damage of serious proportions. In Hertford County in 

 1938 about 4 million board feet of old-growth pine was 

 killed in a single local infestation. 



Unless promptly salvaged, such timber is subject to 

 damage by the southern pine sawyer {Monochamus titil- 

 lator), which also attacks other dead trees and un barked 

 pine logs left in the woods for more than 3 weeks in the 

 summer. Lumber from infested timber is often worthless 

 because of the large tunnels and holes made in the wood by 

 the developing larvae. And even when timber is success- 

 fully made into finished products it is still subject to insect 

 damage. Among others, the Lyctus powder-post beetles 

 cause serious losses in the seasoned sapwood of lumber, 

 handles, furniture, vehicle stock, woodwork, picker sticks, 

 and similar products made from oak, ash, and hickory. 



These are only a few of the many insects constantly 

 destroying the timber grown in North Carolina, but losses 

 could be held to a minimum if more trained forest entomol- 

 ogists were available to discover insect outbreaks and in- 

 stigate control measures while the infestations were in 

 their early stages. 



Improve Timber Utilization 



Full development and protection of the forest growing 

 stock will not insure commensurate benefits unless utili- 

 zation is of the same high standard. Furthermore, because 

 of their interdependence, any single one of these goals is 

 difficult to attain. The more important of the ways to 

 improve timber utilization in North Carolina are: (1) In- 

 crease the use of certain little-used species and lower 

 grades of hardwood, (2) develop more small wood-products 

 plants, (3) develop integrated wood-using industries, (4) 

 correct the malpractices of the portable sawmill, (5) con- 

 vert a higher proportion of the low-grade pine into pulp, 



(6) use more of the best timber for veneer and plywood, 



(7) increase the use of chestnut, (8) develop and put into 

 use log grades for pine and hardwood saw timber, and (9) 

 improve marketing of forest products. 



Utilization of Hardwoods 



Under prevailing practice, a concentrated cut is deplet- 

 ing the best grades and species of hardwoods. Conversely, 

 the hardwood volume in culls and less-used species is in- 

 creasing. About 25 percent, 38 million cords, of the total 

 volume in hardwood trees 5 inches d. b. h. and over is cull 

 and an additional large volume is in such species of limited 

 merchantability as scarlet, post, water and willow oaks, 

 elms, and hickories. Failure to use a greater proportion 

 of this large volume of wood is an economic waste and is 

 also poor forest management. 



Greater utilization depends upon finding profitable ways 

 to use this material. For instance, there is a chance to 

 use a much larger volume of culls and tops for fuel wood in 

 all parts of the State, and so reduce the volume of saw 

 timber now cut for fuel. Most of the 6 million cords of cull 

 black and water tupelo is suitable for some type of pulp. 

 Some is now being used and consumption should be in- 

 creased. The wood of cull chestnut oak trees may be useful 

 as a source of tanning extract. A small amount is used 

 commercially in Alabama and some Virginia plants have 

 used it experimentally. Extract plants in North Carolina 

 could well afford to experiment with it, as most of the chest- 

 nut will be gone in 10 to 15 years. Other little-used species 

 can be employed for local building. In the mountains it 

 is common practice for portable mills to saw out house 

 patterns and other rough construction material from poor- 

 quality oaks and other hardwoods. The rural buildings 

 constructed from this material are satisfactory and a com- 

 parable use of the low-quality hardwoods growing in the 

 piedmont and Coastal Plain would help to reduce the over- 

 cut of pine and the surplus of poor-quality hardwoods. 

 Wood-products manufacturers can also market a wider 

 variety of species if they will develop and popularize cer- 

 tain species for limited uses as they have done in the case 

 of soft maple for furniture. These are only a few of the 

 possible ways to utilize the low-quality hardwoods. Many 

 more should be developed. 



Small Wood-Products Plants 



More small plants, manufacturing finished or semi- 

 finished wood products, are particularly desirable in the 

 mountain region. They offer an opportunity for profitable 

 use of low-grade hardwoods as well as the premium 

 species. For lack of suitable markets small sawmill 

 operators may sell walnut, black cherry, curly maple, 

 and other high-value woods along with common lumber 

 at low prices, with loss to the timber grower and them- 

 selves. Good saw timber is becoming scarce in the 

 mountains and for the next several decades the rural 

 people dependent upon the lumber industry will need 

 additional opportunities tor employment. No plant is 

 too small to provide some benefit in a region where many 

 people do not have 5100 cash per year. Small finished 

 products provide more employment per unit of wood 

 than do sawmills, and usually at a higher wage rate. 

 Markets will influence the kind of products manufactured, 

 but furniture, handles, sports equipment, toys, wooden- 

 ware, Venetian blinds, spools, gunstocks, toothpicks, 



11 Of considerable assistance in this endeavor is Davis, E. M., ma- 

 chining AND RELATED CHARACTERISTICS OF SOUTHERN HARDWOODS. 



U. S. Dept. Agr. Tech. Bui. 824, 42 pp., illus. 1942. 



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