552 Forestry Quarterly. 



Wood-Using Industries of Virginia. By R. E. Simmons. 

 Published by Department of Agriculture and Immigration of 

 Virginia. 19 12. Pp. 88, ill. 



The investigation upon which this report is based was under- 

 taken by the U. S. Forest Service in co-operation with the De- 

 partment of Agriculture and Immigration of Virginia. The sta- 

 tistics were compiled from data collected in 191 1, covering a per- 

 iod of one year, 



"Besides the 2,ioo,0(X),ooo feet which Virginia's sawmills pro- 

 duce annually, and 20,000,000 feet cut into veneer, it requires 

 257,000,000 feet of forest material for the makers of slack 

 staves and heading and 13,000,000 feet for the manufacturers of 

 tight cooperage stock. The aggregate amounts to nearly 2,390, 

 000,000 feet, which does not include the drain on the forests for 

 such products as cross-ties, pulpwood, mining props, and tele- 

 graph poles. Arbitrarily fixing the quantity for these at 300,- 

 000,000 feet, the total amount of wood contributed annually by 

 Virginia's forests would aggregate approximately 2,690,000,000 

 feet. Expressed in dollars and cents this amounts to more than 

 $25,500,000, making the value of the annual timber crop to ex- 

 ceed the combined values of the tobacco and wheat crops, and 

 equal to considerably more than two-thirds of the corn crop as 

 reported by the Department of Agriculture for 1910. With 

 agriculture, therefore, Virginia's forests are one of her greatest 

 sources of wealth. 



"The wood-using industries take a part of this lumber after 

 the saw mills lay it down, and by additional manufacture further 

 add to the commercial activity and prosperity of the State by 

 making commodities of greatly increased value. This added 

 value is estimated to be more than $10,000,000, making the forest 

 products worth over $35,000,000. In 191 1, wood-using factories 

 paid over $20,000,000 alone for their raw material, and ac- 

 cording to the last Census their total capitalization, together 

 with the sawmills, amounted approximately to $25,000,000. If 

 the timber is allowed to disappear, the life of these industries, 

 and of the sawmills which are dependent upon the forests for 

 their raw material, is limited ; and if measures are not taken to 

 insure the continued growth and protection of the forests, the 



