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Tips to the Trade 



SCARCITY OF HARDWOOD ITEMS 



Manufacturers and buyers should bear in mind that all grades 

 of both red and white plain oak are very scarce. There is a severe 

 shortage in 4/4, but this is not as marked as it is in 1%- and 

 li/i-inch stock. As there is little reason to believe that there will 

 be any marked replenishing of plain oak in shipping condition 

 for some months to come, it would not be surprising if there were 

 such a material increase in plain oak prices as to approximate the 

 price of quarter-sawed stock. 



There seems to be a marked shortage of 2-inch white ash, while 

 inch is in surplus. 



In poplar 2-inch firsts and seconds, and l^/i-iuch No. 3 common 

 are two very scarce items, and apparently there is also a marked 

 shortage in low grades of poplar. Box and crating mateTial is 

 also very short in white pine, and recourse for a supply of this 

 material is now being taken to jack pine, basswood and Balm 

 of Gilead. It is alleged that northern softwood box materials are 

 in lower supply than for the last ten years. This situation is 

 reflected in low-grade gum and Cottonwood, which stocks are very 

 short. 



There is very little low-grade northern hardwood lumber suit- 

 able for boxes and crating material in first hands, and it is be- 

 lieved that before lake navigation opens in the spring, there will 

 be a scramble for this stock at much higher prices than has pre- 

 vailed during the last few years. 



THE LATH SITUATION 



Lath made from nearly all varieties of wood are scarce and 

 are ranging at a price that makes lath production very profitable. 

 In particularly short supply are No. 1 chestnut lath, %xl%-inches, 

 4 feet. Chestnut lath are now recognized as being the equal in 

 all respects to the best white pine lath, and many users prefer 

 them to any other wood. Mills in the sections that produce 

 chestnut can very quickly pay for an equipment of lath ma- 

 chinery by rigging themselves up to produce lath. The present 

 and prospective demands for not only chestnut lath, but lath 

 from poplar and many other varieties of the softer hardwoods 

 warrant this investment. 



UNITED STATES TAKING AVAILABLE SUPPLY MEXICAN 

 MAHOGANY 



The demand in the United States, according to a London 

 authority, is curtailing the supply from Tabasco and other ports 

 which used to come by way of England, and much of it has been 

 diverted to Continental points, where prices are said to be much 

 better than in the London district. 



THE HANDLING OF KICKS 



Office men of many lumber institutions waste much time and 

 get themselves in very badly by arguing in an irrelevant, emo- 

 tional and often insulting manner with customers. Some of these 

 correspondents take a customer's complaint report on a car of 

 lumber as the signal to send back a stereotyped letter reading 

 something as follows: 



"We note your report that car No. 711, shipped as 16,420 feet 

 4/4 No. 2 common, contains 3,911 feet 4/4 No. 3 common, and beg to 

 advise that we cannot understand any such report. This car was 

 loaded by John Eobinson, who has been working for us for twenty- 

 one years, and is considered one of the best inspectors in this 

 district. Your man's report is absolutely wrong on this survey, 

 and we insist that you settle for the car according to invoice. 

 The inspector above referred to is a graduate of Harvard, and a 

 first cousin of the president of that institution, and we know he 

 loaded this car right," etc. etc. 



Now as a matter of fact in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, 

 the man who wrote this letter never saw a board that entered 

 the car, and it goes without saying that all inspectors make 



occasional mistake?. The history of the inspector does not 

 change the number of defects in the boards, neither does the 

 number of years he has been working, nor this kind of letter- 

 writing add to or take away from the defects. Shippers should face 

 the fact that fully eighty-five per cent of reinspections by un- 

 biased men throw down the shipper. This ought to convince 

 ;i good many correspondents that the way in which they handle 

 complaints is unbusinesslike. 



As a suggestion for a common-sense letter let the following 

 specimen be considered: 



"We regret to note your report on car No. 711 shows 3,911 

 feet No. ■'? common. We will have the matter investigated at 

 once by an unbiased inspector, and we assure you that if our 

 men have mis-shipped this car it is a matter we very much regret. 

 We will have the outs promptly re-inspected with a view of giv- 

 ing all concerned a square deal, and lining up any error that 

 may have crept into the work of our shipping force. ' ' 



Men in all lines of business, save some in the hardwood line, 

 value the trade of their customers suflBciently to analyze com- 

 plaints and correct errors if they exist; and go so far as to at- 

 tempt to satisfy their customers on being advised of any dis- 

 satisfaction. It should be borne in mind that the only kind of a 

 customer worth having is a satisfied one, and a complaint on a 

 shipment by no means is prima facie evidence that the customer 

 is crooked. 



AFRICAN WALNUT 



In its issue of Oct. 21, The Timber Trades .Journal of London, 

 England, says it is difficult to understand why African walnut is 

 so much neglected, and asks if it can be that it has acquired a 

 bad name and it "sticks." It says further that the wood is 

 selling "ridiculously cheap" in comparison with other woods. 



SOUTHERN MAPLE 



Intermixed with a large variety of hardwoods obtaining in the 

 Blue Eidge and Appalachian mountain regions of the South is no 

 inconsiderable quantity of maple timber of an exceptionally fine char- 

 acter. This wood is of the same botanical variety as the hard maple 

 of the North, but by reason of its locality of growth and environment 

 its texture is much softer than that of its northern prototype. South- 

 ern maple is a compromise between northern hard and soft maple. 

 This lumber, when properly manufactured and seasoned, makes excep- 

 tionally fine material for use in furniture construction. 



Comparatively little maple lumber has ever been produced from 

 this district, but during the last year or two a considerable quantity 

 has been coming into the market. Much complaint is coming from 

 buyers on account of southern mills manufacturing this wood forget- 

 ting that it is very sensitive to stain, if not cut when the sap is down, 

 and properly sawed and seasoned. 



Again many manufacturers seem to think that in loading out 

 maple orders it is all right to include beech, birch, hickory, sassafras 

 and gum, and thus make the shipment an all-around clean-up. The 

 handling of this most excellent wood hurts its prestige and keeps 

 manufacturers from getting the profit they should out of it. Maple 

 timber should be winter-felled, sawed promptly, and piled and sea- 

 soned carefully. 



GETTING MONEY FROM TIE SIDINGS 

 A good many manufacturers of sawed oak railroad ties make a 

 mistake in cutting all their sidings into inch stock, which often 

 becomes a drug on the market, whereas if they were to cut a 

 considerable portion into 5/4, 6/4 and 8/4 they would find a good 

 demand for the log-run stock. At present 5/4 log-run oak is 

 scarce and in good demand, and brings a good premium over 4/4, 

 On the present base of the oak situation, not more than fifty per 

 cent of sidings should be cut to 4/4, about twenty-five per cent 

 to 5/4, fifteen per cent to 6/4 and ten per cent to 8/4 to achieve the 

 best market results. 



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