A SUMMARY OF THE TIMBER RESOURCE REVIEW 



59 



Low- Quality Wood Predominates in 

 Hardwood Stands 



Cull is particularly important as a factor in the 

 poor quality of the hardwood stands of the East. 

 This is emphasized by the fact that cull hardwood 

 trees are equivalent in volume to one-fourth of the 

 entire hardwood growing stock. In the South the 

 ratio is one-third, and in the southeastern region 

 the sound volume in cull trees is equal to 42 per- 

 cent of the volume of the hardwood growing stock. 



Log grades are relatively good indications of 

 quality in that they predict yields of lumber by 

 grade with reasonable accuracy. Studies based on 

 three-fourths of the total hardwood sawtimber 

 volume in the East indicate that two-thirds of the 

 net volume when inventoried by log grades would 

 qualify only as relatively poor Grade 3 logs. 

 Twenty percent would fall in the Grade 2 medium 

 category, and 13 percent in the good Grade 1 

 category. 



The overall quality of hardwood stands, based 

 on the combined net volume of sawtimber and the 



sound volume of hardwoods in cull trees, is shown 

 in figure 27. There is no question but that low- 

 quality wood predominates in most hardwood 

 stands. 



Log grades are an indication of the quality, not 

 only of the standing timber but also of the growth 

 that is occurring. Although much of the hard- 

 wood volume in Grade 3 logs is in small trees that 

 would gain in quality if left to grow to larger 

 sizes, some of it is in larger trees too poor to put 

 on quality growth. Thus, from a quality stand- 

 point, whatever growth is added to this share of 

 the volume is largely of poor quality. On the 

 whole, about one-third of the sawtimber growth 

 of eastern hardwoods is believed to be in medium- 

 to high-quality logs, but, in Indiana, Kentucky, 

 and Ohio, studies indicate that the percentage of 

 net sawtimber growth in logs of this quality ranges 

 from 14 to not more than 20 percent. In the Lake 

 States, between 1936 and 1953, the total volume 

 of hardwood sawtimber in Grade 1 logs declined 

 40 percent. Decreases ranged from 60 to more 

 than 80 percent for such hardwoods as sugar 



HIGH MEDIUM 

 GRADE GRADE 



74% 



54% 20% 



LOW CULL 

 GRADE TREES 



Figure 27 



