UTILIZATION OF ELM, 11 



total amount of elm used is white elm, and it is probable that the 

 proportion of the stand does not differ greatly from this figure. 

 This would place the stand of white elm at about five and one-half 

 billion feet. 



No estimate can be made of the stand of slippery elm. It is cut in 

 the same region as white ehn. The trees are scattered throughout 

 the forest, and the lumber is manufactured and placed on the market 

 mixed with white elm. The stand of cork elm is likewise unknown. 

 On account of its hmited distribution and the heavy demand upon 

 the supply it is rapidly diminishing. 



The supply of wing elm and cedar elm is small, and these species 

 are of conunercial importance only in small restricted areas. Wing 

 elm is evidently fairly abundant in certain locations, since an annual 

 use of approximately a million feet has been reported in Texas, and 

 probably more than that is used in each of the States of Missouri, 

 Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The stand of cedar elm is 

 even less than that of wing ehn, and it is used for local manufacturing 

 purposes only. The wing and cedar elm trees are not usually larger 

 in diameter than 2 feet, and the cedar elm is inclined to become 

 shrubby in situations unfavorable for its growth. 



LUMBER CUT. 



The present output of ehn lumber is about 240,000,000 board feet 

 annually. This puts elm twentieth in rank among all woods and 

 tenth among hardwoods in point of lumber production. 



For the past 10 years elm has constituted between 3 and 3^ per cent 

 of the total amount of hardwood lumber manufactured in the United 

 States and between 1 and 2 per cent of the total of all woods. The 

 amount of lumber cut does not represent the entire amount of wood 

 used, since many woods are utihzed by different industries largely in 

 the form of the log or billet, and the amount so used is not reported 

 as lumber. This is true to a certain extent of elm. Table 4 gives the 

 production of elm lumber for different years by States. According to 

 these figures, the production of elm lumber is decreasing rapidly. 

 Nearly 347^ milhon feet were reported in 1909, about 262 million feet 

 in 1912, and a httle less than 178 million feet in 1915. However, there 

 has not been a reduction in cut to the extent indicated by these figures, 

 since the returns for years subsequent to 1909 are incomplete. This 

 is shown by the computed total cut for 1916 of 240,000,000 feet. 

 Table 5 shows the number of mills reporting elm for different years. 

 Wisconsin and Michigan have been the leading States in the produc- 

 tion of elm lumber for the last decade. There has been a decided 

 decrease in production in New York, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, 

 and Missouri. Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, on the other 

 hand, have been producing increasing amounts. In Kentucky and 

 Tennessee the production has been rather constant. 



