FIGURE 60.— A greater use of 
material from thinnings will 
Of course not all of the overstocked area is suitable 
for commercial thinning operations, as the excess trees 
are frequently too small or are hardwoods. Yet there 
are many stands which would yield 3 cords of pine 
thinnings per acre, enough to permit commercial 
pulpwood cutting operations. Intelligent thinning for 
pulpwood in these stands would utilize trees which 
otherwise would be eventually lost through mortality. 
This in turn would increase the growth on the remaining 
trees and hasten the building up of the depleted stock 
of saw timber. Thinning an additional 20,000 acres 

help ease 
Coastal Plain. 
per year would reduce the pressure upon the Coastal 
Plain pine pole timber by at least 60,000 cords. 
Ease the Drain on Saw Timber 
In the Coastal Plain saw-timber growth for all species 
exceeded drain by 5.8 million board feet. Softwoods, 
however, were overcut by 73.7 million board feet. All 
the overcutting occurred in the southern Coastal Plain; 
in the northern Coastal Plain growth exceeded drain in 
all species groups. While soft hardwoods were overcut 
52 Forest Resource Report No. 3, U. S. Department of Agriculture 
overcutting of 
pine pole timber in the 



