and sizes sawn to order from low-grade lumber, 

 edgings, slabs, etc. Hardwoods like elms, hickories, 

 scarlet oak, water oak, and willow oak not in great 

 demand for lumber or other customary commodities 

 may be well suited for these small products, thus 

 providing an outlet for some of the less desirable 

 species now commonly left in the woods, where they 

 lower the intrinsic and growth value of the stand. 

 The demand for small products, however, is limited 

 and plants for their manufacture relatively scarce, 

 but the opportunity to save waste material and im- 

 prove growing conditions suggests the desirability of 

 thoroughly investigating market possibilities. 



Mill and Woods Refuse for Pulp 



The pulp mills of South Carolina could utilize the 

 large quantities of pine refuse that are now left in 

 the woods or burned as fuel at the sawmills. Also, 

 large quantities of the hardwood logging and milling 

 refuse, although used to a limited extent at present, 

 are available for this purpose (fig. 46). 



Integration of Wood-Using Industries 



The products of the forest can be utilized more 

 efficiently by the closer integration of sawmills with 

 pulp, planing, veneer, turning, and other wood-using 

 plants. For example, local industries manufactur- 

 ing different wood products but so coordinated that 

 all can obtain their supplies from the same forest 

 area, or from each other in the form of discarded 

 material, have great economic advantages over in- 

 dependent plants remote from each other. Trans- 

 portation costs are thus reduced, and the oppor- 

 tunity is presented of sorting out the refuse materials 

 in woods and mill to meet the particular needs of 

 each plant. More complete utilization of raw mate- 



FlGURE 46. — Slabs and edgings can provide raw material Jo 

 pulp mill, where transportation is practicable. 



rials promotes good forest management by permit- 

 ting control over cull trees and the less desirable 

 species. Such integration of the forest industries 

 would also promote efficiency in administration and 

 marketing, and, if based upon a well-guarded grow- 

 ing stock, would assure the permanence of employ- 

 ment, pay rolls, and income. 



Better Use of Portable Sawmills 



Small portable mills are so numerous in South 

 Carolina that they produce almost three-fourths of 

 the State's lumber. If used for stand betterment 

 they can be of the highest value in providing for 

 future timber production as well as contribute to 

 the lumber supply. Since portable mills can be set 

 up for small cuts in any locality, they may be sup- 

 plied by timber removed in selective cutting. Fre- 

 quently, stands with a large proportion of low-grade 

 trees can be logged profitably only by portable mills. 



Unfortunately, few of these small mills operate in 

 such a manner as to leave a reserve of thrifty growing 

 timber. The common practice is to cut all merchant- 

 able trees, including young and promising trees that 

 have barely reached the smallest sawlog size and con- 

 tain only narrow, low-grade lumber. Generally, after 

 a stand has been logged by portable mills only worth- 

 less large trees are left standing, together with those 

 slender, "plume-topped," under-sawlog-size trees 

 that are subject to heavy mortality from exposure. 

 A study by the Appalachian Forest Experiment 

 Station in loblolly pine stands in North and South 

 Carolina (/) showed that abrupt changes in the 

 stand caused by heavy cutting "serve ... to cause 

 the death of an alarmingly high proportion of the 

 smaller reserved trees." Portable mills are not only 

 responsible for this damage, but their number and 

 mobility increase the aggregate destruction. 



Public Participation in Forest-Land Manage- 

 771 ent 

 We have seen in previous sections how important 

 the forest industries are to the economy of South 

 Carolina. The people of the State therefore have a 

 great deal to gain from good forest management, 

 which would assure a permanent taxable resource as 

 well as substantial employment of labor. In the 

 long run, the State as a whole as well as the indivi- 

 duals dependent upon wood-using industries will 

 profit from any public measures that aid in the de- 

 velopment and perpetuation of the forest growing 

 stock. ^'■' 



56 



