16 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



without a question of doubt. The trouble is not with the buyers of 

 these concerns themselves, but it seems that in most eases orders have 

 come from headquarters of the big consumers to keep out of the 

 buying field entirely, and this policy will be continued until counter- 

 orders have been issued. 



Judging from the extremely favorable condition of their trade, it 

 would seem that these concerns must soon go actively into the pur- 

 chasing game. 



This condition is clearly shown by the experience which was related 

 by a southern hardwood man on a northern trip. It seems that his 

 concern had had a large order for oak cancelled by a furniture 

 house. The man in question called on these people, who finally told 

 him to come around within a couple of days after they had had a 

 chance to size up the situation, as they had already placed the order 

 with another concern at $2 less than his price. He went back as 

 told and was gratified to learn that they had decided to take on his 

 stock at his figure as they had found they could take care of it. 



This simply indicates that the buyers in a good many cases do not 

 realize exactly what they are in a position to do. They have so 

 gotten into the habit of conservative buying of the hand-to-mouth 

 nature that it is difficult to get out of the rut. 



As to the various woods: Oak seems to be picking up somewhat 

 in prices all along the line. There seems to be some little difficulty in 

 getting red gum back to a desirable position, as a great many fac- 

 tories have gone over to the use of sap gum instead. 



Of the northern woods, birch and maple are continuing to show 

 gratifying activity. Poplar is not particularly active, although the 

 lower grades are moving in excellent shape as are basswood, cotton- 

 wood and the lower grades of gum. 



The veneer business continues to bo rather slack, but this is simply 

 due to the condition that affects the lumber business as well. 



In summing up the situation, it is entirely logical to believe that 

 the present calendar year will as .a whole round out as a very good 

 one. It should not be expected, however, that anything of a par- 

 ticularly gratifying nature will come into evidence until the last half, 

 as it will undoubtedly take six or eight months for the country to 

 thoroughly adjust itself to the radically changing and changed con- 

 ditions. 



The Cover Picture 



THE PICTURE WHICH ILLUSTKATES THE COVER of this 

 is!<ue of Hardwood Record was made on the coast of South 

 Carolina, and the tree forming the principal feature is the well-known 

 southern evergreen oak (Quercus virginiana). Its limbs are festooned 

 with Spanish moss, which is one of the most common sights in 

 forests near the coast in the southern states. 



The picture may appeal more to musicians and literary people 

 than to lumbermen, though there is no reason why a lumberman 

 may not like both music and poetry as a rest and recreation when 

 the rush hours of business are over. To such the tree featured 

 on the front cover will appeal. 



Under this tree Sydney Lanier wrote ' ' The Marshes of Glynn, ' ' 

 which some critics consider to be one of the most finished pieces 

 of literature in the English language, though others would not 

 give it such high praise. 



The poem has a pathetic history. The author wrote it while 

 dying, and he has been compared to the swan ' ' which dying, dies 

 in melody. ' ' 



The biography of Sydney Lanier is short and simple. He was 

 born at Macon, Ga., in 1S42, entered the Confederate army, was 

 taken prisoner, and exposure brought on tuberculosis, against which 

 he fought heroically but to which he finally succumbed. He went 

 to Baltimore, where he earned a precarious livelihood as a musician. 

 He sent verses to the magazines and they all came back rejected 

 until one by chance reached the public. Critics detected the work 

 of a genius, and his reputation as a poet quickly followed. Johns 

 Hopkins University gave him a chair in literature, and for the 

 first time in his life he could feel that the means of a livelihood 

 were assured; but it came too late to do him much good. 



He went to the mountains of North Carolina as a last hope 



of regaining his health, but without avail. His last literary work 

 was the writing of a collection of poems, "Hymns of the Marshes," 

 of which "The Marshes of Glynn" is one. It was completed while 

 he was still able to walk, but some of his other poems were com- 

 posed after he had become too weak to lift his head from his 

 pillow. 



The marsh, which was before his eyes and which was minutely 

 described in the verses, appears in the picture, stretching away 

 toward the sea on the horizon. A single verse will suffice to show 

 the tone and measure of the poem: 



"Oh, what is abroad in the marsh and the terminal seat 

 Somehow my soul seems suddenly free 

 From the weighing of fate and the sad discussion of sin 

 By the length and the breadth and the sweep of the Marshes- 



of Glynn." 

 The photograph from which the cover picture was made is from 

 the collection of the Field Museum, Chicago. The tree's trunk is 

 somewhat different from that of the live oak as it is usually met 

 with, in that it divides so near the ground. This oak generally 

 has a short, single trunk. The moss on the branches is not a true 

 moss, but is a species of pineapple which has acquired arboreal 

 habits. It is a most interesting plant and has no true roots. Its 

 sustenance comes almost wholly from the air. It hangs on the 

 limbs of trees for support, but does not draw much, if any, sub- 

 stance from them, and therefore is not a parasite, as mistletoe is,^ 

 or a saprophyte, like fungus. This plant (Dendropogon usenoidesj 

 is commonly called Spanish moss. It has leaves longer and narrower 

 than those of any grass. It has blooms so small and inconspicuous 

 that people who have been intimately acquainted with the plant 

 aU their lives declare that it has no flowers. Its fruit likewise 

 escapes notice, but the seeds are somewhat conspicuous. They are 

 attached to down like seeds of the dandelion, and they float long 

 distances through the air and lodge against the trunks and branches 

 of trees where, after securely attaching themselves, they germinate. 

 The plant may propagate itself without seeds. Sections torn from 

 the parent plant are carried by wind until they lodge on a limb 

 or against a trunk. They quickly throw out tendrils which fasten 

 on the bark, and the sprig begins to grow. Many trees become 

 so completely covered with this co-called moss that they are 

 smothered to death, or the great weight breaks them down. This 

 moss has been gathered for one hundred and fifty years in the 

 South and has been used to stuff mattresses, upholster chairs, fill 

 horse collars, and for other purposes. When cured, which process 

 consists in removing all the leaves and outer bark, the commercial 

 article looks like black horsehair, and much of it is bought and 

 sold as such. It is shipped to all civilized countries of the world. 

 New Orleans is the center of the business. 



The festoons hanging from the branches of trees range in length 

 from one to ten feet, and in rare instances they are fifteen or 

 even twenty feet long. The longest strands shown in the picture 

 are probably four or five feet. Long strands are not found on 

 trees which are subjected to the full sweep of the wind, but in 

 deep swamps where trees stand close together. 



Consignments Still in Evidence 



WHY A MAN SHOULD SELL HIS STOCK at about one-half of 

 ivliat it is actually worth, even though he is in imminent need 

 of funds, is difficult to understand, but this condition actually pre- 

 vails abroad in a good many cases. A slackening up in demand for 

 lumber products always brings with it a large amount of consignment 

 shipments for consumers abroad. Small mUls, which have no adequate 

 tuianeial backing and which cannot afiford to hold their stock and 

 must have actual funds, cannot wait for the slow process of selling 

 their stocks at adequate prices in the home market or abroad in the 

 usual channels, and utilize this means of replenishing their exchequers 

 in an expeditious manner regardless of the ultimate cost. 



Instances are actually on record during the past financial stress, 

 of sales which have actually been made abroad of consignment ship- 

 ments of American hardwoods, which sold at prices just about one- 



