30 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Observing ones know that to grow a tree 

 tall, straight and clean of limbs — which must 

 be the case if good lumber is to be produced 

 — it must be crowded, and thus deprived of 

 light, in its early life, so as to compel it to 

 reach upward to obtain that light and, hence, 

 drop its lower limbs from practical starvation 

 and decay. But few trees grown in the open 

 from early life are suitable for saw logs, and 

 what must be the condition of young trees in 

 a virgin forest when the mature ones are re- 

 moved, providing any such may exist there, 

 which is by no means certain? If any one 

 will devote the time and labor that should be 

 given such an important matter, and go over 

 the cut-over lands of the country and ascer- 

 tain by careful observation the actual num- 

 ber of trees of valuable species that can be 

 found, and note their condition, and chances 

 for ever making good lumber, I venture to 

 say there will be a great surprise. How many 

 will he find? Do they stand close enough to 

 their own or any other kind to be compelled 

 to grow tall, straight and free from limbs? 

 Will there be from 175 to 200 to the acre, as 

 there should bo at maturity? Will there re- 

 sult a satisfactory yield for the area occupied 

 by these naturally sown trees? Will they be 

 of satisfactory species? All this should be 

 considered. 



But supposing that this young growth shall 

 be good. What then? Of course it will be 

 cut when it matures, but what provisions are 

 made for a succeeding one? Let us face the 

 facts and see what the chances for satisfac- 

 tory natural seeding may be. Nature has 

 wisely provided the seeds of certain species 

 of trees with a thin film or wing so that 

 when ripe and released the winds wil} convey 

 them away from the parent tree and sow them 

 where they may chance to fall. They may 

 go in the right direction or they may not, 

 and they may fall where they i-an t'cmiinate 



and not be suppressed and they may not. It 

 is all a matter of chance. 



The species of hardwood trees whose seeds 

 have wings are the ashes, birches, elms, 

 maples, poplars, gums, cottonwoods and some 

 others of less note. All these are sown by the 

 winds and probably not one seed in 50,000 

 ever grows into a tree. 



.•Another class is that of the acorn and nut- 

 bearing trees. These are the oaks, hickories, 

 chestnut, walnut and beeches — some of the 

 most important of our hardwood trees. Winds 

 cannot distribute the seeds of these and 

 Nature has left it for the squirrels and mice 

 to do that work. Unless on a steep hillside 

 none of these can be expected to spread their 

 seeds, without the aid of animals, beyond the 

 tips of their limbs, where, if they germinate 

 at all they will likely be suppressed by the 

 shade of the parent tree. 



Are we, then, ready to depend upon the 

 winds and little rodents to sow the seeds of 

 our trees? Will they select such species as 

 we need? Must the future supply of hard- 

 wood be subject to the whims or caprices of 

 any of these? And yet we must depend on 

 these if man shall not take it in hand and do 

 with the trees as he does with his agricultural 

 crops, gather and sow the seed. 



I am well aware that, in the minds of some, 

 this is rank heresy. I cannot help it. I am 

 willing to abide "the logic of events" for 

 my vindication. The future will witness the 

 practical extinction of our timber-producing 

 forests unless tree-planting shall be resorted 

 to. We have come to the "parting of the 

 ways." We stand now practically where 

 European countries which engaged in forest 

 growing did 200 years ago. They chose to 

 plant trees, and results have justified their 

 choice. S. B. Elliott, 



Commissioner I'ennsylvania State Forestry 



Kcscriation. 



Necessity of a Basis Upon Which 

 to Quote Vrices. 



