Quality 



A sawtimber stand may contain a large wood vol- 

 ume in cubic feet, yet may not contain even one high- 

 grade log per acre. All the trees may be too small 

 or limby to yield anything but the poorest grade of 

 lumber. Even the most efficient mills cannot run 

 indefinitely on such material. 



To measure the quality of New Hampshire's saw- 

 timber a special survey was made in 1952. Logs in 

 hardwood and white pine sample trees were classified 

 log by log.'' Hemlock sample trees were classified ac- 

 cording to the limbiness of the sawlog part of their 

 stems. Other softwods were not graded. 



The hardwood log grades used in this survey are 

 based on number of )Otential clear cuttings in stand- 

 ard lumber logs and t n structural usefulness in tie and 

 timber logs. When standard lumber logs are sawed, 

 the yield of No. 1 Common and Better standard lum- 

 ber is about two-thirds of Grade 1 log volume, about 

 half of Grade 2 log volume, and about one-fifth of 

 Grade 3 log volume. These hardwood log grades were 

 developed by the U. S. Forest Service's Forest Products 

 Laboratory. 



The white pine log grades are based on knottiness 

 of yard lumber logs. They are the same grades that 

 were applied to the huge volume of white pine logs sal- 

 vaged after the New England hurricane of 1938. At 

 that time the average Grade 2 or better log sawed out 

 10 to 30 percent in No. 1 Common and Better lumber 

 or 25 to 50 percent in No. 2 Common and Better lum- 

 ber. Corresponding lumber-grade yields were consid- 

 erably lower for Grade 3 logs. 



Of the total hardwood sawtimber volume in 1948, 

 it is estimated that about 36 percent was suitable for 

 conversion into Grade 1 or Grade 2 standard lumber 

 logs: 



Total Standard lumber 



sawtimber logs — 



volume Grade 1 and 2 Other logs 



(million {million {million 



bd.-fl.) bd.-ft.) bd.-fl.) 



Yellow birch 1, 239 644 595 



Sugar maple 783 211 572 



Beech 526 137 - 389 



Oak 349 105 244 



Other hardwoods 905 253 652 



All hardwoods 3,802 1,350 2,452 



" The New Hampshire Extension Service helped greatly 

 in gathering this data. Most of the measurements were taken 

 by county foresters. 



Forest Resources of New Hampshire 



The other 64 percent of the hardwood sawtimber vol- 

 ume was of poorer quality, suitable for Grade 3 stand- 

 ard lumber logs or for tie and timber logs, but not for 

 Grade 1 or Grade 2 standard lumber logs (fig. 15) . 



Of the 3,241 million board-feet of white pine in 

 1948, about 551 million board-feet (17 percent) was 

 suitable for felling and bucking into Grade 2 or better 

 logs. The other 2,690 million board-feet (83 percent) 

 would not make better than Grade 3 logs. 



About one-third of the 1,186 million board-feet of 

 hemlock sawtimber was found in relatively smooth , 

 trees. These are trees where the sawlog part of the 

 stem is 80 percent or more clear of limbs. The other 

 two-thirds of the hemlock sawtimber was found in 

 limbier trees. 



These estimates indicate the rather low quality of 

 New Hampshire timber. Undoubtedly many of the 

 poorest sawtimber trees must be removed if growing 

 space is to be made available for the better trees. 

 Present local markets are inadequate to handle more 

 than a small fraction of the lower grade logs that im- 

 provement cuttings might supply. Either greater 

 markets or heavier investments by owners for girdling 

 and poisoning are needed if the stands are to be 

 improved. 



However, it should be recognized that part of the 

 low-quality problem is size. New Hampshire's saw- 

 timber is small; small logs rate a lower grade than 

 large logs, even if they show no more surface defects. 

 Leaving the better trees to grow will help to raise the 

 general level of log quality. 



Cull 



Besides the volumes of growing stock already men- 

 tioned, there are nearly 600 million cubic feet of sound 

 wood in cull trees. This additional material is equal 

 to 15 percent of the growing stock. 



Softwood Hardwood Total 



{million {million {million 



cu.ft.) cu.Jt.) cu.ft.) 



Sound cull trees 148 118 266 



Rotten cull trees 26 299 325 



Total 174 417 591 



In addition to cull tree volume there is also a sizable 

 volume of defective material in the sawtimber trees 

 themselves. Of the gross volume of softwood saw- 

 timber trees (in terms of the International ^-inch 

 rule to a 6-inch top), 14 percent has been deducted 

 for defect to arrive at net volume. This deduction for 



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