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

 Mill and Woodworking Machinery, on the 10th and 25th of each Month, by 



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Edgar H. Defebaugh. President 

 Edwin W. Meeker, Managing Editor 

 Hu Maxwell, Technical Editor 



Entire Seventh Floor Ellsworth Building 

 537 So. Dearborn Street. CHICAGO 

 Telephones: Harrison 8086-8087-8088 



Vol. XXXIX 



CHICAGO, FEBRUARY 10, 1915 



No. 8 



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Review and Outlook 



General Market Conditions 



LUMBERMEN GENERALLY, in expressing disappointment at 

 the lack of anticipated revival after the first of the year, are 

 overlooking the fact that only a little over a month has elapsed since 

 1915 came in and that during that period there have been numerous 

 circumstances which have had a natural tendency to hold up trade. 

 With the factory end the furniture shows had a very retarding influ- 

 ence, and inasmuch as quite a number of furniture manufacturers 

 were disappointed at the outcome this influence has continued to be 

 felt. However, too much stress has been laid on this disappointment 

 and too little emphasis given to the experiences of those manufac- 

 turers who (ioscd up some remarkably good orders for their lines, 

 which has resulted in their resuming manufacture on a practically 

 normal basis. It can be said with absolute truth that those cases 

 are not exceptions by any means, and any statement that shows this 

 year was not disappointing on the whole can be taken as based on real 

 facts. The trouble with the situation is that a good many have been 

 anticipating that an improvement in business would mean a return 

 to normal sales for them and that the other fellow would probably 

 have to stand the gafif of continued laxity in orders. As a matter 

 of fact the increase in activity among the factory trade has resulted in 

 the spreading out of orders over the entire trade, inasmuch as the 

 tendency to shop for lumber is still a prominent feature of the 

 buying market. As a consequence, while there has been an im- 

 provement it has been so spread out that no one has had a sufiicient 

 increase in business to justify the confident hope of marked aug- 

 menting of volume of trade, and quite a few lumbermen have become 

 rather discouraged, apparently not realizing that any improvement in 

 the situation must necessarily be very gradual. 



As a matter of fact the railroads have continued to put out 

 frequent inquiries for various classes of stock, and quotations are 

 in the main still unattractive to those who can afford to hold their 

 lumber for prices that represent real value. This condition has pre- 

 vailed in many other lines in the factory and yard trade and there 

 ■continues to be a considerable amount of cut price business placed. 



An accurate analysis of actual conditions and reasons is still 

 difBcult. Experiences are so diversified and business so widely dif- 

 ferent that any kind of a representative estimate is next to im- 

 possible. 



Any changes that have taken place in the demand for respective 

 hardwoods have retained them on the same comparative plane of 

 demand. Quartered oak is still in pretty fair shajie and .all box 

 lumber is moving in a satisfactory manner. Some mills in the North 

 and South have a great deal of lumber on hand, but it is a fact that 

 the curtailment which has been nation-wide has materially cut down 

 stocks at all mill points. The continued policy of buying for im- 



mediate use at the yards and factories has prevented any general 

 piling up of stocks at receiving ends. Tlie consequence is that 

 with a moderate resumption of business a great many lines will 

 be seriously broken, and a firmer price level will consequently come 

 into effect. 



The Cover Picture 



THE PICTURE WHICH ILLUSTRATES this number of Hard- 

 wood Record shows the Capitol at Washington under winter 

 conditions, but the central object, from the timber standpoint, is the 

 fine specimen of white elm in the foreground. This is the species 

 which supplies the bulk of the elm lumber which reaches the market* 

 of this country. Three other elms contribute to the lumber output, 

 but white elm, which is known also as gray elm, is the commonest 

 and of most importance. This tree grows throughout the whole 

 eastern half of the United States, and when at its best is one of the 

 largest hardwoods. 



The elm that grows under forest conditions is tall and the trunk is 

 usually free from limbs two-thirds of its length. Such a tree is quite 

 different in form from one that grows in the open, like that in the 

 illustration. Some of the finest shade trees of northern and eastern 

 states are white elms. The branches spread enormously, and yet rise 

 at sharp angles and shoot up to a great height. In that respect they 

 differ from the branching habits of southern live oaks whose limbs 

 extend horizontally or rise slightly. In horizontal extent of limbs the 

 live oak probably surpasses this elm, but it is much inferior when 

 both height and spread are considered. A centurj- ago Michaux, the 

 botanist, pronounced the white elm to be "the most magnificent 

 vegetable of the temperate zone," and few persons are inclined to 

 pronounce a different judgment. 



In the northeastern states, particularly in New Tork and New Eng- 

 land, planted elms, as well as those spared when the original for- 

 ests were cleared, have been growing in parks and along highways 

 during two hundred years. Trees of that age are still in good 

 health and are growing vigorously. Many have attained gigantic 

 proportions, with trunks from four to six feet in di.ameter, and 

 others are from seven to nine feet. Some of the branches are as 

 large as ordinary trees, and the extreme heights of such elms con- 

 siderably exceed one hundred feet. 



The elm which is featured in the picture is young. It was prob- 

 ably plante.l at about the clo.se of the Civil war. When two hun- 

 dred years have been added to its age, and growth has continued 

 steadily during that time, as doubtless will be the case, barring 

 accidents, it will be an object which will attract much more than 

 passing notice. 



The Capitol grounds have been planted with characteristic trees, 

 not only from American forests, but from many countries. They are 



