40 



THE SOUTHERN LUMBERMAN 



rles it through the sawmill, and leaves it as rough 

 lumber. The Forest Service report begins with 

 the rough lumber, carries it through planing ma- 

 chines, and leaves it in the form of flooring, which 

 is a finished product, ready for use. Much lumber 

 goes directly from the mill yard into use without 

 any further manufacture. This report has nothing 

 to do with lumber used in that way; and it is 

 apparent that in states with large outputs of rough 

 lumber the total cut is much above the total quan- 

 tity further manufactured. For example: 



No. ft. rough Mnfd. prod- 

 lumber produced ucts. No. of 

 State for year 1909 feet 1910-1911 



Kentucky 860.712,000 409,633.800 



Louisiana 3,551.918,000 *1, 354, 954, 000 



Mississippi 2,572,669,000 618.270,030 



Missouri 660,159,000 442.272,993 



North Carolina 2,177,715.000 676,166,250 



Tennessee 1,223,847,000 413,878,169 



* Including large quantity which was simply 

 planed. 



States with little timber and large manufactures 

 may work much more into finished products than 

 their sawmill cut. What the state can not furnish 

 in the way of rough lumber the factories draw from 

 the outside. Illinois is such a state. Its lumber 

 cut in 1909 was 170,181,000 feet; its factory output 

 1,781,536,120,000 feet, or more than ten times as 

 much. 



The manufacturers in Tennessee are favorably 

 situated in regard to markets. Railroads are am- 

 ple, and distances to the best markets are mod- 

 erate. Some of the largest shippers figure that ten 

 or more states, extending from Texas to Virginia, 

 lie so convenient as to make them peculiarly suited 

 to trade with Tennessee; and, of course, a much 

 wider territory lies only a little further away. 



The output of sawmills in Tennessee according 

 to the Federal census was: 



894,968,000 feet in 1907 



790,642,000 feet in 1908 

 1,223,849,000 feet in 1909 

 1,016,475,000 feet in 1910 



must be. Some woods possess qualities fitting 

 them for many purposes, though they have not yet 

 been much used. The size of a tree is not a sure 

 guide by which to judge its place as a commercial 

 wood. Occasionally, species which are scarcely 

 more than shrubs, as the mountain laurel or the 

 nannyberry, are quite useful for certain purposes, 

 while others though of good size, as the planer 

 tree, are seldom reported in use for any purpose. 

 Manufacturers in Tennessee reported 46 woods in 

 use. The number is disappointing, but its small- 

 ness is apparent rather than real. Doubtless twice 

 that many are in use. The custom prevails in Ten- 

 nessee as in many other parts of this country of 

 giving a single name to many closely-related spe- 

 cies. The hickories are an example. Half a dozen 

 hickories grow in Tennessee, and all are in use, 

 yet the common name hickory is applied to all be- 

 cause it is not easy to distinguish one from an- 

 other in the lumber yard or the shop, though the 

 woodsmen generally know the species apart. The 

 forests of Tennessee contain the following species 

 of hickory: 



Pecan Hicoria pecan. 



Bitternut Hicoria minima. 



Nutmeg hickory Hicoria myristicaeformis. 



Water hickory Hicoria aquatica. 



Shagbark hickory Hicoria ovata. 



Shellbark Hicoria lasiniosa. 



Mockernut Hicoria alba. 



Pignut Hicoria glabra. 



Paleleaf Hicoria villosa. 



The list of oaks native to Tennessee is double 

 that of the hickories. Two or more pines not men- 

 tioned in the reported species are doubtless in 

 use. At least a score of minor species that is, 

 woods not usually considered in sawmill output 

 grow in Tennessee in amounts sufficient to give 

 them value, and not one is listed in reports by 

 manufacturers, though there can be little ques- 

 tion that all are in use. They are either not re- 

 ported at all, or they are grouped under other 

 names. If all of them were duly considered they 

 would not add greatly to the total quantity, but 

 they would probably double the number of species 

 reported. 



SUMMARY OF KINDS OP WOOD USED IN TENNESSEE. 

 Table 1. 



Kinds of Wood 

 Common name Botanical name 



White Oak Quercus alba 



Shortleaf pine Pinus echinata 



Yellow poplar Liriodendron tulipifera. 



Red oak Quercus rubra 



Red gum Liquidambar styraciflua. . 



