A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 



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TABLE 2. Stand of saw timber in the United States, by region and species 

 [In million feet board measure] 



The true firs of the West comprise 132 billion, and then come the 

 southern yellow pines, including principally longleaf, loblolly, short- 

 leaf, and slash pine, with 118 billion. The once large supply of 

 northern white pine in the Lake States, highly prized as a standard 

 wood for millwork, boxes and crates, novelties, and patterns, has been 

 so depleted that it now comprises less than 1 percent of the country's 

 softwood. Western white pine and sugar pine, however, are substan- 

 tially similar to the white pine of the East in technical and mechanical 

 characteristics, but the supply of these is also small. 



The hardwoods are practically confined to the East. They con- 

 stitute but one tenth of the country's saw-timber stand, and yet 

 contribute annually a quarter of the saw-timber cut. Unlike the 

 softwood stands, in which second growth makes up but one seventh 

 of the total, hardwood stands comprise nearly twice as much second 

 growth as old growth. The South is the most important hardwood 

 region with 43 percent of the total hardwood stand for the country. 



We are approaching measurably near the end of our ready-grown 

 mature hardwoods. Depletion of the hardwood supply has not only 

 progressed further than that of softwoods, but this progress is par- 



