15 percent; white pine poletimber trees and all other 

 softwoods of all sizes, 13 percent; red maple, 12 per- 

 cent; sugar maple, 11 percent; yellow birch, 9 percent; 

 paper birch, 7 percent; beech, 7 percent: and other 

 hardwoods, 11 percent. 



Timber Cut 



Timber cut is the volume removed by harvest of 

 timber products for sale and for home use. It includes 

 logging residues and growing stock that is knocked 

 down or otherwise destroyed in logging as well as in 

 the output of timber products. 



The annual cut of growing stock was estimated at 98 

 million cubic feet in 1952 (table 8) — three-fourths 

 softwood and one-fourth hardwood. In terms of saw- 

 timber, the cut was 343 million board-feet — four-fifths 

 softwood and one-fifth hardwood. 



Table 8. — Timber cut on commercial forest land of New Hampshire, 

 by tree-size class and species group, 1932 



Tree-size class and species group 



Sawtimber 



Growing 

 stock 



Sawtimber trees: 



Thousand 

 board-Jeet 

 274. 093 

 69. 245 



Thousand 

 citbic feet 

 64, 1 20 



Hardwood _ _ _ _ 



14 894 







Total - - - 



343, 338 



79,014 





Poletimber trees: * 





10, 397 



Hardwood, ______ 





8 869 









Total __-- 





19 266 









Sawtimber and poletimber trees: 



274, 093 

 69, 245 



74, ^V 



Hardwood ___ 



23 763 







Total --_ - _. . 



343, 338 



98 280 







'Hardwood poletimber trees include the 10-inch diameter class; softwood 

 poletimber trees do not. 



About 50 percent of the total growing stock cut was 

 pine, 15 percent spruce and fir, and 10 percent hem- 

 lock. Only 25 percent of the annual cut of growing 

 stock was hardwood. Yellow birch, beech, and hard 

 maple accounted for 16 percent. The remainder, or 9 

 percent, consisted chiefly of oak, and such soft hard- 

 woods as white birch, red maple, and aspen. 



Timber cut since 1947 has been at about the 1952 

 rate. However, there has been a slight but steady 

 increase in timber cut for veneer, cooperage, and 

 pulpwood, and an offsetting decline in growing stock 

 cut for fuelwood. 



Sawlogs for lumber are by far the most important 

 product cut in New Hampshire. In 1952 sawlogs 

 accounted for two-thirds of the total annual cut of 

 growing stock. About 90 percent of the sawlog cut 

 comes from sawtimber trees, and the balance from 

 poletimber, cull, and dead trees. 



About 87 percent of timber cut for sawlogs is soft- 

 wood. Pulpwood comprises 20 percent of the total 

 timber cut and likewise consists largely of softwood. 



Percent of Softwood 

 total timber cut {percent) 



Sawlogs 66 87 



Pulpwood 20 68 



Fuelwood 7 11 



Other products 7 48 



100 



Relationship of Growth to Timber Cut 



All in all, net growth exceeds the annual cut in 

 New Hampshire (table 23, appendix). Comparing 

 net growth with annual cut, one might conclude that 

 all is well with the forests of New Hampshire. It is 

 not. Any comparison of this sort is misleading. 



Even though growth exceeds annual cut, a large 

 part of New Hampshire's forest land is actually grow- 

 ing trees at a rate below its timber-producing capacity. 

 Also, growth-cut comparisons are deceiving unless you 

 look at differences in quality and species. When the 

 principal demand is for softwood sawtimber, a large 

 excess of growth in small hardwood trees is not very 

 helpful. This is the situation that now prevails in 

 New Hampshire. 



For hardwood sawtimber the growth-cut ratio in 

 1952 was favorable (fiar. 16). The hardwood saw- 



TIMBER GROWTH AND CUT IN .NEW HAMPSHIRE 



SOFTWOOO SaWTlMBER 



'//////////////////////////////TPi 



H4HDWOO0 SiWTIMBER 



7////////^///////////////^////,^ZZA 



SOFTWOOD POLETIMBER 



HARDWOOD POLETIMBER 



y//////////////A 



y////////////////////////////////////////////A 



Y7777?i 



ANNUAL NET GROWTH 



HHl., 



NNUAL TIMBER CUT 



Figure 16. — The relationship of growth to annual cut of 

 growing stock. Softwoods are being cut harder than they 

 can long endure. Unused volume is piling up in the 

 hardwoods. 



Forest Resources of New Hampshire 



23 



