HARDWOOD RECORD 



27 



Kentuci(t;*s Production and Utilization of HardWoods 



The Department of Agriculture tlirough its 

 Wood Utilization department of the Forest 

 Service, has just issued a handsome pamphlet 

 covering the wood-using industry of Ken- 

 tucky. This work contains a mass of very 

 valuable information. 



The work shows that in 1908 Kentucky 

 sawmills produced 658,539,000 feet of lum- 

 ber. In addition 7,300,000 feet of timber 

 were made into lath and shingles, and approx- 

 imately 23,000,000 feet were consumed in the 

 manufacture of staves, headings and hoops 

 for slack barrels, and 52,000,000 feet were 

 utilized in the production of tight cooperage 

 stock. This aggregates nearly 741,000,000 

 feet of timber taken from the forests of 

 Kentucky in that year, and does not include 

 the heavy drain made in the annual supply 

 of cross-ties, pulp wood, mining props, tele- 

 graph poles, etc. 



The work also shows that Kentucky each 

 year consumes 220,000,000 feet of her forest 

 in the manufacture of wood into final form, 

 and brings in from other states 191,000,000 

 feet additional, which is used in the produc- 

 tion of baskets, fruit and vegetable packages, 

 chairs, coffins, caskets, farm implements, furni- 

 ture, handles, kitchen cabinets, musical in- 

 struments, pulleys, sash, doors and planing 

 mill products, store and office fixtures, tanks 

 and tubs, trunks, vehicles, etc. 



That the drain on the forests of Kentucky 

 is felt materially is shown by the fact that in 

 1907, the state produced nearly 913,000,000 

 feet of lumber, and that the decrease in a 

 single year was nearly twenty-eight per cent. 



In 1907 Kentucky ranked first as a pro- 

 ducer of yellow poplar, but in 1908 it was 

 reduced to third place. 



The value of the timber crop in Kentucky 

 in 1909 was nearly equal to the tobacco crop, 

 which is exceeded only by the corn crop. 



Kentucky utilizes in the remanufacture of 

 its lumber almost as large a proportion of its 

 output as do the states of Michigan and Wis- 

 consin. It is one of the few large remanu- 

 facturing states of the South. 



In the production of hardwoods, which in- 

 'volves the greater portion of the lumber pro- 

 duction in Kentucky, the output of that state 

 is exceeded only by that of two other states. 

 This state therefore is essentially a leader in 

 the production of hardwoods. Kentucky is 

 first in oak and buckeye production and third 

 in yellow poplar and sycamore production. It 

 is fourth in hickory and walnut production; 

 fifth in red gum production; sixth in beech 

 production; seventh in chestnut production, 

 and tenth in ash production. In the manu- 

 facture of tight cooperage stock Kentucky 

 holds fourth place; in slack cooperage, ninth; 

 in veneers, twelfth. 



Kentucky '3 importance as a consuming state 

 will be appreciated when it is understood that 

 the quantity of wood utilized annually in 

 manufacture is but little less than the state's 

 yearly production of hardwood lumber. The 

 consumption by the Kentucky wood users in 



jyuy was almost 410,UOU,UUU feet. Of this 

 quantity, 88,828,000 feet was oak; 68,856,000 

 feet hickory; 65,508,000 feet gum; 61,285,000 

 feet poplar; 40,140,000 feet yellow pine; 

 18,127,000 feet cottonwood, and 10,743,000 

 feet sycamore. The remainder of the lumber 

 utilized was from white pine, cypress, bass- 

 wood, beech, ash, hard maple, hemlock, soft 

 maple, willow, elm, chestnut, buckeye, black 

 walnut, birch, Spanish cedar, mahogany, red 

 cedar, cherry, spruce and several of the minor 

 woods. 



It must be recalled that the area of Ken- 

 tucky is about 25,600,000 acres, and its length 

 from east to west is four hundred miles. For 

 convenience, and for geographical reasons it 

 is divided into three parts, eastern, central 

 and western. This division is recognized not 

 only by the people of the state, but by out- 

 siders as well. The soils, products and 

 features of surface are different in the differ- 

 ent regions. Eastern Kentucky has forty- 

 i'our counties situated in the mountain dis- 

 trict and foot hills. The western region be- 

 gins at the Mississippi river, and the transi- 

 tion from the low rolling plateaus into the 

 rugged hilly uplands is gradual. Central 

 Kentucky contains the Blue Grass region, the 

 outer Blue Grass region and the lower region 

 of the Licking river. 



Kentucky is distinctly a hardwood state, 

 and the forests are composed of many species 

 of timber. It is probable that forests of few 

 states surpass Kentucky in the many differ- 

 ent kinds of merchantable stand which its 

 limber areas aft'ord. 



