and 60 percent of the hardwood drain was obtained from 

 the larger trees, of sawlog size. Most of the 1.7 million 

 cords of drain upon under-sawlog-size trees was used 

 for fuel wood, but 75,000 cords of small softwoods and 

 25,000 cords of small hardwoods were cut for pulpwood 

 and distillation wood. Lumber accounted for 50 percent 

 of the total sound-tree drain, fuel wood 37 percent, and 

 veneer and pulpwood each about 4 percent. The drain 

 of sound wood, excluding bark, amounted to 556 million 

 cubic feet. 



Of the 7.96 million cords of wood cut from sound trees 

 (table 31), the primary forest industries and domestic 

 consumers within the State used 7,705,000 cords. The 

 remaining 250,000 cords was shipped to adjoining States 

 in rough form. Sawlogs and veneer and cooperage bolts 

 made up part of these intrastate shipments, but pulpwood 

 and distillation wood were also important items. About 

 "2,000 cords of pulpwood and distillation wood was 

 exported, more than half of it to Virginia. The fact that 

 more pulpwood was brought into the State than was 

 shipped out, by more than 5,000 cords, does not indicate 

 any shortage of wood in the State for existing pulp mills. 



Comparison of Increment with Drain 



A comparison of net increment with commodity drain 

 affords an opportunity to measure the effect of utilization 

 upon the forest growing stock. It attempts to answer 

 the common question, is the forest increasing as fast as 

 it is being used? If it is, the laborers, landowners, and 

 businessmen of North Carolina can depend upon the 

 forest resource for continued employment, income, and 

 industrial opportunity. If not, North Carolina's third- 

 ranking manufacturing industry will gradually decline 

 to a much lower position. 



In analyzing the relation of net increment to commodity 

 drain, several factors should be clearly understood. The 

 drain for 1938, on the basis of the lumber cut, is reasonably 

 close to the average of the past 30 years. Ordinarily, 

 the balance for a single year is apt to differ materially 

 from the long-time trend, owing to fluctuations in both 

 natural and man-caused drains from year to year with 

 changing conditions. The net increment of the forest 

 is also subject to change. In some areas, notably the 

 mountain division, young second-growth stands occupy 

 a high proportion of the forest land. If allowed to grow 

 until they become merchantable they will bring about a 

 significant increase in the saw-timber yields. 



Another point to bear in mind is the averaging effect 

 brought about by combining data from the several regions 

 of the State. Actually there are local areas where over- 



cutting is serious, and there are others where forest indus- 

 tries can expand. Also, in an over-all balance of net 

 increment and drain it is difficult to show the effect of 

 species and diameter changes. In North Carolina, as 

 elsewhere, it is common practice to utilize the largest and 

 best trees, while the trees left to grow are mostly small or 

 of inferior species. Thus even where net increment ex- 

 ceeds drain, serious stand deterioration often occurs, with 

 a decided loss in timber values. Finally, net increment 

 should not be considered a static quantity that will inevi- 

 tably accrue each year in about the same amount. Serious 

 overcutting, bad fire seasons, or widespread infestations of 

 insects or disease can reduce the annual increment for 

 many years to come. On the other hand, intensive forest 

 management, which includes fire protection, will greatly 

 increase the net increment on all but the poorer forest land. 



Saw-Timber Stand 



The decrease of nearly 30 million board feet in the 

 softwood growing stock during 1938 is largely attributable 

 to preventable natural losses. The total increment ex- 

 ceeded commodity drain by 160 million feet but nearly 190 

 million feet was lost through mortality (table 32). In the 



Table 32. — Comparison of net increment with commodity ' drain, saw 

 timber, and total stand, 1938 



IX BOARD FEET, IXTERXATIOXAL i^-IXCH RULE 



Item 



Softwoods 



Hardwoods 



All species 



Growing stock, Jan. 1, 1938. .. 



M board feet 

 28. 673. 000 



\I board feet 

 14. 033. 700 



M board feet 

 42. 706. 700 







Increment.. _ _ 



1, 851, 600 

 189. 500 



728. 300 

 91,200 



2, 579. 900 



Mortality. 



280. 700 







Xet increment 



1, 662. 100 

 1, 691. 500 



637. 100 

 530.200 



2. 299. 200 



Commodity drain 



2. 221. 700 



Xet change in growing stock. . . 



-29.400 



106. 900 



77.500 



Growing stock, Jan. 1, 1939. 



28, 643, 600 14, 140. 600 42, 7S4. 200 



IN CUBIC FEET, IXSIDE BARK 



Growing stock, Jan. 1, 1938 



1.000 

 cubic feet 

 7. 883. 190 



1,000 

 cubic feet 

 5, 437. 840 



1,000 

 cubic feet 

 13.321.030 



Increment . . 



464.530 

 65,610 



270.300 

 39,260 



734.830 





104, 870 







Xet increment. ... 



39S. 920 

 406. 080 



231.040 

 149, 540 



629.960 



Commodity drain 



555 620 







Xet change in growing stock.. . 



-7.160 



81,500 



74.340 



Growing stock, Jan. 1, 1939 



7. S76. 030 



5. 519. 340 



13. 395. 370 



i For detail by physiographic regions and forest condition, see tables 42 

 and 43. Appendix. 



52 



