Since 1895, 248 firms, representing an annual aggregate output of pine lumber of 4-1/4 billion feet, have retired from business, due to the exhaustion of their timber supply. Plants representing approximately 500 million feet capacity, which sawed in 1906, will not be operated in 1907. The shifting of the chief sources of supply has, of course, been accompanied by a change in the kinds of lumber produced. There was a time when white pine alone constituted one-half of the total quantity. In 1900 this species furnished but 21.5 per cent., in 1904 only 15 per cent., of the lumber cut.[6] We do not use less pine because we have found something better, but because we have to put up with something worse. [Illustration: Fig. 116. (Lumber Production by States).] The present annual cut of southern yellow pine is about 13-1/4 million M feet, or a little less than one-third of the total cut of all the species. At the present rate of consumption, it is evident that within ten or fifteen years, there will be a most serious shortage of it. Meanwhile the cut of Douglas fir on the Pacific coast has increased from 5 per cent. of the total lumber cut in 1900 to 12 per cent. in 1905. This increase is in spite of the fact, already noted (p. 262) that the great timber owning companies of the northwest are holding their stumpage for an expected great increase in value. Another evidence of shortage is the almost total disappearance of certain valuable species. Hickory, which once made American buggies famous, is getting very scarce, and black walnut once commonly used for furniture, is available now for only fine cabinet work, veneers, gun stocks, etc. Hardwoods that are fit for the saw are rapidly decreasing. The hardwood cut of 1900 of 8,634,000 M feet diminished in 1904 to 6,781,000 M feet. [Illustration: Fig. 117. (Lumber Production by Species).] A still further evidence of the decreasing supply, is the rising scale of prices. White pine, which sold for $45.00 per M during 1887-1892, sold for $100.00 f.o.b. N. Y., Jan. 1, 1911. Yellow poplar went up in the same period, 1887-1911, from $29.00 to $63.00. Yellow pine rose from $18.00 in 1896 to $47.00 in 1911, and hemlock, the meanest of all woods, from $11.50 in 1889 to $21.00 in 1911, Fig. 118. [Illustration: Fig. 118. Wholesale lumber prices, 1887-1911. The qualities of lumber shown in the above chart are as follows: White Ash, 1st and 2d, 1" and 1-1/2" x 8" and up by 12'-16'. Basswood, 1st and 2d, 1" x 8" and up by x 00". White Oak, quarter-sawed, 1st and 2d, all figured, 1" x 6" and up x 10'-16'. Yellow poplar, 1st and 2d, 1" x 7"-17" x 12'-16'. Hemlock, boards Spruce, No. 1 and clear, 1" and 1-1/4" x 4" x 13'. White pine, rough uppers, 1" x 8" and up x 00'. Yellow pine, edge grain flooring. The curve is approximately correct, for the standard of quality has been changed several times.]