Lumber Prices Show Upward Trend

Washington, Nov. S.-Lumber prices reached the lowest point in August last since September, 1916, according to the Bureau of Statistics of the Department of Labor. And the statisticians of the National Lumber Manufacturers' Association are inclined to think that the August low is the low of the present depression. The Bureau's price index for lumber stood at 55.5 in August and 56.3 in September-lO0 being the 1926 price average. Brick prices give indications of having also reached the bottom in August. Other commodities in the building materials group stabilized earlier in the year. Cement hit bottom last December and steel in April.

The N.L.M.A. statisticians have worked up the following table of building material prices: Indices of Building Material Prices, (1926-100)

*December, 1931 ; January, 1932, 75.2.

As compared rvith the dollar in 1926 the September,1932, dollar is worth in purchasing power: in lumber, $1.77 ; in brick, $1.33; in cement, $1.27; in structural steel, $1.22; jn a composite of building material, $1.42.

If the lows of building materials have been passed and the present uplvard trend in prices continues it is believed that the public will soon perceive that the time to build is now-before prices begin to approach the levels of 1926-29.

Chips From the Forest

California Leads in Use of Wood

California uses more softrvoods (pine, fir, redrvood, cedar, etc.) than any other State in the Union, the estimate by the Bureau of Census, based on the 1930 lumber cut, being 2,372,828,000 f.eet. Nerv York is second with nearly two billion feet, followed by Washington, Illinois and Pennsylvania with more than a billion feet each.

Redwood Reforestation Successful

Redwood planting data supplied to the California Forest Experiment Station of the U. S. Forest Service by lumber companies and consulting foresters show that 6,365,000 trees have been planted on 25,500 acres at a cost of $225,000. The costs averaged $10.50 per acre for Mendocino County and $7.32 per acre for Humboldt County. Lumber company records show that the average survival of planted trees to date is 47 per cent. Survival and growth appear to have been best on north, east and west exposures, and on areas that were planted with two years old redwood stock within one year after logging.