NATIONAL FOREST WORK 



The Harvest of Hickory 



The Office of Wood Utilization of the 

 Forest Service, United States Department 

 of Agriculture, is co-operating with the 

 National Hickory Association in a compre- 

 hensive investigation of the country's 

 hickory problem. The annual cut of more 

 than 300 million feet, exclusive of fuel, is 

 well known, but it is not so well known 

 what becomes of it, or whether it is all 

 put to the best uses for which it is fitted. 

 It is well understood that the country's 

 hickory supply is limited. It probably 

 does not exceed ten billion feet. This is 

 really the world's supply, because the wood 

 grows only in this country. Thirty-four 

 states contribute, but two-thirds of the sup- 

 ply comes from half a dozen. It is one of 

 the most important woods of this or any 

 other country, and for a number of pur- 

 poses no satisfactory substitute has been 

 found for it. The need, therefore, of se- 

 curing all possible information is apparent. 



It is a wood so valuable for special uses 

 that it ought not to take the place of com- 

 mon lumber, while it is not believed that 

 a verj- large quantity is so used, yet there 

 are no statistics showing where all the 

 200 million feet cut by ordinary sawmills 

 goes. It ought to go to handle mills, car- 

 riage shops, and factories that demand it 

 for special and exacting purposes, but it is 

 not known that it all goes there. In fact, 

 it is known that some — probably not 

 much-^makes crossties, fence posts, bridge 

 plank, and other firm timbers. Such use 

 of this valuable wood should not be en- 

 couraged. Dozens of cheap and plentiful 

 woods give better service in such places, 

 and it is the worst kind of economy to 

 let good hickory be so diverted while it is 

 in constant demand for carriages and 

 handles. 



The investigation will look into the use 

 of hickory as fuel. It is one of the very 

 best woods for that, but logs fit for buggy 

 rims, ax handles, or sucker rods, should 

 not go to the wood pile. The hickory 

 lumberman should have first choice, and 

 the firewood cutter ought to be satisfied 

 with what is left. It is interesting to note 

 that meat packers in many of the cities, 

 and smaller towns as well, prefer hickory 

 to all other woods for smoking meat, and 

 large quantities are so used. This matter 

 will be included in the investigation, and 

 the demands of packers for smokewood 

 will be considered. Doubtless they can 

 use rough and knotty wood as well as the 

 fine grades, and would not insist on clear, 

 straight grained hickory tor their smoke- 

 houses, it interior grades were available. 

 Hickory knots ought to make as good 

 smoke as hickory ax handle stock. 



It has been asserted that the waste of 

 hickory in the woods and at the mill is 

 unnecessarily large, but the assertion has 

 been strongly denied. Perhaps similar 

 conditions do not exist in different regions. 

 A thorough investigation of this phase of 

 the question is under way, and it will be 

 carried out by field work in four typical 

 hickory states, Missouri, Mississippi, Louis- 

 iana and North Carolina, and by corre- 

 spondence in twelve other states. 



When all obtainable facts relating to 

 cutting, manufacturing, and marketing 

 hickory have been collected, together with 

 the uses to which it is put, the informa- 

 tion will be made available to the thou- 

 sands of owners, manufactures, and users 

 of this valuable wood in all parts of the 

 country, and it is believed that the in- 

 formation will assist them in turning every 

 stick to the best possible account. 



An Active Planting Campaign 



Associate Forester Potter is quoted as 

 authority for the statement that as many 

 new trees will be planted under the direc- 

 tion of the Forest Service in the national 

 forests during the fiscal year as were set 

 out during the past five years combined. 

 This is the beginning of a plan to increase 

 as much as possible each year the number 

 set out. The seeds which provide nursery 

 stock are planted in the fall of the year, 

 while the nursery stock is set out both in 

 the tall and in the spring. The elimina- 

 tion of certain areas from national forests 

 because they have been found to be more 

 valuable for agriculture than for forestry, 

 and the addition to the reserves of certain 

 parts of the public domain considered more 

 adaptable for forestry purposes, have been 

 practically completed, and now that the 

 permanent boundaries of the reserves are 

 better known there will be increased ac- 

 tivity in setting out new stock. 



The Work in;,FIorida 



Raphael Zon, chief of sylvics, and Theo- 

 dore S. Woolsey, assistant district forester, 

 have been in Florida, studying the situa- 

 tion there with reference to the Choctaw- 

 hatchee and Ocala national forests, and the 

 possibility of growing eucalyptus in Flor- 

 ida. Their presence seems to have aroused 

 much interest. The Tampa Times, of De- 

 cember 6, reports their arrival in that city 

 to examine the five-acre tract of land which 

 was donated by the Mutual Realty and In- 

 vestment Company to the government for 

 the purpose of conducting experiments with 

 eucalyptus trees. This matter was in 

 charge of the local board of trade. 



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