50 THE SCHOOL BOOK OF FORESTRY 



ufacturers, musical instrument factories, box 

 makers and the automobile industry with high- 

 grade material. The industry uses annually 

 780,000,000 board feet of first quality hardwood 

 cut from virgin stands of timber. Red gum and 

 white oak are the hardwoods most in demand. 

 In the Lake States, a branch of the veneer indus- 

 try which uses maple, birch and basswood is 

 located. Oak formerly was the most important 

 wood used. Now red gum has replaced the oak, 

 as the supplies of the latter timber have 

 dwindled. At present there is less than one- 

 fourth of a normal supply of veneer timber in 

 sight. Even the supplies in the farmers' wood- 

 lands are being depleted. The industry is now 

 largely dependent on the timber of the southern 

 Mississippi Valley. The veneer industry requires 

 best-grade material. Clear logs are demanded 

 that are at least 16 inches in diameter at the small 

 end. It is getting harder every year to secure 

 such logs. Like the furniture industry, the veneer 

 mills lack adequate supplies of good timber. 



No satisfactory substitutes for the hickory 

 and ash used in the handle industry have yet been 

 found. About the only stocks of these timbers 

 now left are in the Southern States. Even in 



