Chesinut Blight in the Southern Appalachians 9 
thousands of miles to market. _ Yet in the southern Appalachians 
fairly close to the large consuming markets, we face the prospect of 
the loss through deterioration, before it can be used, of vast quan- 
tities of chestnut suitable for sawed products. The wholesale price 
of chestnut lumber, at least of the lower grades, is hardly sufficient to 
pay the cost of marketing. The situation emphasizes the need of 
employing chestnut on a national scale for purposes where it is prac- 
ticable to substitute it for that of species not in need of immediate 
cutting. 
Chestnut lends itself to the most varied usage of any timber 
species growing in the southern Appalachians. It is already used 
for extract wood, lumber, poles, ties, mine props, piles, fence posts, 
cordwood, and pulpwood, and it offers the possibility of increased 
employment. 
Sawed chestnut lumber is much in demand, but because of the 
blight the market tends to be glutted. The wood is light and easily 
worked. It can be used for many purposes where its coarse grain 
and lack of extreme strength do not make it undesirable. Its in- 
creased use for sheathing, framing, interior work, and most of all 
for the manufacture of boxes, packing cases, and crates would do 
much to conserve other timber supplies. 
Telephone and telegraph poles command the highest prices paid 
for chestnut. From the standpoint of utilization it is particularly 
fortunate that poles can be marketed at less cost than any chestnut_ 
product of equal value. Pole cutting is not dependent on any other 
lumbering operation, and no expensive equipment is necessary. The 
likelihood of flooding the pole market is serious, though the number 
of chestnut trees suited to the purpose is limited. Pole specifications 
of length, straightness, moderate diameter, and freedom from knots, 
rots, and injuries are so exacting as to exclude much material. Ex- 
cept on tracts where sprouts from the stumps of cut-over stands 
are of pole size, few poles are produced per acre. In short, poles 
represent the chestnut product selling for the highest price and at 
the same time are easily removed. Timber owners would do well 
to follow the practice of the Forest Service in the national forests 
in the southern Appalachians, where all chestnut suitable for poles 
is cut as a first measure of utilization. 
The manufacture of chestnut extract affords the most feasible 
outlet for much of the stand. Extract plants are already established 
strategically over the southern Appalachian district. This industry, 
by far the largest consumer of chestnut, uses enormous quantities 
of the wood. It disposes of trees and parts of trees that are worthless 
except as acid wood. The limbs as well as trunks are used, so that 
little waste remains in the woods to increase the fire hazard. Best 
of all, from the standpoint of the present situation, even the pro- 
longed standing of dead timber does not exclude its use for this 
purpose. ; . . 
While it simplifies utilization, the tannin-extract industry at the 
same time presents one of the most important problems arising 
from the present situation. The American chestnut supplies approx- 
imately one-half of this country’s production of tannin for leather 
manufacture. With this species facing extermination, to what 
future source of raw material must this vital industry look? 
