HARDWOOD RECORD 



33 



boards to be had, while there is a decided 

 shortage in the lower grades, which the box 

 people are taking just as fast as they are able 

 to locate available stock. There is perhaps no 

 lumber where the production has been so far 

 below the normal during the past year as cot- 

 tonwood and at the same time there has been 

 such pronounced activity in the box trade that 

 manufacturers of boxes have taken everything 

 in sight. They are now refusing to book orders 

 for shipment of box shooks until after the new 

 year has opened and they are not very anxious 

 for business until sixty days or more have 

 elapsed. Trices all along the cottonwood line 

 are higher now than they have been at any time 

 this season. Gum is selling at a very satis 

 factory rate, practically everything being taken 

 as soon as it is dry enough for shipment at 

 prices which are considered satisfactory by the 

 trade. The lower grades, however, are prob- 

 ably more active than the higher. Plain oak is 

 a good seller, while the offerings are very light 

 for this time of the year. Trices are high, right 

 up to the top notch of the season. There is no 

 particular improvement reported in the demand 

 for quarter-sawn red oak. but there is some bet- 

 ter call for quartered white oak. The movement 

 in quartered oak, however, is in rather striking 

 contrast with that in plain oak and some other 

 lumber offered for sale here. Some very fancy 

 prices are being paid, however, for special 

 dimensions in quartered white oak. The poplar 

 situation shows no special change. There is 

 very little business in this for the excellent rea- 

 son that there is not much for sale. 



New Orleans. 

 Buyers for the foreign manufacturers have be- 

 gun operations in this market and are finding it 

 difficult to secure dry stocks. The domestic de- 

 mand, especially for high-grade white oak, has 

 put the prices where the English buyers cannot 

 touch them and it looks as if they will either 

 have to meet the prices or go without. Manu- 

 facturers believe that prices generally will ad- 

 vance slowly. Because of the trouble the for- 

 eign buyers are having in securing stock for 

 shipment, the exports are only fair and there 

 are no indications of an early change. The 

 mills are still busy cutting stocks, but these are' 

 not as large as they ought to be. Prices are 

 good. 



Louisville. 



It is almost impossible to have conditions just 

 right from every man's viewpoint. At present 

 the weather is helping the river mill men and 

 making those that log by land feel blue. The 

 recent rains, which have been unusually heavy 

 for this time of year, have made "tides" for the 

 river mill men to bring out logs, and made 

 mud for the others. Preceding the rains there 

 was some nice weather which gladdened the 

 hearts of the land operators but did not 

 shine up so well for the river mills that had 

 "cut out" and were tied up waiting for logs. 



The demand for hardwoods is active. Pop- 

 lar and plain oak are running a race for first 

 place, with the others following closely. Buyers 

 of poplar are beginning to try working the 

 "tides" to bear the poplar market and induce 

 more free selling, but whether they will gain 

 a point by this influence or not remains to be 

 seen. There is one fact sure, however, and 

 that is that the country mill men will not bear 

 the market with the roads in their present 

 condition. 



POPLAR 



Rough and Dressed 



SOUTHERN HARDWOODS 



M. A. HAYWARD 



1021 Saving and Trust Bldg., Columbus, O. 



Minneapolis. 



This is the season when the furniture fac- 

 tories and other concerns operating in hard 

 woods through the winter are laying in their 

 principal supplies. The local demand is not 

 heavy, but then' are rumors of sunn' good sized 

 salts Dealers who have anything to offer in 

 the eastern market reporl a stronger price 

 situation there and say that some very larg' 

 buyers are getting quotations and placing or- 

 ders. Country trade is quiet and confined al- 

 most entirely to small factories. Wagon stock 

 in oak and maple is selling fairly well, but little 

 yard stock is called for. The railroad trade is 

 active. Some of the big car shops in the north 

 are waiting anxiously for oak lumber from 

 southern mills, which cannot be delivered for 

 some time to come on account of inability to 

 get cars for it. 



Oak as usual is the scarcest thing in the 

 market. Ash, which was out of the market 

 during the summer, is fairly easy now, as con- 

 siderable summer sawed stock is now being 

 offered, but prices are holding strong. Bass 

 wood is still active and stiff in price. Culls 

 are high and will remain so. The low r er grades 

 of all hardwoods are high and scarce. Birch in 

 tire upper grades is still rather weak, but is 

 moving in considerable quantity. 



Toledo. 



In oak. wagon or heavy stuff is scarce. Bass- 

 wood, poplar, chestnut, maple, elm and syca- 

 more stocks are also light. While there have 

 been no recent advances in the market quota- 

 tions on these woods, an advance on all of them 

 is looked for after the first of the year. Dimen- 

 sion oak is a couple of dollars higher in price 

 than it was the first of the month, and some 

 sales have recently been made at .$4 over the 

 price of two weeks ago. In chestnut, local mill- 

 ing and retail concerns have been buying mostly 

 sound wormy stock, wdrich is largely used for 

 sheathing purposes. Maple is very scarce and 

 there is very little wdiite ash found among the 

 yards. Prices are stiff for good stock. 



Trade in birch is light. There seems to be 

 plenty of mahogany in stock, with no recent 

 changes in price, the demand being fair only. 



