quantity rather than quality; still others cut for local 

 markets where quality is not a requirement. Prob- 

 ably 60 to 70 million board-feet (35 to 40 percent) of 

 the 1949 lumber production was No. 3 Common or 

 poorer in grade. 



The labor required to produce the lumber cut in 

 1949 amounted to about 218,000 man-days in the 

 woods and about 311,000 man-days in the mills. 

 This total labor requirement is the equi\'alent of full- 

 time employinent for about 2,000 men. However, 

 because sawmilling is often a seasonal occupation, 

 especially for owners of small mills, inany more than 

 2,000 men worked in the lumber industry. 



The Veneer Industry 



Indiana is a center of veneer production, especially 

 face \-eneers, and the manufacture of veneer products. 

 In 1948 Indiana used the equivalent of 52}2 inillion 

 board-feet of veneer in the manufacture of various 

 products; about 70 percent of the veneer was of native 

 hardwood species, and softwoods and foreign woods 

 made up the remainder. More than 100 million 

 board-feet of logs and flitches were required to pro- 

 duce this amount of veneer. 



In 1949 about 14 million board-feet of Indiana 

 timber was cut for \eneer. \'eneer production is 

 fairly stable and it is estimated that about the same 

 volume was used in 1952. The logs went to 33 plants 

 and buyers — 94 percent to Indiana mills. Nearly 60 

 percent of the volume was cut into face and commer- 

 cial veneers for the furniture industry (fig. 29) and 

 was mainly white oak, black walnut, and yellow- 

 poplar. The other 40 percent was cut into container 

 veneer for baskets and ^vas mostly Cottonwood, soft 

 maple, sweetgum, and other soft hardwoods. 



During the early development of the veneer industry 

 in Indiana, high-quality hardwood timber was plenti- 

 ful. Much of it was acquired as a byproduct of land 

 clearing. High-quality timber is not plentiful todays 

 and the log buyers must search wide areas of Indiana 

 and adjoining States to get the logs needed. To pro- 

 duce either face or container veneer, clear bolts and 

 logs at least 16 inches in diameter are needed (fig. 30), 

 and premium prices are paid. Veneer logs and bolts 

 at the roadside or delivered at the mills were worth 

 nearly 1 million dollars in 1952 at about 60 cents per 

 cubic foot or 80 to 100 dollars per thousand board-feet. 

 Nearly 100,000 man-hours of woods and plant labor 

 were required to produce the logs and veneer. 



Figure 29. — These workers are matching and taping high-quality 

 walnut veneer for the furniture industry. 



Figure 30. — Large elm and beech logs being delivered lo a container 

 veneer plant. (Courtesy of Purdue Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion, Department of Forestry and Conservation.) 



The Cooperage Industry 



Most of the cooperage stock produced in Indiana is 

 for tight cooperage. This commodity requires large, 

 high-quality white oak timber. Ordinarily a white 

 oak tree must be at least 16 inches in diameter before 

 it is cut for cooperage. Even then the tree must ha\e 

 sections that are straight-grained and free of knots and 

 other serious defects. This species still makes up 12 

 percent of the sawtimber volume, but only a small 

 amount of it is of the high quality for which Indiana 

 was once noted. 



22 



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



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