34 



TIMBER DEPLETION, PRICES,, EXPORTS, AND OWNERSHIP. 



of 32 billion board feet, followed by hemlock, white and 

 Norway pine, and bald cypress. The stand of these six species 

 together is considerably less than half as much as the stand 

 of southern yellow pine, and is only 6 per cent of the total 

 stand of softwoods. The total saw-timber stand of white pine, 

 once regarded as " inexhaustible," is now less than the amount 

 estimated to have been manufactured into lumber in either the 

 Saginaw Valley or at Muskegon, Mich., and less than one-fifth 

 of the total estimated cut from the State of Michigan. 



Of the hardwoods the only large reservoirs of virgin timber 

 still left are in the Lake State, the Southern Appalachians, and 

 the lower Mississippi Valley. The first two of these contain, 

 respectively, about ;?2 and 53 billion feet of old growth. There 

 is also a considerable total stand of hardwoods, estimated at 

 approximately 133 billion board feet, in the Central States out- 

 side of the Appalachians, but this is composed chiefly of second- 

 growth material in widely scattered wood lots, and can not be 

 counted on to contribute any large proportion of high-class 

 material to the hardwood industries. Oak is easily the lead- 

 ing hardwood of the country, with a total stand of 157 billion 

 board feet, followed by the three northern hardwoods birch, 

 beech, and maple having together 91 billion board feet. (See 

 Table 7 and fig. 8.) Three of the most valuable hardwoods 

 hickory, ash, and yellow poplar together have an estimated 

 stand of only 35 billion board feet, or less than 2 per cent of 

 the total stand. That the depletion of the hardwood supply 

 of the country has progressed even further than that of the 

 softwoods is indicated by the fact that the hardwoods consti- 

 tute only about 20 per cent of the saw-timber stand, as against 

 nearly 30 per cent of the saw-timber cut. Moreover, the deple- 

 tion is particularly marked in the case of the more valuable 

 woods. 



While the cordwood forms more than one-third of the total 

 volume of standing timber, less than one-sixth of the total is on 

 the cordwood areas, which average only about 850 cubic feet to 



New England. . _1 



Middle Atlantic 



Lake. 



forest Area 

 Scuvtimbcr -Stand 

 D Total Stand 



Ffocky 

 Mountain 



Fbc/fi'c 

 Coast... 



^o Jo 



Percent 



FIG. 7. Per cent of total forest area, total saw timber stand, and 

 total stand by regions. 



TABLE 7. Stand of saw tiTnber in the United States bj/ species and regions. 

 [Quantities in million board feet, lumber tally.) 



1 Includes small amounts of various species of yellow pine. 



TOTAL STAND. 



The total volume of standing timber in the country, includ- 

 ing both saw timber and cordwood, is estimated roughly at 746 

 billion cubic feet. Of this, 485 billion cubic feet is saw timber 

 and 261 billion cubic feet cordwood, (See Table 8 and fig. 9.) 



the acre. This low average is in itself a striking indication of 

 failure to secure a satisfactory restocking of our cut and burned 

 over forest lands. This failure will have increasingly serious 

 consequences, as depletion of the old-growth forests makes us 

 more and more dependent on second-growth timber. 