The local box factories seem to be well sup- 

 plied with stock in most lines and are busy. 

 The local door, sash and blind factories, which 

 use hardwood for finish, and the local furniture 

 factories are running full blast, having all the 

 orders they can till from now until after the 

 first of the year. There is a big demand for 

 white oak ties at increasing prices. Railroad 

 construction, especially electric lines, is 

 strengthening the demand. 



Country business among most of the yards 

 dealing in hardwoods is light. 



Liverpool. 



Three mahogany sales have been held recently 

 and large quantities of stock have been disposed 

 of. Prices, considering the large quantities 

 offered, were firm, but there seemed to be a 

 tendency on the part of some buyers to pro- 

 vide only for present requirements. This means 

 that prices will ea ;c before many months. Large 

 quantities of mahogany are now being received, 

 this being the season when the import from the 

 west coast of Africa is in full swing. The 

 gi neral demand for mahogany is far from good, 

 and most of the merchants who deal princi- 

 pally in this wood are complaining. 



American hardwoods are being imported only 

 in very moderate quantities, which is proper. 

 We should like, however, to see American ship- 

 pers sending the goods they have on contract. 

 A number of merchants here complain because 

 the ash plank contracts are not being deliv- 

 ered, and not without reason. In one case a 

 merchant was offered ash planks by an Ameri- 

 can shipper through a Liverpool broker which 

 he offered in turn to a customer here and se- 

 cured an order for five cars. The contract be- 

 tween the merchant and the broker was duly 



signed and sealed with the words "to be deln 

 ered within two months." Thai is ten months 

 ago, and no planks have arrived, the merchant 



is still without his profit, and what is worse 



his oust r refuses to do any further bus] 



loss with him until they are delivered. The 

 only reply from the shipper is that he lias had 

 a fire or flood, or sonic absurd excuse like thai ; 

 if he had replied that prices had risen since 

 he made the contract, it would more nearly 

 have approached the truth. 



Alfred Dobell & Co. report arrivals of round 

 southern oak. moderate and prices firm; Balti- 

 more waney logs of strictly prime quality are 



wanted and would command g 1 prices; wagon 



planks in oak have arrived moderately and 

 mainly under contract, consequently have gone 

 direct into consumption ; prices firm ; oak coffin 

 planks of prime quality are in request, but 

 inferior shipments will not sell readily. The 

 import of walnut logs has been limited; sound 

 logs in fair sizes are in demand and command 

 ing good prices ; prices of planks and bi 

 continue firm. Whitewood logs have not arrived 

 very rapidly, but the stock is still heavy and 

 prices are suffering in consequence ; only the 

 best description of shipments both as to size 

 and quality can be recommended ; prime planks 

 and hoards are in request, but inferior grades 

 a re sufficiently stocked and moving slowly. 

 Imports of ash and hickory logs, as is usual 

 at this season, have been light, but the ship- 

 ping season is about to begin ; the latter is in 

 fair demand, but the market for ash is suffering 

 from oversupply of inferior stock during the 

 summer. The stave situation lias improved 

 a little and better prices are obtainable for 

 some items. The mahogany market is brisk, 

 sonic varieties meeting with a very strong 

 demand, full prices being realized for ordinary 

 wood, while figured logs bring extreme prices. 

 Prime wood in good sizes and sound may be 

 shipped with impunity. 



London. 



The slight improvement in trade here noted 

 recently has not been maintained. The higher 

 prices being asked do not tempt buyers to 

 replenish their stocks, not that they do not 

 believe in the advancing prices, but simply that 

 the state of trade does not warrant them pay- 

 ing increased prices for goods which they cannot 

 sell at higher figures. Demand for all kinds 

 of lumber is quiet, and it really seems that by 

 way of a general improvement in trade, what 

 is wished for but not expected, a decline in 

 prices would help matters all round. 



Plain oak is in fair demand, and arrivals are 

 not too plentiful. Three and four inch planks 

 in export quality are wanted, and good prices 

 are being paid for parcels on the quay. 



Prime whitewood dressed stocks are scarce 

 and buyers are grudgingly paying the advances 

 asked. 



Planks are wanted, but as the consumption 

 at any time is not great, these should only he 

 shipped under firm centralis. Culls are in very 

 good demand, and for this low grade high prices 

 are being paid. 



Satin walnut prime boards are not in great 

 request, the call being mostly for No. i com 

 mon. Walnut prime logs are still in good 

 demand, and high prices are paid for good logs 

 fit for veneer purposes. Planks are slow of sale. 

 the demand being mostly for cull and medium 

 grade boards, which realize full prices, but it 

 Is difficult to give buyers any satisfaction by 

 shipping this stock under contract, bettei prlcee 

 being obtained when parcels can be Inspected on 

 arrival. Ash planks are in verj g I demand. 



Hickory logs are wanted, and although there 

 is 'not a large demand in London, buyers are 

 meeting shippers' ideas of prii 



In mahogany the arrivals are not heavy lint 

 prices are well maintained, and any logs suit 

 able for the American market are eagerly bought 

 by the agents, both here and in Liverpool, for 

 shipment. 



