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^ Wood'-Usmg Industries of Virginia III! 



A valuable and interesting report of Virginia's wood-using indus- 

 tries has been published by the American Forestry Association. The 

 report was written by Roger E. Simmons, statistician in the United 

 States Forest Service. He has compiled several similar reports, among 

 them being those for North Carolina, Kentucky, Maine, and New 

 Hampshire. 



The figures for Virginia contain much of interest. The state pro- 

 duces a large amount of lumber yearly, though it has been settled 

 longer than anj' other state in the Union, except Florida, and for 

 nearly 300 years it; has been a leading agricultural region. It might 

 be iupposed that its forests would have been exhausted long ago. 

 Such is far from the case. It supplies more than 2,000,000,000 

 feet of lumber yearly, besides other forest products amounting to 

 1,000,000,000 more. A large part of this is converted into manu- 

 factured products. Only five states exceed Virginia in the quantity 

 of wood annually >ised in factories. Those ranking above it are 

 Illinois, Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. It is doubtful 

 if any state equals Virginia in number of sawmUls. Many of these 

 mills are at work on second-growth timber that has taken possession 

 of abandoned plantations. In this state may be studied to better 

 advantage than nearly anywhere else the recuperative power of forests 

 when they have a chance. Few forested regior.s aie as free from 

 fire injury as Virginia, and young trees have a chance to reach 

 commercial size. 



The table which follows shows the quantity of wood further 

 manufactured in Virginia after it leaves the sawmills. 



WOODS USED IX VIRGINIA 



Qu.antity usotl annually. Average Total 



rer cost per cost t. o. b. 



Kind of wood — Teot B. M. cent. 1,000 ft. t.ictory. 



Lob'olly pine 3S0.2,-)7,0SS 43.50 .$12.77 .>i;4.!)61.017.9(; 



Shortleaf pine 182,369,615 20.40 13.26 2.417,080.10 



Longleat pine 74,762,206 8.40 20.26 1.. 515.553.23 



Scrub pine 44,243.500 4.90 10.99 486,526.86 



White oal< 35,467.028 4.00 22.05 782,144.11 



Red gum 31.594,200 3.50 13.31 420,462.58 



Yellow poplar 27.848,547 3.10 18.58 517,294.25 



Red oal» 19,934.300 2.20 20.75 413.284.50 



Cotton gum (tupelo) 14.951,000 1.70 9.65 144,927.50 



White pine 13,954,529 1.60 27.00 376.403.04 



Cypress S.9S5.51S 1.10 26.07 234.275.24 



White cedar 8.290,113 .90 18.68 154,916.15 



Hicl<ory 7.666.245 .90 31.38 240,612.80 



Chestnut 7,115,896 .80 13.43 95,576.95 



Blaclj gum 6,444,190 .70 11.47 81,277.75 



.is'j 4,182.403 .50 24.30 101,628.93 



Locust 2,279,000 .20 22.90 52,200.00 



Sui;ar maple 2.236,350 .30 20.62 46,107.25 



Beoch 1,946.000 .20 17.98 34,995.50 



Sycamore 1,769,000 .20 24.83 50,580.00 



Basswood 1,591,900 .20 IS.SO 29,934.50 



Blaclj oal5 1,065,000 .10 19.18 20,430.00 



Swoot birch 986,000 .10 32.28 31,826.00 



Spruce 952,025 .10 24.07 22.922.65 



Cottonwood 754.026 * 22.62 17,161.04 



Hemlock 734.000 * 11.63 8.535.00 



Dogwood 733,400 » 14.18 10,392.40 



Douglas fir 609.730 • 58,08 35,427.87 



Mahogany 426.358 • 146.86 62,364.00 



Slippery (rock) elm 292,581 * 33.23 9,704.28 



Black walnut 277,300 • 35.85 9,930.00 



Cucumber 162.000 * 17.40 2,820.00 



White (soft) elm 140.000 • 10.14 1,420.00 



Cherry 100,326 • 97.40 9.740.86 



Buckeye ,80,000 » 13.15 1.050.00 



Sugar pine 68,000 * 68.38 4,660.00 



Red cedar 46.000 * 36.48 1,678.00 



Teakwood 44.039 • 109.09 8,771.80 



Butternut 17,923 • 31.07 914.30 



Persimmon 15,000 » 14.00 210.00 



Osage orange 13.000 * 48.00 624.00 



Sassafras 12.000 * 32.C0 384.00 



Silver maple 10,000 • 30.00 300.00 



Spanish cedar 5,000 * 120.00 600.00 



Western red cedar 5,000 * 50,00 250.00 



Rosewood 1.400 * 531.00 708.00 



African cedar 1.100 * 138.00 151.80 



Silver ava 



Circassian walnut . 



Jarra 



White mahogany . . 