Of the wood employed in the industries of 

 Kentucky growing outside of the state, Ten- 

 nessee supplied the largest proportion, nearly 

 50,000,000 feet or twenty-six per cent. Mis- 

 sissippi foUowed with twenty-one per cent; 

 Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Alabama 

 came next in the order named and furnished . 

 respectively, seventeen, fifteen, nine and three 

 per cent. Indiana, Illinois and Ohio together 

 sent in a very small supply, not quite 5,000,000 

 feet. The lake states contributed a fraction 

 less than one per cent of the woods consumed 

 by Kentucky wood users, while the Pacific 

 coast furnished about 2,000,000_ feet. 



Over one-quarter of the material purchased 

 by the wood users outside of Kentucky was 

 red gum. The most important quantity of 

 wood used in the state is in the production 

 of boxes and crating, which consumes nearly 

 110,000,000 feet. Following comes sash, door 

 and planing mill productions with close to 

 80,000,000 feet; vehicle stock with nearly 

 40,000,000 feet; handles, 36,000,000 feet; 

 pulleys and conveyors, 23,000,000 feet; vehi- 

 cles, 20,000,000 feet; cars and locomotives, 

 15,000,000 feet; furniture, 15,000,000 feet; 

 musical instruments, 12,000,000 feet; store 

 and office fixtures, 10,000,000 feet; farm im- 

 plements, 7,000,000 feet; chairs, 6,000,000 

 feet; basket, fruit and vegetable packages, 

 4,000,000 feet; table stands and extension 

 tables, 3,000,000 feet; tanks and tubs, 



2,5UU,000 feet; caskets and coffins, 2,000,000 

 feet; trunks, 2,000,000 feet; miscellaneous, 

 22,000,000 feet. 



Louisville is the center of the hardwood 

 industry of the state as well as the chief con- 

 suming locality of that commonwealth. Here 

 is centered not only a considerable portion of 

 the actual manufacturing of hardwoods, but 

 it is the center of the capital that is dis- 

 tributed in hardwood production through a 

 large area of the state. Again, Louisville is 

 a great hive of industry and is the manufac- 

 turing center where is located thousands of 

 industries consuming hardwoods. 



This brief review will be a surprise to 

 many who have never considered Kentucky as 

 a large consumer of hardwoods. From the 

 rate of increase in hardwood consumption of 

 the state, it is fair to assume that within a 

 very short time Kentucky will be utilizing 

 more hardwoods than it produces, and there- 

 fore there will be an increased call from out- 

 side sources to supply the deficiency. 



Unif oirmity in Forest Legislation a> Necessity 



A speaker addressing the Southern Commer- 

 cial Congress at Atlanta, Ga., recently, made the 

 following statement : 



"You are producing too much lumber ; you 

 are making no profit ; you are leaving a large 

 per cent of your timber to decay on the ground ; 

 you should cut less lumber ; run mills half time ; 

 raise prices so that you can make a profit ; util- 

 ize the lower grades. Every thousand feet of 

 lumber manufactured represents an average of 

 price and value of $20 when placed on the mar- 

 ket, eighty per cent of which goes for labor and 

 supplies. For every thousand feet of lumber 

 manufactured at least .$20 is placed in circula- 

 tion. It our states permit the owners of forest 

 lands to leave twenty per cent or 2,000 feet of 

 giMMl lumber to the acre to decay on the ground, 

 ih'U the people lose the $40 which should go 

 into ihoir pockets. The owners also lose heavily 

 and the state is deprived of certain revenue." 



The noed of public measures for the ameliora- 

 tion of this state of affairs is shown by the facts 

 recited. The -iicakcr's statement certainly is 

 not too strong. He particularly entered a plea 

 for more uniform laws as between the general 

 government and the various states bearing upon 

 forests and forestry. -Another point particularly 

 apropos is that the public benefits, which have 

 accrued and are constantly flowing from the 

 lumber industry because of the perversity of pre- 

 vailing public sentiment, have thereby been crip- 

 pled and stunted instead of aided and expanded. 

 Many southern states have been the victims of 

 self-imposed sacrifice in this connection, and it 

 is notorious that these states by shortsighted 

 legislative restrictions have been a stumbling 

 block to such industries. While it is probably 

 true that there is less waste than formerly from 

 parts of trees left in the woods unused, it is 

 hard to understand how the abuse can be di- 

 rectly regulated by legislation. It is a problem 

 which must be solved on business principles, that 

 is to say, that until this residue of refuse can 

 be utilized at a profit, it will of necessity con- 

 tinue to be left in the woods as it has been. 

 This condition can be remedied, in so tar as 

 legislation is concerned, through measures modify- 

 ing the existing so-called anti-trust laws, under 

 which manufacturers are denied the right to 

 regulate their operations legitimately to that 

 end. 