Hickory Hicoria 



Cottonwood Populus deltoides 



Longleaf pine Pinus palustris 



Chestnut Castanea dentata 



White ash Fraxinus americana 



Cypress Taxodium distichum 



Red cedar Juniperus virginiana 



Basswood Tilia americana 



Beech Fagus atropunicea 



Buckeye Aesculus octandra 



Sugar maple Acer saccharum 



White pine Pinus strobus 



Dogwood Cornus florida 



Birch, sweet and yellow Betula lenta 



and lutea 



Black gum Nyssa sylvatica 



Sycamore Platinus occidentalis 



Black ash Fraxinus nigra 



Persimmon Diospyros virginiana 



Silver maple Acer saccharinum 



Hemlock Tsuga canadensis 



Black walnut Juglans nigra 



Chestnut oak Quercus prinus 



Black cherry >Prunus serotina 



Black willow Salix nigra 



White elm Ulmus americana 



Sassafras Sassafras sassafras 



Shittimwood Bumelia lanuginosa 



Hackberry Celtis occidentalis 



Tupelo Nyssa aquatica 



Texan oak Quercus texana 



Mahogany Swietenia mahogani 



Yellow oak Quercus velutina 



Cucumber tree Magnolia acuminata. . . . 



Slippery elm Ulmus pubescens 



Largetooth aspen Populus grandiden- 



tata 



Butternut Juglans cinerea 



Table mountain pine Pinus pungens... 



White cedar Thuja occidentalis 



Bur oak Quercus macrocarpa 



Osage orange Toxylon pomiferum 



River birch Betula nigra 



Quantity- 

 used annually 



feet B. M. per cent 



61,877,787 14.95 



54,545,245 1318 



51,137,820 1236 



50,156,500 1212 



50,027,428 12 09 



32,485,976 7.85 



28,760,747 6.95 



19,195,096 4.64 



13,823,555 3 34 



7,054,000 1.70 



6,780,339 1 64 



6,532,293 1 58 



6,028,833 1.46 



5,825,000 1 41 



2.839,617 .69 



2,719,000 .66 



2,256,610 .55 



1,705,000 .41 



1.363,000 

 1,033,000 

 724.000 

 715,000 

 680,000 

 543,000 

 523,825 

 520.000 

 500,000 

 453,000 

 450,000 

 425,000 

 336,000 

 291,308 

 250,000 

 237,000 

 211,056 

 183,000 

 170,000 

 125,000 

 115,000 



100,000 



94,000 



30.000 



25.000 



16,132 



8,000 



6,000 



.33 

 .25 

 .17 

 .17 

 .16 

 .13 

 .13 

 .13 

 .12 

 .11 

 .11 

 .10 

 .OS 

 .07 

 .06 

 .06 

 .05 

 .04 

 .04 

 .03 

 .03 



.02 



.02 



Totals 413,878,167 



Less than 1-100 of 1 per cent. 



Commercial Woods of Tennessee. 



The state's vertical range of more than 6,000 feet 

 from the flood plains of the Mississippi River in 

 the west to the highest mountains of the east ia 

 responsible for the extraordinary number of tree 

 species in Tennessee. Those of the swamps and 

 lowlands, such as the cypress, tupelo, and ever- 

 green magnolia, are found in the flat regions of 

 the west. The oaks, maples, beech, birches, and 

 some of the pines grow in the elevated valleys and 

 among the hills in the central and eastern regions; 

 and white pine, table mountain pine, the hemlocks, 

 several oaks, and other hardwoods are found among 

 the mountains. Some, as the hickories and yellow 

 poplar, grow in practically all parts of the state. 



The total number of commercial woods indigi- 

 nous to the region can not be definitely stated for 

 the reason that there is no exact definition or 

 agreement as to what a commercial wood is. To fall 

 in that class, it must be in use, but there may be 

 difference of opinion as to how general that use 



100.00 



Average 

 cost per 

 1,000ft 

 $ 25.37 

 16.18 

 21.45 

 23.57 

 13.83 

 22.80 

 21.51 

 20.23 

 26.45 

 22.23 

 28.66 

 11.71 

 19.66 

 17.39 

 17.19 

 19.55 

 16.27 

 22.07 



35.84 

 10.61 

 14.26 

 13.96 

 26.99 

 13.45 

 10.90 

 25.26 

 16.50 

 25.35 

 10.57 

 24.74 

 20.04 

 17.47 

 12.50 

 22.11 

 18.49 

 134.54 

 14.94 

 10.00 

 15.19 



25.00 



13.45 



12.00 



7.48 



20.02 



200.00 



12.00 



$20.73 



$8,580,440 



63.61 



36.39 



A report issued in 1910 by the Tennessee State 

 Geological Survey and compiled by R. Clifford Hall 

 of the United States Forest Service, listed tree 

 species native to Tennessee as follows: 



Pines e 



Spruces 2 



1 Ifmlocks . 

 Fir 



Cypress 2 



Cedars 2 



Walnuts . . 2 



Hickories 10 



Willows 4 



Cottonwoods 3 



Birches j 



Oaks 19 



Rims g 



Mackberrles 4 



Ashes g 



Magnolias 5 



Maples jo 



All others 63 



Total species 159 



Tennessee is thus shown to have nearly one- 

 third of all the species of trees in the United 

 States. It would be difficult to find a similar area 

 in this country possessing an equal number, though 

 the total quantity of timber in some other regions 

 of equal size is much greater. 



