to 18-inch class, and 14 percent in the 20-inch-plus 
class (fig. 31, table 27). 
In respect to hardwood board-foot volume, the dis- 
tribution in the Coastal Plain and Piedmont was al- 
most identical—about 60 percent in the 14- to 18-inch 
class and 40 percent in the 20-inch-plus class. The 
mountains had only 52 percent of hardwood volume 
in the 14- to 18-inch class, and 48 percent in the larger 
class. 
DIAMETER CLASS (Inches) 
) ar 
ISPECIES GROUP! 
AND PROVINCE 
SOFTWOODS: | 
COASTAL PLAIN 5 
PIEDMONT 
MOUNTAIN 
HARDWOODS: 
COASTAL PLAIN 
PIEDMONT 
MOUNTAIN 
20 40 
PERCENT 
Ficure 31.—Distribution of board-foot volume by diameter 
class and province, 1940. 
In interpreting these data, it must be recognized that 
the volume in the trees 13 inches and larger in diameter 
is not all immediately available for productive saw- 
milling or other conversion. 
scattered trees in younger stands, some of it is in 
Some of this volume is in 
“wolf” trees—large, limby trees often left in pre- 
vious cuttings—some of it is in areas of poor accessi- 
bility where only high lumber prices can insure a 
profitable operation because of high logging costs, 
and some of it is in species which are not in general 
demand. On the other hand, the larger portion of 
this volume is operable. Some further light on degree 
of operability is given by the volume per acre in the 
various types of forest in the State. 
Volume Per Acre 
While other factors such as size, quality, location, 
and other items must be recognized in judging the 
operability of a logging chance, it is the volume per 
There must be enough 
The 
minimum varies, of course, with the type of operation, 
the kind and quality of the timber, and the terrain. 
In the days of railroad logging to a stationary mill, 
heavy stands on large areas were required to offset the 
high costs invested in railroads and logging equipment. 
Except for a few areas, Virginia’s forests will no longer 
support this type of operation. Truck logging to a 
small stationary mill (small in comparison with the 
acre which weighs heaviest. 
saw timber per acre to support the operation. 
“big” mills of railroad logging history) can be sup- — 
ported by a stand of 1,500 to 2,000 feet per acre, or — 
less, of course, for specialty woods bringing high prices, 
or where all other factors are especially favorable. 
Portable mills which go to the timber, instead of hav- 
ing it brought to them, operate on as small a volume — 
as 300 to 500 board feet per acre, though with the 
lower limit the operation may be marginal financially. 
Almost one-half (3.4 million acres) of the saw- 
timber area in 1940 bore stands averaging less than 
2,000 board feet per acre. In the softwood types, 40 
percent, and in the hardwood types, 52 percent of the 
area was in this low stocking class (table 28, fig. 32). 
This poorly stocked land bore 17 percent of the total 
board-foot volume in saw-timber stands, or an average 
This means that 
on nearly one-half of Virginia’s saw-timber area the 
forest was best adapted to operation by small portable 
mills. This partially explains the predominance of 
the small mill in Virginia’s lumber industry. 
of only 1,178 board feet per acre. 
VOLUME PER ACRE 
(Boord feet) 
VOLUME 
| SOFTWOOD TYPES 
LESS THAN 2,000 
2,000 — 3,999 
4,000 - 5,999 
6,000 - 7,999 
econ 
ZMH 
UWA 
8,000 — 9,999 
10,000 AND OVER 
LESS THAN 2,000 
Yj 
MA 
UMMM 
2,000 = 3,999 
4,000 - 5,999 
6,008 - 7,999 
8,000 — 9,999 
10,000 AND OVER 
20 
PERCENT 
Figure 32.—Distribution of saw-timber area and board-foot 
volume by volume-per-acre classes and type groups, 1940. 
An additional 40 percent of the saw-timber area 
bore stands of 2,000 to 6,000 board feet per acre, which 
contained 42 percent of the total volume on saw- 
timber areas. ‘These areas are suitable for larger sta- 
tionary mills supported by truck logging, but even in 
these it is usually cheaper to take the mill to the woods 
and haul lumber rather than logs. On only 314,000 
acres (4.4 percent of area) did the stands average 
10,000 or more board feet per acre, but these areas 
had 19 percent of the total volume, averaging 14,300 
board feet per acre. Most of it was in limited areas 
of the coastal bottom-land hardwoods, in a few 
large holdings in the loblolly pine type, and in the less 
accessible deep coves of the mountains. Softwood 
stands in this class averaged better than 14,600 feet 
per acre, and hardwood stands 13,500 feet. 
24 Miscellaneous Publication 681, U. S. Department of Agriculture 
