HARDWOOD RECORD 



49 



ftlaint to bo made of the sitnatiOD. Quartered 

 oak has been doing well of late, and some sales 

 of high-grade stock at exceptionally good prices 

 have been reported. Plain oak is also in good 

 demand, although thick stock is not moving so 

 well, relatively, as inch. Poplar is a big seller. 

 and manufacturers having a good supply of 

 poplar logs are working night and day in an 

 effort to get their stock ready for the market. 

 Low-grade chestnut is a good seller to box 

 factories, but this trade will taper off now 

 that more gum and cottonwood can be shipped 

 from the southern mills. 



ST. LOUIS 



St. Louis hardwood lumber dealers report 

 satisfactory conditions. The demand is good 

 and is about all that can be handled, consider- 

 ing the light supply of dry lumber and the 

 moderate supply of partially dry and green lum- 

 ber in the hands of the manufacturers. The 

 best demand is for plain oak In all grades. 

 Quartered oak is also showing up better. The 

 furniture factories are not buying as freely as 

 the sash and door factories, which have been 

 having a nice business since the early spring. 

 According to indications, there will be a moder- 

 ate advance on all items before long. St. Louis 

 dealers who handle cypress report an unusually 

 good run of business. Stocks are being sold out 

 quite rapidly and there has been an improvement 

 in prices. 



NEW ORLEANS 



Logging conditions in hardwood territory, as 

 well as the demand for lumber, have shown 

 marked improvement. There is a scarcity of dry 

 lumber and mills are finding it difficult to supply 

 mixed orders. Low grades are particularly scarce 

 and, there is a general upward trend in prices. 



Cleaning up for the present and speculation 

 for the future form the recent history of the 

 export trade. The receding of the high waters is 

 beginning to release a good many delayed ship- 

 ments, particularly from points which the inter- 

 luption of train service has rendered inaccessi- 

 ble, but traffic from the mills directly affected 

 has not yet had time to resume. However, the 

 situation is so far relieved as to strengthen 



THREE STATES LUMBER CO. 



Manufacturers of 



SOUTHERN HARDWOODS 



Cottonwood and Red Cum 



SPECIALTIES 



Main Office, Memphis, Tenn. 



IN STOCK THE FOLLOWING 



READY FOR SHIPMENT 



60,000 ft. 4/4 No. 3 Common Plain White Oak 

 35,000 ft. 4/4 Miscuts Plain White Oak 

 100,000 ft. 4/4 No. 4 Common or Mill Culls Oak 



34,000 ft. 4/4 No. 1 Common Poplar 

 60,000 ft. 4/4 No. 3 Common Poplar 



75,000 ft. 4/4 No. 2 Common and Sound Wormy 

 Chestnut, 



All the above is graded under the Hardwood Manu- 

 facturers' Association of United States rules. 



Standard 8' 6" Whitb Oak Cross Ties for quick 

 shipment. 



Write tor Prices 



Bluestone Land & Lumber Co. 



RIDGWAY, TA. 



activity in shipping, and to lead to a revival of 

 efforts for new business, which have lagged 

 considerably on account of the delay in filling 

 old orders. There is, however, very little dispo- 

 sition to contract on any large scale until the 

 future ocean rate situation is further developed, 

 and this question is almost at a standstill for 

 the present. The indications are that the de- 

 mands of the ocean lines will be much higher 

 than last year for contract business, and appar- 

 ently they do not consider themselves in a very 

 strong position to urge them just now, when 

 freight other than lumber is scarce, and they are 

 using every effort to secure that class of freight. 



MILWAUKEE 



The local hardwood lumber business is mov- 

 ing along briskly and wholesalers report that 

 they are meeting with a good trade. Good 

 weather has resulted In plenty of activity in 

 the building field and this has naturally re- 

 sulted in a good hardwood business. Stocks are 

 still light in most lines and prices have ad- 

 vanced as a consequence. Shipments of new 

 stock are not arriving as rapidly as they might, 

 and prices for the new cut are almost as high 

 as they are for dry stocks. Considerable busi- 

 ness is being done in green lumber for future 

 delivery. Wholesalers say that neither northern 

 nor southern mills have much unsold stock on 

 hand. It is said that many of the southern 

 mills are closed because of a log shortage, while 

 other plants are working overtime in an effort 

 to catch up with orders. Shipments of southern 

 slocks to this market are light, while consign- 

 ments from the northern mills are hardly equal 

 to requirements. 



Demand for interior finish is especially strong 

 at this time and plants in this line are running 

 full time. Maple is also wanted and all hard- 

 wood flooring plants are busy. Birch is in brisk 

 demand with the supply light as usual. Both 

 plain and quarter-sawed oak is selling well. Bass- 

 wood is moving along well with stocks in the 

 lower grades especially light. Ash is in good 

 demand from the wagon and carriage manufac- 

 *urers. Furniture concerns are buying lightly. 



