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^A/^ood Uses in South Carolina 



The state of South Carolina has published a report of its wood- 

 using industries for 1912. The report was compiled and written 

 by Stanley L. Wolfe of the United States Forest Service, under 

 a co-operative agreement between the government and the state. 



South Carolina is not ouo of the leading states either in the 

 production of lumber or in manufacturing it into finished prod- 

 ucts; but both the mill industry and the further manufacture of 

 the wood are well established and prosperous. The state has al- 

 ways been more noted for its agriculture than for its factories. 



The ratio between the output of rough lumber by its sawmills 

 and the product of its factories which make use of wood as raw 

 material, is about as two to three; that is, two-thirds of its pro- 

 duction of lumber is consumed by, establishments in the state. 



Thirty-one woods are used, three of which are foreign. The 

 following table shows these woods and their average values de- 

 livered at the factories: 



Quantity Used 

 Annually Average Cost 



Kind ot Wood (Ft. b. m.) per 1,000 Ft. 



Shortleaf pine 254,449,500 $ 14.17 



Longleaf pine 93,560,400 14.39 



Cypress (bald) 17,038,000 21.52 



Red gum 12,726,000 13.81 



Lobloiiy pine 11,880,000 12.89 



Yciiow poplar 10,135,000 17.17 



Black gum 6,179,300 13.72 



Cotton gum 3,527,000 12.59 



White oak 3,133,900 22.27 



Dogwood 3,050,000 21.97 



Persimmon 1,550,000 18.06 



Ash 1,518.000 19.80 



Sugar maple 1,471,100 19.55 



Red oak 997.200 18.84 



hickory 422,000 25.38 



Chestnut 401,000 20.01 



White pine 166,900 88.93 



Basswood 165,000 45.88 



Elm 100,000 12.00 



Spanish cedar 75,000 140.00 



Birch 48,400 37.00 



Sycamore 45,000 16.33 



Cottonwood 32,000 19.13 



Beech 25.000 20.00 



Silver maple 20,000 16.00 



Spruce 13,000 34.31 



Southern white cedar 11,100 30.81 



Black walnut 10.000 80.00 



Red cedar 10.000 60.00 



Mahogany 5,500 149.64 



Lignum-vitoe 207 285.75 



Total 423,605,507 !(. 14.80 



The hardwoods make a comparatively poor showing. They 

 amount to about 40,000,000 feet against 383,000,000 for softwoods. 

 However, there are twenty-two hardwoods and only nine softwoods. 

 Eed gum leads the hardwoods in quantity, while elm is cheapest. 



Fourteen industries are specially reported, and a number of 

 others are grouped as miscellaneous. Nearly seven-eighths of all 

 the wood reported is made into planing mill products, consisting 

 principally of flooring, ceiling, and siding. The table which fol- 

 lows names the several industries and shows the quantity and 

 average price of the wood demanded by each of them: 



Qnantity Used 



Annually Average Cost 



Industry (Ft. b. m.) per 1,000 Ft. 



Planing mill products 368.301,000 $14.22 



Sash, doors, blinds, and general miiiwork.. 25.936.000 20.76 



Baskets, fruit and vegetable paelsages 7.800.000 13.14 



Boxes and crates, packing 6.160.000 1,3.03 



Shuttles, spools, and bobbins 5,100,000 20.59 



—30— 



Caskets and coffins 3,607,000 14.59 



Car construction 1,017,100 16.58 



Furniture 1,518.000 13.40 



Vehicles and vehicle parts 784,300 27.15 



Ship and boat building 756,007 34.12 



Handles 681.500 34.02 



Fixtures 272,000 34.59 



Agricultural implements 46,000 27.63 



Patterns and flasks 40,500 63,36 



Mifcellaneous 1,046,100 34.05 



Total 423,665,507 $14.80 



The making of spools, shuttles, and bobbins is a comparatively 

 large industry in the state, and more dogwood is reported in South 

 Carolina than in any other state. It is made into shuttles. In 

 the manufacture of this article from dogwood fully seventy-five 

 per cent of the wood is wasted. In speaking of the shuttle the 

 report says: 



' ' The shuttle has an interesting history. It has come down from 

 the old hand-loom shuttle which was thrown by one hand and 

 caught by the other. At that time nearly any wood that was 

 smooth would answer. But the power loom throws the shuttle 

 by violent strokes with a stick, and few woods will long stand 

 the blows. The life of the best shuttle is measured by hours, not 

 years. Formerly Turkish boxwood was used almost exclusively, 

 and it still has no known equal, but its use by the roller skate 

 factories at high prices, took it out of the shuttle market years 

 ago. The world has been ransacked for other woods. Persimmon 

 and dogwood are the two most satisfactory, when all things are 

 considered, but scores of others have been tried. Some quickly 

 wear through, some become rough, others burst or break in a few 

 minutes or within an hour or two. Some are too heavy, others 

 too light. Steel cannot be used for this purpose; when made suf- 

 ficently light the metal shell buckles and kinks. Dogwood, the 

 diminutive tree which once had practically no use, except as gluts 

 for splitting rails, and as distaffs for spinning wheels, has now 

 become the most important wood in this country for the particular 

 and highly important use of shuttle making. ' ' 



In the manufacture of vehicles in South Carolina, yellow poplar 

 leads all other woods in quantity, and onlj' white oak is above it 

 in price. The poplar is used for wagon beds and for buggy and 

 carriage bodies, for which use no wood ranks above it. Hickory 

 is next to poplar in amount, but its place is wholly different. It 

 is made into spokes, shafts, and poles of light vehicles. 



The problem of saving what was formerly waste is attracting 

 attention in the state. The people realize that they are not get- 

 ting so much out of their forests as they ought, and measures are 

 being taken to remedy the weak place in this industry. 



A report made three years ago, and quoted in the present one, 

 shows a rather unusual state of affairs in South Carolina regard- 

 ing lands and forests. There are said to be 6,000,000 acres in 

 farms, 5,532,000 acres of forest, and 8,209,000 acres "unimproved." 

 That classed as unimproved is understood to consist of areas cut 

 over and burnt over, and left unprotected so long that they are 

 simply "woods." Much of it is doubtless land from which the 

 yellow pine was cut years ago, and it was never cleared for planta- 

 tions, and never relapsed into forest again. 



Those who wish to compare the quantities of different woods 

 cut in the state with the amounts further used for manufacturing 

 purposes, will find the sawmill cut for 1911 in the following table: 



Board Feet 



Yellow pine 533,552.000 



Cypress 18.426.000 



Red gum 15.117.000 



Oak 7,679,000 



Yellow poplar ..'■ 4,490,000 



Tupelo 2,270,000 



Ash 1,6.12,000 



Hickory 337,000 



Maple 302,000 



