ties it can be used for all but the heaviest construction. When 

 properly treated with preservatives, it is a valuable cross-tie 

 and pole wood. 



According to Forest Service Bulletin 115, the best stands of 

 Western hemlock are found in the coast region and through 

 the Cascade Mountains. The bulletin further gives the results 

 of tests by which the mechanical properties of Western hem- 

 lock have been determined, and tells of the different uses to 

 which the wood is adapted. 



Because of the extent to which private agencies are now 

 collecting lumber price data, the secretary of agriculture has 

 decided to discontinue publication by the forest service of its 

 quarterly issue of mill and wholesale lumber prices. 



When the government began to publish these compilations 

 detailed statistics upon production, consumption, and prices 

 were available for all of the great industries which produce 

 and handle raw materials, lumbering only excepted. Many of 

 these statistics were being gathered by the federal govern- 

 ment, particularly the monthly crop reports and cotton re- 

 ports. Prior to 1905 the lumber industry, then fourth and now 

 third largest of the country, lacked even annual statistics of 

 production. In that year a compilation of the lumber cut was 

 started by the forest service, with the. co-operation of the 

 bureau of the census. Authentic records of prices of standard 

 grades in the centers of distribution did not become available 

 until 1908, when the forest service began its record of whole- 

 sale prices. This record, by leading markets, was published 

 monthly until November, 1910. Since then it has been com- 

 piled and published on a quarterly basis. 



After a year's publication of market prices there was a gen- 

 eral demand for the compilation of prices at the mills, since 

 the market quotations included freight and other costs sub- 

 sequent to manufacture, and did not show the prices received 

 by manufacturers. In July, 1909, the forest service began a 

 quarterly publication of mill prices of lumber, which except 

 for minor changes in species and grades has been continued 

 without change until the present time. 



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