an increase of 886 million board feet (12 percent) 
of hardwoods and a decrease of 264 million board 
feet (2 percent) of softwoods. Similarly, two-thirds 
of a 9-percent increase in all-timber growth is in 
hardwood. ‘Thus break-down of the growth figures 
confirms evidence in the previous section on the 
replacement of the more desirable pine by hard- 
woods. The over-all figures, which superficially in- 
dicate an improvement, really reflect deterioration 
of the forest. 
TABLE 9.—Current annual timber growth 1 
Saw-timber growth | All-timber growth 
Section | 
and region Soft- |Hard- Soft- |Hard- 
Total |wood | wood | Total | wood | wood 
Billion | Billion | Billion | Billion | Billion | Billion 
North: bd. ft. | bd. ft. | bd. ft. | cu. ft. | cu. ft. | cu. ft. 
New England| 1.80| 0.91 | 0.89| 0.90] 0.42) 0.48 
Middie 
Atlantic QT “AGO! Ost | 1-40) eee OATS 
Lakes soeeees sila ol-40)Ile 94. | ol 06u|:ah-6balece 1 Sel pmcO3 
Centralye oer 2.25 13) 2.12 | 1.44 10 1.34 
Plainssc eos 19 02 L7 12 01 ll 
flotal” 2a 8.35 | 2.00] 6.35 | 4.67 98 3.69 
South: 
South 
Atlantic ...... 6.11 | 4.02} 2.09 | 1.76} 1.01 75 
Southeast ..... 8.22 | 5.28 | 2.94 2.71 1.48 1.23 
West Gulf... 5.61 | 3.62] 1.99} 1.92] 1.03 89 
(Lotalie ew: 19:94) 12.9215 7-02" |) 16:39) 73.52 2.87 
West: 
Pacific 
Northwest: 
Douglas- 
fir sub- 
_region 3.74 | 3.67 .07 | 1.02 99 .03 
Pine sub- 
region | .48 ASE FLERE ee 199) Pa es 
Total ..| 4.22 | 4.15 07 | 1.24] 1.21 03 
California _..... VGH UG | fee ee 33 crite) ener mcr 
North. Rocky 
Mini, 22.8. =: 1.31 | 1.30 (?) 54 54 ?) 
South Rocky 
Minaee ee! 32 32 (6) 20 18 02 
Wotalexeak 7.01 | 6.93 08 | 2.31 | 2.26 .05 
35.30 | 21.85 | 13.45 |13.37 | 6.76 6.61 
Data for 1944. 
* Less than 0.005. 
Timber Drain 
Forest drain, or the volume taken by cutting, 
and by fire and other destructive agents, was 13.7 
billion cubic feet in 1944 (tabulation following). 
Of the all-timber drain, almost 80 percent, or the 
equivalent of 53.9 billion board feet, was saw 
timber. Hardwoods comprise 40 percent of the all- 
timber drain, but less than 30 percent of the saw- 
timber drain. 
Forest drain 
All timber 14 Saw timber * 
(billion cu. ft.) (billion bd. ft.) 
Abimbercut,7194 4 eee eee 12.18 49.66 
Bi Te H]OSS es \sereeneeeset eee taet aes eee 46 86 
Insect and disease losses*. 62 1.93 
Windstorm and other losses? 40 1.44 
Ota a. -5 Ns Bi bed 2655 BSN AS ease es 13.66 53.89 
+ Excluding bark. 
* Lumber tally. 
* Average volume destroyed yearly in period 1934-43. 
Although domestic use of wood was sharply re- 
duced because of the war, saw-timber drain in 
1944 was over 6 billion board feet more than in 
1936, the year of the last previous comprehensive 
estimate. During the peak years 1941-43, saw 
timber drain was close to 60 billion board feet 
annually. It was again close to this figure in 1947. 
About nine-tenths of the drain is due to cut- 
ting. The remainder is the work of fire, insects, 
diseases, and other natural causes. Not included in 
the drain figures is the loss by destructive agents 
of millions of small trees below 5 inches in diam- 
eter, which are no less important for future timber 
supply. Also serious are the deterioration of forest 
soil and the adverse watershed conditions result- 
ing from fire and destructive cutting. 
Nearly half the all-timber drain occurs in the 
South, which has only 28 percent of the Nation’s 
timber, while about one-fourth each occurs in the 
North and West, with 21 and 51 percent of the 
timber, respectively (table 10). . 
Saw-timber drain from the South (25 billion 
board feet) is 25 percent greater than that from 
the West (20 billion board feet), even though the 
timber in the South is now almost all second 
growth and the West still has a large volume of 
virgin timber. Because of the advanced stage of 
depletion in the North, only 17 percent of the 
saw-timber drain now comes from that section, 
despite its great consumption of lumber. The rate 
of drain in relation to saw-timber volume is greater 
for softwoods than for hardwoods in both North 
and South. 
Lumber is by far the largest item (table 11 and 
fig. 8), making up about 70 percent of the saw 
timber and 55 percent of the cubic-foot cutting 
drain. The lumber cut in 1944 was about 5 billion 
board feet more than in 1936 but 6 billion less 
than in 1929, and 5 billion less than in 1947. 
About three-fourths of the 34.4 billion board feet 
Miscellaneous Publication 668, U. S. Department of Agriculture 
