32 



SHORTLEAF PINE IN VIRGINIA 



VALUE OF TREES AND STANDS 



The lumber from second-growth stands of shortleaf pine, 

 when , awed into boards one inch thick and graded according to 

 the rules of the North Carolina Pine Association, sells for a high- 

 er price than if it is sold ungraded, or than if it is sold in the 

 form of framing. The lumber which is sawed from young stands 

 less than 35 years old is as a rule too narrow, and that from stands 

 in which the trees have not been crowded, is too knotty to justify 

 grading. The older the stand the more valuable becomes the lum- 

 ber which can be cut from it not only on account of greater widths 

 but also a larger proportion of the high grade.,. If the trees of 

 different diameters in a crowded stand which is about 50 years old 

 (the age of maturity) are carefully sawed into boards of even 

 width and uniform thickness, they will yield approximately the 

 amounts of the different grades of lumber which are given in 

 Table 15. The figures in this table are based on actual measure- 

 ments of grades which were made at a mill where trees of these 

 sizes and age were being cut. 



TABLE 15. 



Total volumes in board feet, and the amount of the grades of lumber in trees of different 

 diameters and heights in dense stands of short- leaf pine 45 to 60 years old. 



The smaller trees in stands of this age are long-bodied and 

 clear stemmed, have very little taper and thin bark, and, although 



