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floMwoMRocoM 



Copyright, The Uardwood Company, 1015 



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



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



THE HARDWOOD COMPANY 



Edgar H. Defebaugh, President 

 Edwin W. Meelier. Managing Editor 

 Hu Maxwell, Technical Editor 



Entire Seventh Floor Ellsworth Building 

 537 So. Dearborn Street, CHICAGO 

 Telephones: Harrison 8086-8087-8088 



BOTANIC, 



Vol. XXXIX 



CHICAGO, APRIL 10, 1915. 



No. 12 



^CTOKBia;^'!i'^iSK >TO -^ttW>^i^i)im!;tia^ 



General Market Conditions 



THE PAST \VEP:K has DEVELOPED features all over the 

 country which cannot but be eonsiilereil as indicating a strengtli- 

 «niiig optimism. These developments are not confined to lumbering 

 and allied trades, but are seen in connection with other important 

 industries, chief of which is the increase in forces employed by steel 

 plants in different jtarts of the steel i)roducing sections. These re- 

 ports have been insistent for some time past, but at no time have 

 they been so general as during the past two weeks, ami this in spite 

 of the fact that the railroads are still purchasing very modestly. 



Of course no one can reasonably expect real business activity 



until the close of the present uj)heaval abroad, b>it business men in 



this country can justifiably exjiect a much nearer approach to normal 



times, and the increasing confidence with which big business men 



view the situation shows that those times are rapidly approaching. 



The development of increased trade in steel and other proilucts 



would not necessarily, of course, mean an inmiediate improvement in 



the lumVier business, but it surely does inrlicate that the business 



situation of the country as a whole is on the mend. Most important 



of all, it shows that the captains of industry, so-called, as governing 



the affairs of the steel business, have greater confidence in the 



situation, and no one will deny that confidence is all that is needed. 



There is still a good deal to be desired as far as the consumption 



of lumber is concerned, but now tlmt the spring months are actually 



here it can reasonably be expected that we are going to get more 



action, especially in the building lines, which continue to show in- 



•creases in extent in practically all important cities of the country. 



As far as the hardwood trade is concerned there has been very 



little in the way of new developments to talk about in the last couple 



of weeks, with the exception of the number of orders of considerable 



size, which have continued to increase, and that there really seems 



to be a growing appreciation on the part of both producers and 



buyers of the fact that lumber is worth a certain amount of money 



and should be sold at a figure which will at least bring back the 



actual value of the stock. In other words, the scale of prices is very 



slowly but at the same time surely getting to a jioint where it shows 



a better level. There is an increasing nundjer of companies which are 



showing confidence in the situation by hohling their stock for better 



prices. The fact that this is a countrywide policy certainly should 



have significance. 



A measure of hope is seen in the Lloyd's transactions involving 

 the date of the closing of the war, and these shrewd insurance people 

 ■surely should have enough inside information to be able to form a 

 moderately comprehensive and authoritative idea as to when the 

 hostilities should cease. The odds they are offering, while not to be 



taken as official in any sense of the word, and not to be banked on 

 unduly, can be given credence to a measure at least. In fact, they 

 are being given credence in some quarters, with the result that some 

 hardwood men are making lumber in anticipation of a tremendous 

 demand as soon as the war comes to an end. 



As far as the different stocks are concerned, they continue on about 

 the same basis as they have been selling for some time past, with very 

 little change in demand. 



The vehicle, implement and Ijox trades ."eem to be in the lead as 

 far as purchases of lumber are concerned, with the continued policy 

 on the part of furniture, cabinet an<l woodworkers in different con- 

 suming states to buy to meet actual requirements. 



Cover Picture 



AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY of the latest patterns and stumpy 

 fields do not go well together. Stumps and tillage were not 

 necessarily antagonistic in the days when the farmer scratched his 

 ground with a shovol-plow, harrowed it with a thorn brush, planted 

 it with hand and hoe, worked it (if in corn) three times during the 

 early summer, and "laid it by." At any rat<?, most of the pioneers 

 east of the Mississippi river, and a considerable numlior west of 

 the Father of Waters, did their farming in that way iluring the long 

 perioil required for the stumps to disappear by decay from tracts 

 where i)rimeval forests once stood. The most i>reteutious agri- 

 cultural implements in use at that time were sickles, scythes, flails, 

 hoes, hand rakes, and plows. Even the "groundhog" — the proto- 

 type of the modern thrasher — was just making its first appearance. 

 Today the farmers use mowers, reapers, tedders, root diggers, hay 

 haulers, gang plows, and any other machines to save time and elbow 

 grease. These machines do jioorly in negotiating stumpy laud, and 

 are unprofitable unless the ground is open and clear of obstacles. 



The cover jiicture illustrating this issue of Hakdwood Rfxcud 

 shows a jiiece of land in a northern state, in process of transforma- 

 tion from forest to farm. The lumberman has come and gone. He 

 took all the timber the sawmill wanted, and left the ground shoulder 

 deep with trash. That is not an inviting situation for the farmer, 

 because the amount of work required to put such land in shape for the 

 mowing machine or the cultivator is so great that no lazy man will 

 tackle it. During the first stages of the operation the most powerful 

 agent is fire. That usually bares the ground, except the larger logs 

 and the stumps. The clearing of logs is not so serious; but the 

 stump proposition is another matter. To leave them until decay 

 does the clearing, involves a delay of many years; to grub them out 

 may cost as much as the land is worth; to burn them out requirei 

 much labor and lots of time; and to pull them frou\ the ground calls 

 for powerful machines. 



