.luno 10, 1915. 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



43 



BEDNA YOUNG LUMBER COMPANY 



Manufacturers of 



QUARTERED WHITE OAK 



and Other Hardwoods 



A FEW SPECIALS WE WISH TO MOVE 



4 cars 3 4 Is and 2s Quartered White Oak, regular widths 

 1 car 4/4 Is and 2s Quartered White Oak, all 6 " wide 



1 car 4/4 No. 1 Common White Oak Strips, all 3" and 3^/4" wide 

 1 car 5/4 No. 2 Common Quartered White Oak, regular widths 

 3 cars 8 4 Is and 2s Quartered Red Oak, regular widths 



5 cars 4, 4 No. 2 Common Quartered Red Oak, regular widths 



Send Us Your Inquiries 



SALES OFFICE 

 GREENSBURG, INDIANA 



MAIN OFFICE AND BAND MILL 

 JACKSON, TENN. 



the future situation, but as freights usually advance in September of 

 •each year, it is reasonable to suppose that this year will prove no excep- 

 tion, and buyers wishing to provide themselves with stocks to carry 

 them over the autumn and winter would not, we believe, make a mis- 

 take in taking what they can get forward at summer rates during the 

 summer months. Great congestion exists in Liverpool, there being some 

 fifty or sixty steamers in the river awaiting berths, and buyers also 

 complain that they are unable to make shipment to their customers in 

 "the Interior on account of the railway companies moving their goods so 

 very slowly — conditions brought about by the large movement of war 

 material, which very naturally has the preference. 



Central American Furniture Prospects 



A trade report from San Salvador considers the outlook for United 

 States furniture in Central America. Fifty per cent of the chairs in use 

 in Central America are of the "bent-wood" cane-bottom type, and nine- 

 tenths of them came from Germany and Austria. Of the remainder, 

 twenty-five per cent are wicker. This is true also regarding tables, 

 tabourettes and settees. This furniture is all imported, but very little 

 •comes from the United States. 



There are three main reasons for this state of affairs. First, perhaps 

 the majority of importing houses dealing in these goods in the past have 

 been German, English, French and Italian ; second, this style of fur- 

 niture is light in weight and therefore customs duties were correspond- 

 ingly light ; third, in the "bent-wood" furniture and the wicker glue is 

 not used, but the furniture is put together with screws and bolts. An 

 inquiry reveals another reason why the furniture market has been largely 

 ■monopolized by Europe : That is, because no serious attempt has been 

 made to make furniture in the United States adapted to the require- 

 ments of the tropics trade, or to sell it in competition with the light, 

 durable and cheap varieties mentioned above. Most of the furniture 

 •coming from the United States has been very cheap, consisting of chairs, 

 wasbstands and plain tables. Some of it is put together with glue and 

 speedily comes apart ; and most of it is cheaply varnished, a method of 

 finish that does not do well in tropical climates. 



At this time, when imports of foreign furniture have been cut off 

 indefinitely, numerous dealers have expressed interest in the American 

 product, and it is believed that if light yet substantial and nicely 

 finished furniture can be shipped in "knocked-down" form, to be put 

 together without the use of glue, a permanent market of much Import- 

 ance may be developed for really good furniture. 



The Central Americans prefer to purchase their furniture in sets and 

 to arrange it formally, and each set is not complete without a settee. 

 This is always placed with the hack against the wall, with perhaps 



three straight-backed chairs in a row in front at right angles from one 

 end and three more chairs at the foot facing the others. The settee is 

 the seat of honor; the guest is always invited to sit there, and It Is a 

 compliment to be so invited. The rocking chairs will be formally placed 

 in some other part of the room, and so on. The settee must always be 

 included In preparing parlor or library furniture for the Central American 

 trade. 



The people of the Tropics have become accustomed to the bent-wood 

 designs and like them ; it would be hard to change their taste for what 

 they have long considered good furniture ; but it is generally thought 

 that if some of the finer grades of American makes can be shipped at 

 reasonable prices, carefully packed so as to occupy small space and 

 arranged to be put together after arrival, there is a considerable future 

 for it in this market. Leather, its imitations, plush and such upholstery 

 are not favored because such things afford ants and other insects food 

 and harboring places. Cane, wicker and the like bave been tested by 

 experience and found to be the best varieties for the cUmate. Care 

 should be taken to get the crating light in which shipments are made, 

 since crating pays the same tariff rate as furniture. Where possible a 

 good hard-oil finish is preferable to varnish. 



Americans Manufacturing Creosote 



Owing to a falling off since August 1 of nearly thirty per cent in 

 shipments of creosote from England and Germany, whence comes all 

 but a small part of the imported oil used by wood preserving plants in 

 this country, American manufacturers have taken steps which will 

 increase production of the domestic article by about twenty-five per cent. 

 The Imported oil ordinarily forms about sixty-five per cent of the total 

 used in the United States. Wood preserving is one of the most rapidly 

 advancing industries in the country. In 1895 there were fifteen plants 

 in the United States ; in 1914 there were 122. Ninety-four of these plants 

 last year used more than 79,000,000 gallons of creosote oil, more than 

 27,000,000 pounds of dry zinc chloride, and nearly 2,500,000 gallons of 

 other preservatives, such as coal tar and crude oil, treating a total of 

 nearly 160,000,000 cubic feet of timber, an increase of about 7,000,000 

 over 1913 and of 35,000,000 over 1912. 



The most important consumers are the large plants In which railroad 

 ties are treated. The preservatives materially lengthen the ties' period 

 of service, lessen the labor cost Involved by renewal, and decrease the 

 drain upon the forests due to tie-cutting. To some extent the treatment 

 of fence posts and other forms of farm timber is being taken up, an 

 inexpensive apparatus and method having been devised; but as yet the' use 

 of wood preservatives by farmers is on too small a scale to have any 

 importance in the total. 



