44 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



Plain oak, with such a steady call, has the 

 dealers offering all kinds of prices for stock. 

 ..■red oak shows an improvement over the 

 past fortnight and a better supply on hand 

 bids fair for the summer trade. Ash has been 

 in good demand and a good supply is reported 

 on hand. Chestnut and birch are being freely 

 inquired for among the manufacturing trade as 

 is also maple. Basswood is a trifle stronger than 

 at any time this spring. Poplar is gradually 

 gaining in strength and spruce Is still a very 

 strong factor in the market. Cypress is having 

 a good demand. A good demand also exists for 

 sound wormy chestnut. Dealers report a scar- 

 city in No. 1 white ash. The market is very 

 firm for all the hardwoods and much strength 

 is shown all the way through the different 

 grades. Prices rule firm. 



Baltimore. 

 The excellent condition of the trade In evi- 

 dence for some time past continues. All the 

 hardwoods are In good demand, particularly oak 

 planks, which are eagerly sought after. The 

 mills have all the orders on hand they can take 

 care of, and not a few plants have sold ahead 

 for months, while the inquiry for stocks con- 

 tinues unabated, ruder the influence of this 

 state of all; nige of values is high and 



the quotations arc firmly maintained. The local 

 demand is not less active than the domestic in- 

 quiry, the consumers here being called on to fur- 

 nish much interior work and finding the ca- 

 pacity of the mills taxed to Hie utmost limit. 

 Much of the office furniture turned out Is o£ 

 oak. this wood having the call, while considera- 

 ble quantities of ash are also used. Ash. In 

 fact, la a strong second to oak, commanding 

 advanced prices and moving as freely a 

 ability of the mills to furnish supplies will 

 mlt Chestnut is also an appreciable factor in 

 the market. Walnut is also being brought in 

 in fairly large quantities, though a larg. 

 of this wood is shipped abroad. Lumbermen ex 

 press some surprise over the extent of the wal 

 nut supply, in view of the assertions made long 

 ago that the stocks of walnut timber were prac- 

 tically exhausted. Buyers still manage to 

 it in any quantity desired by those who care to 

 pay the price, and the wood consequently figures 

 prominently in the export trade. Prices, as 

 might be expected, are well sustained, v, 

 being a factor of great steadiness. The availa- 

 ble stocks are not in excess of the needs of the 

 trade, and the prevailing tone is rather 

 than usual, a condition in part attributable to 

 the reduction In the accumulations held abroad. 

 A number of English and continental brokers 

 have visited the United States of late, and Im- 

 mediate contact with the trade here has con- 

 vinced them that it is on the boom. It became 

 question of paying more or doing without 

 stocks, and a material reduction of stocks abroad 

 decideil the issue. The exporter who buys with 

 judgment at the present time can hardly fail to 

 make money, the improvement abroad being con- 

 tinuous, and showing no signs of cessation. The 

 weakening In the price of poplar predicted by 

 some lumbermen has not yet occurred, and there 

 are not a few who assert that It will not come 

 except with a general downward movement. The 

 mills are, as a rule, running full time and have 

 plenty of orders. Stocks appear to be moving 

 freely and the tone of the market is healthy. 



cheaper pine and hemlock is enough to meet all 

 the wants of such a business and hardwoods 

 are neglected. So the hardwood dealer has very 

 little to do but turn to the seaboard districts 

 as an outlet, and the activity there is sufficient 

 to fairly satisfy him. He is sure of a good 

 season at fair prices. Buffalo will some day go 

 to putting up buildings that call for more hard- 

 wood and then there will be a demand along the 

 entire line. 



The scarcity of plain oak Is still the leading 

 feature in the trade and it promises to remain 

 short right along, as even quartered oak is not 



vi : peed neral substitute for it by the 



consumer, the difference in price apparently he- 

 ed too great. There Is a better de- 

 mand for poplar. Southern pine is very firm 

 and orders are hard to fill. Elm is in good 

 demand and the supply better, except inch stock. 

 Ash is very low In stock, but In good demand: 

 birch is moving well, and maple is wa 



nut is quiet and basswood decidedly slow. 

 There is no complaint of prices. 



There Is an effort on the part of lumbermen 

 generally to can and small- 



! obliges tie 



of an all-round trade, like that of Buffalo, to 

 stand closer together than formerly. The steps 

 taken by both pine and hardwood dealers to 

 exchange stock lists regularly are thought to be 

 in the right direction and the movement is nol 

 likely to be given up right away. A 

 ing is also created through that means. 



decrease in the log supply, and this applies par- 

 ticularly to the river mills. The reason is that 

 the timber is becoming exhausted in the moun- 

 tainous sections, and it is more difficult to cut 

 logs and haul them to the Tennessee river and 

 its tributaries, and also because of the low tides 

 which have been on for the last six months. 

 There is now a good logging tide, which will 

 tbly be the last until next fall. An esti- 

 mate of the log supply for the year makes It 

 about 22.000,000 feet, as against 30,000,000 last 

 year. Every woodworking plant in this section 

 is now busy, and the demand on local concerns 

 having mills at other points is as good as can be 

 expected. All grades of oak lumber are advanc- 

 ing rapidly in price, but poplar is a little quiet. 

 as the Ohio and Kentucky mills are getting out 

 much stock. 



