log size. Less than 1 million acres is classed as clear-cut, 
although much of the original stand was removed in this 
manner. 
Recreation and wildlife conservation in the forest are 
becoming important activities in the State. 
Naval Stores 
In 1934-35, the years in which the survey was in 
progress, the annual value of the gum naval stores crop 
in Georgia, which is the greatest of any State in the 
Nation, was about $15,000,000, and the industry provided 
about 414 million man-days of employment a year. In 
all, 635 operators of naval stores stills and approximately 
10,000 gum producers without stills worked about 7,000 
crops of 10,000 working faces, with an aggregate annual 
production of about 300,000 units. 
The gum naval stores industry is confined to the south- 
ern part of the State, where about 8 million acres are 
classed as turpentine area. On this area, sufficient 
future tree supplies to maintain the present production 
of the gum naval stores industry are in sight, provided 
the cutting of round trees by the pulp and paper, lumber, 
and other industries is not greatly increased. In 1934 
43 percent of the area was in well-developed turpentine 
stands; 11 percent, in advanced sapling stands; 15 per- 
cent, in young sapling stands; and 31 percent, in repro- 
duction, clear-cut, and intermingled nonturpentine areas. 
The turpentine area included about 195 million turpen- 
tine trees at least 7 inches d. b. h.,? of which 78 million 
were round, 65 million were working, 28 million were 
resting, and 24 million were worked-out. 
Three wood naval stores plants, using stumps and 
lightwood to make rosin and other products, in 1937 
provided more than a quarter-million man-days of em- 
ployment. In south Georgia, the Forest Survey found 
more than 2% million acres holding a resource of about 
7% million tons of stumps suitable for blasting. 
Volume Estimates 
The net volume of saw timber in Georgia, amounting to 
46 billion board feet, is the greatest of any State in the 
South. Pines, with loblolly pine the most important, make 
up more than 70 percent of this volume; hardwoods and 
cypress, less than 30 percent. Second-growth sawlog-size 
stands contain two-thirds of the saw-timber volume. 
Most of the saw-timber area, as well as the volume, is 
in stands averaging at least 2,000 board feet per acre; and 
practically all the saw-timber stands are accessible for 
logging. Trees generally considered small by lumber man- 
ufacturers include almost half of the saw-timber volume. 
3 See “Definition of Terms Used,” appendix, p. 39. 
As to quality, much of the pine volume is in trees that 
are limby and rough, owing to the open condition of many 
of the stands, especially those in old fields. 
The total convertible volume in all living trees 5.0 inches 
d. b. h. and larger, including those of sawlog size, is 250 
million cords, of which half is in pines, three-tenths in 
soft-textured hardwoods, and two-tenths in firm-textured 
hardwoods. Approximately 56 percent of the volume is 
in saw-timber trees, 32 percent in sound trees under saw- 
log size, and 12 percent in cull trees. The average cord- 
wood volume per acre of sound trees (culls omitted) for 
the entire forest area of the State is slightly more than 
10 cords. 
Included in the volume estimates are about 65 million 
pine trees suitable for conversion into poles or piles. 
Forest Increment and Drain 
In 1937, the gross growth was 3,363.7 million board feet, 
and the mortality 861.6 million board feet, leaving a net 
increment of 2,502.1 million board feet, the largest net 
increment of any Southern State. Practically all the net 
increment is in second-growth stands, which, though grow- 
ing rapidly, are producing material of lower quality than 
that in older, better-stocked stands. The average net 
increment per acre for all the productive forest land was 
119 board feet. The net annual increment for all growing- 
stock material (i. e., in good trees 5.0 inches d. b. h. and 
larger) amounted to 643 million cubic feet, or a total of 
nearly 9 million cords of wood including bark, of which 
two-thirds was pine, and an average of 0.4 cord per acre. 
The wood-using industries of Georgia included in 1937, 
1,607 sawmills, 2 pulp mills (one of which started produc- 
tion in 1936 and the other in 1938), 25 veneer mills, 36 
cooperage plants, 6 creosoting plants, and 63 other indus- 
tries (mostly small), including handle plants, excelsior mills, 
and shingle mills. Due partly to improved markets and 
partly to the impulsion of defense activities, the number 
and productive efforts of the wood-using plants in the 
State increased considerably during 1939 and 1940. 
Georgia’s forest industries (i. e., lumber, pulp and timber- 
products plants, planing mills, naval stores plants, wood- 
preserving plants, etc.) are out-ranked in importance only 
by agriculture and the cotton-goods industry. According 
to the Census of Manufactures, 1937, the industries related 
to forest products, excluding pulp and paper, had nearly 
37,000 employees, paid $15,000,000 in wages and salaries, 
and created products valued at over $58,000,000. 
In 1937 the drain from the forest growing stock amounted 
to 21 billion board feet, of which mortality drain accounted 
for one-third and the commodity drain (i. e., that material 
cut for industrial and domestic use) was two-thirds. In 
