THE NORTHERN HARDWOOD FOREST. 



29 



Table 8. — Annual lumber cut (1912) of the principal hardwoods of the northern hard- 

 wood forest, with the proportion of each in the total hardwood cut of the States and 

 the United States — Continued . 





Total for the northern hardwood 

 region. 



Total for the United States. 



Species. 



Quantity. 



Per cent of 

 all hard- 

 woods cut. 



Per cent 

 of total 

 lumber 

 cut in this 

 region. 



Quantity. 



Per cent 



cut in 



northern 



hardwoods 



region. 



Per cent 



of total 



lumber cut 



(soft and 



hard). 



Maple 



Mft. b. to. 

 784, 752 

 351, 727 

 214, 977 

 201,022 

 134, 393 



34.8 

 15.6 

 9.5 

 8.9 

 6.0 



10.5 

 4.7 

 2.9 

 2.7 

 1.8 



Mft. b. to. 



1,020,864 

 388,272 

 435,250 

 296, 717 

 262, 141 



76.9 

 90.6 

 49.4 

 67.7 

 51.3 



2.6 





1.0 



Beech 



1.1 





.8 



Elm 



.7 







Total 



1, 686, 871 



74.9 



22.5 



2,403,244 



70.2 



6.2 







In per cent of the total lumber cut (soft and hard) in each State the combined cut of the five hardwoods 

 was as follows: 



Maine 



New Hampshire. 

 Vermont 



8.6 | New York 



8.4 Pennsylvania. 

 35.8 I Michigan 



38.1 

 16.6 

 47.5 



Wisconsin 26. 1 



Minnesota 2.4 



The figures given for maple, birch, and elm each cover more than 

 one species, as no distinction of species is made by the census. Com- 

 mercial maple is principally "hard" (sugar) maple, but includes some 

 "soft" (red and silver) maple. Commercial birch in the Lake States 

 is almost entirely yellow birch, but in New England includes also 

 some "white" (paper) birch, and in New York and Pennsylvania 

 some "cherry" (sweet) birch; heart lumber is known as "red" birch. 

 Elm lumber is made, in the north, from three species — white, slip- 

 pery or "red," and cork or "rock" elm. Much the greater part is 

 undoubtedly white elm, which is known on the market as "gray" 

 or "soft" elm. Much rock elm has been cut in the past, but the 

 remaining supply is small. Some slippery or "red" elm is cut in 

 the Lake States and the northeast, but it is impossible to tell how 

 much of the total elm cut it forms. 



Table 8 does not tell the whole story. An immense amount of 

 northern hardwood is used for house fuel. According to estimates 

 for 1908 secured by the Forest Service (Circular 181), the total fuel 

 wood consumption of the Northeastern and Lake States was 16,400,000 

 cords, of which probably a third was northern hardwoods. About 

 1,150,000 cords were consumed in 1909 for wood distillation, 1 and 

 as this industry has been extended from New York and Pennsylvania 

 into the Lake States, the amount now used annually for distillation is 

 undoubtedly much greater. Paper-pulp manufacture consumed 

 31,390 cords of beech alone in 1909 (loc. cit.). 



1 Forest products of the United States, 1909. Bureau of the Census. Compiled in cooperation with the 

 Forest Service. 



