58 THE COMMERCIAL HICKORIES. 



tively high stumpage price of $10 a cord a fully stocked stand of 

 hickory 50 years old is worth only about $80 an acre, while a white- 

 pine stand of the same age at the low stumpage value of $5 per 

 thousand, or approximately $2.50 a cord, would be worth $200. On 

 rich soils catalpa has yielded more than $200 per acre at the end of 

 twenty years. In short, it does not pay to raise hickory when it is 

 possible to raise chestnut, catalpa, black walnut, or yellow poplar. 

 Therefore, the forest owner who considers only present prices, and the 

 slow growth and low yield per acre, is likely to cut out his hickories 

 to make room for faster-growing species; and he will never plant 

 hickory. 



Prices, however, are bound to advance, because of the high technical 

 value of hickory, coupled with the fast-diminishing supply. Current 

 prices can advance considerably without affecting the trades. At 

 present the stumpage values range from 2 to 33 per cent of the value 

 of the finished product and average less than 10 per cent. The costs 

 of manufacture and of transportation are still the largest item in the 

 cost of a spoke or of a rim strip. Unless some entirely new material 

 is found to take the place of hickory, and this seems quite improbable, 

 it is only a question of time when the prices will advance sufficiently 

 to place hickory on an equal footing with chestnut, poplar, and other 

 faster-growing species; even now it is practically on an equal footing 

 with white oak and white ash, the other trees most important for 

 toughness and strength used for purposes similar to those for which 

 hickory is used. 



With the hickories on an even footing with other important timber 

 trees, with the hardwood forests of the country under proper 

 management, and with the drain decreased through a lessening of 

 waste, there should be no difficulty in producing all the hickory 

 that is needed for home consumption, with some over to supply much 

 of the foreign demand. 



There are now about 100,000,000 acres of forest land on which 

 hickory is growing naturally, although not necessarily in pure stands. 

 In most places the forest has been wastefully cut and severely burned 

 and pastured, so that it is in a low productive condition. It must 

 soon become the object of care and attention. Because of their 

 naturally good reproduction, their ability to endure shade and to 

 grow under many different conditions of soil and climate, the hickories 

 are particularly amenable to forest management, and a little intelligent 

 care can greatly better both quantity and quality of the yield. 



METHODS OF PERPETUATING THE SUPPLY. 



The two principal methods by which the supply can be maintained 

 are economic and silvicultural. The first depends upon hickory 

 users, and will consist in reducing waste and improving the economic 



