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METAL FFIAME$i o MCILJLEDINGIS

DE Doons supplies PERMANEER coRPoRATtoN vinyl covened boand in bulk panels on cuE and assembled into wandnobe doons.

PERMANEER CORPORATION secunes stnaightness with double waxed backings.

All types of mouldings including pocket fnarnes and extenion fnarnes. Also cutting and packaging pen plan.

To supply youn needs, D,E. Doons offens the following flush doons fnom STRAIT DOOR & PLYWOOD CORP.

FLUSH DOOFIS: Pnefinish, pne-fit, cut outs, special glazing, rnetal on wood louvens, any size in widths on heights, Handboand Eo teak.

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SeMng the lumbeL buildlng materials .nd homeimprovementmarkets- sina1922 lotmerly Weslen Lumber & Building Materials Me.chant

MARCH, 1976 VOLUME 54, NO.9

MAJOR NEWS and FEATURES

THE SELLING SEASON KICKS OFF ON REDWOOD FACTS BEHIND REDWOOD'S MARKET STABILITY

ILLUSTRATED LOOK BEH]ND THE BEL-AIR DOOR

ANOTHER RECORD LOAD OF HEMLOCK IS SHIPPED

A NEW KITCHEN AND BATH PROMOTIONAL PUSH

D-l-Yers: NOW YOU CAN TELL THEM WHERE TO GO COMPOSITE PANEL PRODUCTS SAVE MATERIAL

G-P's NEW DISTRIBUTION MARKETING PROGRAM

TRANSPORTATION THEMES L.A. CLUB MEETING

PRICE HIKES THREATENED BY PROPOSED BILL

INDUSTRY VETERAN RETIRES AFTER 52 YEARS

REID & WRIGHT BUYS A LARGE REDWOOD PLANT

NATIONAL DEALER GROUP HAS NEW AD PROGRAM

NEW $2 MILLION UTAH BUILDER SERVICE YARD

FIRM

Publisher Emeritus A. D. Bell, Jr.

Editor-Publisher David Cutler

Contributins Editor Dwiqht Curran

Contributing Editor GagE McKinney

^"f;[::'B:I:*uciion M!r'

Art Directol Martha Emery

Staff Artist Terry Wilson

Circulation Marsha Kelley

The Merchant Magazine is oublished monthly at 4500 tampus Dr.. suite 476. Newport Beach, Ca. 92660, Phone (714) 549-8393 or (714) 549-E394 by The Merchant Maeizin6. Inc. Secondclass Dostaqe ratei naid at Newoort Beach. Ca..-and addiiional offices.'Advertising rates upon request.

ADVERTISING OFFICES

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA & PACIFIC NORTHWEST 4500 Campus Dr., suite 476, Newport Beach, Ca. 92660. Phone (714) 5498393.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Carl Vann, 1385 Westwood BIvd., Los Angeles. Ca. 90024. Phone (213) 477-7593 or (o14\ 549-8393.

Subscriptions

Change of AddressSend subscrip- tion orders and address chrnqes to Circulation Dent.. The Meichant Magazine, 4500 Campus Dr., suite 476. Newoort Beach. Ca.92660. Include address label from recent issue if possible, plus new address and zip cooe.

Subscription RrtesU.S., Canada, Mexico and Latin America: $5-one year: $8-two years; Sll-three years. Overseas: $7-one year: $l l-two vears. Single copies $1.00. Back copies-$1.50 whdn avdilable.

The Merchant Magazine serves the members of the: Aiizona Lumber & Builders Supply Assn., Phoenix; Lumber Merch'ahti Assn. of Northern California. Los Altos: Montana Building Material Dealers Assn., Helena; Mountain States Lumber Dealers Assn., Salt Lake City and Denver; Lumber Assn. of Siruthern California. Los Anseles: Western Buildins Material AssnL Olympia. Wa.

THE MERCHANT MAGAZINE i.s an independent nuga:ine for the retail. vhole.sole and di.stihution level.s of the Iunher and buildirc nnterial.s and honte inprovenrcnt indu.str.r' in the l3 lUestem .tlolcs, concenlrating on nrerchandising, nnnagement and accurate, faclual nev's reporting and inlerprelation.

Are you ready for underground trees?

al NE of the by-products of all the current \rf excitement about our Bicentennial Year is the pile of predictions that has been accumulating as to the direction of the country, its economy and its people in the third century of this great republic.

One of the predictions we didn't expect to be making, if we expected to be making any at all, was that trees would be produced underground. You know, like under the dirt. Underground. But, perhaps indicative of the mind'blowing surprises that lie ahead for us all, that is exactly where trees are now being successfully grown. Underground.

It seems that 3,000 feet underground in Kellogg, Id., some 4,000 pine tree seedlings are happily growing in one of the ventilation shafts of the 90 year-old Bunker Hill Mine, comforted by a 75o temperature, ideal humidity and insect free air. "Sunlight" is provided by high intensity multivapor quartz lamps (which is not the stuff of which poems are made, but the trees apparently thrive in it).

Company estimates put the cost of producing the containerized trees at $80 per thousand compared with $300 per thousand in above ground commercial nurseries. Additionally, the trees have shown better survival and growth rates than those grown in outdoor seedbeds and planted with bare roots while dormant.

It is all going so well that the firm is considering an expansion to produce 100,000 trees per year for use in a revegatation project on land affected by mining projects.

Growing trees underground may seem strange and 'onot right" atfirst thought. But then again, why not? Why not try something new if it works as well or better than the usual? The greatness of this country is in some large measure the result of just that freedom of thought that lets minds go ahead to something new, something unusual; to that something that at first seems strange and "not right".

As we listen through this birthday year of other new and startling methods, ideas and predictions of future wonders, let us all restrain the natural impulse to reject the new in favor of the known and comfortable. If we don't grow along with bur trees, it isn't likely that 2076 will see the wonders we predict from 1976 for it.

Our capabilities mean better, faster service for both odd lot and volume buyers. We're at the raw material source,