HARDWOOD RECORD 



39 



Hardwood Record Mail 'Bag 



Terms of Sale 



A good many lumber manufacturers are 

 findirg it imperative to shorten the time which 

 has previously been allowed on lumber sales, 

 and also in some instances to decrease the rate 

 on cash discounts. As an example of this 

 trend the following letter has been sent out to 

 its customers by the Kneeland-Bigelow Com- 

 pany of Bay City, Mich. : 



Bai City, Mich., May 24, 1910.— To the 

 Trade : We wish to advise that from and after 

 this date our terra.s of sale on all shipments of 

 hardwood and hemlock lumber and lath will he 

 as follows : 



Freights, net cash. 



Balance, IVd rer cent in fifteen days, or sixty- 

 day note, Irom date of invoice. 



Our reasons for adopting these terms, which 

 we appreciate are not quite as liberal as those 

 we have heen giving heretofore, are that prac- 

 tically all of our expenditures are cash, on 

 which we can obtain no discount whatsoever. 

 We. therefore, feel we cannot allow a greater 

 discount than 1% per cent nor a longer time for 

 payment than sixty days. 



Keeling sure you will understand the circum- 

 stances and acquiesce in these terms, we are, 

 yours very frnlj, 



The Kneeland-Bigelow Company. 



Undeniably under present conditions both 

 the length of time on running accounts and 

 the discount allowed for cash payments has 

 been overliberal in the lumber trade. While 

 the average himberman has invoiced his stock, 

 allowing cash discount in ten or fifteen days, 

 many buyers have taken from thirty to sixty 

 days and then discounted. Where sixty-day 

 time has been allowed in a good many cases 

 the buyer has taken from ninety days to four 

 months. A good many organized efforts have 

 been made to eorrect this apparent evil, and it 

 is commendable in the Kneeland-Bigelow Com- 

 pany to take the stand it has single-handed. — 

 Editor. 



statement that is not at all warranted by the 

 facts. — Editor. 



Eucalyptus Promotion 



Boston, Mass., May 20. — Editor Hardwood 

 Kecokd : It occurs to us that you possibly may 

 be in a position to give us some information re- 

 garding the propositions which are being offered 

 for the promotion of the growth of eucalyptus 

 trees in California. Some of our friends have 

 l)een approached regarding same, and if you can 

 give us any information as to its being feasible 

 and if it is possible for the timber to be grown 

 and developed in the manner which they claim. — 

 Lawrence & Wiggin. 



The Recced expressed its opinion fully on 

 the subject of eucalyptus promotion enter- 

 prises in its jssnc of December 10 last. It 

 regards eucalyptus growing by the individual 

 in isolated and exceptional cases of some pos- 

 sible commercial profit, but it can see no 

 chance for investors in the general run of such 

 enterprises. 



There are hundreds of reforestry proposi- 

 tions that promise better results in regions 

 where irrigation is not a necessity. Again, 

 the value of eucalyptus is much overestimated 

 by the wily promoters of these games. Circu- 

 lars attempting to induce sales of stock esti- 

 mate the value of the wood at a hundred dol- 

 lars a thousand feet and upwards, which is a 



Appreciates Philadelphia Exploitation 



I'lin.ADELriiiA. I'A., May 27. — Editor Hard- 

 wood Kecord : We are in receipt of Hardwood 

 Record of May 20 with the special article on 

 the Philadelphia trade. This is very nicely got- 

 ten up and with credit to your journal. It cer- 

 tainly will be appreciated by the traders and 

 certainly is l)y us. — Wistar, Underbill & Co. 



Wants Information About Box Elder 



Washington, D. C, May 25. — Editor Hard- 

 wood Record : Can you give me any informa- 

 tion regarding box elder for the manufacture of 

 furniture, including the preferred methods of 

 handling the species in the kiln? If you can 

 refer me to firms who have used or experimented 

 with this method, I would appreciate it very 

 much. — O. F. Swan, Acting in Charge of Prod- 

 ucts, U. S. Forest Service. 



The use of box elder in furniture manufac- 

 ture is extremely limited and its physical qual- 

 ity renders it adaptable only to the manufac- 

 ture of cheap lines. It is also used to a lim- 

 ited extent in making woodenware, interior 

 finish and wood pulp. 



If any Record readers have further and 

 more specific information relative to the use 

 of this wood, it would be a favor to the 

 Record to have them communicate with it. — 

 Editor. 



Hardwood Parquetry Strips vs. Tongued 

 and Grooved Flooring 



The Record is in receipt of the following 

 interesting letter from W. J. Eckman, vice- 

 president of the M. B. Farrin Lumber Com- 

 pany of Cincinnati. The M. B. Farrin Lum- 

 ber Company is one of the foremost producers 

 of hardwood flooring in the United States 

 and the authoritative information contained 

 in Mr. Eckman 's letter, the expert of the 

 companj-, is well worth perusal. 