Detroit. 

 The hardwood market remains in a gen' i 

 satisfactory state. There has been somewhat 

 of an overproduction of inferior thick maple 

 and, as a cons. the lower gt 



rather draggj Tins does not apply to one- 

 took. In which nearly all the dry lumber 

 has been cleaned up by the flooring factories. 

 Dry tirsis and seconds maple. In five-quarter and 

 thicker, lias also been shipped out close to lie- 

 new stock and prices are a little stronger ex- 

 possibly on two-inch. in this one thick- 

 ness there is .something of a surplus Beech, 

 birch and elm are all moving off well, with no 

 change In values. Basswood is still feeble. The 

 heavj consumption of wide poplar In the numer- 

 ous local automobile body factories makes De- 

 troit one of the best markets in the country 

 for such stock. Several large poplar concerns 

 have recently established permanent sales offices 

 her,-. 



Buffalo. 

 There Is I do in the hardwood trade. 



despite the genet thai it is hardly as- 



brisk as the white pine trade. There is reason 

 for a rapid sale of pine In the great no 

 small bouses, the city, in fact, scarcely building 

 arything else, but making a I ring in 



good amount of the 



Saginaw Valley. 

 The hardwood lumber market is steady and 

 generally firm. Various opinions have been 

 expressed as to market conditions, but the 

 concensus of opinion is that the situation Is 

 much better than it was last year when the 

 tendency was in the direction of a lower range 

 of values and uncertainty as to the future. One 

 manufacturer stated that hardwood, with the 

 possible exception of oak and ash, is at least 

 <1 lower than he was selling the same grade 

 of stock for a yeai ago. Other dealers and 

 manufacturers are more optimistic. There is 

 a fair demand for maple flooring and lumber 

 for flooring, and prices of the manufactured 

 commodity are better than they were a year 

 ago. Ash is rather scarce and is especially 

 lirm. Basswood Is not so strong as it lias 

 been. There is a fair Inquiry for beech and 

 elm and the market Is steady. Dry stock has 

 been sold up closely and some manufacturers 

 are shipping green lumber. The output will be 

 about the same as that of last year. 



Indianapolis. 

 i pasl fortnight has witnessed no change 

 in the local hardwood lumber situation. The 

 week of May 8 was very stormy and distil 

 ble and Indianapolis was in the throes of the 

 storm king. However, much pleasanter weather 

 ailed during the week of May 15. This, 

 helped out business considerably. Plain white 

 and red oak still continue to be In the greatest 

 demand. Inquiries during the past two weeks 

 have been plentiful, while prices have been 

 steady. There has also been a firm demand for 

 walnut, the price of which has recently ad 

 vanced a little. It Is now worth from $05 to 

 $100. 



Chattanooga. 

 The demand for lumber In this city and sec- 

 tion continues very strong, and especially Is this 

 true with respect to plain and quartered oak. 

 There is also a strong demand for ash and high 

 gradt poplar and chestnut. There Is a marked 



Nashville. 



The lumber market continues steady although 

 haractcrlzed by Its former unusual activ- 

 ity. Business continues good and there are 

 plenty of foreign orders. The local trade con- 

 tinues with a rush on account of the building 

 boom. There Is a heavy demand for poplar. 

 and plain oak Is still scarce, with high prices 

 holding firm. There has been better water in 

 the river recently and a considerable amount 

 of timber has been brought to Nashville. The 

 dealers who are supplying lumber to contractors 

 have more than they can handle. While the 

 jn business Is not quite so brisk as it has 

 been, still It Is fair even If business has not 

 the same snap It has had recently. There is 

 nothing alarming In the situation, for there 

 could be a further falling off in the foreign 

 iii-mess and it would still be good. 



Memphis. 

 There Is a moderate run of new orders being 

 - d, but business In hardwood lumber is not 

 brisk, being smaller In volume than the trade 

 expected. There is a considerable amount of 

 lumber being shipped out on old bookings. There 

 is no sign "t wakening on the part of the trade. 

 stock generally being In pretty strong hands, but 

 no sales are being missed at current prices, 

 where there is an opportunity of placing stock. 

 Consumers appear to be taking their time about 

 buying, a statement which is quite as applicable 

 to the foreign trade as to .the domestic. Plain 

 till holds Its position as leader of the list 

 in point of strength as well as activity. There 

 is not much of this to be had and prices there- 

 on ate quite firm I y press moves readily in the 

 upper grades and there is a fair call for selects 

 and shops. Ash is good property in all dimen- 



i . stocks being only fairly plentiful, the 

 demand good and prices firm. High-grade poplar 

 : well, but the low grades are slow. Col 

 tonwood and gum are holding their own as to 

 price and some of Hie trade, owing to the strong 

 statistical position, anticipate some slight im- 

 provement In the former, it Is estimated on 

 conservative authority that producton of this 

 wood has been 50 per cent short of normal since 

 December 1, because of heavy rains. 



Heavy rains are reported over much of the 



