cates the possibility of a local expansion in this 

 industry if the national market improves. 



The limited supply of high-quality ash and hick- 

 ory suitable for the manufacture of such specialties 

 as athletic goods, handles, and vehicle stock pre- 

 cludes the possibility of any considerable local 

 expansion of these industries in the near future, 

 except as the abundance of persimmon may result 

 in expansion in the manufacture of shuttles and 

 athletic goods, particularly golf club heads. 



Use of Species 



More than 15 percent of the present saw-timber 

 volume is in species such as bitter pecan, cedar elm, 

 and honeylocust, for which no appreciable market 

 exists, regardless of quality. It is reasonable to 

 expect that, as high-grade timber of the more 

 marketable species becomes scarcer, bitter pecan 

 will become more acceptable industrially much 

 as the gums have during the past 25 years. The 

 principal stands of bitter pecan have a high pro- 

 portion of timber of a quality suitable for the pro- 

 duction of industrial lumber. The most serious 

 defect is a tendency to ring shake. A fair propor- 

 tion of the volume of cedar elm is suitable for 

 industrial use, and it seems likely that eventually 

 this species may become a substitute for northern 

 rock elm. Commercial use of much of the volume 

 of this spe'cies will probably depend on the oppor- 

 tunity to market such commodities as cross ties, 

 planking, and warehouse flooring. 



In addition to the 15 percent of the volume 

 referred to above, 45 percent of the present timber 

 volume is in species that are not used at all by some 

 forest industries and are discriminated against 

 to some extent by others. Of these species, the 

 water oaks, overcup oak, willow, white elm, hack- 

 berry, maple, sycamore, and boxelder are the 

 most important. With the improvement of manu- 

 facturing methods, the water oaks and overcup 

 oak should be adaptable to more varied industrial 

 uses as well as to more extensive use in heavy 

 structural work. Furthermore, the development 

 of the small-dimension industry should make possi- 

 ble the profitable utilization of a class of timber of 

 somewhat smaller size and lower grade. This 

 should provide an outlet for a considerable part of 

 the very large volume of overcup oak and water 

 oaks that are not now suitable for industrial use 

 because of marginal quality. With the further 



development of the market for plywood and pack- 

 age materials, willow, white elm, hackberry, maple, 

 sycamore, and boxelder should be used more 

 extensively. In addition, willow, white elm, and 

 sycamore have qualities that justify their wider 

 use as industrial lumber. In the event of a wide- 

 spread expansion of the fiberboard, paper, or 

 hardwood distillation industries, there is available 

 a large amount of suitable raw material not being 

 otherwise used. 



Employment 



In general, owing to less complete manufactur- 

 ing processes, small sawmills afford less employ- 

 ment than large sawmills for each M feet board 

 measure of production; the production of common 

 commercial and package veneers affords less em- 

 ployment per unit of timber used than face veneer; 

 and production of slack staves and the lower grades 

 of tight staves, less than the production of the higher 

 grades of tight staves. Accordingly, the passing 

 of some of the primary producing units, such as 

 large sawmills, face-veneer plants, and high-grade 

 tight-cooperage plants, is likely to reduce some- 

 what the average employment requirement per 

 unit of timber used. On the other hand, the small- 

 dimension industry and other secondary manu- 

 facturing industries afford much more employ- 

 ment per unit of timber used than the primary 

 industries. Therefore, to the extent that the possi- 

 bilities for small-dimension production and other 

 secondary manufacture are realized, the above- 

 mentioned loss in average employment per unit of 

 timber consumed will be nullified. It consequently 

 appears likely that the total industrial employ- 

 ment afforded per unit of timber volume con- 

 sumed will either remain approximately constant 

 or increase. The total requirement for labor will 

 parallel the volume of manufactured forest pro- 

 ducts that results from general business trends. 

 As forest management and utilization practices 

 become more intensive, the forest-labor require- 

 ment will greatly increase. This woods labor will 

 largely be needed to obtain adequate fire protec- 

 tion, as well as to make the thinning improvement 

 cuttings needed to put the forest on a continuous 

 production basis and provide intensive utilization 

 of an increased yield. Also the character of the 

 labor will change; the present full-time woods and 

 mill worker will be supplemented in large part by 

 farm and other part-time resident labor. 



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