Cincinnati, May 31. — Editor Hardwood Rec- 

 ord : The controversy that has arisen and as 

 published in your paper relative to the merits 

 of parquetry strips and the regular tongued and 

 grooved fiooring is of interest to many of the 

 manufacturers. 



The increased demand for tongued and grooved 

 stoclt spealis well for the progressive rather than 

 the retrogressive spirit that the intelligent users 

 of hardwood flooring display. The contrast is 

 almost equal to that between the old wooden 

 shoe and hand-sewed, up-to-date footwear. 



The tongue and groove was only one of the 

 advanced ideas, and later came the end-matched 

 condition. They form tight joints and make the 

 surface almost a unit. 



It is quite true that the professional floor 

 layer may prefer to lay the parquetry strips, for 

 he has an opportunity to lay it with less co^^t 

 to himself and as much as four to six strips can 

 be laid at a time. In most cases it is improp- 

 erly laid. 



Parquetry strips properly laid should be nailed 

 on both edges and both ends to hold securely. 

 The constant springing of the fiooring then only 

 tends to work the nails loose, which are driven 

 straight, and loosens the putty. It does not 

 take long for this condition to exist, and the 

 result is that the flooring, which Is punctured 

 like a sieve, has the resemblance of a bad case 

 of smallpox. From a floor-layer's point of view 

 this may be a good fault, for It furnishps him 



additional work in the refinishiug and he can 

 then find it necessary to reset the nailing. This 

 time it is very likely they will be driven clean 

 through the strip. 



There should be no better argument of the 

 advantages of the tongued and grooved stock 

 over the parquetry than from a comparison of 

 the increased demand. In the past year the 

 demand has increased over one hundred per cent 

 in the item of % tongued and grooved flooring. 

 While on the other hand the demand for par- 

 quetry strips has lessened. 



What popularized the parquetry strips was 

 the possibility of making varied designs in a 

 wood mosaic floor, this being more easily accom- 

 plislied with the parquetry strips than with the 

 tongued and grooved stock. 



Time has shown that the more practical floor 

 is the one of the simplest patterns, such as Is 

 easily made with tongued and grooved stock. 

 The M. B. Farrin Lcmeer CoMrANY, 



W. J. Eckman. Vice-President. 



Next National Hardwood Liunber Associa- 

 tion Annual 



The following circular letter has been sent 

 out by J. L. Scheve, chairman of the Enter- 

 tainment Committee of the St. Louis Lumber- 

 men's Club, which is attempting to secure the 

 1911 annual meeting of the National Hard- 

 wood Lumber Association: 



St. Lodis, Mo., May 2.S, 1910. — Dear Sir: The 

 undersigned committee have the work in charge 

 to secure the National Hardwood Lumber Asso- 

 ciation convention for St. Louis in 1911. We 

 suppose that you undoubtedly will attend the 

 meeting on June 9 and 10 at Louisville, and will 

 ask you to co-operate with us in securing the 

 meeting in 1911. Our claims for the meeting 

 are based on having twenty-nine members of the 

 association in St. Louis, with about twenty-five 

 more that are eligible that are not members, and 

 it is our earnest desire to bring the meeting here 

 and endeavor to increase our membership here. 

 Our worthy secretary, Mr. Fish, will gladly 

 verify the statement that the inspection bureau 

 of the association inspects more lumlrer here 

 than in any other market. There are a number 

 of other reasons why the 1011 convention should 

 be held here that we will set forth at the time 

 of the Louisville meeting. The committee have 

 raised the necessary funds to entertain the con- 

 vention properly and our arrangements are com- 

 plete In every detail : therefore, we earnestly 

 solicit your co-operation in securing the conven- 

 tion for St. Louis. 



Thanking you for your consideration and hop- 

 ing to hear from you favorably, we are. yours 

 respectfully, ,T. L. Scheve, Chairman. 



St. Louis has been a candidate for enter- 

 taining the National Hardwood Lumber Asso- 

 ciation for the past three years and it is now 

 attempting to put up such a strong fight for 

 the next convention as to land it. — Editor. 



In the Market for Black Walnut 

 Boston, Mass., May 24. — Editor Hardwood 

 Record : We have a Job on hand that will re- 

 quire some very long quarter-inch and one-inch 

 black w'alnut, and if you can furnish us with 

 the address of any mill or manufacturer who 

 could supply us with a quantity of this running 

 up to 22 feet long, we would appreciate the In- 

 formation. — Company. 



The writer of the above letter is the pur- 

 chasing agent of a foremost manufacturing 

 concern, and has been supplied with a list of 

 the best known walnut producers in the coun- 

 try. Anyone else desiring to figure with this 

 company on the walnut wanted can have the 

 name by addressing this office. — Editor. 



