INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 



BY JOSEPH HYDE PRATT, STATE GEOLOGIST. 



The present report deals with the wood-using industries of North 

 Carolina. These may be divided into three classes: (1) those taking 

 timber in the log and by the usual operation of the sawmill converting 

 it into rough lumber; (2) those manufacturing directly from the log a 

 finished product which cannot be changed by any further process of 

 manufacture, such as staves, excelsior, shingles, veneer boxes, or mine 

 rollers; and (3) those using rough lumber and by application of skilled 

 labor and the aid of wood-using machinery converting it into such fin- 

 ished products as furniture, boxes, flooring, etc. 



The wood-using industries which come under the first class are not 

 included in this study. Information covering that class is published 

 annually in a statistical report by the Bureau of Census in cooperation 

 with the United States Forest Service, which gives the lumber cut for 

 the country by States and species. The second and third classes, or 

 those industries producing a commodity which cannot be changed by 

 further manufacture, are discussed in this report, and information re- 

 garding them has been collected from all sources available. This infor- 

 mation has never, heretofore, been made a subject of special investiga- 

 tion in North Carolina. The new forms which further manufacture 

 gives to lumber, and the commodities into which wood enters, are worthy 

 of careful study. The tables given in this report show the sources of 

 such wood used, whether grown in North Carolina or in States nearby 

 or far distant, the kinds of lumber demanded by the woodworking facto- 

 ries, the price paid for each species delivered, the quantity consumed, 

 and the purposes for which it was used. 



An investigation of this character should be of value in a number of 

 ways. To the State of North Carolina it should be of considerable 

 assistance in forming an intelligent forest policy,. and in presenting the 

 advantages the State offers to wood-using industries to locate in it. 

 The timber owner, and even the farmer who has a few scattered trees 

 to sell, can learn from this report where a market can be found. To the 

 sawmill operator it may suggest a use for wood which he previously con- 

 sidered of little commercial value. To the manufacturer who is under 

 the necessity of looking beyond his own State for all, or part, of the 

 lumber needed, it will furnish a source of fairly accurate information 

 concerning a region most likely to supply his needs. The merchants 

 throughout the country who handle wood products can study to advan- 