A prominent manufacturer and member of 

 the handle association, who is a close observer 

 of market conditions, expresses his view of the 

 price situation as follows: 



' ' I have been very much impressed with 

 the damage that is being done to the handle 

 trade at large, on account of a lack of a uni- 

 form price list, and I wish to strongly urge 

 upon the handle manufacturers, at their next 

 association meeting, to adopt one, for the 



1 lowing reasons: 



• A uniform standard price list will tend 



lowards the maintenance of prices, and aid all 



manufacturers in the business materially to 



4et more for their handles. At present nearly 



• ry manufacturer has a different price list, 

 1 when a salesman calls on the buyer to 



the idea that as his price list is different from 

 all his competitors he can bamboozle the 

 buyer, and thereby secure a better price for 

 liis goods — his idea being that, having a dif- 

 ferent price list from all his competitors this 

 makes it diflScult for the buyer to compare 

 his prices with others, and therefore helps him 

 to secure better prices. 



"In tliis respect, however, the seller is 

 grievously mistaken. The buyer has each 

 seller's price list before him, figured out on 

 a net basis. He knows all the manufactur- 

 ers have different price lists, and therefore he 

 is strongly fortified against the seller. He 

 can represent to the seller that the seller's 

 competitors arc offering prices much below 

 the seller's prices, and consequently he bears 

 the seller down in his prices. On account of 



ignorance, where the buyer is well post, i 

 consequently, under the circumstances, due ti. 

 his ignorance of the real situation,' the seller 

 cuts to a lower basis than is necessary, and 

 so it goes from one seller to another seller, 

 until the market price sinks below the level 

 of the cost of manufacture. 



' ' On the other hand, with a uniform price 

 list, the seller has a plain course before him. 

 He has his discount to offer, and if he is a 

 manufacturer of high standard, making high- 

 grade goods, he can name a discount that 

 will give him better prices than the average 

 manufacturer, and knowing the quality of 

 his goods, their reputation, etc., he does not 

 hesitate to quote a discount that will net 

 him higher prices than the average manufac- 

 turer, and the buyer will give him his itriee 

 to get the better goods. 



' ' If the seller is a manufacturer without 

 reputation, and making a grade of goods 

 that he himself knows does not compare with 

 others, he realizes to get an order he must 

 rut the price, and if all price lists are uni 

 form, it will then be quite an easy matter to 

 find out or know just what discount the high- 

 grade manufacturers are giving. 



"He knows just how much of a cut it will 

 take to secure business, and therefore he 

 cuts the price only slightly to secure the 

 order — whereas, if he was mixed on the ques- 

 tion as to what his competitors were doing, 

 in ignorance he would cut deeper than ten* 

 absoluteli/ necessary to fict the order; there- 

 fore I contend that it is better .to have a 

 uniform price list, as it is impossible for 

 manufacturers to keep their prices secret, and 

 when they are known, the high-grade manu- 

 facturers will keep their prices as high as 

 they can obtain, and the low-grade manufac- 

 turers will not cut more than is absolutely 

 necessary to secure their share of the busi- 

 ness — the tendency being constantly to ob- 

 tain better prices, because of intelligent co- 

 operation between selling agents — whereas, to 

 go it blind, mcaus lower prices all the time. 



"I hope the handle men will see this mat- 

 ter in its true light. I deem it of the ut- 

 most importance that a uniform price list be 

 adopted, and I believe it will result in bet- 

 ter prices for handles. 



' ' We have recently built a large factory at 

 this place and one in Arkansas, and are 

 now extensively engaged in the manufacture 

 of handles, and of course desire to do all in 

 our power to bettor tin condition of ih. 

 handle business.'' 



Indiana Hardwood Specialists. 



The Smilli & liamlall Lumber Company ul 

 Ft. Wayne, Iiul., .ire specialists in the cuttlnj; 

 of large oak ship ami dredge timbers and enjoy 

 onvlal)Ie reputation ;n tbat line of worli. The 

 concern is also a large producer of small dimen- 

 sion Steele as well as ear timber. They also 

 manufacture while oak and hickory plank as 

 well aa a considerable (|uantity of black walnut. 



The Smith & Randall Lumber Company have 

 supplied some of the largest oak timbers that 

 hare ever been shipped out of Indiana and are 

 still able to supply high quality timber even if 

 in some Instances ih" slz(< are extraorclinnry 



