36 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



stocks received. Office forces are reduced and 

 an atmosphere of listlessness prevails. Never- 

 tiieless, a fair amount of business is reported 

 in tlie liardwood trade. The offerings are more 

 liberal, according to some reports, but they are 

 mostly common stock, the better grades be- 

 ing none too plentiful and the mills being able 

 to dispose of their output readily enough. 

 Here and there an expression is heard that 

 the trend of values is lower, but inquiry if 

 any actual or appreciable decline has taken 

 place is invariably followed by a negative re- 

 ply. Hardwoods generally are in satisfactory 

 shape, and the mills are doing all they can 

 to turn out lumber. Poplar is lower than it 

 was some months ago. the demand having let 

 tip somewhat, while the production increased 

 rather than diminished. The southern mills in 

 particular arc enabled by the high water to 

 run to the limit of their capacity, having 

 gotten in a plentiful supply of logs. There are 

 some indications at the present time, however, 

 that the output of mountain poplar will be 

 curtailed because of the heavy rains which 

 have made the roads almost impassable. The 

 forwardings abroad are fairly large, but actual 

 congestion is being avoided. Such woods as 

 walnut, chestnut, ash and others are in good 

 shape, the demand being quite large and the 

 offerings hardly in excess of the trade re- 

 quirements. 



Pittsburg. 



nigh gradr Inirdwuods an- in good demand. 

 In some sources they are reported as very scarce. 

 Local wholesalers have been scouring the mar- 

 ket pretty thorouRhly the past week for good 

 stocks of hickory, ash and maple with but smifU 

 results. The firuis which usually have these 

 stocks on hand lire sold under contract away 

 ahead and can give present buyers little assur 

 ance of any relief before October. The building 

 situation has improved this month, as better 

 weather has enabled the contractors to go ahead 

 with projects that required fine hardwood for 

 finish. This, with the steady demand from car- 

 riage and wagon people and the orders from 

 Implement factories, has stimulated the trade in 

 good hardwoods (o cpiite an extent. 



The market for the medium grades of hard- 

 wood is a little draggy. This is expected, con- 

 sidering the fact that it is the height of the 

 vacation season and that half the dealers are 

 away. The local yard trade is fair. Cars are 

 plentiful, according to most reports, and at the 

 mills lumber is being pushed out as rapidly as 

 it can be dried. Few of the mills are slowing 

 down any for the hot months and most of them 

 have more business than they can well take care 

 of. There is a strong call for ties and bridge 



timbers. 



Buffalo. 



The midsummer lull has made its appear- 

 ance in lumber and trade is quiet. There is 

 little complaint from any c»ie, as the demand 

 is good enough to keep all the yards busy, 

 that is, if they are stocking up as much as 

 they should be at this time of the year. 



Some hardwood dealers say that this will 

 be the best July they ever had. and though 

 all will not agree to this some of the others 

 are finding that the demand is better than 

 it was early in the month. There is a good 

 increase in stock everywhere and that is the 

 main concern at present, as it always should 

 be in midsummer, when the retailer and con- 

 sumer do not care to buy very liberally. There 

 is no doubt of a large general consumption 

 of lumber. 



There is rather a surplus supply of plain 

 oak, but nobody minds it much, for though 

 prices will be easy for awhile, it is impossi- 

 ble to get too much of it. The southwestern 

 oak mills are so indifferent to the change of 

 situation that they are asking stiff prices for 

 their plain oak. The situation will, of course. 



throw the mills lo quartering more oak so it 

 will right itself. 



There is all of the former scarcity of ash. 

 poplar and chestnut, but this is not keeping 

 the dealers from getting quite good lots here 

 and there of all these woods. They will not 

 be able to keep full assortments of them in 

 yard an,v longer. Pi'ices are strong except 

 in ca.se of low-grade and wormy chestnut, 

 which is not so scarce as the higher grades. 



Cypress, which a number of hardwood deal- 

 ers handle along with their general stock, is 

 much more plentiful than it was and prices 

 are not maintained very well, though the 

 complaint is mainly that the mills held their 

 prices up too high for the jobber to get much 

 out of it. The same high mill prices prevail 

 with basswood and elm. though some is kept 

 in stock. 



Saginaw Valley. 



It is about time now to begin to make con- 

 tracts for stocks, and manufacturers take an 

 optimistic view of the situation and the pros- 

 pects for the fall and winter. It may not be 

 quite as brisk as it has been during the last 

 two years, but the men in the industry can 

 see nothing in the future that warrants the 

 idea that there is going to be any marked 

 stagnation. The trade is healthy if a little 

 quiet just now in some lines, but maple floor- 

 ing manufacturers say the trade is seasonable 

 and as the greater number of the plants are 

 operating day and night the outlook for a 

 healthy fall and winter business is fairly good. 



There is not an excessive stock in manu- 

 facturers hands at the present time. Maple 

 is moving steadily, taking into account the 

 time of year, and there is a fair market for 

 basswood, ash and beech, the latter having 

 advanced since early in the spring. The mar- 

 ket is now somewhat dull, as is usually the 

 case in midsummer, but manufacturers are 

 going right along in the expectation of a good 

 demand in the fall and winter. 



