740 



of Agriculture 1949 



liquids, and other substitute methods 

 of packaging and shipping liquids and 

 granular or powdered material, the 

 cooperage industry has steadily de- 

 clined from 2 billion board feet log 

 scale in 1909 to 746 million in 1939. 



The potential annual requirement in 

 1950-55 has been estimated at 775 

 million board feet, with a decline to 

 around 700 million 50 years hence. 



PULPWOOD as a raw material yields 

 thousands of different paper and 

 paperboard products, plastics, cellu- 

 lose yarns, and many other articles in 

 everyday use. 



There seems to be no end to the 

 growing demands for pulpwood prod- 

 ucts. The production of all kinds of 

 paper and paperboard has nearly 

 doubled in the past 20 years. Per capita 

 demand has grown at a faster rate 

 than has population, as new uses for 

 paper and pulp products constantly 

 have been developed. 



In estimating pulpwood require- 

 ments, the many uses and also the vari- 

 ous processes by which wood is trans- 

 formed into pulp must be taken into 

 account, because the quantity of wood 

 required to produce a unit of pulp 

 varies with the process. 



Potential annual requirements for 

 paper and paperboard in 195055 are 

 estimated at 24 million tons, divided 

 among end products roughly as fol- 

 lows (figures are for thousand tons) : 



Newsprint 500 



Printing and fine paper 4, 500 



Coarse and industrial papers 3, 500 



Sanitary and tissue papers 2, 000 



Building papers 1, 500 



All papers 12,000 



Container board 6,000 



Boxboard 3, 200 



Building boards 2,000 



Other paperboards 800 



All paperboards 12,000 



Total 24,000 



The 24 million tons of paper and 

 paperboard is a total requirement. But 

 the United States is an importer of 



pulpwood, wood pulp, and paper and 

 paperboard, and undoubtedly will re- 

 main so. Thus, only the pulpwood re- 

 quired for part of domestic pulp and 

 paper production need finally be esti- 

 mated in order to determine the future 

 drain on United States forests. 



From an estimated total require- 

 ment of 17,890 thousand tons of wood 

 pulp in 1950-55 is subtracted an esti- 

 mated annual import of 2,000 thou- 

 sand tons. The remainder, 15,890 

 thousand tons, is divided among the 

 different types of pulp. 



Finally, allowance is made for pulp- 

 wood imports, estimated at 1,500 thou- 

 sand cords annually. This subtracted 

 from 21,751 thousand cords leaves 

 20,251 thousand cords as a potential 

 annual requirement in 1950-55. (See 

 table on page 730) . This amount is to 

 be supplied from domestic forests. The 

 equivalent of another 7,500 thousand 

 cords will need to be imported in the 

 form of pulp and paper. 



Fortunately, pulpwood can be got 

 from a large variety of species, both 

 softwood and hardwood, and from 

 trees of small size and inferior quality 

 that under good forest management 

 would be cut in the course of improv- 

 ing stands for the production of saw 

 timber, veneer logs, and other high- 

 quality products. And there are at 

 present huge volumes of so-called in- 

 ferior hardwoods in the forests that 

 could go into container boards, wall- 

 boards, and similar products. 



DISTILLATION converts wood into 

 charcoal, acetic acid, methyl alcohol, 

 and tar products. It is a declining in- 

 dustry, however; 1,150,000 cords were 

 used in 1909, and 485,000 cords in 

 1939. 



Where there is a good market for 

 charcoal, the industry persists, but for 

 the most part coke and carbon black 

 are strong competitors of charcoal for 

 the more important of the various in- 

 dustrial uses. 



Methyl alcohol and acetic acid made 

 by a synthetic process also have cut 

 into the market for those products 



