A NATIONAL PLAN* FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 217 



Quantitatively, fuel wood, comprising 13 percent of the saw timber 

 cut and 28 percent of the total cut, is second in importance among 

 forest commodities. However, since it is the least exacting so far as 

 technical specifications or qualities are concerned, it is, of all the major 

 commodities, the one that can best be furnished by improvement 

 cuttings in both cordwood and saw-timber stands, or by the salvaging 

 of waste in logging. In most European countries fuel wood is supplied 

 in these ways and so made a means of improving the forest. In the 

 United States the bulk of the fuel wood drain is still either from saw- 

 timber trees or smaller trees which theoretically should be left to 

 produce saw timber. 



Fuel wood is a relatively bulky, low-value commodity, and therefore 

 not adapted to bear the cost of long transportation. Thus it is at a 

 disadvantage in competition with other fuels, especially in the urban 

 communities. Quantitatively, the regional fuel wood cut corresponds 

 more closely with regional population than that of any other major 

 timber commodity. 



On the whole, statistics on fuel wood cut (and consumption) are 

 hardly^ satisfactory, and there may be a considerable percentage of 

 error in those presented. Those available, together with common 

 knowledge of the increasing use of other fuels, particularly in the urban 

 centers, indicate a sizable falling off in the fuel wood cut in recent 

 years. 



HEWED TIES 



In amount of timber drain, hewed ties rank third, although falling 

 far short of either lumber or fuel. This cut, amounting to over 2 

 billion board feet annually, is considered as coming entirely from 

 saw timber. Both hardwoods and softwoods are used. The great 

 bulk of the hewed-tie cut comes from the South; more, in fact, than 

 from all the rest of the country. 



FENCE POSTS 



The amount of timber cut annually for round and split fence posts 

 approximates that for hewed ties, but unlike that for ties, the drain 

 falls only in part on saw timber. The South furnishes the great bulk 

 of the fence-post cut. 



PULPWOOD 



The pulpwood cut approximates quantitatively that for hewed 

 ties and for fence posts. It comes both from saw timber and cord- 

 wood the greater bulk from the former. Regionally the Lake States 

 and New England each supply 28 percent, the South 17 percent, the 

 Pacific Coast 12, the Middle Atlantic 11, and the Central 4 percent. 

 The pulping properties required in pulpwood are such that a limited 

 number of species, such as spruce, fir, hemlock, aspen, etc., have 

 come to be known as standard pulpwood species. The particular 

 properties of such species are further associated with individual 

 processes of pulp manufacture. Pulpwood supplies must be in geo- 

 graphic or economic proximity to pulp and paper plants that involve 

 large investments and are not easily moved, or else the domestic 

 supplies lose out in competition with foreign (especially Canadian) 

 supplies. 



