million acres of stump land. Almost 69 percent of 

 the present merchantable area of stump land is in 

 open second-growth stands, approximately 21 per- 

 cent is in the clear-cut areas generally accepted as 

 the most available, and 10 percent is in old-growth 

 stands. 



In addition to the present supply of merchantable 

 stumps in areas that favor removal, there are, in 

 many of the advanced second-growth stands, well- 

 seasoned stumps that cannot be removed without 

 damage to surrounding trees or without undue 

 cost. Recently cut old-growth stumps, which must 

 season 8 to 10 years after cutting before they be- 

 come suitable for use, form another source of 

 supply at present unavailable. Almost 8 million 

 tons of stumps are in the above two groups. A 

 considerable amount of stump wood will also be 

 available from the stumps of old-growth longleaf 

 timber now standing. At a conservative estimate 

 of 3 tons per acre, this would add over 1 million 

 tons, making a total of 9 million tons of stump wood 

 as a future available supply- 



With an actual and potential supply of about 

 16% million tons of merchantable stumps, it is evi- 

 dent that south Georgia has, theoretically at least, 

 sufficient tonnage to meet the 230,000 tons of 

 annual requirements of the plants in the area for 

 many years. In practice it is likely that a consider- 

 able part of this indicated supply will never reach 

 a manufacturing plant, because of such factors as 

 high cost of transportation, attrition of fire and rot, 

 demands for fuel, and the action of landowners in 

 protecting young growth that stump removal 

 would destroy. Nevertheless, there appear to be 



Table 10. — Merchantable stump-land area, and volume of 

 merchantable stumps (blasting basis), classified according to 

 abundance of stumps and topographic situation, 1934 



STUMP-LAND AREA 







Stumps per acre 

 (number) 



Flat- 

 woods 



Rolling 

 uplands 



River 



bottoms, 



swamps, 



bays, 



branch 



heads, 



etc. 



All situations 



5 or less 



6tol3 



Acres 

 219, 900 

 301, 700 

 312, 500 

 300, 100 



Acres 

 376, 500 

 378, 100 

 251,500 

 182,500 



Acres 

 22,200 

 16,000 

 19,500 

 11,400 



Acres 

 618, 600 

 695, 800 

 583,500 

 494,000 



Per- 

 cent 

 25.9 

 29 l 



14 to 25 





26 or more.. .. . 



20 6 







Total stump-land 

 area 



[l, 134, 200 



< Percent 



47.4 



1. l.SS, CIMI 



Percent 

 49.7 



69,100 



Percent 



2.9 



2,391,900 



100.0 









STUMP VOLUME 



5 or less 



6tol3 _ 



14 to 25 



26 or more 



Total- volume on 

 stump-land area. 



1,000 tons 



1,000 tons 



1,000 tons 



l,000tnns 



88 



149 



10 



247 



604 



756 



32 



1,392 



1,250 



1,007 



78 



2,335 



2,250 



1,369 



86 



3,705 



4, 192 



3,281 



206 



7,679 



< Percent 



Percent 



Percent 





54.6 



42.7 



2.7 







Per- 

 cent 

 3.2 



18.1 

 30.4 

 48.3 



100.0 



enough stumps to permit a considerable expansion 

 in the production of wood naval stores, should the 

 demand and prices for such products warrant it. 

 The utilization of stumps for naval stores must be 

 considered as a mining rather than a farming (i. e., 

 renewable crop) operation, since the supply will be 

 exhausted when the large stumps mentioned are 

 used up. There is little likelihood that an appreci- 

 able amount of the present second-growth stands 

 will ever reach sufficient age to produce stumps 

 suitable for naval stores. 



«' 



34 



