
lation in Oregon and Washington. Keep up those enter
prises this year and the result will lw the same. Suspend
or repress them and business lifo will in that degree bo
arrested and, perhaps, destroyed. -
O. II. Atkinson.
PINO EXTRACT FOR BATHING.
IT has long been recognised that the atmosphere of
pine forests has an invigorating and beneficial effect
upon people witli weak constitutions and sulToring from
pulmonary disorders. At somo of the watering places of
Germany the very simple prescription of the physician is
that the pationt should spend several hours a day walk
ing or riding through the pine wood. This simple treat
ment is sometimes supplemented by tho taking of pine
batliB, and in the case of kidney diseases and for delicato
children this is claimed to be highly beneficial. Tho
bath is prepared by simply pouring into tho water about
half a tumblerful of an extract made from tho fresh
needles of the pine. This extract is dark in color nnd
closely resembles molasses in consistency, and when
poured into tho bath givos tho water a muddy apear.
ance with a slight foam on tho surface. Tho repugnance
one feels to enter into such a muddy-looking fluid is
dispelled as soon as tho dolightful aroma which arises
from the bath is inhaled. Although thoro may somo
doubt whether pine baths act uixm tho system in any
othor wise than as a tonic, still, as an adjunct to tho
daily bath, infusion of tho pine extract induces a most
agreeable sensation. It givos tho skin a deliciously soft
and silky feeling, and tho effect upon tho nerves is
quieting. It is a matter of somo surprise to us that tho
business of manufacturing and bottling the extract for
private use and public bathing establishments has not
been tried in this country, whore pino forests abound so
extensively. The extract when properly bottled and
securely corked will not deteriorate for a long time, and
the cost for gathering tho pino needles and extracting
their tarry sulwtanco would not l very great, whilo tho
demand for it would likely increase to largo proportions
when tho public becamo accustomed to its use.
HonsE Dealeii: "Why do you want to sell that pretty
colt? Ho is not broke yet in ho ?" Owner: " No, but I
am. .
A lady found tho proprietor in a store so sonml
asleep that sho thought ho was dead. At first it was
supposed ho was a retired night watchman nnd imagined
himself back on duty, but inquired dovcloped tho fact
that he didn't advertise.