HARDWOOD RECORD 



39 



•cipal species of oak in order of abundance are scarlet, black, Spanish, 

 white and post oak. However, due to severe culling and forest fires 

 the species have been almost depleted, hence the merchantable stands 

 in the plateau type are short leaf pine. 



The chestnut type is a type of forest growth familiar to everyone 

 who has spent any time in the Appalachians. It is found practically 

 ■everyivhere between elevations of 2,500 and 4,000 feet, and in fact 

 very often outside of these limits. Chestnut predominates, forming 

 occEisionally as high as seventy-five per cent of the stand. The 

 character of the growth, however, is influenced vastly by topograph- 

 ical and soil conditions, hence the chestnut type can be divided into 

 three sub-types: ridge, slope and cove. . 



As can be inferred from the name, the ridge type grows along 

 ridges and also extends down southerly slopes, chestnut representing 

 from twenty-five to fifty per cent of the stand, and chestnut oak 

 being about as abundant. Intermingled with these are scarlet oak, 

 black gum, short leaf and pitch pine. The height, growth and 

 quality of the timber, however, in this sub-type are inferior to that 

 of the slope and cove types, and in fact very little merchantable 

 stock is taken from the ridge growth in comparison with the 

 others. 



The slope type comprises forests growing on northerly exposures 

 from the eastern to the western slopes, and occasionally extending 

 around to the southern slopes. Here the soil is usually moist and 

 more fertile than on the ridges. The trees are of better quality 

 and dimensions, hence more merchantable. Chestnut is the most 

 important timber tree, forming thirty to fifty per cent of the 

 stand. There grow with it red oak, white oak, linn, hickory, chest- 

 nut oak, buckeye, ash and occasionally yellow poplar, while in the 

 iipper elevations there is sometimes an intermixture of hemlock. 



The best type of chestnut, as of other mountain growths, occurs 

 in the coves, and in this environment the trees grow tall, straight and 

 sound. Fires are less frequent in the coves, owing to moist condi- 

 tion, and it is here that the best quality of chestnut timber is found. 

 The red oak type represents the growth above the 4,000 feet con- 

 tour, and occasionally extends up to the spruce region. Red oak 

 is naturally the most important tree of this type. Owing to the 

 altitude and its consequent exposure, the growth of the tree is more 

 or less warped, and the production of merchantable stock is limited. 

 Here are found chestnut, oak, sugar maple, buckeye and linn. 



The last-named type comes in just below the lower line of de- 

 markation of the spruce type. Here almost pure areas of beech or 

 a mixture of beech and maple occur. The northern section of this 

 type contains good commercial timber, and with it is intermingled 

 buckeye, linn, chestnut, ash and hickory. 



A recent bulletin on North Carolina timber industries reveals the 

 fact that practically all the timber cut in western North Carolina is 

 sawed or otherwise manufactured in that part of the state. There 

 are three classes of sawmills in operation in the state — large 

 stationary band mills, small portable circular mills, small stationary 

 circular mills, and water power mills. There were only seven large 

 stationary sawmills in operation during 190S and 1909, only four 

 of these running full time. This class of mill manufactured about 

 sixteen per cent of the total cut of 1909 or an average of 5,000,000 

 feet per null per year. ]:t has been estimated that the holdings of 

 five operators in western North Carolina aggregate more than 175,- 

 OOO acres of forest land, containing a stand of 120,000,000 feet of 

 timber. 



This section of the country probably has more portable circular 

 mills than any other part. More than seventy-eight per cent of the 

 lumber sawed in western North Carolina is cut by means of small 

 portable miUs. In 1911 there were about three hundred such mills 

 in sixteen counties, representing an average annual production of 

 350,000 feet of lumber per mill. These mills are either run as custom 

 sawing plants or are owned and operated by the owner of the timber 

 land. They constitute a large part of the industry in that section 

 ■of the countiy. In some eases several of these mills are owned by 

 one man, and on this basis he is insured a very fair return on his 

 investment. 



