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ftoMwolRocoM 



Published in the Interest of the American Hardwood Forests, the Products thereof, and Logging, Saw 

 Mill and Wood-working Machinery, on the 1 0th and 25th of each Month, by 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Henry H. Gibson, President 

 Burdis Anderson, Sec'y and Treas. 



Entire Seventh Floor Ellsworth Building 

 537 So. Dearborn Street, CHICAGO 



Vol. XXXV CHICAGO, NOVEMBER 10, 1912 



No. 2 LIBl 



^ NEW 



General Market Conditions 



Trading in hardwoods the eountrv over goes on with great activity. 

 Any variety of lumber of anything of desirable mauufaL-ture and dry- 

 ness finds a ready market at a highly satisfactory valuation. About 

 the only two items that manifest any weakness", and this not seriously 

 so, are firsts aud seconds red and sap gum and Xo. 1 common and 

 better poplar. Practically every other item is scarce and strong. 



The car shortage is the one serious thing that militates against a 

 highly satisfactory state of affairs in the entire range of the hardwood 

 business. Several of the southern lines have absoluteh" refused the 

 use of bo.x cars for lumber shipments, and are unable to supply flats 

 and gondolas in sufficient quantities to move half the stock offered. 

 It is anticipated there wUl be a relief from the car shortage pretty 

 soon, but until this obtains, difficulty will be encountered in making 

 deliveries. 



Plain oak of aU grades continues to be the scarcest item in ail 

 trade centers of the country, and very substantial advances for de- 

 sirable lots are being asked and obtained. 



Nearly all the northern hardwoods in shipping condition are pretty 

 well out of the market. The same situation obtains with a good 

 many varieties of southern hardwoods. 



The veneer and imported wood business is active and quite a num- 

 ber of plants are running overtime to take care of their business. 

 Prices are fairly satisfactory, but comparatively are still much lower 

 than lumber values. 



Mahogany lumber of all varieties is remarkably scarce and in active 

 demand, and high-class Cuban wood is practically out of the market. 

 There is a good demand for Circassian as well as the majority of 

 other fancy woods. 



Hardwood flooring manufacturers have the situation well in hand. 

 There is a good demand at satisfactory prices and in place of the 

 usual over-stock in factory warehouses, the market is over-sold in 

 both oak and maple flooring to a considerable extent. 



The handle trade is in a fairly satisfactory condition. 



Building operations for October in the chief commercial centers, 

 as shown in the news columns of this issue, are highly satisfactory, 

 as they show, as compared with October of a year ago, an increase 

 of eight and three-quarter per cent, and foi the first ten months of 



the year an increase of four and one fifth per cent. There is every 

 reason to believe that building operations will continue active through- 

 out the winter. 



Even a greater increase in demand is manifest in the furniture aud 

 kindred trades, and there is no reason to assume that an active de- 

 mand for hardwoods is not assured for months in advance. 



Growing Fence Posts in Indiana 



A few years ago Speaker of the House Joseph G. Cannon was 

 widely quoted as saying that Indiana then had more growing 

 timber than when he was a boy. That was taken as a text by 

 those who undertook to show that private parties were grow- 

 ing timber to meet the country 's -need, and that there was 

 no occasion for the government to take up similar work. 



A different view of the situation in Indiana is taken by Charles 

 C. Deam, secretary of the Indiana State Board of Forestry. He 

 does not think that even the growing of fence post timber in that 

 state is a paying business. In a recent letter to H.vrdwood Eecokd 

 he said: 



■'We are not in possession of facts to tell us what it will cost 

 to grow a fence post' in Indiana. The greater part of the land in 

 this state is suitable for agriculture and on such land I would 

 estimate that it would cost more than twenty-five cents to grow 

 a fence post. In fact, I have visited forest plantings in this 

 state that were started for the purpose of growing fence posts, 

 in which I would judge, if they were able to mature fence posts, 

 they would cost the owner anywhere from fifty cents to fifty dol- 

 lars. I know of a man who had a ten-acre tract of locust, who 

 will not be able to mature a single post. I know of a catalpa 

 planting that is over forty years old, and many of the trees are 

 not yet large enough for posts. The land on which this planting 

 is located is worth one hundred and fifty dollars per acre. You 

 can figure for yourself what the posts this man reaps will cost 

 him." 



If farmers of Indiana are raising timber on land worth one 

 hundred and fifty dollars an acre for other purposes, they are 

 making a mistake. That land is too valuable to be given up to 

 timber growing. Woodlots should be maintained on rough, poor, 

 cheap land. Odd corners and waste places will grow trees, often 



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Henry H. Gibson, Editor: Hu Maxwell and Edwin W. Meeker, Asso- 

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Entered as second-class matter May 26, 1902, at the postofflce at Chi- 

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