Indianapolis. 



Indiana hardwood dealers and manufactur- 

 ers are particularly fortunate in being able 

 to get stock promptly. While hardwoods are 

 coming in promptly, other lumber dealers find 

 it difflcult to get supplies, especially from the 

 Northwest. 



Hardwoods are coming in from the South 

 in satisfactory volume and there has been no 

 advance in prices. Quartered oak continues 

 scarce; other grades are fairly plentiful. Much 

 interest is being manifested in the coming 

 meeting of hardwood men. railroad officials 

 and the State Railroad Commission to discuss 

 the matter of adjusting hardwood freight 

 rates. 



Bristol, Va.-Tenn. 



Notwithslanding the dullness of the lumber 

 market during the past few weeks, the mills 

 in this section will make a surprisingly good 

 showing for July, and business is holding up 

 well. There has been no reduction in the out- 

 put of the mills and the effect of the falling 

 oft in demand is that the yards are now well 

 stocked. 



The country mills have been getting in good 

 time this summer and as the roads are now 

 in a passable condition, much stock is being 

 hauled to the railroads and is now ready for 

 shipment. The largest part of this, however, 

 is already sold. Poplar leads, and oak is but 

 a little less active. Prices remain firm. 



The export market, according to local ex- 

 porters, is in little better condition than the 

 domestic market, though there has been a 

 slight falling off in the volume of export ship- 

 ments. 



The lumbermen all entertain a roseate view 

 of the future and the concensus of opinion is 

 that the business will pick up and resume its 

 normal proportions within the next few weeks. 



Cincinnati. 



There is no imrticular evidence of midsummer 

 (hillness In the local hardwood situaiion. While 

 the demand is not as brisk as it was several 

 weeks ago. there is still a fair volume of business 

 being transacted. The hot weather continues, 

 but it seems to have a slight strengthening effect 

 on the market. As usual poplar is selling as the 

 headlluer in this market and its strongest com- 

 petitor is oak. Itoth quartered and plain white 

 are in excellent demand. Both these grades 

 have shown a slight improvement in demand dur- 

 ing the last two weeks, and prices are steady. 

 Chestnut has picked \ip remarkably during the 

 last fortnight, but not enough to cause dealers 

 to increase the price. Furniture dealers con- 

 tinue to hesitate in jnirchHsing hardwoods, 

 which is probably due to the fact that they are 

 still taking stock. The demand for cherry, ma 

 pie and cypress continues satisfactory and the 

 same may be said of hickory and mahogany. The 

 amount of logs on hand will keep the mills going 

 for some time to come. Most of the lumber 

 being cut now is kept in stock, awaiting the 

 fall traile, which is expected to start the latter 

 part of August. 



Chattanooga. 



There is a splendid demand for all grades 

 of lumber in this section. A few complaints 

 are heard concerning demurrage matters but 

 not a great deal of trouble is being experienced 

 in getting cars. 



The James skyscraper, of twelve stories, the 

 Hotel Patten, of the same height, and other 

 large buildings have brought about an active 

 demand for lumber. 



Poplar, ash and oak seem to be the strong- 

 est woods just now. Both plain and quartered 

 oak are in great demand. All the logs which 

 the river mills can hope to receive until De- 

 cember are now in hand, as there will prob- 

 ably be no more logging tides before that 

 time. During the first six months of 1907 

 about 8,000,000 feet of lumber were received 

 by the river mills, this being a somewhat 

 larger amount than usual. 



The lumber concerns of this city and sec- 

 tion have done a big business so far this year. 

 It is estimated that they have handled about 

 $5,000,000 worth of lumber. During 1906 about 

 $9,000,000 worth of lumber was handled in the 

 same section, and the immense gain as repre- 

 sented by the first half of this year is pleas- 

 ing to lumber dealers. 



St. Ijouis. 



The hardwood market cannot be called dull, 

 although in a way there is very little "doing" 

 just now. Yard operators are taking time to 

 assort and complete their stocks in readiness for 

 the prospective demand, and reports from mill- 

 ing districts are encouraging, since the weather 

 has permitted the drying out of wnods and raan- 

 nfacturers are once more getting in shape. Prn- 

 duction should go forward rapidly during the 

 next few weeks. Prices are holding firm from 

 the fact that good car supply of late has facili- 

 tated the shipping out of all dry stocks at mill 

 inu points, leaving nothing on hand unsold, and 

 it is rrasoned that undoubtedly before the next 

 ( ut Is ready to market another shortage and 

 more bad weather will be forthcoming. Buyers 

 who persist in waiting until late hefore order- 

 ing are deemed unwise and will pi'obably be 

 disappointed in many instances. Sap gum is 

 down a little, but is selling readily ; quartered 

 oak is the strongest seller, with poplar, cotton- 

 wood, hickory and ash very firm. 



Nashville. 



The local market continues in a most satis- 

 factory condition, with a slight upward tend- 

 ency in prices. The local yards have a pretly 

 fair stock of lumber on hand with the excep- 

 tion of poplar, which is very short ; in fact, 

 most of them are almost completely denuded of 