The Pines. 



Though six pines are native to Tennessee, only 

 four were reported in use in the States, and one of 

 these, longleaf pine, came wholly from without. 

 Table 1 lists the pines in use and shows the annual 

 amounts demanded and how much grew in the 

 state and how much came from elsewhere. The 

 detailed statistics of woods in use. which are shown 

 in that table, are not repeated in this discussion, 

 but certain facts or conclusions not included in 

 the table are presented here. 



SHORTLEAF PINE This grows in Central and 

 Western Tennessee, but is rare or totally wanting 

 in the mountains of the east. In the region where 

 it grows it is not equally dispersed, but is found in 

 some localities and is wanting in others. No large 

 areas in Tennessee are heavily timbered with this 

 species, as some parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Louis- 

 iana, and Mississippi are, or were once. It repro- 

 duces vigorously, however, and where other tim- 

 bers have been removed and space is given it the 

 shortleaf pine spreads rapidly and holds its place 

 well. No loblolly pine was reported by manufac- 

 turers, but it grows in the southern part of the 

 state, and there is little doubt that a considerable 

 amount is in use. It has been perhaps reported as 

 longleaf or shortleaf. The wood is more like the 

 latter than the former. 



WHITE PINE This valuable timber is found in 

 the mountains of Eastern Tennessee and in rather 

 large amounts. In 1910 the sawmills of that re- 

 gion cut more than 39,0<10,000 feet of it. The white 

 pine is hardly ever mistaken for any other. It is 

 an imposing forest tree, with an individuality so 

 marked that it may be recognized by its form alone 

 at distances so great that the usual botanical char- 

 acteristics cannot be distinguished. Nor is any lum- 

 berman disposed to call it by any name but its own. 

 It never sails under false colors as some other 

 woods occasionally do. though other woods fre- 

 quently take the white pine's name and thus gain 

 easy access to markets which would be hard to 

 break into under their own names. This white pine 

 is the same species as that which so long supplied 

 markets in New England, Pennsylvania and the 

 Lake States. It is officially called white pine, and 

 no other goes by that name. In Tennessee the 

 white pine approaches the Southern limit of its 

 range. It is a Northern tree, but it has followed 

 the cool mountain ranges southward from New 

 York, across Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Vir- 

 ginia, to the highlands of Tennessee and Western 

 North Carolina. As is the case with most species 

 as they approach the limits of their range, the white 

 pine of the Southern mountains is not quite equal 

 to the best of New England and the Lake States. 

 The wood is generally considered a little harder 

 and the knots darker in color in the South. Neither 

 does it grow as large as in the North, nor does it 

 reproduce as vigorously. In spite of this, however, 

 it is a valuable timber, though the manufacturers 

 in Tennessee seem to have used less than six 

 per cent of the state's sawmill cut of this species. 

 The records do not show what became of the bal- 

 ance, though it is likely that most of it went to 

 manufacturers in other states. The average cost 

 of that bought in Tennessee was low, $16.27. The 

 mill yard value in 1909, according to the census 

 report, was $18.21. Over 40 per cent of the white 

 pine reported by manufacturers in Tennessee was 

 bought by boxmakers who use low grades. That 

 helps to explain why the price of this wood at the 

 factory was lower than the average value at the 

 sawmill Tennesseans do not use the best grades 

 of their white pine. 



TABLE MOUNTAIN PINE This scarce and lit- 

 tle known tree reaches its best development in the 

 mountains of Eastern Tennessee, though its range 

 extends northward in certain restricted localities, 

 through West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsyl- 

 vania. So restricted was- its range once believed 

 to be that its discoverer, the younger Michaux, a 

 French botanist, wrote more than a hundred years 

 ago that he believed the only place where this tree 

 existed was on a certain flat-topped mountain in 

 North Carolina; hence he called it table-mountain 

 pine. It is now known that he greatly under- 

 estimated the extent of its range. On some of the 

 mountains of Eastern Tennessee it is the most 

 abundant pine. The amount put to use in Tennes- 

 see is moderate, but it is interesting because no 

 other state, as far as shown by reports to the 

 Forest Service, has made any use of the wood ex- 

 cept that a little has been burned for charcoal in 

 Pennsylvania. 



PITCH PINE (PINUS RIGIDA) No manufac- 

 turer in the state reported the use of this pine, 

 though there is no doubt that many have been using 

 it for a number of purposes, but have listed it 

 under some other name, or failed to include it. It 

 is generally called black pine in Eastern Tennessee, 

 particularly in the regions of white pine, the pur- 

 pose being to distinguish between the two species 