The water mills are scattered all over the country, but are mostly 



obsolete and passe as far as actual commercial use is concerneJ. 

 In most instances they run only occasionally. Once in a while a 

 water power mill of a considerable size will be found producing quan- 

 tities of lumber for shipment, but water power is too uncertain to be 

 depended on as the power for commercial enterprises of any size. 

 Whip-sawing is still practiced in a few counties, and in fact some 

 of the best quality of poplar and linn squares shipped out are cut in 

 this way. Some of this class of stock is cut twenty to fifty miles 

 from the railroad. This industry, however, is of negligible impor- 

 tance. 



The importance of chestnut wood as a source of production for 

 tannic acid in this country was not realized until about ten years 

 ago. At that time plants were established for the manufacture 

 of tannic acid from chestnut in many places in the eastern states. 

 Several factories were installed in western North Carolina, and 

 at present four large plants are in operation at Andrews, Canton 

 and Asheville. Practically all of the 94,500 cords of chestnut 

 wood cut in this region in 1909 was consumed in these plants in 

 addition to a plant at Old Fort. United States census reports 

 establish the fact that North Carolina tanneries used in 1909 

 18,000,000 pounds of tannic extract made from chestnut wood. 

 The effect of the industry upon the value of chestnut is reflected 

 in the fact that the price of chestnut cord-wood delivered at the 

 railroad has increased from $2 to $4, on an average, a cord. The 

 bulk of this cut, however, is done by farmers on woodlots and 

 does not represent a large outlay of capital and labor. One of 

 the most favorable features of the production of tannic acid from 

 chestnut wood is the fact that vast quantities of hyper-mature 

 trees, which would otherwise be absolute waste, can be utilized 

 at a profit in this way, and at the same time their removal will 

 improve the general character of the forest. 



The manufacture of pulp-wood has grown to considerable pro- 

 portions in western North Carolina. Five woods are used prin- 

 cipally for this industry. All of them are manufactured by chem- 

 ical processes into the better quality of magazine paper. One 

 cord of wood is generally estimated to produce 1,000 pounds of 

 pulp. The Champion Fiber Company at Canton, N. C, is the only 

 paper plant in that region. This concern consumes large quan- 

 tities of chestnut for the manufacture of pulp, this wood repre- 

 senting fully half of the total consumption of cord-wood for this 

 purpose. The tannic acid is first extracted from the wood by a 

 patented process. Large quantities of spruce and balsam are cut 

 for the same purpose on the immense tracts of forests which the 

 Champion Fiber Company owns throughout that region. 



About twenty per cent of the pulp-wood now consumed is known 

 as poplar pulp-wood and includes poplar and linn, buckeye and 

 cucumber. The stock is cut in the spring and summer, and the 

 logs peeled. This type of pulp-wood makes a very good quality 

 of paper, but owing to the merchantable value of these different 

 species as timber, only the poorer stuff is taken from the woods 

 for pulping. There is an increasing tendency to use the slashings 

 and to cull out the defective trees that would not produce good 

 lumber. 



The state of North Carolina produces vast quantities of tan 

 bark annually from hemlock and chestnut oak. This industry 

 started about twenty years ago when several large tanneries were 

 established in the western Piedmont region. In 1909 there were 

 20,088 cords of chestnut oak bark and 7,246 cords of hemlock 

 bark cut in the state for this purpose. Of this 24,000 cords were 

 consumed within the state. Chestnut oak bark is peeled in the 

 spring, and after being peeled the bark is allowed to dry in the 

 air. The common method in that section is to stack it against 

 the trunk of the felled tree after peeling. The most disheart- 

 ening feature of the enterprise is the great waste of compara- 

 tively valuable oak timber contingent upon the cutting of the 

 chestnut oak trees. It is a common practice to leave them in the 

 woods to rot after peeling. Besides chestnut oak, black and white 

 oak is used in larger quantities. 



North Carolina boasts of a multitude of small local industries 

 consuming very considerable quantities of different kinds of hard- 



