million per year. The Census shows 18 million feet sawed. 

 These calculations of course prove nothing, but do show 

 one reason for the supposition that lumber drain may be 

 higher than reported. Some counties came out about right 

 on these guess-calculations. Sample plots indicated that 

 Halifax County had an additional 38,000 acres cut over 

 for pulpwood in five years. 



PULPWOOD PRODUCTION 



Production figures by counties are not available for pub- 

 lication. Information for 1942 has been drawn upon to 

 point out sections of the various units where cutting was 

 concentrated in that year. 



Northern Coastal Plain: Halifax and Northampton 

 counties accounted for 40 per cent of the unit production. 

 Bertie, Gates, Washington, and Hertford counties produced 

 40 per cent of the unit total. Approximately 5 per cent of 

 the volume cut was hardwood material. 



Southern Coastal Plain: Pender, Bladen, and Bruns- 

 wick accounted for 60 per cent of pulpwood cut in the unit. 

 Sampson, Duplin, Robeson and Onslow were next, their 

 combined production amounting to 25 per cent of unit total. 

 Hardwood was negligible. 



Piedmont: With cutting widely distributed, Chatham 

 and Rockingham accounted for 30 per cent, with Warren, 

 Rutherford, and Wake totaling another 20 per cent. The 

 rest of the production came from another 21 counties. 

 Approximately a tenth of Piedmont production was hard- 

 wood. 



Mountain Unit: Cutting occurred in all 21 counties. 

 Cherokee and Graham accounted for 30 per cent of the 

 total, Haywood, Swain, and McDowell making up another 

 25 per cent, half of the total being hardwoods. 



Pulpwood production in the Piedmont rose sharply in 

 1943, but declined in the Coastal Plains. This trend was 

 caused by labor and hauling factors under war-time 

 shortages. 



North Carolina pulp production has been rising steadily, 

 as follows: 



1937 240 M cords 



1938 290 M cords 



1939 315 M cords 



1940 512 M cords 



1941 582 M cords 



1942 606 M cords 



1943 547 M cords 



FUELWOOD CUTTING 



The amount of wood cut for heating purposes is related 

 to: (1) the number of people in rural areas; (2) the 

 amount of tobacco produced. 



The average farm family is said to use over 12 cords per 

 year for household purposes. The average per small town 

 and city family is considerably less, but it is still more 

 than one might guess — five and two cords, respectively. 



The amount of tobacco cured per cord of wood is esti- 

 mated to be 600 pounds. Big tobacco crops of recent years 

 have required nearly a million cords of wood despite the 

 gradual trend toward the use of coal and oil. 



Fuelwood is another item of drain that is difficult to 

 measure accurately, because farmers themselves do not 

 know how much they use. Undoubtedly, fuelwood use has 

 dropped substantially, owing to labor shortage during the 



war period. County agents and Soil Conservation Service 

 technicians were asked how much fuelwood cutting had 

 increased or decreased. Only one, in Chatham County, 

 said there was an increase. Eighty per cent of these 

 farm counsellors said cutting had decreased, the average 

 estimate of decrease being 20 per cent. 



DEGREE OF SATISFACTORY STOCKING 



One may compare the stocking of an acre of forest land 

 with an acre of corn. Corn-land yields, in bushels per acre, 

 depend on the stand obtained from planting, fertility of 

 soil, season, and competition from weeds and insects. Given 

 an acre of land that could produce 50 bushels per acre, 

 suppose the yield was 25 bushels, because of poor germina- 

 tion that gave a scattered stand; rank weed growth from 

 lack of cultivation that choked out part of the crop, and 

 insects destroying still other stalks. It could be stated that 

 the acre was only 50 per cent stocked, and gave 50 per cent 

 of a crop. This is analagous to stocking on the forest area. 

 If it has only half as many stalks, or trees, as it should 

 have, then the yield will be one-half of capacity. 



What is satisfactory stocking of forest land in the differ- 

 ent sections of North Carolina? This question could not be 

 answered definitely by the various agencies contacted. The 

 consultants, through a check of existing literature, and 

 through personal knowledge of managed forest areas, de- 

 cided on a set of standards. The standards represent the 

 average stand per acre that can be maintained on period- 

 ically cut forest areas under practicable management. 

 Standards were set for sawtimber, under-sawtimber-size, 

 and reproduction. 



The standards per acre for the various regions are as 

 follows (meaning well-distributed stems) : 



1. Northern and Southern Coastal Plain. Eight thousand 

 board feet of sawtimber, or 12 cords of under-sawlog- 

 size, or 640 seedlings under 1 inch in diameter at breast 

 height. 



2. Piedmont. Seven thousand board feet of sawtimber, or 

 10 cords of under-sawlog-size or 640 seedlings under 1 

 inch in diameter at breast height. 



3. Mountains. Five thousand board feet of sawtimber, or 

 8 cords of under-sawlog size or 640 seedlings under 1 

 inch in diameter at breast height. Here, hardwoods 

 will make up most of the volume. 



As reproduction diameters include the 4 inch tree class, 

 480 trees in the 2 inch class or 320 trees in the 4 inch class 

 constituted full stocking. 



Any one acre of forest land may be fully or partially 

 stocked with one or a combination of the above mentioned 

 conditions. If the acre does not support satisfactory stock- 

 ing on the basis of the set standards, the percentage differ- 

 ence is designated as non-stocked. Reasons are sought for 

 the non-stocked condition. For example, consider an acre 

 plot in the Northern Coastal Plain that has been tallied 

 and the volume determined. The estimator finds 2 M bd. ft. 

 of sawtimber, 3 cords of under-sawlog size, and 160 seed- 

 lings. On the basis of the above standards the acre is 25 

 per cent stocked with sawtimber, 25 per cent under-sawlog- 

 size, and 25 per cent reproduction, while 25 per cent of the 

 area is non-stocked. This acre does not have enough trees 

 to be satisfactorily stocked. 



It is suggested that an ideal stocking, based on the 

 proper distribution of size classes, would be to have 66% 



(24) 



