26 



TIMBER DEPLETION, PRICES, EXPORTS, AND OWNERSHIP. 



five years' cut. In North Carolina the State forester estimates 

 that the supply of old-growth hardwood timber will last 17 

 years. One of the best-informed lumbermen in western North 

 Carolina estimates that the cut from old-growth timber in 

 north Georgia and southwestern North Carolina will last 20 

 years, but that this cut will come increasingly from small 

 operations. 



In Kentucky and Tennessee the duration of the cut of old- 

 growth hardwoods is believed by the manager of one lumber 

 company to be 20 years, while another well-informed man. sees 

 15 years ahead for the Kentucky hardwoods. A future cut of 

 15 years is predicted for old-growth timber in the southern Ap- 

 palachians by another representative of the industry, while still 

 another estimates that the supply will last 25 years. 



The consensus of opinion among the best-informed men in 

 the industry seems to be that if present conditions continue the 

 southern Appalachians will have ceased to function as an 

 important source of high-grade hardwood lumber within 20 

 years and that within 25 years the old-growth timber will be 

 practically gone. 



EFFECT OF DEPLETION UPON SELECTED INDUSTRIES. 



Further light is thrown on the extent of the depletion of the 

 southern Appalachian old-growth hardwoods by a questionnaire 

 to the wood-using industries of North Carolina by the State 

 forester. Referring to local supplies at the present time in 

 comparison with conditions existing during the past 10 or 20 

 years, 93 per cent of the fueniture makers, 91 per cent of the 

 vehicle makers, and 100 per cent of the chair makers reported 

 that supplies had been greatly reduced. In referring to pros- 

 pective local supplies on the basis of a 10-year outlook, 12 per 

 cent of the furniture, 22 per cent of the vehicle, and 43 per cent 

 of the chair factories reported that supplies would be ex- 

 hausted. Eighty-eight per cent of the furniture, 67 per cent of 

 the vehicle, and 57 per cent of the chair makers reported that 

 supplies would be gradually reduced. Of all of these only 11 

 per cent of the vehicle factories reported an outlook for suffi- 

 cient material. 



The replies received from the furniture manufacturers indi- 

 cate a marked decrease in the use of oak and poplar as com- 

 pared with gum. In 1909 the lumber used was 74 per cent oak, 

 13 per cent poplar, and 1 per cent gum, while in 1919 the per- 

 centages of oak and poplar used had been reduced to 60 and 6 

 per cent, respectively, while gum had increased to 21 per cent. 

 The manufacturers indicate that the present year will see a 

 still larger proportion of gum used. 



THE ANNUAL GROWTH. 



There are about 22i million acres of second-growth hardwoods 

 of saw-timber size in the southern Appalachian States, which 

 are estimated to be producing about 1J billion board feet per 

 year, equal to about 325 million cubic feet of standing timber. 

 In addition there are approximately 22} million acres which are 

 producing hardwood material of only cordwood size. The 

 annual growth on this area is about 570 million cubic feet. The 

 total growth is thus about 900 million cubic feet. 



GROWTH COMPARED WITH CUT. 



Growth is about one-half the " normal " rate of cut : 



In contrasting these figures, however, it should be remem- 

 bered that much the greater part of the cut is being taken 

 from (he relatively concentrated old-growth timber, while the 

 growth is taking place in the widely distributed stands of 

 second growth. The cut is from large timber yielding high- 

 grade lumber ; the growth is nearly all low grade because of 

 the small size of the trees. Great damage is constantly beiiig 

 done by forest fires, while the second growth itself is being 

 drawn upon more and more for a wide variety of small wood 

 products. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS IN THE 

 FUTURE LUMBER SUPPLY OF THE COUNTRY. 



The future production of the Appalachian hardwood region 

 is of I'm- more than purely local importance. The hardwood 

 forest hinds of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, which supplied 25 

 per cent of the total hardwood lumber cut as late as 1899, 

 have been converted into farms almost as fast as the land 

 has been cleared, and small isolated tracts, as farm wood lots, 

 will furnish the only future timber production. Hardwood 

 lumber production is now centered in the lower Mississippi 

 Valley, and the cvit is almost entirely from rich agricultural 

 lands from which timber production can not be expected in 

 the future. Farm woods will continue to contribute, but if 

 there is to be any permanent supply of large-sized, high-grade, 

 hardwood saw timber it must come very largely from moun- 

 tainous, rough, or otherwise nonagricultural lands like those 

 in the southern mountains. Aside from relatively small areas 

 in the Lake States and in New England, the entire country 

 must look to the southern Appalachians. 



HARDWOODS OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 



AREA AND STAND. 



The lower Mississippi Valley, including the States of Arkan- 

 sas, Mississippi, Louisiana, eastern Texas, and eastern Okla- 

 homa, constitutes the last great reservoir of hardwoods in the 

 country. Of the hardwood area of 36,000,000 acres in this 

 region, 60 per cent, including the heaviest stands and most 

 valuable species, is located on the alluvial bottoms of the Mis- 

 sissippi Delta. Most of this is unusually fertile and will even- 

 tually be cleared for agriculture. The remaining 40 per cent, of 

 upland stands, is of less importance from a lumber standpoint, 

 both because of the smaller trees and great mixture of 

 species and because much of it is broken up by farms and pino 

 stands. 



Altogether the region is estimated to contain nearly 133 

 billion hoard feet of saw timber, or more than twice as much 

 as the present stands of old-growth hardwoods in either the 

 Lake States or the southern Appalachians. With the exhaus- 

 tion of the hardwood supplies in these regions, the lower Mis- 

 sissippi Valley is being drawn on more and more heavily to 

 furnish the raw material for the hardwood-using industries 

 of the entire country. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE LUMBER INDUSTRY. 



During the period from 1900 to 1906 the cut of hardwoods in 

 Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, which had previously contributed 

 large quantities to the vehicle, furniture, railroad-car, and other 

 hardwood-consuming industries, fell off by nearly 50 per cent. 

 By 1906 the center of hardwood production had shifted to 

 the Appalachian States, which furnished nearly half of the 

 country's hardwood consumption, while nearly one-fifth came 

 from the Lake States. Now these regions in turn are declining 

 in production, and there is a corresponding increase in the 

 cut of the lower Mississippi Valley. The exploitation of hard- 

 woods in this region has progressed steadily since 1900, its 

 contribution to the total hardwood cut increasing from 14 per 

 cent to approximately 25 per cent. To-day the hardwood 



