F-433155 



Figure 32. — Small timber being cut into Juelwood in southern Indiana. 



Farmers cut about 4.3 million fence posts for use 

 on their farms in 1949. About 77 percent of the 

 posts were cut from growing stock, about 13 percent 

 from nonforest land and 8 percent from saplings, and 

 about 2 percent from dead trees and logging or plant 

 residues. Of the posts cut from growing stock, 24 

 percent were white oak, 41 percent black locust, and 

 the other 35 percent iniscellaneous species. 



Practically all the mine timbers were cut from 

 poletimber growing stock. Mine-prop producers 

 usually cut heavily in well-stocked, hardwood pole 

 stands. This practice can aflfect the growth adversely 

 and delay development of high-quality stands of saw- 

 timber. Mine props bring a fair price, however, and 

 afford an opportunity for timber owners interested 

 in making thinnings and improvement cuttings to 

 receive at least some immediate return from these 

 operations. 



Wood Used in Manufacturing 



Wood is a basic raw material in more than 650 

 manufacturing plants in Indiana. These plants are 

 well distributed throughout the State and manufacture 

 a wide variety of products. A few of the most im- 

 portant are furniture, containers (fig. 33), railroad 

 cars, cabinets, prefabricated houses, housetrailers, 

 caskets, farming implements, handles, and general 

 millwork. These plants use far more wood than is 

 produced in the State. In 1948 only 56 percent of 

 the wood used in manufacturing was hardwoods nati\e 

 to the region (table 1), and much of this was brought 



Figure 33. — This worker is assembling wood veneer into strawberry 

 baskets. The venter used in these baskets was produced from logs 

 such as those shown in figure 30. 



Table 1 . — IVood used in Indiana manufacture, 1948 ' 



Class 



Total 



Lumber 



Bolts 



Veneer 



Softwoods 



Native hardwoods- 



Million 



board-feet 



192 



252 



3 



Million 



board-feet 



178 



208 



2 



Million 

 board-feet 



6 



Million 

 board-feet 

 14 

 38 



Foreign hardwoods 



1 



Total 



447 



388 



6 



53 



' Source: Gordon D. Merrick. Wood Used in Manufacture 

 Dept. .^gr. Forest Serv. Forest Resource Rpt. 2, 66 pp. 1951. 



-1948. U. S. 



froin nearby States. A study of revenue freight of 

 major railroads, conducted in 1951 by the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission, indicated that these rail- 

 roads brought into the State eight carloads of forest 

 products for every carload that \vas shipped from 

 Indiana. 



The \\ood-using plants of Indiana provide employ- 

 ment for more than 30,000 workers and an annual 

 payroll of more than 70 million dollars. This source 

 of labor and income is greatly needed, especially in 

 the unglaciated section of southern Indiana. In this 

 area it is estimated that the average farm provides 

 only about 70 man-days of labor per year compared 

 to 300 man-days on farms in the corn belt. A higher 

 percentage of the labor force in southern Indiana is 

 unemployed than in the northern part of the State. 



24 



Forest Resource Report No. 10, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



