lengths of prime grade run from 2 to 16 feet, and average 5 to 51⁄2 feet.

It is said that American maple flooring manufacturers have made little, if any, effort to develop the sale of their flooring for, say, % inch suitable for laying on top of existing softwood floors in British homes and it has been suggested that an organized effort to secure a trial of this type of flooring might possibly bring good results.

Birch and beech.-Small quantities of birch and beech flooring are also imported from the United States and Canada in the same sizes and grades as maple, which are used principally for factory purposes. It is said, however, that the price is not sufficiently lower than maple to induce their use in preference to that species and only nominal quantities are used.

Complaints. Some difficulty has been experienced with American hardwood flooring on account of the effect of the damp British climate on kiln-dried lumber. As a consequence, it has not always been found satisfactory, trouble developing after the floor has been laid. This matter is of considerable importance and will have to be overcome by American manufacturers if full advantage is to be taken of the opportunities for the sale of hardwood flooring.

Future outlook.-Returning industrial prosperity should lead to the greater use of hardwood flooring in the United Kingdom, of which America should obtain the greater share provided the difficulties already mentioned are overcome and the advantages of such flooring are brought to the attention of potential customers and fostered by close cooperation between manufacturers and their British representatives. Educating the public to the advantage of its use by means of advertising in architects' and builders' journals, magazines of the "home beautiful" type-read to a large extent by women, whose influence is naturally considerable in the selection of floors for the home and distribution of brochures containing illustrations of rooms with the floors in natural colors would all help to increase the use of hardwood flooring, and money spent for such purposes would be a profitable investment. It would be preferable, however, that advertising matter of this character bear the name of an association or some nontrading body so as to bear the stamp of impartiality rather than that of a firm interested in the sale of flooring, who might be accused of only giving favorable facts in order to promote sales.

MATCHED LUMBER

In addition to flooring, large quantities of dressed softwood lumber, used for partitions, skirtings, shelving, and interior finish, are imported into the United Kingdom from northern Europe, over 90 per cent coming from Sweden and Norway, and, like flooring, are of both spruce and pine.

However, as it requires wider material to make this stock than flooring and the trees in Norway being smaller than in Sweden, a greater proportion of the trade goes to the latter country. Small quantities also come from Finland, but there are few planing mills, comparatively speaking, in that country. The following table shows

the imports of matched lumber into the United Kingdom during the year 1925:

Matched stock includes boards tongued, grooved, and beaded one and two sides; tongued, grooved, and V jointed one and two sides; rabbeted and V jointed, etc.

Again, as in flooring, this stock is sold by Norway on a base price list as follows: Tongued, grooved, and beaded one side; tongued, grooved, and V jointed one side; rabbeted and V jointed one side at 5s. per standard (1,980 feet board measure) over square-edged stock; while tongued, grooved, and beaded two sides, tongued, grooved, and V jointed two sides, and rabbeted and V jointed two sides, all take 40s. per standard additional. No difference is made whether the stock be spruce or pine. The usual additions for thin stock—i. e., 10s. per standard for 3/4 inch, 20s. for 5% inch, and 40s. for 11⁄2 inchare made. In this connection, it must be understood that the measurements are based on the nominal size board measure and thin stock (stock under 1 inch nominal) is not considered as 1 inch as in American trade practice for invoicing purposes, but rather as of the nominal thickness.

OTHER DRESSED LUMBER

In addition to matched lumber, there is imported about an equal quantity of other dressed softwood lumber, principally box boards, but included is a small percentage of interior finish, such as nosed boards, skirting or base boards, torus, and shelving, chiefly from northern Europe. A small quantity of spruce shelving boards is also imported from Czechoslovakia. Imports of other dressed lumber into the United Kingdom during the year 1925 are shown in the following table:

Shelving boards are dressed on both sides and edges, but while the face must be perfectly smooth, the other or underside is only rough dressed or "scotched" as it is called in the trade, and are used for the

purpose their name indicates. They are of spruce and pine (or whitewood and redwood, as they are called in the trade) and are usually 1 by 9 or 11 inches wide, in the same lengths as flooring-6 feet and longer.

They are usually sold by Norway on the basic price list of £1 per standard (1,980 feet board measure) for the 9-inch, and £4 per standard for 11-inch over 1 by 61⁄2 and 7 inches square edged, but the extras may vary.

Imports from America.-Imports of "other dressed lumber" from American include box shooks imported for the manufacture of containers to be returned filled with goods and are used in order to avoid the import duty. In addition to these box shooks, there is brought in some western white and sugar pine dressed four sides, used principally in Scotland for high-class interior finish, and an occasional car of North Carolina pine for the less expensive coffins.

