Economic Feasibility Analyses 3499 



To aid planning, econometric models of a few industries important to hard- 

 wood utilization are available, e.g. , the pallet market (Schuler and Wallin 1979) 

 and insulation board market (Schuler 1979). Harpole (1979) described an eco- 

 nomic model for structural flakeboard production. Also, W. G. Luppold of the 

 Northeastern Forest Experiment Station, USD A Forest Service, has available an 

 econometric model of the hardwood lumber market. 



A nationally available computerized information retrieval system (FORD AT) 

 for forest economic data should simplify business research (Spelter 1981), and 

 E VALUE, a computer program for evaluating investments in forest products 

 industries, should be useful (Ince and Steele 1980). Kallio and Dickerhoof 

 (1979) provided a source book for business data and market information related 

 to the forest products industry. Also, Harpole (1978a) provided a cash flow 

 computer program to analyze investment opportunities in wood products manu- 

 facturing. SOLVE II is a computerized technique to improve efficiency and 

 solve problems in hardwood sawmills (Adams and Dunmire 1977). 



The scale of operations described in sections 28-1 through 28-33 varies from a 

 two-person enterprise to large manufacturing complexes employing several 

 hundred people. Granskog (1978) concluded that in major southern forest indus- 

 tries, the trend has been toward achieving economies of scale, that is, toward 

 building ever larger production plants to reduce unit costs. It is hoped, however, 

 that the southern timber economy will accommodate small ventures as well as 

 large. Proponents of the idea that "small is beautiful" will find encouragement in 

 Mason's (1979) description of making a good living cutting one tree per acre per 

 year from 130 Idaho acres, and help in locating literature from Wertman's 

 (1979) annotated bibliography on small-scale technology for local forest devel- 

 opment. Small-scale paper making is described in Paper (1978). 



Plant location is usually critical to the success of new forest enterprises. Wolf 

 and Dempsey (1970) offer some suggestions that should be helpful in deciding 

 where to locate; their article contains a short bibliography on the subject. 



Data describing quantities and distribution of the various species of hard- 

 woods growing among southern pines can be found in chapter 2. 



28-1 $13,000— COST OF OWNING AND OPERATING A 



65-HP (DRAWBAR) DIESEL TRACTOR 



ON WOOD GA9 



The use of wood gas (see sect. 26-4) in internal combustion engines has led to 

 development of portable gasifiers and substantial literature on the subject (e.g.. 

 Solar Energy Research Institute 1979). Hundreds of thousands of such units 

 were used during World War II. At present, however, the low heat content of the 

 gas, the extra time required for vehicle start-up and maintenance, the nuisance of 

 fuel handling and drying, and transport problems associated with gasification 

 make wood gas not competitive with gasoline or diesel fuel except in special 

 cases. 



^Abstracted from Post and Eoff (1981). 



