12 



HARDWOODS. 



The total amount of hardwood timber is extremely difficult to 

 estimate, and the scattered and mixed character of growth makes 

 it still more difficult to estimate the stumpage of any one species. 

 The complexity of hardwood stands is well shown by the result of a 

 careful study of the forests of eastern Kentucky recently made by 

 the Forest Service in cooperation with the State. The average per- 

 centage of each species in that region is about as follows: White oak, 

 20; chestnut oak, 18; beech, 15; maple, 13; black oak, 10; chestnut, 

 6; yellow poplar, 6; hickory, 4; basswood, 2; ash, cucumber, locust, 

 pine, hemlock, walnut, black gum, and cherry combined, 6. 



Taken as a whole, the hardwood stumpage of the United States 

 is probably not less than 500 billion feet. The total hardwood lum- 

 ber cut in 1907 was Of billion feet. Of this, the oaks supplied 40 

 per cent; maple, 10 per cent; yellow poplar, 7.9 per cent; red gum, 

 7.5 per cent; chestnut, 7.1 per cent, and the numerous other hard- 

 woods smaller amounts. Large quantities of hardwoods are also 

 used for cooperage, veneer, cross-ties, posts, poles, firewood, and 

 other purposes. 



FOREST OWNERSHIP. 



Most of the forests in the United States are privately owned. 

 Approximately 20 per cent of the standing timber in the country is 

 held by the Federal Government in National Forests, Indian reser- 

 vations, National Parks, and on the unreserved public domain, and 

 by the States in state reserves or other state lands. These public 

 forests contain more than 100 million acres of saw timber. Their 

 location is shown in figure 2. 



A rough estimate of the amount of standing timber in the posses- 

 sion of the Federal Government is given in Table 4. The most of 

 this timber is of course in National Forests. In addition to the 

 timber shown in this table, there are perhaps 75 billion feet held 

 by the States either in reserves or upon state lands of various classes. 



[CIr.166] 