FLOORING BLOCKS

The use of wood flooring blocks has increased to a considerable extent in Great Britain during the past few years and has now attained large proportions. While more expensive in the first instance, owing principally to the greater cost of laying, such floors possess several marked advantages over those made from ordinary strip flooring, the most important of which is their superior wearing qualities. The fact that they can be laid direct onto concrete or other mineral foundation, the ability to lay them in various patterns and not only in straight lines, and the ease with which worn spots can be replaced, are also important advantages.

The usual length of blocks is 9 or 12 inches (nominal), and, being laid in patterns, the wear is largely diagonal, or at right angles to the grain, so that the tendency to sliver is reduced to a minimum. Further, it is much less difficult to get edge grain in blocks than in lumber so that, while most of the strip flooring used is flat grain, a much greater proportion of the blocks used is edge grain, and even when of north European softwood a large percentage of edge grain is included. The combination of these factors naturally adds to the wearing qualities of block floors, and offsets, to a considerable extent, the original higher cost as compared with ordinary strip flooring.

The fact that most public buildings and factories now have floors of fire-resisting material, such as concrete, also favors the use of blocks because they can be laid on such floors direct, whereas strip flooring can not be used unless wooden fillets are let in first.

The matter of repairing worn floors is one of importance because on most of them, especially in factories or public buildings, the traffic is not evenly distributed; as a consequence, some parts wear out more quickly than others. This is particularly true in factories, where the floors under machinery are never touched from the time they are laid, while in the passageways they are constantly being worn by the shoes of the operatives and wheels of trucks carrying material from one department to another. Again, in assembly halls, churches, and public buildings, certain sections of the floor are rarely walked on, the wear being confined to aisles, centers of corridors, and portion near entrance doors, and these sections have to be renewed from time to time. Should the floors be made of strip lumber, it would be necessary to take up full lengths of boards, and if these are tongued and

grooved there would be danger of breaking the tongue on adjoining good boards. As a consequence of these conditions, a comparatively large section of the floor must be taken up to replace the small part that has been worn. Should, however, the original floor have been laid with blocks, the problem of replacing a worn section is a simple one, new blocks being substituted for the worn ones with comparatively little trouble or expense.

Sources. While some finished blocks are imported, the greater number of those used are made out of imported lumber, usually 3 by 9 inches, by firms who have made a specialty of the business, and with the growth in their use the trade in them has become an

FIG. 21-Types of wood-block flooring: (1) Dovetail or ordinary V groove; (2) tongue and groove and end grooved; (3) grooved and end tongued; (4) doweled

important branch of the lumber industry. American machinery is. considered by some as the best for this purpose on account of the speed with which the blocks can be turned out and the accuracy of manufacture. A notable exception, however, to the general rule are Douglas fir blocks, practically all of which are imported ready-made from the Pacific coast of the United States. Some maple blocks are also imported, but the demand for this species is comparatively small compared with others.

Import and distributing methods.-Imported blocks are usually packed in crates or cases of approximately 100 each and are handled in the trade by the same methods as any other lumber, that is, through regular agents acting as exclusive sales agents for the foreign exporter.

These agents sell only to recognized importers, most of whom are also manufacturers. The trade in wood blocks, however, has become a specialized business and is in comparatively few hands. These importer-dealers naturally supply wood blocks of all species, and most of them employ a staff of expert layers and quote laid-down prices to builders and contractors, thereby eliminating middlemen's profits and enabling close prices to be made.

Types, sizes, and quality.-Four types of wood blocks are used, namely, V grooved or dovetailed, tongued and grooved, grooved and end tongued, and doweled. Of these, the first two are most commonly used, while doweled blocks are seldom called for.

Sizes of blocks have been standardized, to a great extent, the principal sizes of those made in the United Kingdom being as follows: 1 by 3 by 9 inches finished to % by 27% by 85% inches, *114 by 3 by 9 inches finished to 1% by 27% by 85% inches, 12 by 3 by 9 inches finished to 1% by 2% by 85% inches, 1 by 3 by 12

*

FIG. 22.-Wood-block floors; basket pattern and herringbone pattern

inches finished to % by 2% by 111⁄2 inches, *134 by 3 by 12 inches finished to 13% by 27% by 1112 inches. The actual finished sizes of those imported from America are as follows: % by 3 by 9 inches, *1% by 3 by 9 inches, *13% by 3 by 9 inches, 7% by 3 by 12 inches, 1% by 3 by 12 inches, 13% by 3 by 12 inches. The sizes marked with an asterisk (*) are those principally used.

It will be noted that the length is in exact multiples of the width, which permits a perfect pattern to be laid. Locally made blocks are graded in two qualities-"first," which must be free from knots, sap, and other defects, and "second," in which a few sound knots are admitted. Imported blocks, however, are used in one grade only. All lumber is kiln-dried or thoroughly air-seasoned before being manufactured into blocks.

The most popular pattern laid is "herringbone," and it is estimated that approximately 95 per cent of the wood-block floors laid in Great Britain are of this pattern. Next in popularity is the "basket" pattern, followed by various others.