 Philadelphia walnut 



1,000 

 350 

 200 

 100 

 100 



100.00 

 190.60 

 200.00 

 100.00 

 100.00 



100.00 

 66.75 

 40.00 

 20.00 

 20.00 



100.00 $15.00 $13,420,921.95 



Total 894,441,902 



•Less than one-tenth of one p* cent. 



All of this wood is not grown in the state, but that is because 

 Virginia is surrounded by forested regions, and factories near the 

 borders draw from over the lines; but Virginia sends more to other 

 regions than it takes from them. 



Virginia has the distinction of using more wood in the manufacture 

 of boxes than any other state. That is due to abundance of good, 

 cheap material, and the region's proximity to markets of many 

 kinds. Truck gardeners are in easy reach of Baltimore, Philadelphia, 

 and New York, and supply early vegetables and fruits. Manu- 

 facturers of and dealers in dry goods, hardware and groceries in 

 several of the large eastern cities are furnished with boxes and 

 shipping containers by the Virginia forests. 



Though the manufacture of boxes is the largest, it is only one 

 of more than twenty industries in the state. Planing mill products, 

 consisting principally of flooring, ceiling, and siding, are second 

 in importance, and car building is third. The lowest average price 

 for raw material is paid by makers of excelsior, the highest by 

 !>attern makers. The table which follows lists the various industries 

 and gives much information concerning material and cost: 



S|-MM-\RV IIV INDISTItlES OF WOOD 181:0 I.\ VIROINIA AX.NTALLT 



Average 



cost per 



1,000 feet 



f. o. b. 



factory. 



$11.96 

 14.71 

 17.96 



24.27 



17.56 

 22.15 



2.20 13.01 



Total Per 



Industries — feet B. M. cent. 



Boxes 413,371.667 46.22 



Plamng-mill products. 223,337.762 24.97 

 Cars and locomotives. 51,293,031 5.73 

 Sash, doors and gen- 

 eral mill work 44,295.940 4.03 



Paving wood block.s 



and conduits 27,352,000 3.08 



Furniture 20,207,800 2.26 



Baskets and fruit and 



vegetable pkgs 19,657,330 



Vehicles and vehicle 



parts 17,487.150 1.90 27.30 



Trunks 15,364,661 1.72 14.34 



Ship and boat bidg.. 11,138,497 1.25 40.46 

 Woodenware, novelties, 



matches 10,545,000 1.18 16.93 



Excelsior 0.032,000 .67 8.48 



Fencing and gates... 6,925,000 .77 12.72 



Insulator pins, etc. . . 5,875,218 .66 21.06 



Fixtures 3,068,650 .34 37.30 



Handles 2,993,000 .33 21.75 



Agricultural imple- 

 ments 2,404,000 .27 22.18 



Caskets and coffins.. 1,366,346 .18 17.08 



Poulterers' supplies. . 647,400 .07 18.34 



Chairs 770.000 .09 17.44 



Shuttles 631.400 .07 13.71 



Tobacco boxes 454,350 .03 21.03 



Patterns 130,800 .01 82.74 



Miscellaneous 8,692,700 .97 19.36 



Totals 894,441,902 



Total 



cost 



f. 0. b. 



factory. 



$4,944,630.33 



3,232,026.75 



921,168.25 



1.075,293.32 



486,585.00 

 447,244.90 



Grown 

 in Va.. 

 per 

 cent. 

 60.50 

 49.70 

 16.29 



53.06 



22 20 

 70.50 



255,713.97 47.93 



477,340.63 

 220,232.21 

 449,691.78 



71.37 

 90.03 

 10.26 



178.575.00 39.06 

 51,159.50 100.00 

 75,492.50 91.84 



123,730.36 



114.352.75 

 63,093.30 



51.42 

 34.12 

 96.66 



89.06 



9.22 



45.94 



33,414.50 



26,534.64 



14.120.00 



11,282.75 



8.647.40 lOO.OO 



9,992.55 66.00 



10,840.00 16.S2 



167,753.40 51.02 



54.14 



^""..o „.„,,,i,u,^^ 100.00 $15.00 $13,420,921.99 ui.n 



White oak is used for more purposes than any other wood listed. 

 It enters into 131 different articles; while the following woods 

 appear in only one article each: Beech in flooring; African and 

 Spanish cedar in cigar boxes; prima vera in Venetian blinds; Osage 

 orange in wagons; persimmon in shuttle blocks; sassafras in furni- 

 ture, and silver ava and Philijipine walnut in porch blinds. Two 

 woods, sugar pine and Douglas fir, come from the Pacific co.'ist. 



Almost any millman can make good lumber. The question is really 

 one of whether he will or not — whether he will take the pains to win 

 the prize that labor gains. 



—25— 



