Figure 24. — There are some 2,700 active small sawmills in Tennessee. (Tenn. Conservation Dept. photo.) 



Pulpwood 



In 1949 Tennessee's four wood-pulp mills, with a 

 daily plant capacity of 338 tons, consumed 176 thou- 

 sand cords — all hardwood (fig. 26). Three mills, ac- 

 counting for six-tenths of the total capacity, produced 

 semichemical pulp for corrugated board; while one 

 soda mill produced book, tablet, and other white 

 papers. 



Despite fluctuations with changing paper prices, 

 production of pulpwood in Tennessee, chiefly hard- 

 wood, remained relatively stable during the past 

 decade. In contrast, the phenomenal expansion of 

 pulpwood output which has characterized the re- 

 mainder of the Southern region since 1936 has been 

 based largely on the utilization of pine for sulfate pulp. 



Hardwood use, although slowly increasing in Tennes- 

 see, is still far from its potentiality. 



In the 10-year period 1940-49, pulpwood output 

 in the State averaged 153 thousand cords annually; 

 1949 production totaled 158 thousand cords (fig. 27), 

 of which six-tenths was hardwood. By 1953 produc- 

 tion had increased to 234 thousand cords. 



The Plateau and east regions are the centers of 

 pulpwood production, and in 1949 virtually all of the 

 pine and seven- tenths of the hardwood w as from these 

 two areas. Pulpwood operations, however, extend 

 over most of the State and more than two-thirds of 

 the counties cut some pulpwood. 



Of the 158 thousand cords harvested in Tennessee 

 during 1949, about 50 percent (including all of the 

 pine) was exported to mills in Mississippi, the Carol 



24 



Forest Resource Report No. 9, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



