May 10, 1917 



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The Country'^s Oak Supply 





The Forett Service has undertaken to find out how much oak timber 

 the United Spates has and how long it is likely to last. Some years 

 ago the Bureau of Corporations estimated that the country had 200,- 

 000,000,000 feet of standing oak. In some regions the estimate was 

 based on quite careful data, and elsewhere there was not much more 

 than guess work to back up the figures. No one is prepared to say how 

 close tlie Bureau of Corporations came to the oak total. Be that as it 

 may, the oaks were all lumped as one, and no figures were given to show 

 the various species. 



The plan under which the Forest Service is working includes figures 

 on the various kinds of oak still in the forest : white, red, yeUow, over- 

 cut, southern red, cliestnut oak, and ?o on down the list of commercial 

 oaks. 



The field work is in 

 charge of W. D. Ster- 

 ritt, who spent a few 

 days in Chicago the 

 latter part of April, 

 interviewing some of 

 the large owners of 

 oak stunipage and also 

 some of the large us- 

 ers. He went north 

 from Chicago, but will 

 return later and make 

 a thorough study of 

 oak conditions in the 

 South. He will not 

 visit the region west 

 of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, for, while a con- 

 siderable quantity of 

 oak is dispersed over 

 a million square miles 

 between t h e R o c k y 

 Mountains and the 

 Pacific coast, the qual- 

 ity is generally poor 

 and the oak timber of 

 that region will not 

 contribute much to the 

 country's factories. 



How 



Lo"XG Will 

 Last? 



It 



M.\P OF COMMERCIAL. RANGE OF OAK 



Xiuct.v-five por cout ot oak lumber comes from tbis area ; that from northeastern part is "eastern 



oak," from the southwestern . is "southern." 



It is the purpose to 

 answer as accurately 

 as possible the impor- 

 tant question, how long will the oak last? Figures compiled bj' the 

 Bureau of Corporations indicate that it will take over fifty years to 

 cut the country 's oak, at the present rate. That may be true, but 

 some well posted men doubt if the supply will hold out that long unless 

 the cutting rate decreases. In some fine oak regions, the end is pretty 

 clearly in sight. 



The investigation which is now under way will furnish information 

 as to the quantity of each kind of the important oaks, and that infor- 

 mation can be used in planning forestry work for the future. If the 

 supply of oak is not to fail, the forests where it grows must be put 

 under management to insure the largest production possible. 



SUKVIVAL OF THE FITTEST 



This is necessarily somewhat in the future as yet; but it is proper 

 to take a rather long look ahead in planning the coming oak supply, 

 for it is a tree that grows slowly. That fact will be taken into consid- 

 eration when oak forests shall be placed under management. The 

 slowest growing oaks will not be encouraged, while every chance will be 



accorded those species which promise the quickest and best returns. 

 Tliere are fifty -two kinds of oak in the United States. If the time 

 ever comes when the growing of oak timber becomes a business, it may 

 be expected that about forty of the poorest oaks will be discarded, and 

 the whole attention will be given to the best dozen. 



The Forest Service has already collected figures showing the acreage 

 of oak in the woodlots of farmers. The oak growing on such woodlots 

 will be the first to come under management. Some of it is under man- 

 agement now. The first step is to cut out the poor kinds and give a 

 lietter chance to the others. 



Eastern and Southern Oak 



The opinions of large oak users is being asked as to the relative qual- 

 ities of oak grown in 

 itifferent regions. The 

 oak territory is by 

 pretty common e o ii - 

 sent divided into two 

 grand divisions, east- 

 ern and southern. The 

 jirecise dividing line 

 may be somewhat ar- 

 bitrarily drawn, but 

 its general location is 

 agreed upon. The 

 eastern oak has been 

 drawn upon during a 

 much longer period 

 than the southern, and 

 it is natural that it 

 should be more nearly 

 depleted in parts than 

 the southern. If that 

 shall be found to be 

 true, it will follow 

 that the growing of 

 oak under forestry 

 methods will first oc- 

 cur in the eastern re- 

 gion. However, this 

 is one of a number of 

 problems which the 

 present investigation 

 is expected to help 

 solve. 



The investigation 

 undertaken by the For- 

 est Service cannot be 

 ilany details must be worked out. 



completed during the present year 

 and it will require time. 



It will be shown how the annual cut of oak is distributed among the 

 country 's principal industries. It is well known that this wood enters 

 into every important industry that uses wood ; but figures are not 

 available to show the proportion of white oak and red oak, though it is 

 generally believed that white oak predominates. 



Is your sawmill of cement and steel or mill constructed with a 

 sprinkler system? What kind of a house do you live in? 



Architects and engineers are demanding branded lumber from 

 responsible manufacturers. What are you doing to help them get it? 



The sash and door business, and nearly all the planing null work 

 for that matter, used to be largely a pine or soft wood proposition, 

 but now the biggest and best factor in the stock door business is 

 hardwood, the hardwood veneered door. 



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