OLASaOW 



Business in this market still continues quiet. 

 1'he London labor strike seems to be affecting 

 the whole country's trade. Recently, however, 

 a better feeling has become manifest, owing to 

 the attitude of some of the men in refusing to 

 leave work in sympathy with the London 

 strikers. 



Shipbuilding still continues good and the 

 demand from this source is expected to Improve 

 vtry soon as a large number of orders for new 

 contracts has recently been placed. Wagon- 

 builders are very busy and all the oak which is 

 or. the quay and coming forward will be brought 

 ui) at enhanced prices. Box-makers are fairly 

 v\ell employed. 



A large demand continues for all kinds of 

 American staves, and it is a significant fact that 

 not one lot of oak staves is in first hands at the 

 present time. Prices are advancing. 



Buyers do not seem to be anxious to contract 

 tor quartered oak boards. Prices on this stock 

 are very high. Virginia oak logs are in good 

 demand. Any southern logs arriving have had to 

 go into store, which is a usual feature with these 

 imports. The market for red gum is weak. 



Hickory logs are in good demand and higher 

 prices are being mentioned for lots to come for- 

 ward. The market is fairly well supplied with 

 ash logs at present and consignments should be 

 imported in very moderate compass. Shippers 

 are advised to be very careful in their consign- 

 ntents and if at all possible, to ship only against 

 firm contracts. 



In spite of all that has been said of floods on 

 the other side interfering with shipments of 



lumber, consignment lots continue to arrive in 

 this market. This has the effect of keeping 

 prices at a low level, whereas shippers might be 

 realizing higher prices than they have been for 

 a considerable time. It is diflicult to get buyers 

 here to believe that there is a shortage of lum- 

 ber in the States, when in every steamer arriv- 

 ing, parcels are sacrificed which ought to fetch 

 more money. That buyers get their requirements 

 cheaper from consigned parcels on the quay than 

 they would were regular contracts made will 

 prove to shippers that they are really doing an 

 injustice to themselves, and the sooner this state 

 of matters is rectified, the better for all con- 

 cerned. 



LIVERPOOL 



The particular interest here has been the 

 three vital sales held recently. To show the 

 low character of the stocks in Liverpool, it 

 may be interesting to point out that usually 

 each sale occupies a day's work and therefore 

 in the ordinary way, the sale would have occu- 

 pied three days. On this occasion the catalogs 

 were so small that the three bookers were able 

 to finish easily in one day. As all the leading 

 merchants had large purchases to execute to 

 meet the urgent demand of their clients in 

 England, and as rumor said there were orders 

 for over a million feet in Liverpool from buyers 

 on the American side, the situation can readily 

 be understood. For each succeeding lot there 

 was unprecedented competition, and log after 

 log was sold on a higher basis than the previous 

 sales. One buyer stated that he went into the 

 auction room with valuations at least a penny 

 a foot up as compared with the last sales and 

 even then did not buy half as much as he really 

 wanted. 



Round ash logs have been coming in but there 

 are early signs of worms in some of the logs 

 now on the way. This is disappointing as. if the 

 logs are going to come in with grubs, the mar- 

 ket will have a very hard time this back 

 end, and shippers should be very careful 

 in their selections. Round hickory is com- 

 manding high prices and exceptional figures 

 were bid for some parcels. Ash logs with a 

 good proportion of large logs, 14 feet and up. 

 are the best for shipment at the present time, 

 though the smaller second growth logs would 

 still find a ready market at good prices. It is 

 really no exaggeration at the moment to say 

 that shippers can hardly make a mistake in 

 shipping to this market. Every line of stock 

 is very bare and prices are still advancing. A 

 large order for prime white ash planks 2" and 

 3" has just been placed and shippers of this 

 class of goods could obtain good orders at good 

 prices. 



A big dispute has Just been settled at this 

 port by arbitrations, having regard to white ash 

 planks. The shipper contended that hard brown 

 ash was white ash under the contract. This 

 was not upheld by the umpire appointed to 

 deal with the maker and it may be interesting 

 to know that the custom of this port is thai. 

 five per cent of hard brown ash will pass in a 

 car as white ash. Some have stated that all 

 white ash cannot be obtained in America but 

 the ash wanted is imported, and high prices 

 are paid for the right kind. Walnut is very- 

 scarce, there being not a single prime log In 

 Liverpool. Some tremendous prices have been 

 paid during the past week for logs which, to 

 say the least, were only very moderate in qual- 

 ity. Birch and whitewood are also wanted badly 

 but in these two cases some shipments have 

 arrived to relieve the situation to a small ex- 

 tent. Quartered oak has arrived in larger quan- 

 tities and has found a ready sale. Some good 

 logs of round oak have landed and were very 

 quickly snapped up. Wagon oak specifications 

 also continue to be in demand and prices are 

 still advancing. 



