li 



MISSISSIPPI S FOREST RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES 



toward smaller average tree size, and this holds a 

 prospect of still lower grades. 



Close to a fifth of the hardwood sawlog volume is 

 in grade 3B logs. Logs of this quality are sound and 

 straight enough for ties and timbers, but are not 

 sufficiently clear for lumber logs. 



Grade is less important among softwoods in its effect 

 on marketability, but grade does affect softwood 

 timber values considerably. It is significant, there- 

 fo-re, that 62 percent of the softwood sawlog volume 

 is in grade 3 trees (trees having less than 12 feet of 

 clear bole) . most of which are in poor quality stands. 

 The proportion of grade 3 volume ranges from 56 

 percent in the central region to 70 percent in south 

 Mississippi. 



Current Growth 



Current annual net growth of timber, which in- 

 cludes the ingrowth into growing-stock trees, is 529 

 million cubic feet on total growing stock (32 cubic 

 feet per acre), 1.8 billion board feet on sawlog grow- 

 ing stock (110 board feet per acre). By contrast, 

 1946 drain was 554 million cubic feet on total grow- 

 ing stock, 2.5 billion board feet on sawlog growing 

 stock. 



Softwood sawlog growth is about the same as hard- 

 Avood sawlog growth for the State as a whole, despite 

 marked regional differences (fig. 18). In total grow- 

 ing stock, however, hardwood is growing decidedly 

 more volume than softwood. Even in the pine forests, 

 a third of the total net growth is in hardwood species. 



NORTH 



SOUTH 



///////'//■'/.■ 



DELTA 



20 



40 60 80 100 



MILLION CUBIC FEET 



120 



140 



SOFTWOOD 



I HARDWOOD 



Figure 18. — Annual net growth in sawlog growing stock by 

 region, 1946. 



It is in the smaller tree sizes that hardwood growth 

 is most abundant as compared with pine. In the size 

 range from 5.0 to 8.9 inches d. b. h., hardwood is 

 growing about four times as much volume as softwood. 

 Even in south Mississippi, the growing stock in small 

 hardwood trees provides more growth than its soft- 

 wood counterpart. A look at the 2- and 4-inch trees 

 reveals where the growth in small hardwoods is coming 

 from. In the pine forests alone, well formed 2- and 

 4-inch hardwoods outnumber well formed 2- and 4- 

 inch pines by 15 percent. 



