VIRGINIA FOREST RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES 
The Volume of Timber 
AN 
va 
HE estimates of standing timber in the State 
refer to the volume in all trees 5 inches d. b. h. 
and larger, including dead chestnut, and are ex- 
pressed in three units of measure: board feet, cords, 
and cubic feet.‘ 
Saw- Timber Volume 
In 1940, Virginia’s forests contained 25 billion board 
feet of saw timber, when scaled by the International 
“%-inch log rule. 
tained by this rule are considered the equivalent of 
In this report, the volumes ob- 
actual yield of unseasoned lumber under prevailing 
sawmill practice. In 1945, Virginia ranked ninth 
among the 12 States of the South in total board-foot 
* Definitions of the three kinds of volume, and of other 
terms, are given in the Appendix, p. 58. 
fizasneaen| 
LOBLOLLY PINE 
SHORTLEAF PINE 
WHITE OAK 
YELLOW -POPLAR 
|RED OAKS 
=} VIRGINIA PINE 
CHESTNUT OAK 
NORTHERN RED OAK 
SWEETGUM 
kS 
volume of timber, with 7 percent of the total volume 
of saw timber in this region. Forty-seven percent of 
the State’s saw timber as of 1940 was in the Coastal — 
Plain, 30 percent in the Piedmont, and 23 percent in 
the mountains. 
Volume by Species 
The total board-foot volume of live timber was 
almost exactly half softwood and half hardwood, the © 
softwood volume exceeding the hardwood by only 242 
million board feet (table 6). 
however, made up 29 percent of the volume, with its 
more than 7 billion board feet (fig. 30). It was fol- 
lowed in importance by shortleaf pine, white oak, 
yellow-poplar, “other red oaks” (black, pin, scarlet, 
and southern red oaks), Virginia pine, and chestnut 
Loblolly pine alone, 
oak. The remaining 26 percent was made up by other 
species, each providing less than 5 percent of total 
volume, although all the “gums” (sweetgum, black 
and water tupelos) together made up nearly 8 percent. 
There were 758 million board feet of dead chestnut 
still standing and usable in 1940; a considerable vol- 
ume has since been cut in filling the increased demands 
for extract wood occasioned by war needs. 
Most of the loblolly pine, sweetgum, and blackgum 
saw timber is in the Coastal Plain, a large part of the 
shortleaf and Virginia pines and yellow-poplar is in 
the Piedmont, and all of the dead chestnut is in the 
Aeneccute mountains. Table 26 gives details on the volume by 
| 
TOTAL LIVE VOLUME species and forest condition. 
HeKORY 24.3 BILLION BOARD FEET 
WHITE PINE DEAD CHESTNUT TABLE 6.—Net saw-timber volume (International %4-inch rule) by 
Ree 0.8 BILLION BOARD FEET species and forest condition, 1940 
: TOTAL VOLUME 
BEECH 25.1 BILLION BOARD FEET | Forest condition 
HEMLOCK Species | Total 
Saw | Cord- 
CYPRESS timber wood! | 
ASH Softwoods: | Mid. ft. | Mobd. fr. | Mbd. ft. | Percent 
Loblolly pine 2__-_-__==__ 6,913,500 | 145,900 | 7,059,400 29.0 
OTHER NATE OAKS Sortleaf pines ee aetna | 2,492,800 | 220,700 | 2,713,500} 11.2 
SUGAR MAPLE Virginiaspine see ae | 1,404,500 | 137,000 | 1,541,500 6.3 
; White pine---.----------| 383,900 | 30,000 | 413,900 | 1.7 
OTHER HARDWOODS Hlemlocla9seae set eee | 240,100 11,600 251,700 1.0 
Redcedar2peee ee eee 31,500 | 9,700 41,200 52 
MER sor neeee White cedaroe sees ae | 64,000} 900 | 64,900 | 3 
Gypress# et eee | ~ 201,100 | 800 201,900 8 
BILLIONS OF BOARD FEET 
Toralap soon sare 11,731,400 | 556,6C0 |12,288,000 50.5 
Ficure .30.—The volume of saw timber by species, 1940. 
22 Miscellaneous Publication 681, U.S. Department of Agriculture 
