erally speaking, they are the accessible, potentially 
more productive lands and until recently some 90 
percent or more of our timber cut has come from 
them. 
It is largely the poor practices on most private 
lands that make the national showing unfavorable. 
About two-thirds of the cutting in private forests 
rates poor and destructive, hence will not keep 
the land reasonably productive. Although the 
other one-third will probably maintain a reason- 
ably acceptable growing stock, only 8 percent is 
good or better. 
Large private owners, on the average, treat their 
lands better than the small owners (table 18). 
Only 32 percent of the cutting on the large prop- 
erties is poor or destructive while 29 percent rates 
good or better. These properties, however, in- 
clude only about one-seventh of the private lands; 
AREA 
ut CHARACTER OF CUTTING 
Million acres 
LUMBER COMPANY 
Ficure 15.—Private operating area and character of cutting by type of owner, 1945. 
they are held by about 400 of the 4,226,000 forest 
owners. 
TABLE 18.--Character of timber cutting on private 
lands by size of holding, 1945 
Commercial ; 
FERS Character of cutting 
Size of feds Mp Ne eeae OER Ors fy ene Ma) Pape e sees ere EE 
holding ; De- 
Total |OP&™ shoe Good | Fair | Poor | struc- 
ating | order tide 
Million | Million 
acres acres |Percent | Percent| Percent | Percent | Percent 
Small’ = 728" 261 224 0 4 25 
Medium ..... 33 29 1 7 31 50 1] 
Tarcelen cam 51 49 5 24 39 28 4 
+Small=less than 5,000 acres (4,222,000 owners); medium= 
5,000 and up to~50,000 acres (3,200 owners); large=50,000 
acres and more (400 owners). 
AREA 
Million acres 
CHARACTER OF CUTTING 
Good and 
OTHER 
48 Miscellaneous Publication 668, U. S. Department of Agriculture 
