WOOD-USING INDUSTRIES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



BY 

 ROGER E. SIMMONS, UNDER THE DIRECTION OF J. S. HOLMES AND H. S, SACKETT. 



INTRODUCTION. 



For many years North Carolina has been one of the leading lumber- 

 producing States. Its cut in 1908 exceeded one billion board feet, an 

 amount equaled by only thirteen States. It not only produces a large 

 quantity of rough lumber, but its rating is very high as a manufacturer 

 of finished products. Though there are no means of definitely determin- 

 ing the relative importance of this State among the leading wood-manu- 

 facturing States, it is safe to say that few surpass North Carolina in the 

 total amount of the raw material annually consumed in manufacture. 

 It is probable that in no other State in the Union is there so large a per- 

 centage of home-grown raw material put into the products of its manu- 

 facture. There is converted annually into these products 676,000,000 

 feet, of which 96 per cent is produced in the State. This amount of 

 material used by the woodworking industries does not include rough 

 lumber in the form of boards, planks, scantling, and structural timber, 

 as these go largely into buildings or other structural work in their 

 rough form. Neither are cross-ties, veneer, cooperage stock, shingles, 

 telegraph and telephone poles included. These are accounted for in 

 special statistics issued annually by the Bureau of the Census, as ex- 

 plained in another part of this report. 



KINDS OF WOODS USED. 



Thirty-two species of wood, with the amount used and the cost of 

 each at the factory, are presented in Table 1. Where several species of 

 the same genus are all equally suitable for the- purpose desired, it was 

 often impossible to get information upon them separately. For instance, 

 white, red, Spanish, and chestnut oak are all acceptable to the furniture 

 manufacturer as raw material. When purchased from local mills, as 

 much of this material is, it was received as "oak," without specifying 

 the particular kinds. In the tables giving information in summary 

 form the general terms of oak, ash, gum, etc., are employed, while in 

 the tables dealing with the individual industries, the exact species are 

 given as reported. 



Notwithstanding the heavy drain made for many years on the yellow- 

 pine forests of North Carolina, depleting to a large extent the virgin 

 growth, the amount of this kind of wood consumed by the manufactur- 

 ers takes the lead over all others. Of the total quantity of yellow-pine 



